This Makes One More Post Than My Old Blog

A second post, you say?!?  ¡Ay caramba!

A little more information about this type of schooling, because if I haven't already answered all of your myriad questions, then the odds are good that you don't know

 very much about it.  I know I didn't.

So, as many of you know, I've been trying to get into medical school for a long time, and I was never able to secure admission in an American medical school.  The Caribbean option made me a little uneasy, but it's been a great experience so far.  Here's the general layout for me:

Medical school typically takes 4 years, and the usual setup is that the first 2 years are spent largely in lectures, learning gross anatomy, microanatomy, etc. - all the classroom coursework that a doctor needs to be proficient.  The second 2 years are the clinical years, where young MDs-to-be learn to interact with patients more, and they do rotations in different areas of medicine like surgery, OB/GYN, pediatrics, etc.

As a student in Ross University's School of Medicine, I'm going to spend the first 4semesters on the island of Dominica - the Nature Island of the Caribbean.  That's 16 months, from January 2009 through April 2010, with 2-week breaks every 4 months.  After that, I will spend 4 months in either Miami, FL, or in Michigan in Ross's Advanced Introduction to Clinical Medicine.  My 2 clinical years, which will follow, will take place at 1 or more of 70 different teaching hospitals throughout the United States associated with Ross.  It's a little more complicated than fairly standard 1-location all-inclusive medical schools that you'll find in the U.S., but it's just part of the adventure!  Other military brats like myself will know what it's like to move around frequently.  I'm used to it, and I'm looking forward to it.

Thanks to Scott "Goat" Turner and Alina "Crud" McClain for their comments!  Any more comments would be helpful.  Be sure to ask me any questions you might have in a comment, email, text, IM, facebook, or messenger pigeon, and I'd be happy to answer everyone!  I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukkah, Fantastic Festivus, or Kickin' Kwanzaa!  I'll be in Dallas, TX, where my whole family will be crashing with my big sister Gayle and her clan!  I'll be sure to post again while I'm there!

As always, take care!

(photo courtesy of user kretyen on flickr.com)