DAY 283

Jun 11

1) Today has been a leisurely day well spent at home. I'm just taking it easy before my 'work' starts tomorrow haha. Anyway, that doesn't mean I have nothing to do. For starters, I've tried my best to start packing up a bit, as I'll be moving house in a couple of weeks.

2) I've started sleeping quite late at night, so that's a habit I'll have to kick before starting research tomorrow. I daren't say what time I sleep because it really is quite late. But to be fair, that was time well spent preparing some points for the Antibiotics Debate which I am arguing for.

3) In the evening, I went over to Wok In for some authentic Thai food. I accidentally ordered the prawn curry instead of the chicken, but turned out great. I stopped by Mercer Library, thinking that today's the last day before it closes. But turns out tomorrow is the last day since it closes at 11pm. Returned home to enjoy my dinner, and spent the rest of the night just reading up a bit on the research project that I'll be undertaking. That is all for my day, and hope you had a great one too. Cheers!

A lovely walk along the canal ^^

Was feeling peckish for something Thai

DAY 282

Jun 10

1) Today has been a relaxing day for me. For the most part, I was just sitting in front of the computer, looking for material to use for the next debate - Are We on the Brink of an Antibiotic Apocalypse? It is a friendly debate among the summer research students, and I'm presenting for the motion. I still am not completely sure of the rules, but that will be sorted out soon enough.

2) I received an email notifying me of the closure of Mercer Library this Sunday (June 11). It will be reopened somewhere in July, but at the new academic building and not at Mercer Court. I don't expect people to understand, but the library means a lot to me personally. I spent entire days at the library, studying, microwaving my meals, relaxing and doing my blogs here. I met all my friends who lived at Mercer here too, and we sometimes chatted in the lounge. Losing that is like losing my second home, and here's hoping the new library (three tier) would be even grander :)

3) In the afternoon, I had a short nap. Afterwards, I went for my evening run. Since I had exerted yesterday, I took it easy today and did a relaxing 5km. As I went to buy dinner, there was a street performance on Grafton Street. This guy lit a bar on fire before doing the limbo under it. This was met with great applause, and many people pulled out their cameras and so did I. He kept lowering the bar until it was barely a foot and a half high.

4) The show ended with him successfully shimmying under the bar on fire. I carried on with getting dinner, before coming back home to enjoy. That has been the gist of my day, and thanks for reading as always. Have a nice day, cheers!

Grafton St today ^^

Dinner

Nescafe

DAY 275

Jun 3

1) Today has been a largely uneventful day, thanks mostly due to my own tardiness. I woke up late as usual, and went down for breakfast. Continued to tidy up my room as much as possible, until lunch time.

2) In the afternoon, I went over to the library to meet my friends. We took some time to calculate how much to pay each other for our long holiday together. Glad to say that everything is officially sorted out. My friends stayed back at the library, while I went over to Argos (at St. Stephen's Green Shopping Centre) to buy a portable hard drive.

3) My dad had recommended me a cheap 1TB hard drive for €64, so that was what I got. I've used it to store all the photos and videos from the trip, in order to free up space in my Mac. As it was still drizzling outside, I decided against going for my run today. Perhaps tomorrow then... XD

4) I had my dinner at Boojum again. Returned to my apartment for the rest of the night. I discovered (quite by accident) that the 2nd season of the "Attack on Titan" anime had already been uploaded. Cue binge watching haha. In all seriousness, I've finished half of it already so I need to start rationing or I'd finish too early. Anyway, that was my rather boring day, but I hope you enjoyed reading about it anyway. Have a nice day, cheers!

At Boojum today ^^

DAY 273

Jun 1

1) And just like that, our holiday trip is over! In five days, I will be participating in the RCSI Research Summer Programme, with Dr. Darren Griffith as my Principal Investigator. It has been non stop action since our exams ended, so I do appreciate the couple of days' spare time to compose myself and mentally prepare for it.

2) So my day began with waking up late. Went to AIB Bank to withdraw some money as I had almost none left from my trip, then I went for my appointment with my doctor at Mercer Medical Centre. During the trip, I noticed myself coughing more often, and towards the last few days of the trip it got quite bad. My throat always felt ticklish, and that made me want to cough.

3) The doctor examined me and suggested that it was the aftereffects of my chest infection, which I had had a couple of months ago. He prescribed Ventolin, in the form of an inhaler, which I got at Boots Pharmacy. One puff three times daily was the dosage. Took one soon after buying it and felt instant relief. Here's hoping the cough subsides soon enough :)

4) I was under the assumption that I would be meeting up with my friends to settle some of the payment for bookings and accommodation. However, the meeting was postponed till tomorrow, so I decided to just stay at the library, since I had been waiting there already. Later, I went to Dunnes to buy groceries to cook for the week.

5) Came back after buying dinner at Boojum, where I've been relaxing and just chilling the night out. I'm cooking after this, so I'd best end today's blog update here. Thanks for reading as always, and have a nice day. Cheers!

If I'm not mistaken, the "Congrats!" Balloon was used in the Graduation Ceremony 2017 for the Senior Cycle students

My prescription

Subway sandwich for lunch ^^

Boojum's burrito bowl for dinner

DAY 272

May 31

1) Today we return from Zadar, Croatia to Dublin. It has been a thoroughly enjoyable 16 days, with great food, awesome weather, and even better company. Some of my friends ask me why I take so many pictures, and sort of miss out on experiencing the moment? My answer is simple - I do it for the memories. Twenty years down the road, I will look back at all these pics that I took and relive the experience in my mind.

2) Anyway, we started the day by finishing packing, then going to the bakery opposite our house to stock up on food for breakfast and lunch. Next, we went to the designated pick up point, where our pre-booked taxi would bring us to the airport. There was a bit of tension when the taxi did not arrive until 10 minutes later, since we needed to check in luggage before the gate closed.

3) Luckily, the taxis arrived eventually, and brought us to Zadar Airport in time to check in. We found out later that our flight had been delayed by about 45 minutes. So we sat and waited. It was a three hour flight back to Dublin. Once we touched down, we were greeted by cool weather (seriously, does Dublin EVER get hot?!)

4) From there, we checked out and went our separate ways. I boarded the Bus no. 16 back to RCSI, where I spent some time at the library. For dinner, I went over to Wok In, where I had the duck noodles. It felt so good to taste something Asian after a continuous diet of sausages and bread XD. Anyway, I packed up early and returned home. That concludes our 15 day trip across three countries, and tomorrow things get back to usual. Thanks for reading as usual, and have a nice day. Cheers!

Final group selfie before parting :'(

DAY 253 & 254

May 12 & 13

1) Euphoria is an affective state in which a person experiences pleasure or excitement and intense feelings of well-being and happiness (I got that from Wikipedia XD). Today, I believe many, if not all of us were in a state of euphoria when our last exam paper was collected from us. Weeks upon weeks of studying and sleepless nights culminated in this brief moment of pure joy. For me, I spent yesterday cramming every last bit of info into my brain, before waking up at around four today to continue doing so. As you can imagine, my concentration was just about enough to get me through the exam, and thereafter my mind was completely gone.

2) So where's the first place you go to once exams are over? Why, the library of course. Frankly, I didn't have anywhere else to go, so I went over to the library, now as deathly quiet as ever. First thing I did was have a nice long chat with my parents, informing them about the exam and my plans for the summer. Next, and here comes the crucial bit; I fell into a deep slumber at my desk. Had a really really good sleep (the best I've had in weeks haha), and woke up re-energised. In the afternoon, I indulged in my first post-exam movie - Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. I had always wanted to go watch it when it first hit the cinemas, but never got round to doing so. A quick review: superb fan service, great soundtrack, awesome visuals (except for some really ghastly CGI at the end), and less than satisfactory ending. Personally, I'm a sucker for happy endings, so having *SPOILERS* all the main characters die in the end is never going to have a positive impact on me. But it was really enjoyable as a whole.

3) I did not have any food left for dinner, so I went to McDonalds and treated myself to a nice ol' Big Mac. Turns out with a voucher, you can get a Big Mac and medium fries combo for just €3.90! That's a value meal if I've ever seen one. I returned to the library, where some of my friends got together to discuss on our holiday trip. I promise to reveal everything in the next blog update, since this update is getting a bit long. Anyway, as I was walking out of the library to go home, my friends Raveena and Zack approached me. They commended me on my blog, and admitted to being ardent fans of my daily musings. This really touched me, as I felt that my daily efforts were being appreciated. In all honesty, it gives me great satisfaction to receive such praise as it does creating these updates for all my readers, and I hope to be able to continue doing so.

4) All in all, it has been one heck of a year for me. Learning new skills, adapting to a new environment, making new friends, living away from my family and relatives - the list just goes on. But one thing's for sure, I've come out the opposite end stronger, tougher and overall a better person (hopefully). That's the end of my blog today, and I hope you enjoyed reading about it. To all my friends and batch mates, HAPPY HOLIDAYS! You truly deserved it after all the effort and hard work. And to those who haven't finished their exams yet, keep on pushing. The end is closer than you think. Have a great weekend everyone, cheers! :DD

Zack and I, posing in the courtyard

Some sweet treats, courtesy of the Archery Society :D

That's me lunch

McD's for dinner 

DAY 251 & 252

May 10 & 11

1) I'm counting down on the number of days left till our final paper. It's two more days till bliss. As usual, yesterday and today have seen me in the library, chipping away at the lectures. I'm trying to complete them by tonight.

2) These past few days, I have been going home later than usual, so as to cover more lectures. Of course this would backfire on me, and I've noticed that I take longer naps in the afternoon to compensate. At the very least, I know it's all coming to an end soon. That would mark the end of one academic year at RCSI.

3) I have a lot of things planned in mind during the summer break, most of which I'm keeping a secret because a) I'm busy and it's hard to type it all out, and b) I like to keep it secret so that I have something left to write about later haha. Anyways, the library is getting less packed now, and I'm assuming it's because some of the seniors have finished their exams.

4) To be honest, I find the HBPS (Human Behaviour and Patient Safety) Module to be quite interesting, especially the different stages of human development. However, I'd rather it remain non-testable in exams. Apparently, the seniors had to tackle two papers -both MCQ (multiple choice) and SNQ (short notes) compared to ours - just MCQs. So for that, I'm not complaining. Anyway, I think I'll end here, as I'm out of things to mention, plus I need to get back to my studies. Thank you for reading as always, and have a great day. Cheers!

The Savoy Cinema 

 [and if you had to ask, the movie (Fast and Furious 8) was awesome!!]

Lunch today, 

courtesy of George's mum who made a big batch of makaronia tou fournou (oven baked macaroni)

Thanks very much :DD

DAY 250

May 9

1) Today has been back to the books, after yesterday's somewhat premature celebration. Apparently, quite a number of students in the previous years have taken the HBPS (Health Behaviour and Patient Safety) Module for granted, and as a result, some of them had to resit the paper, having failed to meet the 55% requirement for MCQ. I am trying my level best not to make the same mistake.

2) My strategy for tackling all 38 modules is simple: finish ten modules a day, and for the penultimate day, dedicate that to full-on revision. That should give me some confidence, as the questions are only multiple choice, unlike past years when there were Short Notes Questions as well. Of course, I may underestimate the content and end up having no safety net to do revision, in which case I just might emulate my friend and pull an all-nighter. After all, it's the last paper and I have nothing to lose haha.

3) When exams are over, I will have much to prepare for. Starting with our planned trip, I will have to gradually pack my stuff to shift houses, in addition to resuming training for the Dublin Marathon which I'm participating in. By the way, I'm still in the process of raising funds in support of the Irish Cancer Society, so if you're feeling generous... And if not, it's all good. Anyway, I will be hitting the books soon. Have a great day, cheers!

https://sse-airtricity-dublin-marathon-2017.everydayhero.com/ie/irish-cancer-society-fundraiser

P.S. Just follow the link above to donate for a good cause :D

Dundrum stop at the LUAS Station yesterday

That's my lunch ^^

DAY 248 & 249

May 7 & 8

1) The past two days have been very eventful for me. Yesterday was a full day as usual for me in the library, where I studied for the GIHEP paper today. As I had expected, our GIHEP paper was not easy. Many of the questions had more than one possible answer, and the problem lay in choosing the best option. As always, I did my best, so I'll just have to wait and see.

2) Today was a much more exciting day for me though. After our exams, I had to go to Dublin 1 to sort out some documents. Walked back to RCSI, where Zi Yan and I took the LUAS to Dundrum. It's our friend Hong's birthday today, so we went for buffet lunch at a restaurant called Global Cuisine. It was not easy to find the place, as it was in an obscure location at the cineplex, just beside Dundrum Town Centre (the largest shopping mall in Ireland). The food was really good, and at 9.95 euro, much cheaper than Dublin 2.

3) After a wholesome meal, some of us went shopping at Penneys, while the rest of us took the tram home. But that's not the end of our escapade. At night, some of us (Jason, Alvin and me for now) are going to watch Fate of the Furious (a.k.a. Fast and Furious 8), a film which I have been yearning to watch ever since it came out. Now is the best time to watch it, and then binge study the rest of the week for this Saturday's final paper, the HBPS. All in all, it has been a really meaningful day for me, as we near the end of our exams and the holidays are just round the corner. That's all for my two days' worth of blog updates, and thanks for reading. Have a great day, cheers!

The birthday boy Hong :)

That's as candid as we'll ever achieve...

Group photo :))

Dundrum Town Centre

Global Cuisine Buffet Lunch

That's my friend Alvin, who was really keen on being in my blog ^^

Happy days!

DAY 247

May 6

1) So far, so good. I've covered as many lectures as possible, but I know I won't be able to finish them by tonight. Ideally, I wanted to have tomorrow as a sort of revision day, where I consolidate everything I learnt so far. However, that would not be possible. So I'm going to finish as much as I can tonight, and then continue with the remainder tomorrow. And then if I still have time, I'll do some revision (of my revision haha).

2) It's just two days more till my exam, which means I really have nothing much to add. Everyone I know is studying in the library, and it really helps seeing them here, as it goes to show that everyone is in the same boat. I have some bittersweet news to share, but I'll just wait until after the exam. You know, just to keep the suspense going... Thanks for reading, and have a great day. Cheers!

Flowers in the spring time <3

My breakfast

DAY 246

May 5

1) Today has been another day for me in the library. I got here after my breakfast, and began studying for the GIHEP paper. There's a lot of material to go through, so hopefully I will be able to finish in time. Sometimes when I find myself really stressed out, I think back to the days when I was at home, idling about doing nothing while waiting for my results. And I can still remember how I promised myself I would call upon these memories to remind me how boring it feels to have no objective in life. I'm glad it helps to some extent.

2) My afternoon was spent listening to some songs, and getting a short nap. Then later in the evening, I had to go to Dunnes to get a loaf of bread, among other things. Came back to have my dinner, and to relax for a while.

3) Afterwards, I continued with my studies as best as I could. This will be the pattern for the next week or so, until our last exam (HBPS) which is next Saturday. Until then, it's back to some studying for me. Thanks for reading as always, and have a great day. Cheers!

Nice designs around the city

DAY 244 & 245

May 3 & 4

1) I've taken the liberty to combine two blogs into one again. In all fairness, I was busy studying my derriere off yesterday. I had to commit all 40 lectures of REGUB to memory; and I'm not exaggerating when I say that I did not budge from my cubicle yesterday. I even got up very early today to do some last minute revision and cramming haha.

2) But of course, this pales in comparison to what some of my friends did. But how much more intense could their studying be, I hear you ask? Well, one of my friends did not get ANY sleep at all - he just decided to pull an all-nighter. And the only thing on all of my friends' minds after our exams today? Sleep. I admit I was one of them as well.

3) In the end, I found this paper to be harder than the previous one, but that is probably because I had more time to study for that. After this, we have only two more papers, and we're done :D The next paper, GIHEP, is four days' away. So at least there's more time to study. C'est la vie I guess... On the plus side, today was absolutely balmy, and is the first time in a long while that I've been able to walk out with a single layer. I still brought my jacket, because I've found a country whose weather is just as fickle as London's.

4) Coming to Ireland, I've learnt a valuable lesson - that nothing takes precedence over my own happiness. If it means that I don't do as well as my friends, or that I achieve less than my peers, then so be it. At least I'm happy with the way things are. So on that note, I'll end today's (and yesterday's) blog update. Thanks for visiting, and have a nice day. Cheers!

So many flags... ^^

Finally decided to treat myself to a Subway

(I needed a new bottle anyway XD)