Nobel Conference 2008

[Karen Garcia]

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Imagine: 4,000 people listening intently to Dr. Svante Paabo talk about neanderthal DNA. I just had the amazing experience of doing so on Tuesday in Minnesota! Contact me at [email protected] and I would be glad to tell you all about it.

I am a new member of studentdoctor.net and hope that some of you awesome non-tradders can help me out here in my dilemma. I am experiencing a very high amount of anxiety when in groups that include students younger than I am, which pretty much includes the majority of current student enrollment everywhere.

Here was the straw that broke this camel's vertebral column:

BACKGROUND
First of all, I found that all 12 of my classmates from UW Fox Valley attending teh Nobel Conference were well-behaved, including my amazing nanotechnology major boyfriend (mouthful!!). However, I wanted to stand out from the crowd, so to speak, of squirrely students in the audience. I felt like we were all in the presence of greatness, of authority, of academic accomplishment. I was discouraged by the younger audience members' fidgeting about, rustling of paper and snackbags, chatting, texting, and frequent exiting/re-entering of the conference hall - - - while Dr. Paabo was speaking!

QUESTION 1: What is my role supposed to be as far as socializing with these 19 year old students?

QUESTION 2: Is my irritation during the Conference reasonable?

QUESTION 3: In the future, what suggestions do you have (yes, You!) for me?

 

[NTF]

QUESTION 1: What is my role supposed to be as far as socializing with these 19 year old students?
None other than being yourself. You shouldn't feel obligated to socialize them at all if you don't want to. But you know, I try to be nice and collegial to everyone. Help out if someone can't understand a concept or have lunch if I'm invited. But I'm 35. I ain't goin' to no keggers or frat parties.

QUESTION 2: Is my irritation during the Conference reasonable?
Sure. 19 years old is plenty old enough to act like an adult.

QUESTION 3: In the future, what suggestions do you have (yes, You!) for me?
In handling young pre-meds? or just in general for med school?

 

[DrMidlife]

Ah yes, the Future of Medicine and Science in America and their snackfoods. The pulling out of the cheetos bag from the backpack, maybe after the exam has started, maybe just 6 feet from the lecturing professor in a room of 400, the opening of the cheetos bag, the munching of the cheetos, the continued re-acquisition of another cheeto to munch.

I have four strategies.

1. Do nothing. Use it as a meditation challenge. "I will not let this bother me. I will not let it ruin my day. I will not resent it for the next 10 years. I will not mow down Cheetos Gal in the hallway after class. The cheetos and the Cheetos Gal do not define me, they do not own me."

2. Either during the exam or after lecture, get up, go talk to the professor, and ask for his/her help in getting the Future of America to ****ing settle down. About 75% of the time, the professor has not heard the disruption (and/or is practicing #1), and/or is unwilling to be so uncool as to demand professional behavior from these future doctors and scientists.

3. Shush the muncher. This will get the muncher and all the muncher's friends talking about you. They may all bring cheetos tomorrow. Shushing one muncher does not prevent a new muncher, like a weed, from sprouting on the other side of you.

4. My favorite: After class, approach the muncher. Ask the muncher for his/her mother's phone number, explaining that the mother would surely be interested to know that her lifelong sacrifice and tireless efforts to support a better life for her son/daughter have produced a wastrel who cannot live 5 seconds without a snack food, whose snack food compulsion is more important than having the imagination to perceive the noise, the smell, and the utter disrespect of EATING ****ING CHEETOS in a lecture/exam WHEN YOU HAVE THE ****ING CHOICE NOT TO.

Effectively, we nontrads are witnessing the unraveling of the fabric of civilization. This was the number 1 reason I fell in love with LECOM-B: no eating except in the cafeteria. Purrrrr.

 

[Omashu]

Ah yes, the Future of Medicine and Science in America and their snackfoods. The pulling out of the cheetos bag from the backpack, maybe after the exam has started, maybe just 6 feet from the lecturing professor in a room of 400, the opening of the cheetos bag, the munching of the cheetos, the continued re-acquisition of another cheeto to munch.

I have four strategies.

1. Do nothing. Use it as a meditation challenge. "I will not let this bother me. I will not let it ruin my day. I will not resent it for the next 10 years. I will not mow down Cheetos Gal in the hallway after class. The cheetos and the Cheetos Gal do not define me, they do not own me."

2. Either during the exam or after lecture, get up, go talk to the professor, and ask for his/her help in getting the Future of America to ****ing settle down. About 75% of the time, the professor has not heard the disruption (and/or is practicing #1), and/or is unwilling to be so uncool as to demand professional behavior from these future doctors and scientists.

3. Shush the muncher. This will get the muncher and all the muncher's friends talking about you. They may all bring cheetos tomorrow. Shushing one muncher does not prevent a new muncher, like a weed, from sprouting on the other side of you.

4. My favorite: After class, approach the muncher. Ask the muncher for his/her mother's phone number, explaining that the mother would surely be interested to know that her lifelong sacrifice and tireless efforts to support a better life for her son/daughter have produced a wastrel who cannot live 5 seconds without a snack food, whose snack food compulsion is more important than having the imagination to perceive the noise, the smell, and the utter disrespect of EATING ****ING CHEETOS in a lecture/exam WHEN YOU HAVE THE ****ING CHOICE NOT TO.

Effectively, we nontrads are witnessing the unraveling of the fabric of civilization. This was the number 1 reason I fell in love with LECOM-B: no eating except in the cafeteria. Purrrrr.

HA! That was funny.

 

[Mortgage Doctor]

Imagine: 4,000 people listening intently to Dr. Svante Paabo talk about neanderthal DNA. I just had the amazing experience of doing so on Tuesday in Minnesota! Contact me at [email protected] and I would be glad to tell you all about it.

I am a new member of studentdoctor.net and hope that some of you awesome non-tradders can help me out here in my dilemma. I am experiencing a very high amount of anxiety when in groups that include students younger than I am, which pretty much includes the majority of current student enrollment everywhere.

Here was the straw that broke this camel's vertebral column:

BACKGROUND
First of all, I found that all 12 of my classmates from UW Fox Valley attending teh Nobel Conference were well-behaved, including my amazing nanotechnology major boyfriend (mouthful!!). However, I wanted to stand out from the crowd, so to speak, of squirrely students in the audience. I felt like we were all in the presence of greatness, of authority, of academic accomplishment. I was discouraged by the younger audience members' fidgeting about, rustling of paper and snackbags, chatting, texting, and frequent exiting/re-entering of the conference hall - - - while Dr. Paabo was speaking!

QUESTION 1: What is my role supposed to be as far as socializing with these 19 year old students?

QUESTION 2: Is my irritation during the Conference reasonable?

QUESTION 3: In the future, what suggestions do you have (yes, You!) for me?

First I am a lot older than you so anytime I have taken continuing education classes I have to deal with the same issues you discussed. I have found the best way to listen with the usual youngster distractions is to zone in on what is being said by the speaker. Your being distrated and irratated is normal but since the younger ones either don't know they are distracting you or they don't care if they distract you, the best thing to do is ignore them when you need/want to listen. As for socializing with 19 yr olds, that is a real hard one. Just be yourself and let them come to you. They will learn you are more mature and that you appreciate their youth but also would appreciate their friendship. Allow them the opportunity to approach you. It will help them develop their interpersonal skills while maintaining your place in the "pecking order". In reality you already knew the answers to your own questions but just needed someone to help confirm your own answers. I hope this helps.🙂