Introductory posting.

I passed the 2nd MB examination, so what?None of the lecturers in this side of medical school see it as a great feat. We were now in med school proper and were the new jjc around. School resumed on the 21st of January 2007, exactly a month after results of the examination were released. On the day of resumption, we were addressed by the college authority including the dean of the faculty of clinical sciences-Professor Oluwatosin, the dean of the faculty of dentistry-Professor Gbemisola Oke, the Head of department of Pediatrics, Professor Falade, Faculty officer of the faculty of dentistry and the acting H.O.D of the department of anaesthesia. We were all congratulated on successfully crossing the bridge and were duly welcome to this side of medical school. The appropriate code of conduct was also duly hammered into our eardrums. The dos and donts of clinical school were clearly stated. Some of this are1.Attend Classes, teachings, tutorials and all other academic activities2.Be punctual at all activities.3.Always dress decently. Boys should always wear a tie and girls in skirts.4.You should be spotting a clean white ward coat that gets to your knees.5.Do not be rude to your teachers, your seniors or your patients.6.Always ask for permission before examining your patients.7.Read your books. and so many others.The academic calendar on this side is much different from what was obtainable on the other side. We were all divided into four groups randomly. I fell into group D and because we wrote our mb exam in 2006 the group was thus called group D, 2006 set. Each group had a different academic calendar. We were to rotate through different departments, each rotation called a posting. Each posting would last 2 months. The first posting we had was the introductory posting where we took courses in Microbiology, haematology, chemical pathology,gross pathology, clinical pharmacology, and preventive and social medicine(PSM). In addition to didactic lectures, we also had field trips in PSM and practical sessions in haematology, chemical pathology, microbiology, gross pathology. The field trips included visits to the Motherless babies home, the primary health centre in the local government, the hospital water treatment plant, the engineering section of the hospital and to the institute of child health.
During the posting, there were so many articles about the new intakes into clinical medicine. Some of them giving words of advice on how to cope in medical school while others were making jest of our modes of dressing, our seemingly high level of seriousness and some even mocked the respect we had for seniors. By the end of the introductory posting, however, most of us had blended nicely.
We had an end of posting test during the 8th week of the posting. On the final day of the posting, we were meant to have our test in chemical pathology and our class rep wrongly informed us that it would start by 9am rather than 8am. While I was taking my bath, I heard my classmates shouting that they had already started the test so i got dressed quickly and rushed down to the test venue. When I got there, quite a number of people were already waiting outside. The lecturer was raving inside. He felt we were unserious and that we should not be allowed to write the test. Eventually, he allowed us in after about thirty minutes outside. It wasnt a very good way to end the otherwise very eventful posting.
The weekend after the test, my classmates organized a trip to Badagry. Regretfully, i did not go with them as my folks were coming to town for a wedding.I went for the wedding which happened to be that of my Secondary school principal's son and met a lot of my secondary school teachers-people I hadnt seen in years. My classmates who went on the trip did not return till around 12 midnight as their vehicle broke down when they were coming back. They however claimed to have had a nice time. Throughout the night, I was playing soccer on my friend's playstation2 console.Therafter, I slept for the better part of the day.