by Shaza | Jul 12, 2012
Hey everyone,
Hope you’ve all been doing well, it’s been a while. Who would have known M3 year would be busy?
I’m currently on my psychiatry rotation. Unlike most rotations, mine is not located at the University of Michigan Hospital. Instead, I’m spending my days at various community mental health clinics around Washtenaw County. It has been incredibly interesting, and I’ve enjoyed it a lot. I’ve spent time in youth clinics, adult clinics in Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor, and even the Washtenaw County jail. I like a lot of aspects of psych, but it took a lot out of me the first week. Hearing about the history and contributing factors behind someone’s mental illness were a lot to take in, especially when the patients are children. But it’s been getting less overwhelming as I get more used to it.
Alright, time for me to enjoy this afternoon off, I’ll leave you with this picture of the most beautiful building on campus, the law school:
-Shaza
by Shaza | Apr 13, 2012
Hello hello!
Did you hear? I finished M2 year! It’s honestly crazy that the pre-clinical part of med school is over. We’ve learned so many words! –words that people don’t understand, that connect pathophysiology to diseases to clinical pictures, words that will take us to the next part of our med school education. It’s mind-blowing what a difference two years can make. The pre-clinical years were good for some things, but I’m not too sad to see it go. I know I might change my mind later, but I can’t wait to use another part of my brain! I’ll see people in the hospital, try to remember how to interact with them, see if they’ll laugh at my jokes, etc.
I’m talking a lot- did I mention yet that I’m studying for boards?
At UMMS we get ~6.5 weeks to study and take arguably the biggest exam of our career. First there were ACTs (I’m a Michigan girl), then the MCAT, and now 4 years later another big one- the USMLE Step 1.
Studying for this exam has been a flurry of emotions. Feeling stressed out, then feeling calm, then feeling guilty for feeling calm, then worried that the calm is a sign that I’m not taking this seriously enough, then reassurance that I’m sure I’m doing great. Much like during MCAT studying, at some points I tried to convince myself that I’m some sort of genius that will know everything right off the bat. This surprisingly has not been the case. I’ve instead become a mnemonic-making machine so I can try to remember everything.
It’s weird: we’re told 4-6 weeks is enough to study and take the boards, so we all are pretty sure we’ll be ready in that time: we’ve scheduled out exams from anywhere between late April and early May, and… that’s it. We just have to trust and hope that everyone was telling us the truth and that we’re not some aberration from the rest of the class.
Can you tell I’m stressed? I did take an awesome half-day break last week though- I went to a beautiful wedding of my friends Fadwa and Ali. Fadwa is my very close friend’s sister (though by extension I consider them all family). It was an absolutely gorgeous wedding with delicious food and great Arabic music to dance to (with more than 1000 guests!!!). Here’s a pic with my friends and me (I’m on the left):
the bride's brother Abbas and his contribution to the 1000-guest wedding
Alright, back to studying! Jk I’m gonna sleep now.
Shaza
by Shaza | Mar 5, 2012
Hey everyone, it’s been a minute. I promise I’ve been very busy: school hit us with some difficult sequences, and I was organizing a big event through an organization of which I am a part, Medical Students of Middle-Eastern Descent.
Basically, Southeastern Michigan is home to one of the largest concentrations of Arabs outside of the Arab world. A few classmates and I realized that a lot of med students from outside Michigan had no idea, or at least had not explored the manifestations of having such a large minority population nearby. So I organized an “Exploring Arab America” trip to Dearborn, MI, where 40% of the city’s population is Arab-American, businesses have signs in English and Arabic, and even franchises cater to the population (the McDonald’s in Dearborn has halal chicken nuggets to attract the Muslims in the area, for example).
With an overwhelming response from the med school classes, we took a U of M bus down to Dearborn, where we first received guided tours of the Arab American National Museum.
can you tell I didn't take this photo
a view of the inside of the museum's dome, in the style of Arab-Islamic architecture, with Arabic calligraphy at the very top
We then headed to Habib’s Cuisine, where we feasted on delicious Arabic cuisine– food is my favorite aspect of culture.
on the bus just like in elementary school, classmates very energetic after eating delicious food
Our last major stop was at the ACCESS Community Health Center, which very impressively caters to the population in all majors arenas of health. Here are the students excited to take a tour of ACCESS’s facilities:
want me to photograph your wedding? email me at shazaalh@umich.edu for bookings
The day was very long, to say the least. But it was great. It was nerve racking for me because I wanted to make sure everything worked out perfectly, but I got a lot of enthusiastic responses from classmates. So.. I was happy and tired. 🙂 I then ended the day by heading to central campus to watch the Smoker, which is a parody/play/roast put on entirely by talented medical students. It was amazing. Not only is it impressive that med students put all of it together, it also is hilarious and cathartic to watch a parody portrayed from the students’ perspective of the medical school and especially the faculty. Great end to a great day:) I’m good with adjectives.
See you all later!
by Shaza | Jan 6, 2012
Hey everyone, happy holidays and new year!
This break has been pretty relaxing. Being used to what University of Michigan calls “winter vacations” from undergrad, which only end up lasting 2 weeks (not an exaggeration), I was really excited to find that the med school gave us a 3-week vacation. 🙂 I’ve mostly stayed at home, hung out with friends from undergrad, and read good non-medical books.
I did go to Chicago for a few days with friends. I’ll spare you the photos, as I mostly took pictures of the lamb and steak we ate at a delicious Brazilian steakhouse in Chicago. Food is usually the highlight for me when I travel.
I’ve also been unwinding after a busy last week of classes. I took the opportunity of having a relatively laid-back Dermatology sequence that week and made it stressful by organizing an Arabic food sale with the Medical Students of Middle-Eastern Descent. We got food donations from delicious Arabic restaurants around Ann Arbor and sold plates of that food at the medical school. All the proceeds went to the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, a great charity that, among other things, sponsors medical trips for children in the Middle East to receive life-saving surgeries and medical care (http://www.pcrf.net/ for more info). Raising money for PCRF was reason enough to try to put on a successful fundraiser after a difficult semester in school, and it ended up being a great success: we sold out all of our food in an hour! And while I’m still receiving checks in the mail from amazing faculty and physicians who have donated to the cause, we raised more than $1200!! Never would I have imagined raising that much from a food sale, but it seems the Arabic food and great cause was enticing enough:) Here are some pictures:
Putting on the food sale fundraiser has probably been my favorite UMMS memory so far, and it felt great having the support of faculty. And based on the enthusiastic responses, MSMD will definitely have to make this an annual event. 🙂
Alright, time to enjoy the last few days before M2 year continues! Take care!
by Shaza | Nov 30, 2011
Hey everyone,
Yes, I survived the neuro sequence, thanks for asking. In my opinion, the sequence lived up to its reputation- it was HARD, definitely the hardest sequence of my first two years. I took the test at the last possible moment I could- Wednesday at 10pm, the night before Thanksgiving. We were allowed 4 hours to take it, and while that’s usually a lot of time for a 120-question test, I finished the test after 3 hrs 45 min. But who’s counting
Let’s talk about the exciting things I’ve done in Ann Arbor since we last spoke:
1. Lecture by 2011 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Tawakkul Karman. Karman is the first Arab woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, and she earned it through her work in helping the revolution in her home country Yemen. She was an amazing and sharp speaker, it was such an honor to hear her speak about her work. Here she is teaching the audience revolutionary chants that peaceful Yemeni protestors have yelled in the streets:
2. Michigan/Ohio State Game. What a great day. U of M has lost to its biggest rival OSU every year since I’ve attended undergrad at this university, so it was great to be at the Big House to witness our first victory against OSU since 2003. Here’s a picture of the fans rushing the field after the big win before I went down myself:
3. Lecture by Dr. Cornel West. Just yesterday I was able to attend a lecture by Dr. Cornel West, who has been a very prominent civil rights activist for decades. He is such a talented and intelligent speaker who offered a lot of insight at the opening event for the School of Social Work’s first annual summit, Making Race Heard. Here’s a picture:
So, despite the workload, I’ve managed to have quite a few memorable experiences in Ann Arbor in the past few weeks. Gotta go study now! Take care!
