Week Two

Week two started on Monday with CPR certification followed by a brutal anatomy exam in the afternoon. I think the anatomy exam went about as well as I could have hoped for considering how difficult it was. I still have not got my score back yet and I am a little nervous to see how I did. We ended the week with the annual DS1 conference in Cannon Beach, Oregon. We had a great time and got to meet the leaders of our vertical integration teams. My group, the St. Johns Bridge group, seems like a good group of students and our faculty mentor also seem like a great instructor. We had a lot of fun staying at the resort. We were fed exceptionally well and we stayed in very nice rooms. The room that I was in had 3 plasma screen tv's and another LCD in the bathroom. During the day on Thursday, we were bussed out to the resort where we had some intorduction and team building activities. In the evening, we watched the Beavers beat Utah in the season opener. While watching, were were also drinking and socilaizing. After the game the party spilled out onto the beach where my classmates and I continued to drink more and socialize on the beach. We are becoming a tight bunch of students that likes to work hard and to have fun at the same time. I feel like we have the perfect balance of having fun and doing well. This group is going to make life in dental school for the next four years so much more enjoyable. Tonight I am off to Central Oregon to do a little fishing for the Labor Day weekend. I'll post pictures of fish on my next entry.

End of Week One

Today marks the end of week one in dental school. It has been a long week with many hours spent at the anatomy lab. We have our first exam coming up tomorrow and it should be real interesting to find out the testing style of our professor. From what I have heard from the upperclassmen is that it is going to be difficult and grueling. He scores our exams with a negative marking system where you are penalized with negative points for the wrong answer. The amount of material that is covered on this exam after only one week is staggering compared to what could be expected from undergraduate. Besides totally immersing myself in my classes, OHSU hosted a night at OMSI for all of the new students. We got to see the Body Worlds 3 exhibit on Friday night. After the museum, some of my classmates and I went to the bars in downtown Portland for a few drinks. Before my exam tomorrow I have my CPR certification class so I will not have much time to study unlike 2/3rds of my class who don't have CPR cert tomorrow. We'll see how tomorrow goes.

First Day of School

Today was my first day of school at the OHSU School of Dentistry. We started off the morning with an check in and continental breakfast. We then had a three hour orientation from the dean of the school and some of the admissions staff. We learned a lot about all of the forms we needed to sign and the things that we needed to check out. Dr. Clinton talked some about how the program is changing and the new thing that are going on. After the orientation they had a sandwich lunch for us. We also got assigned our locker and our bone box. After lunch we had a two hour anatomy lecture from Dr Benninger followed by another four hours of lab. In lab we broke into groups of 5 and started the dissection of our cadaver. My group was lucky in that our cadaver was in good shape and not very fat. I am lucky in that my group works well together and everyone works hard. We got a long ways on our dissection so we wont have as much to do in the next several days. Overall the first day went well. I like my new classmates a lot and I am going to get a long well with them. I am looking forward to a great year.

Moved to Portland

I have now moved to Portland in order to start dental school at Oregon Health and Science University. I am living in an apartment with a room mate about three blocks away from the OHSU campus. We will walk down the hill to the dental school every day to attend classes . To go to the gym I will walk down the hill to the Portland Sky Tram and I will take the tram to the Willamette water front. It has taken a lot of work to furnish and decorate our apartment. I have almost got all settled in and am ready to start school on Monday. This weekend I am going rafting and camping on the Deschutes river. I will be coming back early in order to attend a BBQ with my new classmates.

Southern California

Last weekend I went to Southern California for a family reunion. We flew on Friday in to Orange County and went immediately to the Angels, Twins game. It was an exciting game with the Angles killing the twins. We saw some nice plays and a grand slam home run. I still think that college baseball is much more fun and exciting to watch. Not only because I have a great team to root for in the Beavers, but because the game smaller is much faster pace. The next day we went down to the beach to watch my cousin run in a jr. iron man competition. We left the competition early so we could drive south to my Grandparents house San Diego. Later that evening we had dinner and a family reunion. The next day we just relaxed around the house and enjoyed the good weather. On Monday my mother and I flew back to home to Ashland. So that was what I did this last weekend.