First day of class

Now that orientation is over, we had our first real day of class. It was just 2 hours of lecture in the morning, but tomorrow we have morning lecture and anatomy lab right afterwards. I've realized I'm going to need to bring a snack to class because we don't get a break for lunch until after lab, and 8am-1pm is a long time to go without food!

I've got my gloves, scrubs, and dissection kit all set to go for tomorrow, and I read over the lab we'll be doing, but I still don't know if I'm prepared for the cadaver dissection. It's really cool that I get this chance to learn about the human body, but it's intimidating and humbling too. These people donated their bodies to science so that others could benefit, which is a sacred thing, so I'm a little scared to just start cutting away and mess anything up.

In other news, I'm starting to adjust to city life a little bit. I got a bus pass and I've ridden the bus the past two days. It's easier and faster than driving, and I also don't have to walk up the huge hill from the parking lot to class anymore! Today I also went for an evening run, which was a lot of fun. I walk down my street and across the main road, and then run down and back Monument Ave, which is a nice tree-lined street with wide sidewalks and lots of people out and about. Although some parts of Richmond are really sketchy, Monument Ave is a beautiful neighborhood, with old-fashioned brick houses and statues along the road (hence the name Monument Ave). It's amazing how some areas of town can be so pretty while others can be so run-down, but I guess that's true of a lot of cities. I hope to discover more of what Richmond has to offer in the weeks to come!