Tuesday, 20 July
I woke up at 7.30 this morning and got my breakfast before the other students. I got some of the yoghurt and juice boxes available and returned to my room to rest a bit more before classes. After a brief registration at 9.15, the other students and I headed to our classes.
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During the first academic session, Dr. Keith, my tutor, introduced us to pharmacology. We spoke about pharmacokinetics and LADME (Liberation, Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism, Elimination) to fully understand how our bodies handle the drugs we ingest. Like everything else with the human body, there is a lot more to it than meets the eye.
For lunch, I bought sandwiches from Costa with two girls from my medicine class and relaxed in my room. After the afternoon registration at 13.15, we went back to classes for the second academic session. We spent most of this time working on our research projects which entail finding interesting online research articles and presenting them to the class for 10 minutes next week. It’s exciting to have the opportunity to simulate a science conference, and I look forward to hearing Dr Keith’s feedback. The remaining 40 minutes of the session were spent on pharmacodynamics; what drugs do to our bodies. Let’s just say that sometimes, it’s better not to know!
The afternoon itinerary featured a scavenger hunt. My group had barely been outside taking selfies of landmarks for ten minutes when it began to rain cats and dogs. We had umbrellas, so we were luckier than others, but we knew we needed to return to Sidney Sussex when the hail started. I dried up before dinner and ended the day with a Q and A with the mentors who are current Cambridge students. All in all, a full and fulfilling day.
Chidera, Sidney Sussex, Session 3 – Medicine
