DAY 808

Nov 18

1) It was something that I had always dreamed of, but never thought would come. As I attended my first PMCSA Farewell Dinner (as a volunteer) two years ago, I was filled with envy for my seniors, who were on the verge of completing their pre-clinical years here in RCSI, and would return to complete their remaining clinical years in Penang, Malaysia. I wanted time to pass faster as I had my fair share of problems then. The cold bitterness of winter, coupled with personal problems made me long for home.

2) Only then did I realise the importance of friends. Back at home, I always had my family to rely on, to fall back to when I had problems. But living abroad - that was a completely new chapter in my life, as I needed time to adapt. And adapt I did, gradually. Fast forward two years, and here I am - sitting in the same chair as the seniors (metaphorically of course XD), attending our very own Farewell Dinner. And how times have changed.

3) Through my blog (or should I say in spite of my blog), I've made so many new friends, and I've gotten much better at sharing my problems and helping each other out. My loathe for the winter cold pales in comparison to the warmth and kindness shown by my friends, and my initial desire to return home quickly has turned to wishing time could slow down - to allow me more time to cherish my final moments here in Dublin.

4) It is true I still have a month or so before I leave, and a lot more to accomplish before going back. Exams are the final hurdles in what has been an explosive semester, one that started off as a bang and has only increased in scale and magnitude. But as exams are important, so too, are memories. Memories are what I would look back to in the future, and memories are what keeps my smile going. And memories are what drove me to write a poem for our Farewell Dinner yesterday.

5) It was in the days leading up to our REGUB exam, that I decided to draft out a poem for the upcoming event. I had just watched an episode of QI (Quite Interesting) on YouTube, where the theme was "limericks". I decided to base my poem on just that, adding a personal touch to it by including many of our professors and lecturers in it. It was 1 full night of my best time (which I could use for studying or sleeping), but it was time well spent indeed.

6) As for the Farewell Dinner itself, it was spectacular. The PMCSA Organising Committee did an amazing job with the overall event, from the decor to the food, and the complementary gifts we each received. It was truly a night to remember, and it was certainly fitting that if I were to present a poem to anyone, it would be at this event. I shall cherish the memories made, the wonderful ups, and the not-so-wonderful downs, that have moulded me into who I am today.

7) The theme of the event was "A Midsummer Night's Dream" - and it truly felt like a dream. But as all dreams come to an end, so too must I wake up - for my exams! Coming soon in less than two weeks. That's it for my blog post, but do enjoy the many pictures we took of the event, and have a great week ahead. Cheers! :D

The leaving PMC Medicine Class of 2021

With Dr. Jane Holland - our Anatomy Lecturer whose rendition of "Hallelujah" could easily have been mistaken for a professional opera singer's!

#ourlecturersarebtterthanyours

With Dr. Fidelma Fitzpatrick - Consultant Microbiologist at Beaumont Hospital, and Senior Lecturer at RCSI. I first met her during prep for the "Antimicrobial Resistance" debate for Research Summer School last year, and she's been teaching us microbiology since IC1. A true legend.

With Ms. Judith Gilroy - Associate Director for Academic Affairs - Student, Academic and Regulatory Affairs (SARA)

Beaumont Buddies! Canteen Companions! Bichie Bros! (the last one is just shameless advertising for Richie and Barry XD)

(l-r: Richie, Hazel, Myself, Andy, Zi Yan, Barry)

With Chloe, who hails from China :)

With Kaung Sett - congratz and all the best with your new role as Student Ambassador for 

Education in Ireland! :)

From l-r: Melvin, Melissa, Myself, Jing Er, Esther, Zi Yan

With Richie "Bichie Bros" Hogan!

With Ice, Alison, Zi Yan and Myself :)

With some of the wonderful JC juniors

With Claire - RCSI Cancer Soc Co-President, SU Vice President and Education Officer, and a wonderful friend :)

I'll miss all of you guys when I go back! :'(

With my good friend an all-round great guy Hussain Sajwani ^^

With the irreplaceable Lai - a HUGE thank you for helping make this event so successful!

With Razleena Aida :)

  

With Ruth and Sarita :))

With Marris and Zi Weei - brilliant event guys!!

Friends Forever!

From l-r: Nee Kee, Khee Heng, Stephanie, Mateen, Jun Sing, Myself, Zi Yan

Our table of the night - gonna miss you guys!!

DAY 537

Feb 18-20

1) After spending the night with some friends, I went back to RCSI to register for the third and last day of the International Conference for Healthcare and Medical Students (ICHAMS) 2018. The schedule for today was as follows - Poster Session B, Oral Session C, Keynote 3, Lunch, Poster Session C, Workshop, Oral Session D, Tea Break, Keynote 4, followed by the Closing Ceremony and optional Black Tie Dinner.

2) I spent most of the morning rehearsing for my poster presentation after lunch (Poster Session C - 13.00-14.30). During lunch, we had the opportunity to listen to research carried out by past students of the RCSI Collaborative Research: The John Bradley Clinical Research Summer School, Michael Garron Hospital, Toronto. Quite a number of my Canadian friends had taken part last year, and were presenting their posters today. It was thoroughly entertaining listening to each one of their research focuses, and to appreciate the rich diversity of projects available to candidates.

3) At 13.00, the judges came over to do their rounds. I was one of the first to be assessed - 3 minutes speaking time, with 2 minutes for questions. Before I knew it, I was wrapping up and being bombarded with questions. I tried to answer as best I could, and they nodded in approval. Job done, I thought. As I opened a bag of crisps and stared at another poster - in a vain attempt to prevent myself from overthinking about my just concluded presentation - I was approached by two girls, Hazel and Meghan. Apparently they had been following my blog too, and we had a nice chat about my research projects last summer.

4) At 14.30, I went for the second workshop: Workshop G - Physio in high-caliber athletics. Mr Aidan Woods (Head Physiotherapist at the inaugural European Games 2015 in Baku and the London 2012 Olympics) gave the presentation, going through some practical examples - including two case studies on the role of physiotherapy in giving athletes the green light to compete at major championships. It was fascinating to obtain a different perspective and approach towards healthcare, especially for top-level athletes. The chances of litigation due to an oversight are enormous, but so are the payoffs - seeing an athlete fulfil their lifelong dream of starting a race, even with an injury.

5) Our last keynote speech was by Dr. David Rowe - general physician and thought leader in the emergent area of Health, Happiness, and Wellbeing Wisdom. It was an inspiring talk that beckoned us to practice more gratitude and gratefulness. After a mesmerising dance duet by Robert Prein and Mayke van Veldhuizen, it was time for the closing ceremony. The winner of the Best Oral Presentation went to none other than Joshua! Congratulations to him, and job well done to all.

6) As it was getting dark, we decided against staying back for the Black Tie Dinner at NoLIta. I walked all the way back to Eden Quay, and took Bus 27b back home.That concludes ICHAMS 2018, and I hope you enjoyed reading about it. Thanks for visiting, and have a lovely weekend. Cheers! :)

ICHAMS 2018 was a huge success!

With Dr. Sara O'Neill 

(ICHAMS Faculty Advisor since it's inception)

Hazel had us posing like that

(and then didn't maintain it so the picture's a tad blurry XD)

Me: Until the next one guys :')

Congratz Joshua on a thoroughly deserved win :D

Dr. Mark Rowe was the fourth and final Keynote Speaker of the conference

Dr. Mark Rowe - 

talking about how an arson tragedy in the past turned out to be the most important lesson in his life

ICHAMS 2018 draws to a close ~~

"K bye"

- Melissa

DAY 412/413//414

Oct 17, 18 & 19

1) So much has happened these past few days. First, the nation was rocked with what was the worst tropical storm in 56 years - Hurricane Ophelia. On Sunday evening, Met Eireann issued a Red Warning (the highest warning available) for the whole country, effective from 6am on Monday ahead of Hurricane Ophelia hitting Irish shores. Apparently, the hurricane transitioned into a post-tropical storm when it hit Ireland early on Monday morning.

2) Violent and destructive gusts of 120 to 150km/h wreaked havoc nationwide, leaving plenty of damage, disruption, and death in their wake. Unfortunately, three deaths were reported; one in Waterford, Tipperary, and Louth respectively - due to the tropical storm. ESB Networks is beginning the massive task of restoring electricity supplies to 450,000 homes and businesses left without power in the wake of Storm Ophelia. The operation is likely to take several days. 

3) By the time the storm hit Dublin, it had lost much of its impact. As a result, many of my friends (myself included) were left wondering where the storm/ hurricane was. Sure - there were some really strong gusts of wind, but other than that, and a couple of fallen trees, the damage was minimal compared to some other counties. Thank our lucky stars then :) All schools, public transport (including LUAS and bus services) were down on Monday, and RCSI remained closed on Tuesday while they ascertained the safety of the premises. 

4) As a result, we missed our JC3 Outbreak Quiz, which was scheduled for Tuesday. Also on Tuesday, my friends and I were supposed to present our research poster at Beaumont (immediately after our Quiz), but that has since been postponed to next Tuesday. More time to study, I suppose. 

5) Today (Wed) was also my group's Heart Saver session. I had to be present at 8.00am, which meant waking up in the wee hours of the morning. And today was especially cold (~4 degrees Celsius) which made getting out of bed even harder... Anyway, we learnt some essential practical skills - CPR, using an AED, and the Heimlich manoeuvre (or abdominal thrusts) - in both adults and children. After four hours, we were done. Thankfully, we had only one more lesson after that - which was after lunch. Personally, I still had a small group tutorial at 4pm. Anyway, that has been a brief recap of the past couple of days, and hopefully you enjoyed reading about it. Thanks for visiting, and as always, have a good one. Cheers! :D 

The irony of using UCD equipment in RCSI...

Buffet at Global Cuisine - Dundrum Town Centre

Rainbow on the same day as Hurricane Ophelia...

I suppose RCSI was on a shortage so they had to borrow UCD's XD

Adult dummies on which to practice our CPR/ first aid skills

Sports Direct trip was for nought as I couldn't find what I was looking for ):

The Spire

At least Butler's Chocolate more than made up for it :D

DAY 395/396/397/398

Sept 30, Oct 1, 2 & 3

1) Lately I've been slacking off with the blog updates again. Simply put, I've been rather busy preparing for Quiz 1, as well as the upcoming Card Signing next week. As a result, I've been accumulating lots of pics from each day. First and foremost was the recently concluded "Late Night Coffee with MMII", organised by the Malaysian Medics International Ireland. We met up with our friends from UCD and TCD at the Accents Coffee and Tea Lounge. The turnout was much more than I had anticipated, with a really strong showing from Trinity. Anyway, the objective was just to get to know each other, and introduce the committee members of MMII as well as their future plans. We had loads of fun chit-chatting and playing card games, and just indulging in pure shenanigans.

2) On Saturday, it was time for some kickboxing lessons. I've discovered the morning trams come at rather long intervals, which means I have to wait for a long while for the next one to arrive. I arrived for practice a little late as a result. We worked more on our kicks for this session compared to the previous one. After that, it was just a typical day in the library for me. Ditto for Sunday, with the exception of ultimate frisbee practice at 8pm. We went through various drills, including a mock game between ourselves. It was all good fun.

3) Yesterday (Monday) we had classes from 9-5pm - something that none of us like but have gotten somewhat used to. The only problem was Quiz 1 was the next day at 8am. So it was another hectic day to revise the lectures in time for today's quiz. I did not go home last night as I was afraid of missing the tram the next morning (on weekdays, the trams can get extremely packed, and I've missed many a tram due to overcrowding). Instead, I decided to crash at my friends' place. Thankfully, all of my friends live together in the same apartment, which made it easier to stay the night. Did my fair share of studying, before getting a good night's rest on the couch. It was just for a day anyway.

4) Today was Quiz 1 - 8.00am at the Exam Hall. Overall, I found it challenging and some of the questions a little vague. Nevertheless, I've done everything I physically can to prepare so I've no regrets. After all, they're plenty of quizzes and exams after this, so a lot more opportunities to improve. Post-quiz, my friends and I went for a nice Full Irish Breakfast at AK Henry's, before continuing lessons (at 10am!) for the rest of the day. The learning process never stops, so they say... Anyway, that has been my past four days, plus plenty of pictures to make up for the lapse in blog updates. Hope you enjoyed reading, and thank you for tuning in. Stay tuned, and have a good one, cheers :D

RCSI, UCD, Trinity - seniors, peers, juniors alike

(all brought together over a cup of coffee (or 10!))

The muffins at The Dispensary are simply to die for! 

Triple dark chocolate, and salted caramel <3<3

With Jason - RCSI chap

Good coffee, good banter

Imbibing copious amounts of coffee - a medical student's favourite pasttime :D

With friends from all over (some RCSI, some TCD...)

You've got your wish Vik - you're FEMES now :^)

(Me, Vik, Varman, Jason, Hai Wen)

The World Map at Accents Coffee and Tea Lounge

That is probably the most filling meal you can get at Dunnes (and for only €6.00!)

Ham-stuffed whole baked potato, Asian noodle salad, cous cous, and spiced potato salad :D

"We're supposed to be different!" XD

Spending the night away...

Post Exam Hall blues...

Featuring a slightly blurry image of Ali Rifai of the RCSI SU!

Exam Hall

That is the epitome of a cheap and hearty meal!

(Full Irish Breakfast at AK Henry's - €3.75)

Nothing like a wholesome breakfast to shake off post-quiz stress

Guess what's inside? ^^

Apple, Banana, and Apple! XD