First class of First Aid for 2nd group

The class is held near Stary Browar, so one had to take tram 6 to get there. It's too far to walk there from the dorms. This group was further divided into two groups. The class met four times and each class lasted from 12 to 4pm. First half of the class was dedicated to lecture and the second half was reserved for practicing first aid techniques. All the reading material was provided by the staff.

Anatomy practical

The written & practical exams were originally scheduled to be on the same day, but Dr. Wozniak changed it due to scheduling conflicts within the anatomy department. Like the written exam this also covered back, upper limb, thorax, and abdomen. There were sixty questions divided among sixty stations. One had 50 seconds to answer a question. The questions mainly were about identifying structures, innervation of muscles, the occasional origin/insertion question and x-ray questions.

Midterm of Anatomy

It was a 100 question exam that covered the back, upper limb, thorax, and abdomen. I used Moore's anatomy, BRS, and Appleton's sample anatomy questions. One minute per question was allowed. A lot of the questions were taken directly from Appleton's book.

Anatomy written and practical review

This review was held on a Saturday. Professor Wozniak had a review for the written part of the exam for about 1 1/2 hours. This was followed by a review for the practical in the lab. One TA went over different x-rays and identified structures that could be on the exam.

Anatomy practical review without TA assistance

This session was held from 3 to 5pm. Students can request the attendants to bring a cadaver and body parts to the lab so that students can study on their own.

First snow of the season

I was getting ready to go to Polish class and put on sandles. I opened the door and looked outside to find the street and cars covered with snow.

First Histology slide practical review

I think the review was poorly organized. For the first hour or hour and half a lecturer was presenting slides over the TV or projector. The next hour and a half was devoted to individual slide study. Six or seven plates of around 50 slides each were shared by 54 students. A list of tissue types that would be on the practical was given to us. We just had to make sure that we could identify all the tissues on the list plus some of the tissue's key features. The TAs were present to answer any questions. The main problem with this setup was that one could not easily compare two or three similar looking tissues side by side since availability of slides was so poor.

Ideally, two people could have shared a plate and gone thru all the slides on the plate. This is what some of the students ended up doing by setting up extra sessions with a TA.

Last lecture of histology

Prof. Schtolzman announced that the final exam will start at 7:30 am instead of 8 am. As usual, most students were not in the lecture and had to be notified of the time change by email and word of mouth. The slide practical was going to be held first, followed by a small break and then the multiple choice final. The final exam was cumulative.

Fourth Histology quiz

This was the last of the chapter quizes. The final will be later.

First Anatomy practical review

This practical was held from 9am to 1pm on Saturday. Students could go whenever they wanted during that time. The teaching assistants (TA) were present to review all the material that was going to be on the practical. We would also have to identify structures on X-rays. I believe its essential to find the right TA in order to learn efficiently. By this I mean that a TA should have good knowledge and good communication skills to convey that knowledge. I think most of the TAs here are knowledgeable, but few are good communicators. I always stick with the ones with good communication skills.

Poland's independence day

The school and almost everything else was closed for this national holiday. My time was spent studying for the fourth Histology exam. Fireworks could be heard in the distance. However, I didn't see any.

First class of Biochemistry

Professor Trzeciak is giving the lectures. Students can refer to him as Henry also. The recommended textbooks are Lippincott's Biochemistry or Harper's Biochemistry. The class consists of lectures, seminars and laboratories. Students have been divided in 9 groups for seminars and laboratories. My personal opinion is that the lecture is very poorly presented and students are better off studying on their own.

First day of Law and Ethics

The class is not given by professor Shaw as was indicated in the class schedule. The class is taught by Prof. Maciej Zielinski. Attendance is not mandatory in this class. We only meet once a week on Friday from 12:30 to 2:30pm in the new dentistry building near Aspyrinka. The final will be based on material presented in class. The professor will be giving printouts of his lecture notes.

All Saint's day

This day is a holiday in Poland. It's a special day to visit the cemetery. I noticed that people were dressed quite formally and were taking flowers with them. Obviously, almost everything is closed on this day.