Hello again! I realise that I’ve been relatively quiet over the past few months, I suppose life just took over and between applying to medical school and COVID making an appearance it’s easy to get wrapped up in it all and stop focusing on the things I enjoy.

So where am I now?

I am currently a first year medical student at the University of Nottingham, something I’ve been striving to achieve for a fair few years now. I have finally started the next chapter in my life which is exciting. If you’re interested as to where else I applied to medical school then I can tell you it was Exeter, Birmingham and UCL (in order of preference from best to worst), with Nottingham being my number 1. I wish I re-started this blog a lot earlier in my first year because exams are slowly approaching and my first year of medical school is almost already complete-I don’t know where the time has gone.

During lockdown I made it my mission to read through as many books as I could in order to fill the time. They include This Is Going To Hurt- Adam Kay, We Are Our Brains- Dick Swaab, War Doctor- David Nott, Dear NHS 100 Stories To Say Thank You- Adam Kay, Becoming- Michelle Obama, Boris Johnson The Gambler- Tom Bower, Medicine: The Definitive Illustrated History-DK and currently 12 Rules For Life- Jordan B Peterson. I could write for hours and hours about my thought surrounding each of these books and how they impacted my life, maybe I will get around to discussing the most amazing ones I read such as War Doctor and 12 Rules For Life.

Starting medical school during a pandemic has been a challenge with lots of ups and downs; in fact I think I could write a blog post purely regarding that topic. I’ve definitely come to realise how much I took social interaction for granted, the thigs which I’ve found socially most difficult due to having majority of lectures online is those little interactions such as passing someone in the hallway or walking with them to lectures, it’s in these moments where familiarity develops and you can discuss things from the night or week before. These days you have to go out of your way to message someone which I find can sometimes be a bit unnatural especially when you don’t particularly know them very well. However, online university has also given me to opportunity to develop relationships which maybe I wouldn’t have in the past as I’ve been able to spend better quality time with people going for walks etc whereas I normally would have seen them in a bar (essentials of first year in university) where we would have struggled to have an in-depth conversation.

What are my current aims for the future?

At the minute it’s too early to say what area I want to specialise in, especially when I’ve had no clinical experience due to COVID so I’m keeping my options VERY open. I will note that out of everything we’ve studied so far, I’ve found the most engaging topic for me has been musculoskeletal so that’s one thing to bear in mind. I would have normally tried to travel this summer or study abroad but my chances of getting abroad this year are slim. As a result, I am trying to get involved in medical research this year as it would be an invaluable experience to develop my research skills, also it’s never too early to start portfolio building. I also can’t wait for September to come around so I can properly join societies that I missed out on this year such as rowing.

So this was my brief update on what’s been happening over the past few months. I’m hoping to keep writing on this blog a bit more frequently from now on 🙂