There is no dumb question!

Campus clinics are actually pretty cool and are fully equipped to handle annual exams. I recommend you actually go to this clinic, and get acquainted with the system and staff there...it'll be easier to manage your birth control in case you have any problems, rather than waiting for your next trip home. Plus, they'll be there for you in any emergencies.

For your first annual exam, you can expect a full check of the reproductive system. The doctor should teach you how to do a breast exam, and then will palpitate your entire pelvic region, looking for abnormalities. Then the feet in the stirrups. They check for healthy ovaries, for example, by inserting two fingers into the vagina and pressing on your abdomen. Then, the pap smear using a strange device to increase the pelvic opening ... this is a little uncomfortable, but very important ... twice during my annual exams doctors have viewed cervical abnormalities of the skin, which could have been pre-cancerous...so just forgo the discomfort in the interest of your health as a whole...

Thoughts?

Yeah, there's nothing wrong with college clinics! I "loved" the gyno exam I had done at mine

Honeybunny hit all the main points. The stomach palpitation tickles me something fierce, so that's probably my least favorite part lol.

As for the speculum (the tool used to expand the vagina for viewing) it can be either metal or disposable plastic. I've had both; pretty much the same. I did get lucky on my first pap, and they had a metal speculum that was heated! lol.

An annual exam isn't the most comfortable thing on the planet, but I can think of far worse ways to spend 45 minutes.

Ok thanks you two, I just called and scheduled my first exam.

My sister has been on my case for awhile but every time I asked either my mom or sister about on campus stuff they either didn't answer or the topic was switched, so I wasn't really sure what to think and I just wanted to make sure it was the same deal. I'm not worried about being uncomfortable, just whether or not that was everything a gyno exam entailed, anything past that I figure I'll just have to get over. Thanks for explaining it to me!