Dobry wieczór!

Transl: Good evening!

We finally managed to set up the internet the other day and did a wee cheer-dance quickly followed by a row of silence as soon as the three of us logged on to facebook. Classic. I even forgot that I had packed my gymbag and kept delaying the plans I had already made.

Soooo.... I'm sure you're dying to know about what's been going for the past ten/eleven/14 days or however long it's been- it's not like I'm keeping track of these things, I can barely find time to CHILL for half an hour before I realise there's yet another thing I should be doing/fixing/reminding myself of doing later.. I guess the first day of school is a good place to start.This was allegedly NOT "the" day to dress up in your fanciest LBD and look like you're going to meet the queen- that time will come by the end of the month when we have our "inaguration" day and officially become students of the university/matriculate and whatnot.. It's not like in Edinburgh when you go to your Director of Studies and casually let them know you're alive. This is Poland- people do things FORMALLY! It is almost needless to say that there is a semi-formal dresscode even for lectures. In other words I have a feeling that I won't be wearing out more than one pair of tracksuit bottoms this year and will instead have to invest in items I have never owned before ... like pencil skirts... seriously >_< ? I hope I can at least get away with half of my wardrobe.

Anyways, orientation day!

We were given nametags and information packs that were uploaded on USB stick-keychains shaped as a surgeon in scrubs- I think it's close to being the coolest gadget I've ever owned! Then there were several talks and a "white coat ceremony" where we were all called out and given our doctors' (i.e. lab-) coats. Feeling rather awkward after having been called up and walked down the to the front, anxious about making a scene while putting it on and heading straight back to my seat at the very back of the lecture theatre I soon settled with the idea that this is going to be THE coat that will take me through the 6 years of med-school. Cool, yes?

 I'm quite amazed by how his genuinely happy expression  lasted throughout the entire ceremony. Impressive facial muscles!

..and these are my classmates ^^

After x number of speeches we had lunch, some unfortunate souls were interviewed by people with suspiciously professional video cameras as if they were on the news and in the afternoon we went on a tour of the anatomy museum. Fascinating as always, though quite similar to the one in Edinburgh :) 

The locations of our classes are close to one another and I quite like the neighbourhood and the mix of old/new buildings. A decent lunch at the cafe consisting of soup and a main course with meat, veg, salad and rice is less than £4 and apparently rather delicious. What's strange however is the limited lunch hours as apparently there is no designated "lunchtime"-culture here as far as I can tell. It's even more difficult when 60+ students are trying to buy their lunch from the same cashier during the 30 minute-break between the two subjects we have during the summer course. 

The chemistry classes finished last week, which for me was a massive relief as I am not a huge fan of the

subject (don't dare judge, I can still become a doctor!) Having already done two courses in biochemistry I might even get exempted from the general chemistry course this year by transferring the grades I got at UoE- which weren't fantastic, but I keep thinking it will give me more time to concentrate on anatomy and histology as I will still be required to do a course on organic chemistry. The summer course in biology is okay- mostly repetition from high school/1-2-3rd year biology which I am quite happy with.

POLISH CLASSES however.................. now that's what I call hard core! Thankfully we meet every day of the week and even though it seems like my group is much slower than the others my vocabulary is probably reaching the range of 30-50 words, which to me is quite baffling. Then again I have to know how to count from 1-999,999 for tomorrow. Failing this oral test means sitting a written test the following week (for which I might as well start preparing for already :/) Who knew I'd ever have to learn such a crazy language!?

Worth mentioning: other than the usual verbs, nouns and adjectives, Polski peeps also conjugate (i.e. bend- hahahaha great inside joke here) numbers, names  and pretty much every other family of words you can think of. Except MY name for some bizarre reason...somehow I'm inconjugable- or unbendable if you like. Phew!

 

Oh well, at least I can order beer and pay the taxi driver... Bardzo dobrze!

Which brings me to the standard of living, only if I start talking about it further many of you will probably morph into ostriches and hide your heads under the ground or alternatively give yourselves a grand facepalm.
....not that I care, so I'll mention it anyway muahahaha. With my student loan (which has not plunged into my bank account and worries me a little as I am currently living off my savings...) I allegedly have the capacity to live like a Slavic princess. When I go out for a meal at a fancy restaurant in the evening, they charge me roughly £6. If I ever want a cappuccino in the canteen, the total is roughly 80 pence. If a tram ride is what I desire, the fare costs me 40 pence- that is BEFORE applying my student discount. I have to say I felt a bit ripped off when buying my bike as I paid £50 more than another classmate who got hers a week earlier. Though I don't really care cause it looks bloody gorgeous:

My only bike accessory  requirement was the basket. The fact that it's green is a pleasant coincidence :)

Another random thing I have to mention is how we got acquainted with ~15 medics from NTNU (Norwegian University of Science & Tech) last week. We met this group of guys randomly on a casual night out at Buddha bar (already had too many beers at this place) where they mentioned that they were "touring" Krakow as a medic-choir. Unsurprisingly they elegantly barged in to the school canteen two days later all suited up and sang us some rather cool acapella tunes (!) and after the brief concert, invited the entire class to a tram-party that very evening. Que pasa you say? Well I said the same until I saw the concept and it was basically a club on wheels that took us through the town and a bit further where we got to take our own drinks and enjoy the ride. Major fun times ^^ 

Will tell more about all the new stuff later! Going out to meet another bunch of new people now. Laterzzz!

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