On Friday I had an impromptu lunch with a sort-of-acquaintance of mine who majored in political science and dropped into town for a whirlwind day of tourism. There was a little bit of awkwardness because he thought “lunch” meant “lunch, then you showing me around the city”, which – good lord, I felt bad, but not gonna happen.
For starters, I have no idea. He seemed kind of shocked that I didn’t know where a couple of prominent political attractions were – but I knew the 30-block radius! Also, I know where you can shop for clothes, sheet music, and nerdy comic books. If he was interested in any of the above, I maintain I would’ve seemed cool and in-the-know.
Besides that, when would I have had time to have actually walked around the Museum of Factual Politicitude? (Or, I guess more correctly – when would I have had time when I didn’t have to study AND didn’t just feel like lying on my bed and watching The Simpsons?) And closer to the truth, even though it sucks to say it – I had way too much studying to do.
I would like to say “This is what med school has turned me into”, but let’s be honest- I was never going to see that museum. I really want to be the kind of person who will see certain museums – fancy ones with paintings by French people, or sculptures shaped like adverbs – and I can realistically fantasize about that – but even my imagination draws the line at the drier political stuff.
It was strange stepping outside of the med student bubble, though. On one hand, I should probably try to do it more often, on the other hand, if you take away the option of talking about med school, it turns out I only have about 3 strong topics for potential conversation these days. (Luckily, one of them is world politics**, so the poly sci major and I were all set – but still. Embarrassing.)
Saturday was filled with immunology. Man, do I know a lot about T cells. Then some friends and I watched Easy A (this is my favorite clip) and I started writing things like “good lord” and “Museum of Factual Politicitude”. *
And today is going to be pretty relaxed. One of my major goals this week was to finally get a watch. I used to resist the watch idea because I had a perfectly good cell phone, hello – but ever since med school started, I’ve realized it’s looks kind of rude to pull out your cell phone in the middle of small group, clerkship, or lecture. Even if you are just checking the time.
Actually, I guess checking your watch in the middle of those things looks kind of rude, too. But it’s a more professional, refined kind of rude. The kind of rude that says “I’m sorry, I’m just very busy and important. Also, Community is on in an hour and I can’t remember if I set my tivo.”
So, right. I’m going to go buy a watch so I can pretend to be a real adult.
Action Potential 
It amazes me that people — even people not in medicine — don’t understand that a person cannot always spend an entire day of their time with them when they come visit. I hope they weren’t offended that you had to study.
I’m impressed that you actually knew the 30 block radius around your apartment already. That took several years for me to accomplish.
Oh man, I hope so too. I didn’t exactly say it, but I ended up implying that I had a required session after lunch. (I mean, studying is required.) I think that made it more socially acceptable to him.
Also, I totally wrote that wrong. I know that the political museum is in an area of the city that’s about 30 blocks in size, but I don’t know where it is within that zone.
(Depending on how lax I’m choosing to be with the definition “know”, I might know a 5 block radius around the med school…)
In the city I went to school there were all kinds of cool things. Very few of which I saw until the 4th year, after the match. Then I spent my time seeing them, since I’d be moving away soon.
And yeah, people NOT in med school have no clue about what it’s like. I think that’s why we tend to bond to classmates.
Oh the non-med school/vet school world has no clue what it is like in the trenches. I have friends outside of vet school who are on the student health advisory board with me, but I only truely know the two that are also graduate students because we has something in common. Otherwise my friends are people who also understand vet school jokes and don’t judge me when it comes to having no life (because they don’t have one either!).
So, what’s within 30 blocks? Having just moved to Ames for the last half of vet school I’m in the same boat. I know the little town I live in, and I know the location of 1) the student health center, pharmacy, PT & rec center 2) the hospital/ER 3) where my specialists are located, 4) veterinary clinics for my critters, 5) grocery store/WalMart/Target, 6) pet food store, 7) the lake to get away from everything. I have a vauge idea where the movie theatre is, and can direct you to GoodWill, the Salvation Army, and the Mall (which I’ve been in 2x to get my eyes checked and pick up my new glasses). Anything else and I’m lost.
I just saw that movie a few days ago. 🙂 It was cute. And I’ve been meaning to buy a watch for that exact same reason.
I’m a little surprised at how clueless your friend was, but I guess I mostly have friends who are in the sciences or who have lots of other medical student friends. Graduate and professional school are serious business (with exceptions; I knew some liberal arts type grad students who seemed to have all kinds of time, lucky bastards).
Easy A was hilarious! That clip was definitely my favorite part. And nice one with the La Vie at the end haha. On a serious note, The Museum of Factual Policitude, even with a more interesting name, sounded boooring anyway.
The only reason I have any sense of where things are in the city is because I now live downtown and not next to the university and I did my undergrad at the same school (an academic faux pas, but I deal with it).
professional, refined rudeness, haha. The kind we all aspire to.
It’s an academic faux pas to go to the same med school as you did your undergrad? Really? I hadn’t heard of that. Just about every pre-med at my undergrad institution has our affiliated med school rated as their top choice (it’s the same with dental and pharmacy).
Well, my school in particular, as the medical school here had a reputation of favoring the students from the premed undergrad program, so I kept getting lumped in with them. More generally, I’ve also been told that it looks better on you to have studied in a number of different institutions, to both show you can thrive in different environments, and to remove any doubt that it’s the institution that’s making you look good.