Tuesday, September 1, 2009

How not to carry 1/2 gallon of water around campus

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL is over!! It was fun! Only two classes and a LOOOOOOONG 5.5-hour break which I used wisely. I went to the gym and settled some unfinished I'm-a-new-student business and tied up loose other ends.

My first class was Movement Analysis which is basically about joints--how they work and why they work the way they do. You must know anatomy and physics to even begin to understand this course as we talk a lot about muscles pulling bones and the forces that cause the movements and mechanics and mechanic theories. Naturally, I think it's interesting.

After class I had a long break so I worked out by running around the campus. The campus is HUGE and green and beautiful. Then I went to Wal-mart to get some scrubs for tomorrow's anatomy class. The instructor was clear that you need to wear scrubs or old clothes. Apparently, many people on campus are freaked out by the fact that there are cadavers in the anatomy lab so the instructors encourage us to bring a separate set of clothes, you know, in case you get human guts on it or something. I guess it makes people nauseous.

Right before my Physiology of Disease class I went to the library to print out the lecture notes from the previous class which weren't available online last night. So, I'm carrying my book bag and my half-gallon of water jug. I purchased this plastic jug from Jewel. It holds 1/2 gallon of water and it even has a carrying case so you can carry it like a purse or a bag. I had just filled the jug with water and tightly screwed the lid. As I approached a computer I grabbed the jug by the handle to place it on the table next to the computer. Somehow it slipped, fell on the floor, the lid popped off AND ALL MY WATER SPILLED ON THE FLOOR. And it all happened in super slow motion...The jug fell from my hand in outer-space speed, I saw every bead of water hit the floor and I saw the left side of the jug hit the floor then the right side. I gasped very loudly and said 'Noooooo!' It was all very dramatic. I should have fallen to my knees with head and fists raised in the air. That would have been very climactic.

I told a librarian who came to see the spill and exclaimed, 'Wow, that's a LOT of water.' Yep, it was a 1/2 gallon water spill so I concur, it was a huge water spill. Needless to say I screwed the cap on the jug again to see how this could happen and something about it was off! It doesn't screw all the way. So, I threw it out. I went to the car to get the actual gallon so that I could bring that to class. Next time, I'm going to Wal-mart to look for something to hold my water. Wal-mart is the shopping behemoth. They have everything.

Anyway, after the water spill that frustrated me, I went to Physiology of Disease class. The instructor told us immediately that this is a difficult class. We have THREE books for this class, one of which is that $221 book that doesn't prepare my lunch or do my homework. Anyone who knows me knows that I work out a lot and I drink a TON of water, like a gallon a day. So, I did what any healthy person would do-- I brought my gallon to class (hey, there's no other way to get in my gallon a day. The jugs at Target just aren't big enough). I sit in the front row of all my classes (NERD!). So, as I'm sitting in the front I was thirsty so I took a drink. The teacher interrupted her lecture and said 'Wow, you're such a good girl. You don't just drink water you bring an entire GALLON with you. You need to teach me how to do that, I don't drink enough.' This got a few chuckles from my classmates. I thought it was funny that she was so...intrigued by that. I guess a girl taking a drink from a gallon container is maybe... a little different. But hey, I gotta do it. I don't want to be a chunky (aka FAT) grad student. I heard somewhere that water is supposed to be good for you. Something about the body being mostly water... :-)

For this class you need quite a bit of Bio and Organic chem. Amazingly, there are people in the class without an organic chem background. I feel sorry for them! We immediately got into macromolecules and bio basics. It's going to be a slight struggle for them to understand what they should have spent some other semester learning. Thank God for prerequisites! Long live prerequisites.

Both classes were lecture style with about 60-70 students. Most of the students are Occupational Therapy (yeah!) and Physical Therapy (blank stare) students. These are the people that I will basically spend the next year to 1.5 years with. I actually saw a girl from my Physics class from last semester! We spoke briefly and she gave me the details about the Anatomy class (that I take tomorrow) because she took it over the summer. She said the cadavers made her queasy! I thought that was funny because a large part of our learning is due to the cadavers.

Anyway, it was an interesting day and I learned a lot. Tomorrow I'll crack open these $900 books and get some real studying done.

I'll have plenty of time to study since I can't eat this month...

1 comment:

  1. I am glad you are passionate about this new adventure. Frankly I think you should include writing as one of your passions also. Your story is very good so far. And the reason you need scrubs or old clothes is because of the formaldehyde because it is strong and the sent lingers in your clothes hair etc. I couldn't hang many years ago, but you will be just fine!

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