Reminiscing: Orientation Retreat Part 1

The first week of medical school begins with a weekend out in the woods where you are supposedly introduced to your classmates.  I can’t remember which of my classmates I met that weekend, and I can hardly remember who my overnight roommates were.  I never spent any time with those two girls ever again.  I can see what the administrators were going for, though; they made us play every socialization-inducing, getting-to-know-you, human-bingo, scavenger-hunt, sitting-in-your-lap, putting-on-a-skit-while-wearing-a-grass-skirt game ever invented.  A few of these games, especially the skits, were fairly entertaining and had been cooked up by the PRN leaders (PRN = Peer Resource Network).  The PRN groups consisted of around six or seven first years (MS1’s) plus one or two upper-level med students.  The whole experience, including the PRN groups, reminded me of freshman band camp in high school.  The flute section, like the other sections, had a set of piccolo-playing Squadleaders who taught us marching steps and postures and generally yelled at us a lot.  I wondered what our PRN leaders would teach us, and whether they would yell.  Would we learn note-taking procedures?  How to download videos of lectures? I believe that the point of these groups was to be a “resource” for us; I never benefited from my group because it was led by an MS2 who was president of every organization in the school and who therefore had little time for us.

I don’t remember much from that weekend, and what I do remember is fuzzy and vague: Jumping off a 20-foot pole to grab a ring hanging from a tree, riding a horse, eating s’mores, throwing a frisbee, playing foosball and ping pong.  I remember some of the faces, though; a few of my classmates who seemed amicable would later prove to be diffident and obnoxious; however, I did not meet any of my best friends that weekend.  In fact, I didn’t get to know my best friends until the summer before second year.