First Full Week

     It’s been a whole, full week now and I have to say, I’m pretty exhausted. This is definitely a lot more school than undergrad was, especially last year since I had so little class (jeez I had Monday and Friday off second semester last year, and now I have 11 courses!). Anyway here is a list of the new classes I had this week

Monday

Botanical medicine: Dr. Gowan teaches this course, and he comes from a background in toxicology so he has a very interesting take on everything. He’s explained that this course is like learning a new language, so it’s definitely going to be hard. But I’m pretty excited because it seems like a pretty cool topic; we’ll be learning the basics of botanical medicines which include things like teas, tinctures and essential oils. I also hope to be able to spend some time in the Paracelcus Herbal Garden and actually be able to identify some plants in the future.

Clinical physiology: Dr. Gratton teaches this one, and it looks like my background with physiology and having taken physiology in my last semester at Laurier will definitely be helpful. I like how the concepts are very clinically focused, and we’re going to do practicals where we get to apply what we learn in the lectures directly; it’s especially great that practicals are during lecture time, so this means there will be less lecture material overall. I’m especially excited for vitals when we get to learn to take blood pressure using a sphygmomanometer and listen to heart sounds with a stethoscope (and buy my very own medical equipment!).

Thursday

Health psychology: This is going to be a really interesting course, one I’m very excited for. I think one of the things that worries me the most about being a future ND (aside from the business stuff) is patient rapport and being able to deal with all the mental-emotional stuff. Dr. Creech has a really good background in psychology and it looks like we’re going to get a really good foundation here, especially with a lot of practicals to actually put the theory in action.

Asian medicine: So we do have Dr. Montgomery (my intern Shahin said he’s really good), but this course is still kind of scary. Again we’re told that this course is going to be like learning a new language. It’s definitely going to be interesting and I can see how this is going to be useful (I mean, TCM has been around for over 5000 years, they must be doing something right), but it’s going to be hard, especially for my scientifically oriented brain. Dr. Montgomery’s two favourite answers I have in my head right now: “it depends,” and “it isn’t always so.” Groan.

Friday

Biochemistry: This is the last new course I have. The course outline is almost the same as CH350 from Laurier, so I think it shouldn’t be too bad. I probably could’ve got out of it, but I think I was a little too worried about having trouble with OSAP after getting out of two courses, so it’s probably better to just take it. Dr. Fraser is a PhD so I don’t know exactly what to expect, but hopefully we’ll look at processes in a way that helps understand some of the treatments I’ll be giving in the future.

So all in all that totals to 10 courses (I was able to get out of research)! Going to be a lot more class than undergrad.

                  (it's only the second week and it feels like there's so much work already!)