Hobbies for Med Students

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The Knife & Gun Club

The Knife & Gun Club

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Anyone have a good hobby/pastime that fits well with med school's time and financial commitments?

I'm a big fan of DIY/outdoorsy type stuff but have had trouble keeping up with those hobbies now that I'm a med student. When I was in undergrad I had managed to finagle myself into a position where I had access to a full wood shop and a $5,000/semester budget to spend on any DIY projects I saw fit. Also lived a short drive from lots of good hiking and mountain biking.

Now I live in a high rise in the city, and am also pretty darn broke. Anyone have any suggestions?

Ps: so far I've tried cooking (nearly burned my building down), fishing (just ended up getting drunk on a boat), and training my cats (went as expected).
 
The Knife & Gun Club said:
Anyone have a good hobby/pastime that fits well with med school's time and financial commitments?

I'm a big fan of DIY/outdoorsy type stuff but have had trouble keeping up with those hobbies now that I'm a med student. When I was in undergrad I had managed to finagle myself into a position where I had access to a full wood shop and a $5,000/semester budget to spend on any DIY projects I saw fit. Also lived a short drive from lots of good hiking and mountain biking.

Now I live in a high rise in the city, and am also pretty darn broke. Anyone have any suggestions?

Ps: so far I've tried cooking (nearly burned my building down), fishing (just ended up getting drunk on a boat), and training my cats (went as expected).
Click to expand...

a couple of my classmates continued to travel, build websites, flip houses and participate in iron man (iron woman? she was a girl) competitions for the last few years. so maybe you can find a way to get away and still do those things you mentioned on a smaller scale?

i think the trend seems to be using downtime/hobbytime for something that doubles as an outlet as opposed to something that can completely take over, as medical school tends to be quite the jealous mistress.
 
I used to like to travel but don't really have time now.
My current hobbies include shooting guns, skiing (in winter), gambling, and hiking/camping. I guess it depends on where you live as outdoor type activities are much more accessible in the West.
 
Running, weightlifting, music, video games, concerts (depends on budget here), and reading are all pretty low-budget options to have lots of fun. Running and weightlifting especially since it is so cheap and has good overall aesthetics bonus from the hobby.
 
I've been doing an adult gymnastics class. Jumping on a trampoline is the best stress-reliever!
 
I still fish and hunt a lot, and it takes an hour drive to get anywhere decent. Perfect thing to do on a Friday afternoon when you're realistically not going to be very productive with studying.
 
I've found that the best hobbies in med school are the ones you don't need to dedicate tons of time to, and don't have a continuous nature to them. These include things that you can dedicate 15 minutes to, instead of needing to set aside 3-4 hours. For example, when it comes to watching TV/netflix, watching episodes of a show where each episode can stand alone and isn't part of a continuous story, so that you can get away with only watching one episode.

I personally like to play backgammon, play guitar, read the news, watch an episode of Seinfeld, etc. None require that much time or money to do.
 
working out, reading a whole lot more (not medicine), painting and or drawing, guitar or any other instrument, coding, blogging, learning new languages. the possibilities are endless. check out skillshare.
 
Netflix (legit said this in an interview when asked what I do for fun and I drew a blank)
Exploring new neighborhoods in this urban area
Running/jogging
Reading (for fun)
DuoLingo-- try to teach yourself a language in 5 minutes per day
Yoga/Pilates/etc-- there's videos if you don't want to pay for classes
Cooking/baking -- you'll get better
Drawing if you're good at art, coloring if you're not
Knitting
Napping
 
I still sing and work out, which are very time flexible hobbies.
 
Wandering around the city. Art. Photography. Learning an instrument. Meditation (check out Headspace).

A few of my friends have taken weekly evening Spanish classes for adult learners for pretty cheap ($10-$20)/week.
My roommate took up roller derby and boxing during second year.

Horticulture.

I would love to learn skate dancing, but who knew that roller skates could cost so much.
 
I tried to sneak in a few FAP sessions here and there after a few hrs of UFAPS.
 
I build furniture. It's not too expensive to do once you have the tools, and you can spread it out over weeks if you want by just doing an hour a day. I just built a new dining room table and bench, and it was very rewarding. I'm building a desk next.
 
docbsb2015 said:
Golf... you're going to be a doctor for God's sake
Click to expand...

I went to the driving range for the first time in about 4 years yesterday on my day off.

It was a nice reminder of why it's nice to live in a dense urban area where there's no social expectation of having to play golf.
 
If Step 1 isn't your hobby, then....
597.jpg
 
Brewing beer only really takes about a half day every 3-4 weeks. Can be difficult tho depending on space and necessary equipment costs.
 
The Knife & Gun Club said:
Anyone have a good hobby/pastime that fits well with med school's time and financial commitments?

I'm a big fan of DIY/outdoorsy type stuff but have had trouble keeping up with those hobbies now that I'm a med student. When I was in undergrad I had managed to finagle myself into a position where I had access to a full wood shop and a $5,000/semester budget to spend on any DIY projects I saw fit. Also lived a short drive from lots of good hiking and mountain biking.

Now I live in a high rise in the city, and am also pretty darn broke. Anyone have any suggestions?

Ps: so far I've tried cooking (nearly burned my building down), fishing (just ended up getting drunk on a boat), and training my cats (went as expected).
Click to expand...

I think if I had car, it would be easier to find things to do outside of High Rise Town....
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
I build furniture. It's not too expensive to do once you have the tools, and you can spread it out over weeks if you want by just doing an hour a day. I just built a new dining room table and bench, and it was very rewarding. I'm building a desk next.
Click to expand...

How did you first start learning about furniture building? I'd love to get into it one day.
 
Coupd'Cat said:
How did you first start learning about furniture building? I'd love to get into it one day.
Click to expand...

It's great. My wife saw a dining room table she really liked that costs $1000 in the store. She saw it on Pinterest that someone had built one and asked if I thought I could do it. I thought it would be fun to try, since I had never worked with wood or any of the tools. It's very rewarding. I'm drawing up plans for my next piece, and I've gotten requests to build tables for people lol.
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
It's great. My wife saw a dining room table she really liked that costs $1000 in the store. She saw it on Pinterest that someone had built one and asked if I thought I could do it. I thought it would be fun to try, since I had never worked with wood or any of the tools. It's very rewarding. I'm drawing up plans for my next piece, and I've gotten requests to build tables for people lol.
Click to expand...

That's great, man!
 
wholeheartedly said:
hours of labor?
Click to expand...

I took probably around 10-12 hours of active work, but the paint, stain, and poly have dry/cure times that add to that. If I made another one, I could probably do it over 3 days start to finish including dry/cure times.
 
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