Classes

I will post more pictures when I have time.  This week was the beginning of our actual schedules.  The days aren't too bad, about 3 classes a day sometimes the classes are long due to labs and it takes up most of the day.  I realized I'm taking 8 classes this year.  Of the 8, 2 are languages (Polish and Latin) 4 are labs with lectures (biophysics, medical chemistry, histology & embryology, anatomy) and the remaining 2 are physical education and first aid.  That is quite a load.  I've been on a good routine of studying the material presented that day and then studying the material for the next day.  Hopefully I can keep it up and stay on top of it.  All my classes are at 8am, kind of nice to get up but it inhibits you from wanting to study late.  So far I enjoyed anatomy and histology.  The facilities for both are great.  They are in the same building and for the histology we have a microscope that is attached to our computers and a huge LCD TV for each table.  Pretty nice!  I hear a lot of people end up hating it towards the end, but we'll see.  Latin is going to be fairly crappy.  Time to get studying during my break before physical education.  I will hopefully post pictures of some of the classes and my birthday soon.

Current temp 43 degrees F.  Sunday has a chance of rain and low temperatures of 32 F so a chance of our first snowfall, maybe?

During Polish class the teachers always ask how are you in Polish to engage in conversation to begin.  Yesterday I responded with ziajbiscie (spelling?).  Zia beesh che.  Which means "fucking awesome" in Polish, thanks to my Polish friends for teaching me that one.  The teacher got a kick out of that.. thankfully!

A joke from El Professor on the night of my birthday.  My apologies for the explicit contents...



"American beer is like making love in a canoe..

Why?



Because it's fucking close to water"


Ha!

Birthday Weekend

Our last introduction course was based on medical decision making.  Having worked in the ER I was very versed in the terminology, techniques, tests, etc that physicians order to pinpoint the cause for disease.  That was the most interesting class I had thus far.  After that, we ate at Donatello's and got a workout in.  At night Fil and I met with our friends Tom and Emmanuel from the 1st year of the 4 year program.  We hungout for a while then went to a place called FBI.  That was a great club and we all had a lot of fun.  We always go places where many of our classmates are coincidently.  That night was no exception.  It was a great first night to a birthday weekend.  The following day, Fil had a party at his house organized by him and his cousin Tomek.  I've gotten to know Tomek well along with his friends including the infamous "El Professor."  There were about 10 friends there and we drank a bunch of delicious vodka.  They got me a Polish flag, wrote notes, and signed it, VERY cool!  Tomek's girlfriend was behind that gift of course.  We then went to jagota aka blueberry, which is a very hip club here in Poznan and it was a blast!  My two favorite clubs here in Poznan were the 2 we went to this weekend.  It was a great weekend with great people.  We took tons of pictures and videos that I will post when I get them.

Rising Sun

Classes start officially so tonight I am getting ready for classes.  Need to know where I'm going in the city.  I still need to purchase a couple more books.  Tomorrow I have medical chemistry and first aid.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nXbRYusNDM

That is a great video of Poznan.  Someone made this by walking through the city and I walk the same routes daily.  It really gives you a very realistic view of the city.  

Will post pictures from the party when I get them.

Lech Poznan Tickets

Today had more introduction classes: physiology, medical chemistry, histology and embryology.  Following these classes, classmates and I went to get tickets for the Lech Poznan vs Manchester City tickets.  It is about 4 stops down the road via tram.  Unfortunately tickets were not on sale yet, but we did waltz our way inside the stadium.  We were probably trespassing as some Polish guy started yelling at us for being in there, but it was awesome nonetheless.  They are still finishing the stadium but it is beautiful.  For 100zl you can get amazing seats, that's less than $40, so I think I will have to do it!  The game is November 4th so we will be continually checking online to see when the tickets are available.  

This is where one of the semifinal, quarterfinal, and pool play games in the 2010 Euro Cup will be held.

Later today I will probably go hangout with the huge Poles in the gym.  Tomorrow we have some more classes then the real thing starts on Monday.  My birthday is Monday so I think some of us will be getting together for a little celebration sometime.  It won't work well on Monday as we have class, so Friday or Saturday will be best.  

Funny note:  everything unlawful in Poland has a fine of 100zl and j-walking is probably the worst thing you could do.  No one does it here!  Fil has to stop himself often because being from New York it's strange to NOT j-walk, but here not a single person does it.  It could be midnight without a single car visible, on a small side street, and people still wait patiently for minutes for the light to change.  That fine is 100zl and NO I have not learned the hard way.  

Hockey starts today!  My handy website that I'm able to watch football on also has hockey!  

Go Ducks

Inauguration

Today we had our formal inauguration beginning at 1100.  It was actually pretty cool.  Most of it was in Polish but they did speak to the English program students in English.  The venue was beautiful.  It kind of felt like a cult in a way with the clothes the people wore, staffs and gavels, etc.  It went on for about 2 hours.  The last 45 minutes was devoted to a Nobel Prize nominee speaking on his research.  Unfortunately it was in Polish but the slides were in English.  He discussed the importance to nitric oxide in various systems in the body and other applications to paintings.  Much of it was devoted to how NO contributes to disease and how at a nano-level these molecules can be detected.  His studies focused on nano-technology ranging from nanobatteries to nanoengines.  Very interesting stuff.  Here are some photos from the event.

The ladies who I cabbed with to the Inauguration

Mr. Nobel nominee 

Outside

Friends at the Stary Rynek to get food 

Introduction to Biophysics and Anatomy

Class today was short.  Anatomy and biophysics.  Anatomy will be fun, and I think biophysics will be fun because it will be challenging.  I know some anatomy already and different aspects of examining patients and the different divisions of the body the professor was talking about so I should have a little head start.  Biophysics we talk of topics such as action potentials and different kind of imaging that I have some background with from Neuroscience.

Here is a photo I forgot to upload that showed where the concert was in Warsaw.

Today I'm just getting some things together for next week's courses and the inauguration tomorrow.  I'll hopefully get some good pictures from that tomorrow.

Introduction to Medicine

We had our first real classes today although they weren't very 'real.'  An MD told us a few stories he had while being a doctor, fairly interesting stories and we ended in 30 minutes.  We were supposed to have class until 1130 and switch rooms then continue until 1.  After 30 minutes, we were finished at 830.  Most of us did errands.  I did some much needed laundry!  I was able to get an open washing machine and wash some clothes.  I got an email at about 10 that was the introduction to medicine schedule, which had a class after the 830 lecture was over and before the 1130 one began.  Thanks for the heads up PUMS, but a bit late.  No one really went to that, I guess it was on clinics.  Tomorrow we have introduction to anatomy and biophysics and it only last until 1115.  Other than that nothing really exciting today.  Went to the gym with the huge Polish dudes and got some groceries including some instant coffee.. a must!  Time to get some rest for the classes tomorrow.  We're trying to buy tickets to a Manchester City match being played at Lech's home field.  The stadium is amazing, a friend of mine went to Lech's first game there and I saw the pictures... crazy!  I'm hoping we can go.

Photos from inside one of the lecture halls in the Anatomy Building

Warsaw

A couple days ago my friend, his cousin, and I went to Warsaw for a concert.  We barely made the train and we were off at about 3pm.  The trip only took about 3 hours, much better than the 12 to Prague.

We didn't tour the city too much but like most Polish cities, it has a huge mall.

The venue was M25 and we arrived there around 6.  It was very difficult to find, we walked past it numerous times until finally we saw security arriving.  We ended up walking in the side door and actually met beardyman!  He will be a huge hit in America in the next few years.  His manager told us that he has shows all throughout America in such venues as Coachella.  We were hanging out while he was doing his sound check sitting on a couch next to the stage.  There were 3 bartenders getting ready, Beardyman, his manager, the sound guy and the 3 of us in the room.

Fil and Beardyman (creepy looking)

We were hanging out with these two beat boxers that performed during the intermission before Beardyman came on.  

Right in the front, very cool!


We stayed there until the venue closed around 4 then went towards the train station.  The train was scheduled for 6am so we had a little time to kill.

Poznan is growing.  All of the other 6 universities here begin tomorrow and since it is a 'college' type of town, it was fairly empty the last month.  Already today many of the upperclassmen arrived and the dorms are filling up.  My roommate just arrived from his trip home, so much for the peace and quiet.

Today I plan on going to the gym a little then watching some NFL.  Class at 8 tomorrow so I have to get some sleep tonight, unlike most of these last 2 weeks.