Anatomy is by far the most amount of work, as it’s just so much material. It’s not difficult, but there is a lot of information that I need to know. All the classes are mostly graded on exams, but two have group projects/presentations, and one has 20% for participation and attendance. One class is also curved, which is unusual for my program.
This is our courseload for the semester:
Day One
The first day was pretty relaxed. 2 hours of anatomy flew by so quickly! We talked about an article we read over the weekend and then learned some basics. She has us interact with each other and move our bodies and it’s really easy to learn from her. I left my lunch at home, so I drove back between classes to eat. The second class was over in 15 minutes, as she just handed out the syllabus and answered questions.
Day Two
Today we began with our patient care class, and everyone was required to dress professionally and wear white lab coats. We went over the syllabus a bit, and the rest was lecture. We learned about taking a patient’s history, and then the males pretended to be George Clooney who had a traumatic brain injury, while the females introduced themselves and took the patient’s history. The professor commented that “The patients have enough baggage. They don’t need yours”, meaning that as a physical therapist, you must leave any personal problems out of work, as the patient should have your complete attention.
We then had a short physiology class, as the professors introduced themselves and then talked about the syllabus a little bit. We got out early and then had about 2.5 hours for a lunch break. Lots of us went to the student lounge to work on some assignments and eat lunch. Then we had anatomy lecture again, and we learned a lot of cool stuff. I love learning from this professor, and I’m always curious to learn more. We palpated the biceps tendon and learned about isometric, concentric, and eccentric contractions while working with partners. We also learned a bit about osteoporosis, and then answered some clicker questions to see how much of the material we learned.
Day Three
Physiology was a breeze today. The professor uses powerpoint slides and moves very quickly over the information, so I’m glad that I knew most of the material from the lecture. Life Span Development was pretty fun. We had a few powerpoint slides, but it was mostly class participation. I went up front and held a plank, some people did charades, others showed their flexibility. The professor is incredibly enthusiastic and wants everyone to have fun and participate while learning.
Day Four
We had anatomy all day. We had one morning lecture, a review session with the 2nd year TA’s, and then an afternoon lecture right afterwards. The second lecture was brutal, and she skipped over lots of sections of the lecture notes so it felt really overwhelming. Our brains felt tired and we just wanted to get home and go through the notes more slowly. I love the material, but man are Thursdays going to be rough.
Day Five
Only anatomy review is on Fridays. It’s wonderful to have Friday free from classes. There was a powerpoint with multiple choice questions, and we worked with a partner and used a clicker to answer the questions and work through them. We had our notes to use, and were able to learn a lot by attending review. There was a 5-way tie among the highest teams, and they all won pens that looked like bones.
Weekend
My boyfriend visited me from Wednesday-Sunday night, so I didn’t get as much studying done as I could have, but I’m definitely not behind in classes. I had a few assignments for one class and had to study for an Anatomy Quiz on Tuesday. We went to a kickball game and played 1st years vs 3rd year students, with some 2nd years on both teams. We lost pretty badly, but made it our plan to practice kickball often so we won’t lose to future 1st year students. We also spent the day at the ocean. I laid in the sand and didn’t get sunburned, surprisingly! One of our classmates was finishing her last day of work at a restaurant, so we surprised her and ate lunch there. I tried crab for the first time, and I’m not sure how I felt about it. I think I’ll develop a taste for it eventually.
Summary
The first week wasn’t too bad at all. I had a lot of free time, and probably should have spent a bit more time reviewing my other classes too, instead of only studying for anatomy. I also learned that I’ll never be productive if I spend every lunchtime in the PT student break room, so I’ll have to seek out a quieter study place to get more work done before I get home every day.
I’m still pretty nervous about raising my hand and speaking up during class, but sitting near the front of the class helps me a lot. I love all of my classmates, and I’m really glad that I live so close by a lot of 1st and 2nd years. I’m also happy that because I’m not living at home, I’m able to buy all my groceries and plan out all my meals for the week. It was hard to keep my diet while I lived at home during my year off. I also got a gym membership and need to figure out when is the best time for me to workout during the week.
PT school isn’t as scary or nerve-wracking as I thought it would be. I haven’t gotten to midterms and finals yet though, so I’ll probably take that back eventually.