Crisis!!!!!!!

It all happend so suddently. The rumour was spread like a wild fire. Doctors and technicians gathered in the aula. The discussion was loudly and we all got this creepy feeling of an upcoming crisis. One doctor yelded on one of the technicians. How was she supposed to run her departement on our medical faculty when a crucial technical advice broke down in the early morning? I could hear her frustration. Her assistant, a younger doctor, or maybe a student, supported her. This was not appropriate!

The technicians had to put a note on the advanced machinery for a while; out of order. The doctors was not happy about this solution, but the technicians needed some time to fix it.

The machine was fixed before lunch-time, by czech effectivity and administration. Hopefully, the doctors, assistents and not at least the students managed to do their work this disasterous morning, in spite of the lack of a very important component. The coffe-machine is now working again....

Rock photo.

I had to try to make some rock photos when I had the chance yesterday. Occation; norwegian ANSA seminar for medical students in Czech Republic. The band doesn't have any name... they're 6 norwegian medical students from Prague who actually got time to rehearse... Enjoy! And of course I had to include a photo of Lado and Velaug in tha move!

Credits and brains.

It helps to have a brain when doing your credits. Yesterday I did my first aid credit. I had to answer 5 multiple choice questions and resuscitate a ambudoll connected to a computer. The test result was: 100% of theoretical knowledge, and the "patient" wouldt probably survive until the ambulance arrived:

-amount of air given during rescue breathing was correct, also the rate

-no air forced into the stomach

-compression and decompression of the heart was perfect

-time spend between compressions and rescue breathing was minimal.

the only "mistake" in my practical test was that my compression ratio actually was a bit high (130/min).

Todays subject in anatomy was the brain, or more accurate; the brain stem. It's a fantastic organ, so complex, so fragile, so... advanced. I actually failed my first anatomy minitest today, due to all the things happening the last weeks. So I have to go back home and start revicing.

Left alone

I'm finally installed in my new flat. Ayan has left the building.. I'm gonna miss her!

Today was a typically tuesday. Up at six, starting the first czech lesson at seven. I'm gonna have biology practical later on today, but I forgot my lab-shoes.. blue, plastic shoe overlets, anyone? Wondering what we are going to kill today. May be some more paramecium?

I'm ready to read a bit more now. And I got the best reason to study well this spring to.. I have to finish my finals before the end of june.. Someone is going for a rock concert with backstage pass this summer!! It took me about a week to actually believe in it.

So, my plans are: Read. Revice. Do my tests. Pass EVERTHING.

Yes, that's true! Went to Prague this weekend. Met a couple of "friends of moral & music". I think we had the greatest time, drinking overpriced beer, tried to argue with an angry portier, walking the small streets of old town, discussing shoes, music, art and architecture... I hope to see them back in Czech republic soon. I will return the favour and go to Stockholm, Sweden, this summer! ;)

Glands and apartements.

Busy, busy, busy!

Yesterday I moved allmost all my stuff over to Ayan's place. It's time consuming to move around. Finding a place, pack all your stuff, drive it over to the new place, carry it to the new flat (which is, of course, in 4th floor, in a building without elevator), trying to find a free space on the floor.. Go for a new box. At the same time, two persons are moving out from the same flat. That means; their stuff is packed in boxes stacked all over the place, making it even more difficult and messy.

So this is what I spent my entire day (after school) on, yesterday. And I'm going to spend even more time on it today.. But there was a problem. I had to prepeare for slide-test in histology too.. The test has just been finished. I went to the lab without proper preparation, wondering if this was the day I would fail big time.. I didn't care to read to much during the class eihter (while waiting for my turn to be tested). I just went up and grabbed my slide, hoped it was from the gastrointestinal trakt or liver, and started microscoping it.

I couldn't recognice the slide. Or.. it looked like a gland. Pinkish lump of cells. I had to try to find out which glands it couldn't be. I found out that it wasn't pituitary gland, because there wasn't two distinguable lobes. Pancreas got Islet of Langerhans, the preparate didn't. Thyroid gland got big ponds of colloid surrounded by the glandular cells, there was no colloid. And adrenal gland got cortex with 3 distinct layers, and a medulla resembling early nervous tissue. The cells looked quite evenly distributed through the slide, so I decided it had to be a parathyroid gland, producing parathormone. Then my preparation time was up, and I had to start tellin my professor about the slide. Just in the same second I looked on the slide in the other microscope (the one used during the actual test), I recogniced two distinct layers. It was cortex and medulla of adrenal gland.. I wasn't prepared to answer questions about it.

Anyway. I somehow made to answer the questions of my professor in a way that made her quite satisfied.. I got a 1 minus (exellent minus). Sometimes it's just pure luck!

Greed

My mother grew up without electrisity. She have told me about the day when it came. She was about 8-9 years old (if I'm not wrong). She carried her youngest brother in her arms in her home when the brand new lightbulb in the kitchen lamp turned on. Her brother (my uncle) was terrified. He had never experienced this phenomenoma. But he couldn't be blamed, he was only about 1 year old. My mother grew up in an unindustrialized country. Her family was quite poor.

I grew up with only one state TV-channel. One state radio-channel. I can remember that I had to use my older brother clothes, or that my mum sewed clothes to me and my siblings. Some clothes was borrowed from friends and collegues of my parents.. But we mostly survived without starving.. And nobody noticed my old or homemade clothing.

Suddently something changed. I can remember our first computer. Internet connection. New tv- and radio-channels. My sister demanded spesific brands when my mother went to shop clothes to us. The rat-race on school, which music was in, which clothing was out, make-up, perfumes.. I hated it..

The shift is quite clear. From.. "we need, but can't affort it" to "I want it!" And even worse. "I want it, but I think it should be for free, so I'll take it anyway".

I can't say that I long back to my childhood without internet or several tv-channels. But I would like people to be a bit more humble about their fantastic situation. We are bathing in luxury in a world where people still die of simple diseases who could be prevented or cured by simple means (vaccination or cheap medicines). People dies of starvation while USA burns food for billions, just to keep the price up. And the only thing on our mind is that "I want this computer, for free!", "I want this music, for free!", "I want this land, for free!". While people dies, because their medicine is to expencive..

When will it all collapse?

Just another friday.

The alarm set off at 07.00, one hour after the construction workers started to use their powertools just outside my bedroom window. A nice start.

We had latin the three first teaching hours today. Even some of my other teachers on the faculty is referring to the latin teacher as "the dinosaur". Don't get me wrong. Our teacher is exellent. She knows a lot, and make us read. And makes us to understand the systems of latin language. Or.. It's not that she makes us. She forces us. It's not unusual that a poor student is leaving the classroom in tears. Or allmost in tears. She can be quite hush.

Todays test was hard, we had to decline nouns from 3rd consonant declension (masculine) with adjective from 2nd declension, then the same for 3rd vowel declension (masculine and neuter). Then we had to joint some expressions with prepositions, translate, find opposite and finally find appropriate greek nouns to combine with the endings -itis, -itidis/-oma, -omata/-otis, -otis and combine theese nouns (now patological descriptions) with different adjectives with appropriate genders..

After latin, we had two embryology lectures. It's very interesting, and important to know about the embyonic developement. Unfortunatly, my class can be quite noisy during these lectures. Yes, I know it's last lecture on a friday, but please! Don't make it a "knitting club". We can gossip in the breakes and after lectures. I get quite embrassed everytime the teachers have to interrupt the lecture to calm down the class.

And after last lecture I wished all classmates happy easter, and went to the computer room. Siti stopped me and gave me a folder about islam. I'll read it, but it probably wont make me a muslim... Thanks anyway, Siti! :)

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Edit: 3 photos from my desk today.

1. four of my 16 tables of endings and their declensions
2. A paper with tasks in the first a-declension (there is 5 declensions, most of them divided to more groups due to gender and rules for declining the vocab)
3. A overwiew of my desk. Notice the mp-3-player distal and lateral of my notes ;) Music keeps me alive here..