First week of Medical School in Riga

Time really flies when everything is new, exciting and fun. I can't believe that I've already been here for over two weeks! This week was kinda soft landing, at least for me. I didn't have many classes and I had no school on Friday (yay).

On first week I had Latvian language, Medical Chemistry and Medical Physics, Histology and Medical Cell Biology, Molecular Biology and Anatomy. Before summer I am also going to have some First Aid, Medical History and Philosophy. My school ends in the end of June or possibly in the beginning of July.. in Finland I guess many uni students have their holiday from the beginning of June until the beginning of August or even until the beginning of September? Here, at RSU we have our summer holiday from the end of June until the end of August.

We have classes and lectures. Classes are usually in our study groups (11 ppl) and they are mandatory. Lectures are optional but recommended. I have 1-4 lectures or classes a day. The shortest take 1,5h and the longest 2,25h. In some of them we get to wear white coats which is kinda weird but also cool, you really feel like a future doctor when wearing it 😍

We have to know a list of Latin words by Thursday (in four days) so gotta go and study.. but I love studying medical things so I don't mind 😊 I am still so happy that I got in and that I finally have a direction in my life. Right now, I feel so excited about studying, that the future huge workload doesn't really scare me. Yet.

Here is The List if you are interested.

"Prerequisites:
Questions for self-controlling: 
1. Basic structures of vertebra.
2. Structure of typical thoracal vertebra. 
3. Structure of atypical thoracal vertebra.
4. Structure of the typical cervical vertebra. 
5. Atypical cervical vertebra: structure. 1st and 2nd cervical vertebrae. 
6. Structure of lumbar vertebra. 
7. Os sacrum.
8. Parts of vertebral column.
9. Structure of typical and atypical ribs.. 
10. 1st rib.
11. Sternum.
12. To show on the used anatomical material: 

Corpus vertebrae, arcus vertebrae
Foramen vertebrale
Processus spinosus
Processus transversus
Pocessus articularis superior, inferior
Incisura vertebralis superior, inferior
Foramen intervertebrale
Arcus anterior / posterior atlantis
Fovea dentis atlantis
Dens axis
Sulcus a. vertebralis
Foramen transversarium
Massa lateralis
Facies articularis superior, inferior atlantis
Fovea costalis superior
Fovea costalis inferior
Fovea costalis processus transversi 
Processus costalis 
Facies auricularis ossis sacri
Foramina sacralia anteriora, posteriora
Promontorium
Tuberositas sacralis
Lineae transversae
Processus articularis superior
Crista sacralis mediana
Canalis sacralis, hiatus sacralis
Caput costae, crista capitis costae
Collum costae, tuberculum costae
Corpus costae, sulcus costae, angulus costae
Tuberculum m. scaleni anterioris 
Sulcus a. subclaviae, sulcus v. subclaviae 
Manubrium sterni
Incisura clavicularis, incisurae costales 
Incisura jugularis
Corpus sterni, processus xiphoideus
Angulus sterni, angulus infrasternalis
Sulcus pulmonalis
Apertura thoracis superior, inferior 


Knowledge and skills: To be able name of the bone, to describe it’s parts and structures, using the Latin terminology. To show structures on the bones and recognize vertebrae in different vertebral column`s parts, to recognize first rib from the other."

Orientation week

I have now been in Latvia for  a week and it has been great! I was surprised how clean and beautiful it is here. The streets, trams, buses and stores are very tidy. Food and bars are very cheap and taking a taxi is ridiculously cheap. Yesterday my friend paid 2 euros for over a two kilometer ride from a bar to our house at 3 am.. Clothes, furniture and gyms cost almost as much as in Finland. A bus card that covers all trams, buses and trolley buses costs 16€ a month for a student.

About the orientation week.. At school we had informative lectures about the immigration process, culture, study process etc. and also team-building games in which my group got second place! At night we had parties and get togethers.

On Monday we got divided into study groups. There are about 250 new international medical students and we got  divided to 22? groups. In every group there are 10-14 students, in my group 11 students: 4 Finnish and 7 Germans. About 40% of all the international students are from Germany so there are quite many of them :D My group, Medicine 15 is awesome! We have seen each other a lot and developed a good team spirit. We are going to be studying together for many years so it is quite important to get a long with your group mates :)

The classes start on Monday and students have to prepare for the classes by reading articles and chapters from different books. I have tried to go over some of the reading assignments but there are so many of them :D I'll continue tomorrow when I am hopefully no more hangover..

Greetings from Estonia and Latvia

The Day is finally here. I packed my bags and left Finland. My last few weeks in Finland were quite busy: I worked in a local shop, studied some Russian and Latvian and packed everything I own in boxes.

I took only two peaces of luggage with me because that was really all my friend and I could carry together. Yes, my best friend came with me all the way to Latvia! She is going to stay here for the weekend, just enough time to get to know the city and maybe go to one of those cheap hairdressers. Notice, that Finland is one of the most expensive countries in the world so my guess is that I'll be using the word "cheap" quite a lot...

My parents are going to come to visit me possibly in March and bring the rest of the stuff by car. Until then, I am gonna have to manage with the two bags of clothes and other things that I have with me! Let's hope I didn't forget anything crucial..

We chose not to travel by an airplane, since it would have been expensive considering how much stuff we had. We took a ferrie from Helsinki to Tallin (Estonia) and then travelled by a bus to Latvia. It takes 2,5h to cross the Finnish Bay (Suomenlahti) and 4,5h to get from Tallin to Riga by a bus. One way trip costs about 40€/person.

In the future, I will definitely rather fly because it only takes on hour to fly from Riga to Turku (my home town in Finland). The cheapest flights that I could find were only 74€/person, round trip. The only problem is that you can only have a carry on -bag and traveling with luggage costs extra.

We arrived yesterday and today we are planning to go to check the old town and some tourist attractions. The apartment is so nice! Very big rooms, high ceilings and it has been renovated last April. Our landlord seemed very kind and welcoming. She speaks Russian and it feels like everybody else does too. Yesterday, we popped quickly in a local store and I heard a lot of Russian being spoken.

Next week I have my orientation week and after that classes and lectures start. I am unspeakably excited!