A(n) (illustrated) day in the life of a medical student in Krakow.

I decided to make this post to keep as another point-of-reference. How does a normal day during the pre-clinical years at the UJ School of Medicine in English (SME) look like?

07:30

Breakfast and the occasional preparation of a "matpakke"/packed lunch if one can be bothered (lunch is quite affordable at the 'oh so lovely' canteen/cafe at CDK, so no worries if this time is rather spent catching up on lost sleep. There will always be some soup waiting for you), followed by mentally preparing for a morning lecture. 

07:55

Frantically biking to said lecture (at Kopernika or Lazarza street), almost running over a few pigeons and hobos in Planty (park surrounding the Main Market Square) on the way.

08:00-08:10

If all goes well, the traffic lights cooperate and you're not held back by roadworks or old ladies that do not respond to "przepraszam pani" ( indicating something like: 'excuse me mrs, you're in my way, could you please be so kind and move for a moment?') by principle, then you're at the lecture on time! If not, you're fashionably late and climb up the stairs at the back of the theater or sneak into the room casually finding a chair to slouch in for the next 90 minutes or so of Physiology or Biochemistry... Alternatively, if the lecture is held by inspiring members of the academic staff, you pay attention. Here are some example shots:

If the morning lecture is called "anatomy lab" you put that lab coat on and vigorously take notes as the teacher points out 50 structures of the skull in the first 15 minutes of class. Being late can be stressful in this case and you may as well stay at home to avoid humiliation as the teacher greets you into the lab and you break into tears from the formaldehyde that instantly tickles your lacrimal glands.... 

09:45

A few options are available at this point of the day:

- Bike your way to the next class

- Bike to CDK which can offer an array of activities: have a bite at the canteen I mentioned earlier, catch up on some reading in the reading rooms...

well yeah, that's basically it...  or just chill the heck out outside like these guys:

- Head to the main market square-area for a bite and casual cafe-reading while waiting for your next class to begin

- Do some errands! Most establishments (including Galeria Krakowska- huge shopping center) opens at 10am so if you head there at this point you're guaranteed to bypass the rush of people and get whatever it is you need to do out of the way early in the day. 

- Go to the gym! Both Pure Angel City and Pure Platinum Kazimierz are within reach and a quick workout can easily be squeezed in between classes

 

12:00

Polish class! From what I hear this will from now on be obligatory throughout all years of the 6-year programme because of additional practical classes at the hospital in the clinical years and more patient interaction which means that you kind of need to communicate in the indigenous language. Here you can see the degree of seriousness around this subject as we were revising for our Polish exam last year:

14:00

LUNCHTIME. Take out your "matpakke" and buy yourself a coffee or fill your thermo cup with hot water and brew that teabag. If you forgot your matpakke at home, pull out a 5 zl coin and have some soup. There are very few things in the world of Polish cuisine that beats the soup. Soup for the people all day every day!

15:00

On most days you'd be done for the day, however hose labs don't do themselves, so every now and then there's one you have to attend as absences beyond what is allowed could cause trouble later in the year with for example permission to take the final exam, etc..
Biophysics, histology, physiology, biochemistry all tend to have labs scheduled PM (unless your surname is early in the alphabet and you're in a group that is usually first off to finish every practical aspect of the courses here at SME... *not jealous at all*)
In histo you get to play with these badass microscopes:

The labs last between 60 minute to 3 hours depending on how efficient the teacher is at explaining what you are going to do and how quickly you actually do it. Unfortunately the standard deviation of lab hours can be high and thus unpredictable at times. Be strategic about which labs to skip and just hang in there on the days when you just want to scream and shout and kill everyone within reach. It will be over! And hey, some of the labs can actually be quite fun when you get to see stuff like this:

...though if you ask me what that is I can shamefully say that I forgot all about it some time in September last year.

17:30

Also a few options available here:
- Go to the gym if you didn't go in the morning
- Go home and make yourself some dinner. Feeling too lazy to cook but too dedicated to catch up on last week's reading? Call a takeout and ask them to deliver it to Sw. Lazarza 16. Expect this to take at least an hour. This is Poland... Nuff said.

19:00

Either:
- Keep reading. You can rest when you're dead
- Be all super cool and attend a CoperniChoir rehearsal! Sing your heart out and drink some beer with the crew afterwards. Best form of recreation you can imagine:

00:00

Read a little more to let off the guilt that may have piled up throughout the day. Or crash on the couch like these guys:

And that kind of wraps it up...! So apply to UJ SME come to Krakow and experience it all first hand :p Definitely worth it ^_^



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