Moving to Geelong from interstate and not knowing a single soul, I figured that attending the non-compulsory weekend away at MEDUSA’s MedCamp wouldn’t be such a bad idea. If nothing else came of it, I would at least get a bit of a look around the little surf town of Anglesea. 

The bus picked us up from Deakin and took us to our accommodation for the weekend at the Anglesea YMCA. The camp was only a few minutes walk from the main street but well hidden away between the bush and the beach. I have to admit, it had been a while since I had slept in dorms, but soon found out that there was no better (and faster) way of meeting people and making new friends! 

An after dinner party had been organised at the camp with the dress theme, ‘I can’t believe I wore that’. Before we knew it we were all strutting around sporting bizarre combinations of clothes and hairstyles. I can sincerely use the word ‘outrageous’ to describe the dress code, number of boat-races executed, volume of liquid consumed, and amount of fun had by all who attended that night! 

The following morning those who were brave enough to dive into the chilly surf went for a swim, whilst others elected to relax and try and soak up some sun on the beach. I attempted to coordinate my body enough to participate in a game of beach cricket, which was all good fun, but the highlight of MedCamp for myself and many of the first year students was the GP workshop that had been organised for the afternoon. 

Several GP’s from Geelong and its surrounds bad been generous enough to sacrifice their weekend to come and spend the afternoon with us at Anglesea. We were broken into small groups with the set task of completing several activities in a set time, rotating through the clinically related tasks guided by our dear GP’s. We all had a go at suturing, raising our own blood pressure, plastering appendages, ‘syringing’ from a distance (we all take our hats off to Chris for braving the cold whilst being saturated- dedication with a capital ‘D’) and using our creativity in constructing a skit that involved the use of a dummy, stethoscope, plastic apple and balaclava…. Let me just say that some people would have no trouble being accepted into NIDA! We were inspired by each of the visiting doctors who passionately shared their stories with us, including their most rewarding and most challenging moments in their careers as medical practitioners. 

All in all, I (and I speak for many others too) could not have asked for a better start to life as a first year Med student. MedCamp gave us the opportunity to be inspired and become excited about the future, but it also made us realise the importance of enjoying the moment and making the most of our journey over the next four years as Deakin Med students!! 

A big thank-you to the organisers of MedCamp 2010 - you inspired us!!!