DAY 151

Jan 30

1) Today was a dreadful 8-1 class. What made it dreadful was not the duration, but the fact that it was a continuous 5 hours, without any chance for us to catch a breather. That, coupled with the fact that I had to wake up extra early so as not to miss the first lecture - and you would have needed phenomenal brain power not to let your mind drift as the day progressed.

2) Our five lectures were on various modules, from Fundamentals of Biomedicine (FUN2) to HBPS (Health Behaviour and Patient Safety) and Introduction to Clinical Practice (ICP1). We even had a senior student give a talk about a student exchange programme at the RCSI Bahrain Campus over one semester - so in all fairness there was a lot of variety today. As usual, once class finished, I grabbed my stuff and went over to the library, where I have remained since.

3) In the afternoon, I went through the next day's lectures before taking a short nap. It's amazing how a power nap can refresh a person's mind, especially after a long day. And what better place to do it than in the library haha. In my defence, many of the patrons here do this as well. Anyway, grabbed a quick dinner later in the evening, before coming back to my spot for another round of study.

4) It may seem like a dull life for a medical student to lead, holed up in a cubicle "studying one's life away" as they say, but I honestly enjoy it. Of course, I have not neglected my co-curricular activities as well, and I will definitely take part in any interesting events that happen to pass me by. Until then, I'll end on this note. Thanks for reading as always, and have a great day. Cheers!

My typical meal plan (packed for the go XD)

Still have chicken rice (from the PMCSA- CNY celebration)

Chicken Tikka Masala for dinner 

DAY 146

Jan 25

1) Today has been a very, very relaxing day. I suppose it's to make up for the past couple of days which have been really trying. Anyway, our first class was at 10.00am today, so I had ample time to sleep in, have breakfast and finish doing my laundry. Our two lectures were on a new module - the Health Behaviour and Patient Safety - presented by Dr. Kelleher. One of the lectures was on IQ testing - something which I was really interested about. I used to do so many IQ tests online - to see what they were all about, so I was pleasantly surprised when it was included as part of the lecture.

2) After lectures, I went straight to the library - not to study, but to have lunch haha. I had four cheese pizza which I bought from Dunnes. It tasted great, but wasn't too filling unfortunately. Anyway, most of my friends had small group tutorials later that day, whereas mine is tomorrow. So I took a short nap in the library, as is my custom, before waking up refreshed and ready to study. Dabbled a bit with our team project (on Lewy body dementia), before reading up on the next couple of lectures.

3) Before I knew it, it was time for dinner! Went to the Mercer Cafe, and reheated my usual chicken tikka masala with rice combo. Returned soon afterward to continue studying, this time on Immunology. Our first quiz next Friday covers both Immunology (15 questions) and HBPS (5 questions). Granted, the weightage isn't too high at only 2.5%, but still it would be unadvisable to waste any mark haha. After a couple of hours studying, my mind was drifting away - so I decided to call it a day and enjoyed a little supper before walking home. That has been my largely unspectacular day today, and I hope you enjoyed reading. Thanks for reading as always, and have a great day. Cheers!

Mercer Library today :)

Breakfast toast

Pizza for lunch 

My batch cooked chicken tikka masala for dinner

DAY 145

Jan 24

1) Today was a really tiring day for me. I got up early in the morning, had my toast for breakfast, before packing up and heading for our first lecture. After the lecture, Group A went for their anatomy practicals while I, being in Group B, went down to the Coffee Doc to study. Our turn arrived soon enough, and we learnt about the muscles and vasculature of the leg, and did some dissection too.

2) At 1.00pm, our session ended, and I had an hour's break for lunch. But instead, I went to the Group Study Room 3 in Mercer Library, where my friends had agreed to meet up to discuss about our upcoming Team Project. On top of that, we each have to do an individual project, not to mention our first quiz starts next Friday! And we're only into our second week of study...

3) Hurriedly returned to RCSI after the meeting, since not much time was left. Sat through another three hours of lecture, and by 5.00pm the entire class was mentally gone. Some of my friends went back to cook, while I returned to the library (my second home), where I took a short break while having my dinner. A power nap later, and it was back to the old grind, burying myself in study until late at night.

4) Finally, by about 9.30pm plus, my mind was completely saturated with info, and no amount prodding would allow anything to enter anymore. So I had a light supper at the Mercer Cafe, before packing my stuff and walking home. I still have to finish my laundry before tucking into bed. Oh well, that's another day in my shoes haha. Hope you enjoyed reading about it, and have a great day. Cheers!

Lemon and Lime Marmalade, Orange Marmalade, Smooth Peanut Butter Toast for breakfast today ^^

Some of my homemade chicken korma with rice, mixed veggies and roast potatoes for lunch

Chicken tikka masala for dinner today :)

DAY 144

Jan 23

1) Today has been a long day for me. Had to wake up early, gobbled down breakfast because I was running late, and walked briskly just to make it in time for our first lecture. Two more lectures and we had a break for lunch.

2) Went down to the Coffee Doc with most of my friends, where I reheated my chicken tikka masala with rice. It tasted really good in my opinion. We had another lecture at 4pm, so I packed up and went to the library to do some studying. Took a short nap too, since I felt really tired (thanks to my sleeping late the previous night haha)

3) In the evening, we went for our last lecture (on research and volunteer opportunities), and that was it for the day! I'm planning to do some research in the summer, but we'll see how things go. Anyway, returned to the library to study for a bit, before coming back to RCSI later for an event - the RCSI Student Medical Journal (RCSIsmj) Club is organising a talk by Prof David Henshall regarding his research paper on epilepsy. I will be leaving soon after I finish typing this out haha.

4) The rest of the night I plan to study and relax in equal measure, since I feel completely spent and cannot concentrate much. That's all for tonight, and I hope you enjoyed reading. Thanks as always, and have a great day. Cheers!

Nutella, smooth peanut butter and marmalade jam

My lunch :D

Slides on opportunities for research, on our last lecture for today

DAY 28

Sept 29

1) Today was an interesting day. Woke up early as usual and watched the two videos on clinical practice and history taking. These would make up our lectures today. Went to RCSI before 10 a.m. to grab a spot, before attending lectures till 12 p.m.

2) Had lunch at AK. Henry's. The sandwiches I had were very filling, and all at only €3.00! After filling up, I had a 3 hour gap before our small group tutorials. So me and my friends went to the Coffee Doc to do revision and to prepare for tomorrow's lectures. The place was quite noisy, but we still had to study anyway.

3) With tutorials done for the day, some of us stayed back to enter the Anatomy Room, to get our hands on examining the cadavers. We wanted to do revision for practicals, but unfortunately the room had to be locked soon, and we didn't get a chance to fully cover the videos we were provided with online. Undeterred, we went to the Physiotherapy Room, where there were some model skeletons lying about. Each of us proceeded to "teach" the others, simulating a demonstration and to promote better understanding. It was really fun and exciting to learn in this manner!

4) By now it was time for dinner. Went back, decided that soup was for dinner until I realised the frozen dinner I bought the other day was expiring today! Had no choice but to finish that as well. So now my stomach is doubly full, and I would probably skip breakfast tomorrow as a result haha. Anyway, that's all for today, but tomorrow and the day after is chalk full of activities which I can't wait to experience. Stay tuned, and goodnight!

Extremely filling, extremely satisfying, but most importantly

*extremely cheap*

Posing with Stefan the Skeleton ;D

The Physiotherapy Room

Chicken tikka masala with rice,

plus oxtail soup