This year has been intense--unlike anything I've ever experienced and could hardly even imagine. In a list, here are the courses I have completed this year:
Anatomy (3 quarters)
Living Anatomy (3 quarters: intro to physical exams and finding anatomy on living people)
Gross Lab (3 quarters: cadaver dissection)
Physiology (3 quarters)
Biochemistry (3 quarters)
Plants in Ceremony (weekend elective)
Histology
Research Stats and Design
Fundamentals of Traditional Chinese Medicine
Naturopathic Medicine in Historical Context/Clinical Theory/Global Context (3 quarters, each with a different focus but overall learning about the history of and philosophies behind naturopathic medicine)
Hydrotherapy/Physiotherapy (with Lab)
Embryology
Myofascial Analysis
Botanical Medicine 1 (I'll take 5 quarters of this series)
Neuroscience (with Lab)
12 credits Summer Quarter
18 credits Fall Quarter
24 Winter Quarter
23.5 Spring Quarter
Total: 77.5 credits
This is not to mention the "extracurricular" activities I attended weekly including Dr. Love's numerous tutorials for anatomy, working at the Bookstore, participating in the Doctor Mentor program in which we get to talk to a real-life ND about his real-life practice, going to yoga on Fridays, occasionally trying to go for a walk/jog outside, and doing a little photography when I could.
Fortunately for such an intense program, I have been blessed with 100 or so new, wonderful, caring, inspiring, brilliant, motivated friends. Our corp of "First Years" feel like a tight-knit family and even teachers have mentioned how connected we are, which doesn't happen with every class. We are a class that will raise hell, combine forces, and let you know how we feel and what you should do about it. We organize, start groups and projects, we innovate. We are incredibly diverse, coming from so many different life journeys, countries, states, professions. I think our youngest member is 22 and our oldest is old enough to be a mother to some of us. We have quiet students, awkward students, loud students, students who in Aleyamma's mind look like celebrities, we have students who are dating other students, students who you wish you were dating, students who you want to be around all the time and learn her/his wisdom. We have students in our class who are already natural healers and some who need practice. We are a supportive group, a loving group. We have spirit! We organized a whole themed week for finals this Spring Quarter, wearing something specific each day. As students we love to chat, gossip, share tips and news and recipes, hatch plans, and think about our futures. We truly want to get to know each other better. We study together and support our classmates who need help (as long as we know she/he needs it!). I have never been so inspired by a group of people around me, and I am so very thankful to be in this class. I literally could not have done it without this group of amazing people.
My professors have been a mixed bag, as they would be in any given school. Doctors Love, Fredrickson, Aleyamma Thomas, Brinton, Paul Karsten, Modell, Jessica Bean, Masa, Neary, Biery, Littleton, Greg Yasuda, Kate Broderick, Christy Lee-Engel, Rubinstein, Pamela Snider, Dazey, K., and many others I'm forgetting to name here. Some where absolutely amazing teachers and some were not, but all were part of my first year experience that I hope to never forget.
I mustn't forget to mention all the support our class received from the upperclass students. Starting in Summer Quarter the 2nd Years were there for us, guiding us along. For our first Gross Lab midterm exam in Fall Quarter, the 2nd Years put supportive signs on all of our lockers saying "_______ is a superstar!", put up a banner in the hallway wishing us luck, and decorated the hallway ceiling with balloons and streamers in anatomy-appropriate colors (to represent arteries, veins, nerves, and lymph). They handed out stickers before the test and cheered for us and gave us medical gloves filled with candy after we were finished. In what other medical program can you imagine this happening? It didn't stop there, either. During the rest of the year the "older students" (as I sometimes say, not necessarily referring to age) were there for advice, test prep, and many were our invaluable TAs and tutors.
Bastyr itself--again, like any school--has its ups and downs, its craziness and its amazingness. Our school changed its colors from green to (basically) maroon and gold, which is still causing an opinionated stir among students. The cafeteria has had trials and tribulations with adding a meat station, really expensive sandwich station, upping the prices of food without disclosure, making amazing gf/v food somedays, making none the next, and being bombarded with student opinions and protests. The President (who has the coolest glasses and the best speaking voice) has done seemingly done his best to reassure the students that our tuition dollars are not going towards the new campus in San Diego, and that there will be new protocol for the declaration of Snow Days.
I have gone through many changes throughout the school year, and I know my transformation and growth have only just begun. I've pushed myself to my limits and far beyond and I've made it through. I hope to be stronger, more prepared, more balanced and thus healthier next year. I hope to reconnect and grow spiritually. I seek to start to become an adviser, a practitioner (after all, I only have one year left before entering the clinic!). My deepest hope is that the next year is ever so slightly easier than the last. Please? Just a little?
If you are still reading, I thank you for listening to my brief (trust me, it's brief) synopsis of the most amazing year of my life. I hope you are someone, near or far, who will remain by my side and help me complete this program and then enter the world as a healer. Take care of yourself, love your gut and your liver, smile, play, move, and show the world your love.
Namaste.
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