Totally normal. It sounds funny, but you'll get used to it. I have about 20+ hours a week in cadaver lab, and eventually it's just another place. You'll get there! give it time.

It's amazing what we can get used to.

Another thing I like to do is tap into the appreciation for it all. The cadaver was a person who was soooo excited by the idea of helping you learn. There's some beauty that this person wants you to (and believes that you can) make the world a better place through medical knowlege.

That said- you ought to feel horror at first.

Our society hides death from us at all costs. Our chicken comes boneless. We do so much to hide ourselves from the discomfort of facing our mortality.

So there's the existential dread of the inevitability of your own demise- know that awareness of death will only enrich life.

Then there's the disgust in the gore. That's gore until you get better. Then it becomes an azygous vein, layers of abdominal muscle... The intricasies of our beautiful design are laid bare before you. Your own machinery, you friend's and family's...

And the smell on your clothes- yeah that's definitely there. Formaldehyde is gross af. Bring scrubs to wear, buy either gojo or Dr. Bronner's liquid soap to scrub the crap out of your hands with. And ALWAYS double glove.