Back to school

School is officially back in session for me. Yesterday I started out once again as a nervous and confused freshman student for the third time in my life. My first time as a freshman was at a small high school where I knew mostly all of the students in my class. The second time I was a freshman was at a college in my hometown where my dad was a professor and my entire family was fifteen minutes away. This time, though, my first day as a freshman dental student was completely different.

I live in a new town, in a new apartment, and go to a new school where I only knew one person in my class from undergraduate studies. As they say, though, some things never change. I got lost inside the building on the first day (and the second). I met lots of new people and forgot most of their names within seconds of shaking their hands. I endured at least 15 awkward conversation pauses while I desperately tried to think of a follow up question to, "Hey, where are you from?"
All things considered, starting over is always fun, I think. You get the chance to reinvent yourself on a clean slate with a new group of people.

The only real stress on the first day came when we were told to inventory our lab instruments. The lab staff handed us a four-page inventory list of items we were to check off once we established that they were in our drawers. The only problem was that none of us knew the names of the dental instruments yet. So it went like this:

Lab staff: Do you have a PQS 37R?
Me: I don't know. What is that?
Lab staff: It's this one in place 4 with the black band. Make sure to note if it is bent or damaged.
Me: Aren't they all bent? How do we know which ones are bent where they're supposed to be?
Lab staff: That one's fine. But you'll be charged at the end of the year for any that are bent.
Me: But...aren't they all bent?
Lab staff: Do you have a Gracey curette?
Me: I don't know. What is that?
Lab staff: (with a sigh) It's the one in position 7 on your perio tray.
Me: What's a perio tray?
Lab staff: You're an idiot.
Me: Yup.

Ok, so maybe there was slight exaggeration in that rendition, but it's definitely how it felt from my end! It was like being in a Dr. Suess book without any of the explanations of the strange words--"Why, yes, you have a doodlehopper/and a wick-wump mumper, too! You should always keep the mimsy clean/ wipe it with the ziggaloo."

Somehow we all made it through this confusical Suessical torture and day two was much better. We received our laptops (after paying a hefty fee for all its components and accessories) and received some orientation notes on how to use them. It's been a crazy couple of days, but good. I've made lots of new friends and I'm looking forward to getting to know them better...but not so much looking forward to the hard nights of studying that lie ahead. I mean, we have to actually learn the names of all those instruments soon!