Lesson 1: Choosing a conference
This is key - you need to find a conference that is interesting, but not crazy difficult. In an ok location that you would like an excuse to visit. At a time that works for you (and perhaps can get you out of an extremely hectic time at school). And will involve the maximum number of people that you will a) get along with, or b) have a great time making fun of.
Lesson 2: The Sell
You are going to need a good reason to go. You can't just up and choose to fly all over the place on a whim when you are in med school. You have to have a really really good excuse to get out of working hellishly long hours. I chose to go the route of research - "I am presenting some research at a conference, and so you have to let me go." It worked quite well. What also works well is winning some kind of award or contest that involves you receiving money to attend, and requires that you be there to accept this great honour in the name of your wonderful medical school. (For the record - I tried to go that route...I'm just not talented at writing serious essays) Be warned however that any of these options involve work. In fact, it may have taken me more work to write the essay that didn't win, and then the research that did get accepted, than if I had of just stayed in Hamilton and gone to work...but where would be the fun in that?!
Lesson 3: Roommates
Staying with the right kind of person is essential. You want someone who is dedicated enough to attend sessions when you want to, be able to carry on an intelligent conversation about the stuff you are learning, and in general not embarass you in front of important people. That being said, you also want someone who will skip an afternoon to go get milkshakes, or a morning to go on a beautiful sunny walk to the Basilica across the river. And if you are very lucky then you will find a roommate who buys snacks before you got to the hotel in case you are hungry :)
Lesson 4: Free stuff
Now in this day and age of ethics and morals, you have to be careful what kind of free stuff you accept. Golf trip from drug company - bad idea. Pens and a satchel from the conference - totally fine. Coffee delivered to your door at any time of the day or night on a nice tea service - HEAVEN. Ok so maybe that part is factored into the cost of the hotel room...so maybe we need an addendum here...
Lesson 4b: Making the most of the money you pay
Milk the hotel and the conference for all they are worth. After all - you are a starving student and you (or whoever sponsored you) payed a lot of money to be there! If there is free coffee and tea, order it. If there is food out somewhere that is for you and your colleagues - eat it. If there is a fireplace on the 7th floor surrounded by cushy couches, go hijack the room and study there. If there are free t-shirts just for filling out an evaluation - break out the red pen you've been saving up, circle some random numbers, throw in some key words like 'effective' 'appropriate' and 'articulate' and then happily sort through the boxes until you find the colour combination that you will most enjoy while on your next jog :)
Lesson 5: The schmooze
Socializing, chatting, schmoozing and sucking up are all important skills to master when you are a medical student. You need to give the right impression, to the right people, so that you can get into the right residency program! A well versed schmoozer knows all the right people, manages to sit next to them at lunch, or stand beside them in line, throw in some witty comments about how much they are learning and how much they enjoy being a doctor, flash a great smile and win them over in two minutes falt. I am not said 'well versed schmoozer'. I'm more of a shy tag-along schmoozer. I know people who know people. Or alternatively, I have highly opinionated chats with people I don't know, only to find out afterwards that they were the head of some really important program. Not inept enough that I ever really stick my foot in it...but not sauve enough to breeze through...I'll keep working on this section.
Lesson 6: Small world
You have to find at least one person with whom you can share the phrase - Wow, it is such a small world. Being an over-acheiver - I found two such people! One girl I was chatting with used to go to Mac and actually lived in the exact same house that I am living in right now. And another guy - went to my hometown highschool!!! Now this is just beyond small world. This is verging on craziness. Who knew that there were TWO people who made it out of and Almonte and managed to get into medical school?!?!?!
Lesson 7: The afternoon nap
If you have made it to university, you already know what I am talking about...and frankly you should all send in your suggestions and best stories of ways to skip out on an afternoon and catch some shut eye. The world could benefit from more naps :)
Lesson 8: Sight Seeing
Here you are in this wonderful new city - you need to get out there and enjoy it! Walking tours are great cause they have exercise, sunshine and being a tourist all thrown into one. I would also highly recommend finding someone who used to live in the city and get recommendations on a good place to eat. We had a highly yummy dinner at a whole in the wall I'm sure we never would have found if it weren't for some good advice. Be careful though - you may not want to go out on your own until you know what sort of area you are in. Winnipeg for example, seemed to go from high class to scary in less than half a block. One second it's fancy hotels and nice cars, next thing you know it's spray painted walls and scary men yelling at hooker-type women. SKETCHY!!! Although I fully enjoyed my saturday afternoon walk around downtown (most of which was spent marvelling at how dusty and dirty the city is, and the lack of restaurants) I spent most of the time firmly attached to the arm of the poor guy I was with, avoiding crowds of questionable folks. Truth be told - I don't think either of us would have done well if things had gone bad...I could have maybe taken out an eye with my heels while he cracked someone over the head with the cast on his arm...and then we would have both run like hell. Hahahaha.
Lesson 9: The Big Finish
So you've done some research, gotten some funding, come all this way, talked to all these people - you better have something to show for yourself! Well, I am proud to report that my first ever presentation of research went amazingly well. Nikki (my partner) and I managed to explain ourselves quite well, field lots of questions, get some great feedback and advice, and thoroughly impress our supervisor. We even won first prize for best poster...hahaha just kidding...we had the only poster.
Lesson 10: Coming back down to earth
You might want to plan something nice for when you get home, to ease down from the excitement of the weekend away. I recommend a quick run to the grocery store, inviting a good friend to dinner, and curling up to watch Grey's Anatomy :)
Lots of love
Pamela
Currently reading: Pre-test Internal Medicine
Currently cooking: porkchops
p.s. I have come to the sad realization that since I gave up meat 6 weeks ago....it has somehow gotten less good. I don't really know how to describe it, but its just not the same anymore. I may have to give up my title of 'meatasaurus'.
Now just think, if you used all of the time it took you to write this post wisely, you could have completed more "research" and be on another trip.
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear you had fun.
Dude, first prize is first prize! Don't ask questions! Besides, ours was better than all the others....er....yeah.
ReplyDelete;o)