DAY 208

Mar 28

1) Today has been a long day for me. As it was anatomy today, I made it a point not miss any lectures. Anatomy lecture was followed by our anatomy practicals immediately after. We learnt a lot today from our surgeon prosector, Mr. B. E. Lane, retired Consultant General and Gastrointestinal Surgeon at Beaumont and Conolly Hospitals.

2) In the afternoon, I stayed back as we had our first tutorial on Evidence Based Medicine, which will become one of our main modules next semester. I find it interesting that we are covering all aspects of medicine, from the actual "meat" of the subject, to the other no less important aspects of medicine. I was also in a bit of a dilemma as I didn't know we needed to know our passport number today for our "Garda Vetting" session.

3) Thankfully, after a long time searching, coupled with a bit of ingenuity, I managed to find out my passport number from one of my old emails. Problem solved, then. "Garda Vetting" comprised a form which we had to fill in if we wanted to be given clearance to do our clinical component at the teaching hospitals. Luckily, everything went smoothly from then on, and we finished our lessons.

4) I returned to the library, where I've spent the rest of the day. Later that day, I went to Dunnes to do some grocery shopping, in preparation of my cooking tomorrow. Card signing this Friday, Time Bomb event this Saturday, and Histology Quiz next Tuesday. Then a brief respite before the final exams, starting end of next month. Time is passing so fast, sometimes I wonder how I'm coping with all this haha. One step at a time, I'd say. Anyway, that's the end of my blog today, and thanks for reading. Cheers!

Horse-drawn carriages are not an uncommon sight in Dublin ^^

National Garda Bureau form

Fried Rice for lunch

DAY 206

Mar 26

1) Today has been a day of much study, and not much else XD. We had to turn our clocks one hour forward due to daylight savings, which meant I got one hour less sleep! Woke up still groggy, and packed up my stuff to go to the library.

2) Studied the morning away, before taking a short break for lunch in the Mercer Cafe. Came back to take a short afternoon nap, before waking up feeling all refreshed. I continued studying for a bit, then Jason and I walked to Trinity College Dublin, for our run through of the first MMII event - "Time Bomb". I'm in charge of the 'debates' segment as well as forensic games.

3) Meeting lasted for around three hours, at which point I walked back with my friend Aser. Today's weather was a little breezy but much better than a couple of days back. Anyway, I had my dinner back here, before continuing to study for the rest of the night. We have Card-Signing 2 in five days, and just four days later is our Histology Quiz. That's the end of my day, and I hope you enjoyed reading about it. Thanks and have a nice day, cheers!

Trinity College Dublin

One of the rooms to be used

The Stanley Quek Lecture Theatre

DAY 204

Mar 24

1) Today has been an awesome day! For most of us PMCSA members, there was only one thing in our minds; International Night 2017! So much so that we skipped the first part of anatomy lessons today in order to practice one last time at the venue itself - the Olympia Theatre. Still, we made sure to go for the Anatomy practicals after that, as Card Signing is next week XD

2) We came back in the afternoon to do another run through and to size up the competition haha. It's friendly competition anyway, from CIMSA (the Canadian Society), PIBS (Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka) and many others. It was really fun seeing everyone bring a part of their culture and identity on stage.

3) Fast forward to the evening, and it was the moment of truth. The event started at around 7.30pm, with none other than our performance! Everyone went out there, and gave it our absolute best! It was over in less than 15 minutes. All that hard work and effort, condensed into that 15 minutes of fame. Then came the surprise... the other teams were taking extremely long to finish; on average they took around half an hour to almost 45 minutes! This allowed them the opportunity to showcase a lot more songs.

4) After about an hour and a half, we finally reached a brief intermission. Then it was time for the next half, performances from the Irish Society, MESA (Middle East Student's Association) and CAS (Caribbean-African Society). Every single performance was of the highest calibre, and simply astonishing considering we are all medical students with tonnes of assignments and exams to worry about. Anyway, after the last performance, the judges were given some time to decide on the winners.

5) Finally, the results were out. And we came in third place! I won't lie, it was a bittersweet victory for us as most of us thought our performance was worthy of the top two. But I suppose that's just how things are. It's still a great achievement though. Second place went to CAS and the overall champions were PIBS! Truly a night to remember, and personally I was extremely satisfied with our team's performance. I really felt we gave it our best and we can only get better from this. That's the end of my day today, and thanks for reading. Have a great day, cheers!

Olympia Theatre

Our final brief by Ms Tanya

Empty seats, soon to be filled in the evening

From l-r: Kuhan, Khee Heng, Zi Yan, me

Pre-performance selfie ^^

The Canadian Students Society (CIMSA) in action!

The traditional hula dance

The eventual winners - PIBS!

The final performance of the night and second place winners - the Caribbean-African Society (CAS)!

DAY 203

Mar 23

1) Today has been a nice day for me, as I managed to get many things done. In the morning, we sat for our Quiz 2, which comprised three modules -HBPS, GIHEP, and REGUB. I found the questions challenging, partly because I didn't have enough time to prepare. At least that's settled for now, and I don't have to worry about it any longer. Now the next important date is Card Signing 2, in just 8 days' time.

2) I finally finished taking my medicine. Somehow I feel really tired and sleepy after taking it, so it is good that I don't have to take it anymore (touchwood). Took my stuff to the library, where I have been reviewing today's lectures. A short nap in between did me wonders, and I woke up refreshed. I continued studying into the evening.

3) At around six, I returned to RCSI, where my friends and I are practising really hard for the International Night 2017, held tomorrow at the Olympia Theatre! Today is our last chance for rehearsal, although we may have some time to practice on location tomorrow before the actual performance. This promises to be loads of fun, and I can't wait to see how our performance turns out, as well as watch the other performances. I'm sure they'll be spectacular! Anyway, that's the rest of my day in a nutshell, so I'll be ending on this note. Thanks for reading as always, and have a great day. Cheers!

Free pizzas after our final practice together! ^^

A full Irish breakfast - a rare treat at AK Henry's after our second quiz

Fried rice for lunch

DAY 201

Mar 21

1) Today has been a rather strange day for me. One thing's for sure, the weather is not getting any warmer. I know that other places are probably much worse, but really nothing quite compares to the cold weather + strong winds combo that Dublin has. Rantings aside, this is the first time I felt faint in the anatomy room. I don't know if it was a combination of formaldehyde (used to preserve the cadavers) or the exceptionally cold anatomy room, but somehow my body couldn't take it. My vision went all blurry, and according to my friends my lips were pale.

2) Thankfully, all I needed was to sit down and take a couple of deep breaths. Immediately after the session, I drank copious amounts of water to keep myself hydrated, and I had lunch afterwards too. I felt normal since then. Still wondering what could have triggered it though. I spent the afternoon in the library, before coming back at around 4pm for the last lecture of the day, on prescribing medicine. This is important for our ICP Portfolio, so it was well worth it in my opinion.

3) After our lectures, I remained in the Coffee Doc, before going for our full dress rehearsal for the upcoming International Night (it's this Thursday!) Preparations are well on their way, and hopefully we'll be able to pull it off when the time comes. After a long day, I returned to the library, had a light supper, and then packed my stuff before walking home in the frosty weather. That has been my day, and I hope you enjoyed reading about it. Cheers!

The flowers in St. Stephen's Green have started to bloom again :D

Fried rice for lunch ^^

DAY 193

Mar 13

1) Today has been a really tiring day for me. I've spent the whole day in the library as always, but that wasn't the cause of my fatigue. I was tired because I had spent my time alternating between study and completing the various projects that I had.

2) I always feel freshest in the morning, so I allocate this as my study time. I managed to cover quite a number of lectures by noon and was feeling proud of it. Then, I had my lunch and a short nap afterwards. Today, we received our score for plagiarism, for the team project that we submitted in yesterday. We got 16%, meaning 16% of our work is purportedly "plagiarised".

3) Me, Ali and Ruth met at the Group Study Room upstairs to discuss on how to reduce the score. After much deliberation, we decided to alter phrases and to use our own words as much as possible. We also attempted the final remaining task, which can only be done after receiving our Turnitin (plagiarism) score.

4) By evening, we had finished. Now all that's left to do is to go through the whole thing ONE LAST TIME, to check for any spelling or grammatical errors. Then we should be able to submit the final version and be done with it for good. As for me, I continued on my lessons, studying for a couple more hours, before deciding to call it a day. That has been today's blog update, and thanks for reading. Cheers!

Anatomy of the human body,

locate in one of the Group Study Rooms of Mercer Library

My morning ritual

Q: What's better than ONE laptop? 

A: TWO laptops of course! ^^

DAY 192

Mar 12

1) Today has been a long day for me. As it's nearing our next batch of quizzes, there's nothing much to do, other than to study and cover as much as possible. This afternoon we received our timetable from our class reps, and it did more than raise a couple of eyebrows. For HBPS (Healthcare Behaviour and Patient Safety) alone, we need to cover 24 lectures, out of which only 4 questions will be asked! So much effort, for what is potentially so little gain...

2) Anyway, I spent the whole morning studying as usual, covering the rest of the GIHEP lectures. I've by and large skimmed through the REGUB (Renal, Endocrine, Genitourinary and Breast) module, so I still have this and the HBPS to cover. Hopefully that will be covered before the test.

3) This evening, Ali, Maziad and I met to do the final proofreading, before submitting our group work for the HBPS Team Project. We shall expect a score and some feedback from Turnitin, and we will then amend whatever needs to be amended, before submitting it one last time. But for now, I'm just happy that we have submitted our first draft version.

4) Most of my night has been spent continuing what I started out to do today; going over past lectures. It may appear to be boring and monotonous - being stuck in the library all day - but I assure you I am more than happy here, learning new stuff about the human body every day. That's all for today, and thanks for reading as always. Cheers!

A lovely day today in St. Stephen's Green

Cooking for the next batch of food ^^

DAY 191

Mar 11

1) Today has been a normal, typical day for me in the library. I came directly after breakfast, and I've been sitting here the whole day. However, what I have not been doing, is studying the whole day, which many may assume. I studied in the morning, and then had lunch at noon.

2) In the afternoon, there was another HBPS Group Meeting in one of the study rooms. We are all but finished with the group project; now all that's left to do is to proofread before submitting our draft copy for feedback. Considering the deadline is next week, I am extremely happy and relieved that we managed to complete it in time.

3) I took a short nap afterward as I was really tired today. Probably I got up a little too early haha. Went to Dunnes to grab a loaf of bread, before coming back for dinner. After a while, it was back to studying. I still have much to cover, and I hope most of it will be sorted out when we have our next quiz (Quiz 2) in just two weeks. That's the end of my day, and thank you very much for reading. Cheers!

When food becomes art...

Hyped up for International Night! ^^

DAY 189

Mar 9

1) Today has been a very long day for me, even though we had no classes at all! It started off fine, with me walking to the library and getting some studying done. Then, from 11-3pm, my friends and I were discussing on various activities, including the latest issues on MMII (Malaysian Medical International Ireland). We have a lot of things going on right now, so I guess the onus is on me to juggle my responsibilities efficiently, while not forgetting my academics haha. It feels like SPM (Secondary Five Exams) all over again...

2) Immediately after that, our HBPS group had a meeting from 3-5pm. We're essentially done with the project, with the exception of meeting the word count limit. I'm proud to announce that we're more than double the maximum word count XD. So the next meeting will (touchwood) see us carrying out the final proofreading, before submitting our first draft via Turnitin for feedback. We have until next Monday to do this, and tomorrow is a full 8-5 day as usual. It doesn't get any better than this *sobs*

3) But my day was far from over. In the evening, I still had to go to RCSI to practice for the Lion Dance in preparation for International Night. By the time I came back, I was both physically and mentally drained. Nothing a good sleep cannot cure, I reckon. So I'm going back a bit earlier tonight. Anyway, tomorrow classes start at 8.00am so there's really no other option. At least I can look forward to the coming weekends... That's all for today, and hope you enjoyed reading about my day. Have a great day, cheers!

Zi Yan's birthday cake

(forgot to upload yesterday haha)

The usual suspects for breakfast

DAY 176

Feb 24

1) So today has been a really awesome day for me! For starters, we got through our first Card Signing, which is the culmination of a week's hard work. Our surgeon prosector today was Dr. Jane Holland, who frequently gives us lectures on anatomy as well. I was extremely lucky to get an A- for it. Granted in terms of marks, literally nothing separates an A from a B, but as my friend Gavin so tactfully put it; an A- is still an A.

2) There were two more lectures after Card Signing, but the elation of having finished our test meant that I wasn't paying much attention to the lecturer. Nevertheless, it was still a great lecture by Prof. J. Docherty, and he's one of the very few (if only) professors who can elicit a round of applause from the audience after each of his lectures. Fun fact: if you're Malaysian and were present during his lecture today, you'll feel a sense of pride knowing that the inventor of propranolol and cimetidine, Nobel Prize winner Sir James Whyte Black was once senior lecturer at none other than University of Malaya! But then things were a lot different than it is now...

3) Anyway, I went to the library after lessons ended, stopping by Dunnes to pick up some groceries. For dinner, Khee Heng and I went out together to Boojum; my first in a very long time and made all the more special since it marks the beginning of our Reading Week! That's right - no lessons till the following Monday, although we have Principal Seminars right after that XD. Seems that there won't be an end to my hectic schedule, although I'm getting used to it.

4) The rest of my night was spent completing some unfinished projects, as well as completing my daily use of the Headspace App. So far I've been using it for three days and there's not much to comment on, although I'm remaining positive that there will be noticeable improvements after some time. And on that note, I think I'll end my blog update for today. But I haven't explained why I called today awesome at the beginning of the article. Sure, the results as well as the holidays are great, but the real reason why today has been awesome for me?

It's my dad's birthday. Happy birthday dad!! From your son all the way across the Atlantic YAMD

Morning toast

Sampling my recently cooked batch of pasta :)

Today we celebrated Kuwait's National Day at RCSI ^^

(their 27th Year of Independence)

An assortment of local delicacies from Kuwait

I never got round to ask what sort of game this is...

Anyone willing to help me out? :D

Cakes in the color of the national flag of Kuwait

Stalls were set up just in front of the O'Flanagan Lecture Theatre, on the main Concourse

Boojum tasted so good after a long time <3<3<3