Let the semester begin

After a few weeks of not thinking about school work beyond ordering my books, we officially started back in on Thursday. I feel for any of my classmates who didn't begin at least on Wednesday as I did. The first few weeks are always rather overwhelming and this has been no exception. It didn't help that our online platform was down all day yesterday and most of today.

I began by downloading each syllabus and noting key assignments and dates on my calendar. Last semester we didn't have any exams. This semester our first exam is in three weeks - in Anatomy. I sure hope everything I learned during the fall of 2011 comes back quickly or it will be overwhelming. Functional Anatomy & Kinesiology is one of the classes that will require the most study. As occupational therapists, we focus mainly on the upper body so that is where we begin. Tomorrow I need to plug away on the bones, muscles, nerves and blood supply in the shoulder and arm.

Another class that will require a lot of time is a 5 credit class called Occupation Through Compensation. This is where our studies get very practical since we will regularly be using what we learn in our practice. I really need to learn this material for more than the test. It looks at ways people can compensate for weakness or the loss of ability to do something. It might be temporary such as the man who had a hip replacement and can't bend at the waist past a 90˚ angle for six weeks but still wants to be able to put on his pants, shoes and socks. Others face permanent changes such as the woman who becomes paralyzed and finds she must learn new ways to do many daily activities from her wheelchair. This class includes 24 hours of practical experience which will be my first taste of actually doing occupational therapy as opposed to simply observing.

One big change this semester is that we will be on campus in class every other week for two full days. In addition I have a cadaver lab every other Monday for a couple of hours. However, since this is the first week, we begin tomorrow with the lab and have class on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. It will be great to have more interaction with professors and classmates but the extra time in class as well as all the professors expect us to do before class time add to the pressure of these first two weeks. It will get better and come April 10, everything will be done!