Chan Weng Kit's Blogspot: DAY 543-556

Feb 26 - Mar 11

It has indeed been far too long since my last blog post, and I can only offer my apologies. Various circumstances have forced my delaying of updates, chief of which was our mid-term exams, which concluded today. Our mid-terms were supposed to be last Monday, but due to Storm Emma (nicknamed the Beast from the East) it had to be postponed.

So onto a brief recap of what has transpired since my last update. First and foremost was the “Beast from the East”, so termed due to the strong icy winds from Siberia, Russia. A five-day weather advisory was issued by Met Ireland, culminating in a Red Warning for snow and a brief period of blizzard in Ireland - as temperatures plummeted to an all-time low of around -7 degrees Celsius in certain regions. This was certainly one of the lowest temperatures we've endured in a long while, compounded by the really quite terrible wind chill factor.

Stores were closed for several days, public transport ground to a halt as road conditions became unfavourable due to the thick buildup of snow, and Beaumont Hospital opened its doors to the homeless, and kept everyone warm and fed. Not all was gloomy though, as netizens took the opportunity to build snowmen and igloos. RCSI itself was closed, but that didn’t stop me from using the library at Beaumont to study.

A week later and temperatures are back to normal. Apparently there’s another storm brewing – the Pest from the West. Oh how I love these creative names. Anyway, on to the next bit – Research Day. Originally meant to be after our exams, we instead had to take time off to attend this compulsory day. As usual, I was involved with a research poster, while some of my friends did an oral presentation. In the end, the winner of the undergraduate category was Melissa! Congratz to her, and great job everyone who participated as always :)

The days leading up to my exams were particularly odd. On some days, I could really focus and get stuff done, while on others, I just didn’t feel any motivation to study. It didn’t help that recently I’ve been getting headaches after waking up (which isn’t good because I can’t then sleep to recover), but so far it’s been more of a nuisance rather than anything too major. Hopefully it’s just a build up of stress and I’ll be back to my usual self soon.

Today was our mid-terms. We had two consecutive papers – Foundation in Microbiology, followed by Foundation in Pathology. I wished I did more studying, but what’s over is over, and I have another exam (our OSCE’s) in a fortnight. So there’s that to distract my mind over. Anyway, as I was making my way back to Eden Quay to catch the bus back home (after my usual post-exam buffet), I found the bus services had been disrupted due to what was billed the “Protest March”. Basically, netizens in support of the ProLife movement were gathered from all over to protest the repeal of the 8^th Amendment, which equates the right to life of a pregnant woman with that of an embryo or foetus. In doing so it criminalises abortion in all cases except where to continue a pregnancy would result in death. Chants of “2,4,6,8 – we will not discriminate!” filled the streets as people holding banners and placards paraded through the streets along the Liffey.

Thankfully, the weather has gotten significantly warmer, which I hope will continue as I look forward to running the Greater Manchester Marathon in April, in aid of the Children’s Adventure Fun Trust in UK. That has been an outline of my activities for the week or so, along with some beautiful pics of the events in chronological order. Thank you very much for visiting my blog, and hope to see you soon, in the next one. Cheers!

P.S. Really quite a lot of pictures these past two weeks, so take your time to scroll down if you're keen. Enjoy :))