Day 71: The Neurology Class

I had my first experience as a medical student, and it was all in Spanish. I attended two classes today, with a 15 minute recess between. The first was on central nervous system infections and the second on tremors. It was fairly hard in the beginning, I was overwhelmed with new words and the speed at which everything was presented. I quickly how much I relied on listening to the teacher while I wrote notes during high school, and how much harder that was to do in a foreign language. Well in reality two foreign languages since medical language is never easy for natives of any language to understand. But by the end of the first class I had settled into a pretty good rhythm of taking simple notes and listening to the language as well as the content.

The group was fairly small, there were maybe 13 (with a few absent from the roll sheet), and the room we were in had seating for about half as many again. The teacher was one of the doctors I had seen in practice before, not the one I had thought it would be, but as it turns out quite a few doctors are taking turns teaching the 20 classes (plus practical time and two seminars) that are in this course. She was very brisk and confident in her presentation, adding personal notes to the PowerPoint information. She came over and talked with me briefly during the break, which was nice of her, and asked me if I was understanding anything. I told her I was. I think she was surprised/disbelieving. 

I got a little sheet with the different lectures during the course so I think that I might ask to sit in a couple more that interest me later on during my time in Lanari.

When I got home I looked up a couple of the acronyms that were used in the presentation that I had no idea of their meanings as well as 2 or 3 words that I wrote aside. I then researched (for personal interest) meningitis and encephalitis some more since they were talked about in the class and I wanted to hear more. The students all have text books, so I will have to make due with the internet. 

I had lunch at home, I bought some pizza from the pizzaria right across the street, and talked with Betty. She has been feeling a little under the weather recently, but she is taking vitamins, drinking and resting lots and I think she is on the recovery. I also dropped off my laundry when I got back since they are not open at 07.50 in the morning when I am dashing off to class. Therefore I will pick up the clothes tomorrow when I return from school. The whole deal is slightly inconvenient, but not a bother. 

I took a group Tango class this evening at 6.00p. I had the same two teachers as last week Thursday, Natalia and Gonzalo, who are very friendly and very sure of what they want and how badly I do all of it. It is good, though, because when they compliment they mean it, and when they criticize it always constructive. The hardest part for me, and this is slightly strange, is how freely the Tango is danced. There is a 'basic' step, but even that is extremely variable and for every pattern taught there are an infinite amount of variations. It makes it great fun to watch, very difficult to learn, and (for me as a novice) super challenging in that I am thinking of a million things all at once. It is fun, when I finally get it right. 

I think that I will be taking a class tomorrow (Tuesday), not Wednesday, and then either Thursday or Friday. How fitting that I was just talking about the freedom of expression in the dance, and I just realized that is exactly how loose my schedule has become. There are many options for times and teachers, so I will just decide based on what else I am doing during the week when I will take classes, not minding who instructs the classes. 

Just finished up some pasta for dinner, ravioli some filled with cheese and others with chicken and veggies. Very good with sauce and parmesan. I am going to bed right now because I am typing sleepily and I must be attentive for tomorrows topics of heredoataxias and enfermedades desmielinizantes. Oh boy, oh boy.

Chao.