Back to reality

Day 1: Asked to choose a special study module for the next rotation using our web based selection system. Head on down to the library but bump into a friend just outside who "just has to get to the library to do some solid work for her membership exam next week." Both decide that coffee is a much better idea.

Day 2: Computers no longer seem to recognise my password. The assistant at the IT helpdesk looks bemused as I try and explain. I tell him that I haven't been around for a year-this makes him more suspicious. Looks at my ID card, then me, then my ID card again. I contemplate asking him what he looked like six years ago, but reconsider. An hour later I get a password from the helpdesk. Computer room is now full.

Day 3: Second attempt. Manage to find one slot in between the "download ringtones here" section, and "surf the web while chatting on the mobile" corner. Select my five choices from the electronic menu, and am allocated a choice. Check my email to find out that I'll have to remortgage my house to afford the final year dinner. Apparently, you just can't get a decent meal for less than £70 these days.

Day 4: Get an email telling me that the choice I was allocated will not be running this term, and asked to contact the medical school registry. Get to the registry entrance at 3.55pm. Scary woman at the door brandishing a Yale key tells me that they close at 4pm and to come back tomorrow. Corners of her mouth can't help but curl up into a smile.

Day 5: Get beyond the door this time. Explain my story and confronted with blank faces. After listening attentively to my description of SSMs, I'm told to come back tomorrow when "the person who deals with SSMs will be around." Praying I'm not going to be stuck with Peroxynitrite: friend or foe?

Jason O'Neale Roach, fourth year medical student, Guy's, King's, and St Thomas's Medical School and former editor, studentBMJ
Email: jasononeale@yahoo.com


studentBMJ 2001;09:171-216 June ISSN 0966-6494