It's nice to know that we always have the beach and each other, by blogger of the month Shauna Dunton

This will be my final post as blogger of the month, and it will touch upon a common theme in all of my posts which is that the best thing about MSIH is really the people. The best advice I can give to the entering class next year is that your best resource is each other.  The students in your class and also in other years of MSIH truly have your back and want to see you succeed and constantly work towards making changes in order for everyone to have a better, more effective education and experience at MSIH. I took a long road to medical school and I have seen many other educational systems along the way and I can assure you this is a unique feature of this school.

We have just finished a tough month of finals and have already begun Endocrinology, which is our sole focus for the next month. I can pretty much speak for all of us in saying that we are excited to be starting systems and can’t wait to see what the next year brings.

A big group of us went to Palmachin beach, just south of Tel Aviv, to go camping and get some sun and relaxation in before we started our next class. The weekend was complete with shesh beish, football, a nice fire, human pyramids and an unexpected private fireworks show put on by other campers on the beach. It’s nice to know that we always have the beach and each other. - blogger of the month, Shauna Dunton

Refreshing, Awakening, Invigorating, Necessary: RAIN, by blogger of the month Jamie Klein

 11.12.12

In communities all over the world rain is mesmerizing. It literally forces us to stop in our tracks, allowing us to pause, evaluate and recollect our thoughts. In that moment of silence and stillness, we are amazed at what enters our minds. For my roommate rain is the ultimate balcony cleaning solution, no bleach or physical labor necessary. For myself rain brings a taste of home, a refreshing scent of spring that is generally lacking from this desert environment. And for the resident cat outside my apartment, rain provides the long awaited bath it has dreamed of.

Rain is as refreshing as it is essential, and it has arrived in Beer Sheva! 

As the weather is changing and finals are arriving, I can feel my classmates and myself itching for the interpersonal experiences we imagined having as up-incoming physicians. Appropriately timed, this week we began the first of several sessions intended to give us practical experience on the patient interview.

As a warm up for our pediatric interview rotation, my class and I visited Hagar elementary school in attempt to re-familiarize ourselves with the mentality of six year olds. The mission of the school is incredibly progressive in that they are integrating Arab and Israeli children and families together in order to develop a greater understanding of each others culture. Politics and conflict aside, it is a noble act.

My classmates and I divided into groups in order to participate in different after school activities: theater, cooking, reading, art, etc. A few others and myself were asked to join the kindergarteners. Due to the rain, our playtime activities were limited to legos, blocks, and crayons – still highly acceptable to the average five year old regardless of what continent you are on. I spent my time with a young Arab girl named Hallah building a lego farm. Like any two girls, our indecisiveness got the best of us and we remodeled several times. Luckily, in the end we were both pleased with the design of our lego farm! 

Aside from this experience forcing me to speak only in Hebrew, I was reminded that there is more to studying medicine than merely the basic sciences. It was the necessary wake-up call my classmates and I had been long awaiting. - blogger of the month Jamie Klein