The first 2 weeks

We have finished our first two weeks of class at University of Colorado school of Dental Medicine. You can check out the first years' schedule here, but so far it hasn't been too intense. Microbiology is just a very basic introduction to micro (we have full Medical Microbiology in the Spring). Biochemistry has the potential to get more difficult, but it should all be review for anyone who has had undergrad biochem. "Boot Camp" is nothing more than an introduction to the various aspects of dentistry, from HIPAA regulations to what's involved in the various specialties. It's a very informative class, but we'll probably forget most of the information and just end up relearning it when it becomes relevant. It IS good to get the general idea of what dentistry involves, though.

The most time consuming class so far is dental morphology, which involves shaping teeth out of blobs of wax. We spend a lot of time in the lab working on this, but it's fun because we just work at our own pace, whenever we want (pretty much), chat, listen to music, etc. You're actually using dental instruments to do the work, too, so we're getting into the practical "hands-on" part of dentistry early. I think we'll get into the simulation clinic sometime soon, too.

We've been busy after school, as well, with all of the various parties and rush events the two dental fraternities (both co-ed, of course) have put together. Two words: free food! We also had a BBQ in the park put together by the 2nd years last Thursday. We met our big brothers/big sisters and they gave us all a DVD of study/helpful materials from their first year. The feeling of camaraderie at Colorado seems to be pretty strong, and everyone seems more than willing to help each other out.

I've made some good friends, too, within the past two weeks. Like a couple of my good friends back at IPFW, they like to have fun but are still serious about studying and doing well in school. We have an hour for lunch each day, and so far I've just spent it playing Frisbee or just hanging out and talking. That might change as things become busier, but so far dental school is not very stressful.

To anyone considering going to a cheaper in-state school over some place you like better just so you can save some money: go where you will be happy and enjoy your time the most! I think about how glad my wife and I are that we are in Colorado and not Indiana every single day. I get to spend over nine hours of my day, 5 days a week, on a beautiful campus surrounded by other professional students and great people from my own class, and do my work and studying in a very comfortable, beautiful environment. I ride my bicycle to school on a nice, clean, paved bike path, and I get to look out at the Rocky Mountains everyday on my ride home. Yes, you will be a dentist no matter which dental school in graduate from, but the extra $20,000 a year I pay in tuition IS worth it to live here and go to a school that I love. A lot of people say out of school and on SDN say "save your money," but I honestly cannot imagine having gone anywhere else.

Anyway, things are going well. I'll have to start taking my camera to school and getting some pictures.

First Day of Classes

Today is our first day of classes at University of Colorado Denver School of Dental Medicine (to give its full, official name). We have "Boot Camp" from 9-12 and 1-3, then biochemistry from 3-5. Don't ask what "boot camp" is; all I know is that it's basically an introduction to dentistry. Biochemistry is our main class for this quarter, but I don't think it's going to be much of a problem. I feel like my biochem class at IPFW prepared me fairly well, despite what seemed like excessive memorization of structures and very boring lectures.

About the quarter thing: our school technically runs on semesters (I think), but classes seem to be blocked into quarters. I like this idea. For example, first quarter biochem is the big class, while second quarter human anatomy will take up most of our time. If they were blocked by semester, we'd probably be faced with two huge, difficult finals at about the same time, not to mention all the tests for the smaller classes. While more intense, the quarter system allows us to focus more. We'll see if classes are set up like this for the next 2 years or if it's just this semester.

One more day

Only one day left until things get started. Last night, I got together with about 5 other incoming students for a beer and some chat. Everyone seems laid back enough that the next 4 years should be a lot of fun (in addition to the hard work). I think the University of Colorado did a good job of picking people with a variety of interests.

I've posted some new files on my site, Colorado Dental Student: in addition to the Fall schedule, I've also put up a budget template. The numbers are not my numbers, but the loan amounts roughly match what someone would receive attending U. of Colorado Dental School and taking the maximum amount. Check it out in "The File Cabinet."

I also took a test ride into school yesterday to time a route I plotted on from Google Earth. There's this great cycling/walking path near our apartment that I can take for more than half of my trip. It is perfect, allowing me to cut out the major traffic areas and get into school in about 25 min. I also have a great view of the mountains on the way home! Here it is if you're curious.

Financial Budgeting for Dental School

Though some people are able to pay for dental school on their own, I think a big chunk of us rely on loans of some sort to see us through the four years of school. And, if you go to an out-of-state or private school, loans are often even more important. I am an out-of-state student at the University of Colorado Dental School, and I've decided to make my budget available to all who might be interested. You can see how much I receive in loans, how we allocate our funds, and how much we spend each month (in the grey-shaded rows). This might give some of you an better idea what you are getting into, or maybe just a good budget template to copy and use! (Note: I fixed the link to the correct file. Sorry if you were not able to access it before).

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pH3LWDDNfOoVceUMowQmHMg&hl=en

Camping Defined

We had a great time camping up at Rainbow Lakes near Ward, CO. The hike was great and the perfect length for Masashi, the tent held up in some pretty strong afternoon rain, and Ritsuko and Masashi stayed nice and warm overnight. The thing we realized, though, was that after all the time spent to prepare, setup, and tear-down camp, we would have been better off just driving home and coming back the next day. There seems to be no reason to go camping out of a car for only one night when you live less than 2 hours away from some of the most beautiful hiking in the United States.

So, I think our camping adventures will be put on hold until we can contemplate some serious backcountry hiking and camping. For us, camping will be simply a necessary overnight stop on a multiday hiking expedition. While playing with a fire and listening to the sounds of night is fun, I don't think that's what camping is all about here in Colorado.

Anyway, Rainbow Lakes was a lot of fun, and the next day we did the quick driving tour of Rocky Mountain National Park. It was crowded and raining some, so we just drove up Fall River Road and back down the main road (to the east). Beautiful, but crowded, I think we'll have to come back a little later in the season for some short hikes before too much snow comes.

Camping: Take 2

We are off tomorrow for a bit more of mountain camping. It will be a two day, one night affair, with the first night spent at Rainbow Lakes campground in the Indian Peaks Wilderness Area west of Bolder. We'll hopefully do a little hiking, some 4-wheel driving on some of the forest roads, and try spending the night in our new tent. In this one, all the windows zip up, there is a entrance canopy, and it's tall enough to stand up in.

The second day we will tour around Rocky Mountain National Park, which is just less than an hour north of Rainbow Lakes. Should be fun.

Guanella Pass 1, Andrews Family 0

Yesterday, July 31st, we took a trip up to Guanella Pass for a couple days of high country camping at one of the Guanella Pass Campground. We got there at about 9am, found a beautiful campsite that overlooked the valley and opened up to the mountains on the east side of the pass. After getting set up, eating some lunch and roasting a few marshmallows (for Masa), we took the CR-V up a nearby Jeep trail for about a mile to the head of a short hiking trail. The trail lead to Silver Dollar Lake, which we didn't make it to, but the 3 mile round trip hike took us to some of the most beautiful scenery any of us had ever seen. Masashi and Ritsuko seem to the have the easiest time of the three of us, as altitude sickness was starting to kick my butt as we went up above the treeline. It was worth it, though, as you can see in the pictures. Masa did a great job, too, hiking up some pretty steep switchbacks all by himself.

On the way back we went up to the summit of Guanella Pass. Masa was sleeping and my altitude headache was really kicking into full gear, so we decided to come back early Friday.

Back at the campsite, the fun really began. First, my altitude sickness lead to me throwing-up my lunch and being out of commission for about 3 hours. After recovering, I got a nice fire going and we all played around the campsite until going to bed around 9:30. Little did we suspect, but we were all crawling into our sleeping bags just to freeze ourselves into leaving the campground for home at 3AM. Ugh, I should have known better than to try to use a tent that had open mesh on two sides (covered only by the rain tarp). Great ventilation, but we might as well have been sleeping outside under the 45 degree sky. It was too much, we left the site and forfeited a day's fee, but got a nice look at the night sky from the top of Guanella Pass and some fresh donuts at a gas station in Georgetown.

All in all, it was a beautiful hike and excellent learning experience. We'll be back, Guanella Pass, next week with some new gear.