Summer Before Med School: The Transition

Hello everyone once again!

I am sorry for being away for some time. My schedule has been getting hectic as we approach the start of school. Today, I decided to write a little about how I have been spending my summer and some of the interesting emotions associated with starting medical school and starting a new chapter of life. 

First of all, I think a lot of my new classmates will have very different summer experiences. I think this is truly free time where you do not need to worry about school or applications and can do whatever works for you. Some might spend the summer doing research, working, traveling, or just relaxing. All of these options and many others are completely valid, so I will just be touching on what I ended up doing. 

My main goal: enjoy the summer while also doing what needs to get done. 

My mindset here was that we will never get this period of time again where there isn't much to stress about and we can really just rest. I wanted to really give myself a chance to enjoy the summer and hopefully come into school refreshed and ready for the variety of changes and challenges. 

I ended up spending the first month helping my family move, then I worked on a little bit of research, and then I mostly just had free time as I prepared both physically and mentally for moving downtown and starting school. These are some of the things I focused on:

Registration requirements

This is a big one of course. There are quite a few things that U of T has asked us to do before we can officially be enrolled in medical school. Honestly, when I first saw the list I found it super overwhelming. Comment below if you felt the same, I'm probably not alone. From transcripts, to buying equipment, to first aid courses, to police checks, to medical forms on immunization, to a bunch of forms to sign and some to mail in as hard copies, there was just a lot to do.  Personally, my giant wall calendar was really helpful in making the requirements seem more organized and manageable. 

Some of my tips: 

• Focus on one at a time: I tried my best to do something towards medical school everyday. This could just be getting through the very long email they sent and putting in the dates on the calendar. It could be something like calling the doctor to book an appointment. Or even just looking through first aid courses in the area. For me personally, I found that these tiny tasks became exciting rather than terrifying. It also allowed me to get through everything without too much procrastination.
• Don't stress: I think so many of us emailed the admin team so many times asking to confirm that they received something (they were very understanding and kind by the way). However, honestly no one is going to kick you out because your police check got lost in the mail. 
• Do the first aid course with other med students if you can: this was one of the best ideas suggested by one of my peers. We ended up going as a group of five and it was so much more fun than it would have been on my own. I was also able to get to know a few of these new people which will hopefully make orientation week a little less intimidating. I think after a year of being locked away from social interactions, it was so nice to get this small exposure in preparation for school. 

Moving downtown

This one was and still is probably the most stressful part of my summer. Deciding on a living situation, finding an apartment, filling out rental applications, getting a deposit, and then packing and moving is a lot. I was thinking of writing a whole post about my downtown apartment searching and living experience, so if that is something you guys would like to see, let me know in the comments. I have personally decided to rent a studio apartment and live alone for the fall semester. 

I think for here I just want to say, that it is okay to be stressed with this. Sometimes it seems like everyone else is doing fine, and you should do this "simple" task easily as well. In reality, most people that I have talked to have complained about the stress of finding a place to live. We are all in this together. 

Packing/Decluttering

This goes along with the previous point, but a large portion of my summer was spent just going through all of my stuff in an attempt to declutter. I say attempt. For some reason it is so incredibly difficult for me to decide on whether I need something and makes me scared to get rid of anything. Most of this packing and decluttering only really started this week, so I definitely did procrastinate on this one a bit. 

Relaxing

This was super important to me, so I really just let myself live the summer without "getting my life together". I think there is so much pressure to be productive, even during your rest time, and I tried my best to not worry about that. Could I have gone on many trips? Or out to the beach twice a week? Yes for sure, but I was too lazy or didn't feel like it and that's okay. 

Now that I had this free time to myself I really just thought about what I would like to do with it. For me this included lots of walks, trying out reading again outside in the shade (after practically no reading in undergrad), starting this blog, watching a teen drama show with my little sister, spending time with my family and boyfriend, and just laying in bed doing nothing. One of the things I did try to do was limit my phone usage. It did not work everyday, but I did try to get away from technology a bit to help myself actually relax. I will definitely have to keep working on that once school starts because I do find myself super dependent on my phone. 

Socializing

As the Covid situation has begun to improve in Ontario, I made an effort to connect with people. I have always struggled with anxiety around socializing especially with new people, but I love forming connections, so I knew this would make my summer more fulfilling. 

Here are some of the things I ended up doing:

• This Blog: it has been so nice to connect with all of you and share my experiences and get feedback from all these new people that I have never met. 
• Trip with friends: this was the one trip I did end up going on this summer. I went on a short weekend getaway to Niagara Falls with my high school group of friends and it was even better than I expected. It was just so nice to get out of the routine of being stuck at home and be able to go out and do things and interact with people again. I think this will make the transition downtown easier for me without such a sudden change. It also gave me a chance to see all of my friends that I haven't seen in a long time and really catch up on everyone's lives as we move through graduation (from undergrad) and beyond. 
• New med school friends: everyone has been so friendly. I have mentioned connecting with some classmates at the first aid class, which was amazing. However, even just small chats online with people in a similar situation as myself, has really made me feel like I am part of a community. Everyone has been so welcoming and friendly and I have really enjoyed all the (a bit awkward surface-level, small talk) conversations that we have had so far. 
• Family: I will be moving away soon so this was the perfect time to really spend quality time with my family :)

Conclusion: coping with change

I think at first I did not fully realize how big of a change this really was. I mean I was already a full time student in one city, now I would be a full time student in another city, how different can it be. Recently, I have been able to see just how huge this really was. I was going from undergrad to graduating to starting a whole new school. I was going from people I knew to a whole new group of individuals (making new friends was both exciting and terrifying). I was going from an online virtual world of Covid to actually seeing people in person again (maybe even wearing professional clothes). I was going from living with my parents for over a year to moving off and living completely alone. 

All of this change was extremely exciting. I am so incredibly grateful for the opportunity to go to medical school, to live independently, to make new friends, and get all of these new experiences. However, this is still a huge change and with huge changes come a bunch of emotions. At first I was confused. Why am I feeling sad? Why am I scared? Why am I super happy and ecstatic the next day? 

I just want to say that this whirlpool of emotions is normal in any life change. It is normal to grieve what we are leaving behind, it is normal to be scared of stepping out of the comfort zone, and it is normal to be excited about it all at the same time. This summer was here as a transition. It allowed me to slowly dip my foot into everything that will be new. I got to socialize with new people a bit, got to be independent and terrified as I filled out rental applications, and got to enjoy time with family before moving away. 

I would love to hear from you guys how you have spent the summer and if you are finding the transition surprisingly emotionally overwhelming like me. By the way one of you let me know that the comments were not working on previous posts, so it should hopefully be all good now!

I look forward to sharing my first few weeks of medical school with you and my adjustment to living alone. As always feedback and future content suggestions are very appreciated :)