At the end of my last post, I mentioned being sad to be back in school. That hasn't changed. The past two weeks have been massively class- and enmodes-heavy. The days start early, end late, and usually continue well into the night with physiology studying and paper-writing. This week especially has been filled with preparing for our three exams, two presentations, and procrastinating writing a major assignment for VIBS 311.
Physiology has picked up immensely since the Vienna excursion, with weeks consisting of two or three labs and three lectures per week. Labs are difficult because we don't actually have a laboratory and can't perform some experiments that are essential to understanding the material and physiological processes. Another component that's been frustrating is the math embedded in all of them. I haven't done math like this since freshman year in Chem 101 and 102, so jumping back into 10-step word problems with conversions and unit analysis has been a very rude awakening. Fortunately, our TAs know what they are doing and usually manage to make lab periods fun. Alexa particularly really wants us to understand the material and has spent hours of her own time hosting reviews and ansering questions to help me and the rest of the BIMS kids out.
German class, part of our History of Medicine course, is over. !? We were all surprised when Hilde told us last week that we would have a German final (!?!?!?) and then no more German class after spring break! Learning the German language with Hilde was super helpful and actually more fun than I initially thought it would be. Hilde is engaging, lively, understanding of why certain language concepts are so weird to us Americans. It was plain to see that she genuinely wants to help us enjoy our short time in Germany. While I will enjoy the fewer class periods, I'll miss the games and songs and inside jokes we had with Hilde.
Part 1 of the enmodes project ended today. But by "ended," I mean our small groups presented the concepts we've come up with in the past month to the company, who will now determine if they like our ideas or would rather throw them in the trash. It was nerve-wracking to explain what we've managed to finagle to the two enomdes guys who travelled all the way from Aachen. Our concept definitely had some gaps, but overall I think the ideas my group presented were well received and should be helpful to the company when they consider options for the final design of their project. Part 2 begins after our FABULOUS TWO WEEK TRAVELING EXTRAVAGANZA with the formation of larger groups that will combine parts of the original seven groups' concepts into three final concepts which we will formally present in Aachen at the end of April. I'm looking forward to seeing what the company likes from my group, because our ideas are definitely out-of-the-box.
And, with that, the weekend is here!! I still have a paper to write and peer reviews to do and a reflection to complete for my writing class, but the end of exam week and knowing our presentations went well is a huge relief. I can't wait for a nap. (:
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