DAY 305/306

Jul 3 & 4

1) On Monday, the new academic building finally opened its doors for us! Admittedly, only two floors were officially open while the rest are to be public only once the next school term starts (in September). Of course, that didn't stop me and many of my friends from snooping around haha. We went up and down all floors, marvelling at how new and fresh everything looks. For starters, the building is massive; five floors up and another four down.

2) The top two floors are used for surgical training (RCSI houses the National Surgical Training Centre), while the next two floors contain the library and computer room. The Ground Floor contains the aptly named "Dispensary" - which provides complimentary Nescafe/tea for the next couple months or so. Also on this floor is the lounge, where visitors can gather to converse and socialise over a cuppa. A floor down and we reach the auditorium, which can house up to 540 students. I just wonder if we'll have many (if any at all) lectures here next semester.

3) The second level below Ground Floor acts as a backstage to the auditorium, for props and stagehands I presume. One level further down and it's the gym - complete with rows of weights and gym machines. There's even a separate Women's Only Gym right beside. Lastly, the fourth level underground. This contains the sports complex, the size of four badminton courts and/ or a full basketball court. After spending some time there, we were kindly ushered out by a security guard as the place was off-limits...

4) My personal opinion of the new academic building is that it's wonderful! Finally, we have something tangible (physical) to showcase to visitors, to complement our academic prowess haha. Jokes aside, the space available has been very well utilised, and the facilities are top notch to say the least. There's more than ample space to take a break, and the environment is thoroughly conducive for studying. Perhaps a little too conducive...

5) Up till today, we've done ten experiments in the lab, with more to come. I'll finish my research by the end of this month, however, and after that I'll be expected to summarise my research in the form of an abstract. The prospect of presenting my research findings sounds very exciting to me, and I'm looking forward to it. Anyway, that is the end of my blog update, and a big thank you for visiting. Have a lovely day, cheers!

Hanging out with my friends at the new "Dispensary" on the Ground Floor!

(l-r: Echin, Me, Cass, Charmi, Raymond, SianWon)

Everything looks so fresh and updated <3 <3

The stairs to the auditorium

One could almost sleep here XD

The auditorium at level -1

Look at all the gym equipment!

The basketball court

Complimentary beverage at the Dispensary

Me, Zi Yan, Joshua hanging out for a cuppa

The first floor of the library

National Surgical & Clinical Skills Centre

The equipment looks familiar haha

Spiral staircase

Nobel Peace Prize...

Or bilateral trade?

Tripartite then :)

It wasn't an easy picture to take... ^^

For when you need motivation when doing squats...

DAY 223

Apr 12

1) Today has been another long day at the library. There's really not many days left until our first exam, which is our OSCE (Objective Structured Clinical Examination). So we are rotated through three stations, one of which is a History Taking Station, another is a Cardio/Resp/GI exam station, and the last is a rest station - in random order. All in all it shouldn't take longer than 15 minutes, but what effort required for it!

2) As you can imagine, my entire day has been spent at the library. Sometimes it's hard to find motivation to study when you don't even know where to start, because there's just so much to cover. So I just picked anatomy and studied that for the afternoon.

3) In the evening, I went over to the National Surgical Training Centre for our last Surgical Laporoscopy Session. It was the same five tasks, from simple transferring of pegs to the more difficult extracorporeal and intracorporeal suturing simulation tasks. Thankfully, I managed to complete all five tasks without too much of a hassle. I've done these same tasks so many times that it has become a bit like muscle memory to me - just like when I play the piano.

4) Returned to the library after saying goodbye to Mr. Harrington, the Surgical Research Fellow, for what is our last session before the holidays. They will use the data recorded (time taken, number of pegs transferred etc.) to plot a chart over time to see whether our skills improve/decline/show no change over time. That should be pretty interesting to see. I suspect mine to be all over the place, as there were some really good days and some pretty bad ones as well for me.

5) The rest of the evening is just trying to focus on my studies and not get distracted by other activities (believe me, when you are sick of studying, anything becomes interesting haha). That's the life of a medical student: we study hard, then party hard. And I can't wait for the latter. And on that note, I'll end my blog update here. Thanks for reading as always, and have a nice day. Cheers!

The trees are starting to bloom and gosh do they look beautiful

Disclaimer: those are jelly beans, not meds

My lunch, at the Mercer Cafe

DAY 200

Mar 20

1) Today has been an enjoyable day for me. While I've been studying in the library for the most part, when afternoon came I attended the Surgical Laporoscopic Skills Research Programme at York House, just opposite the main building. As usual, it was the usual five tasks associated with keyhole surgery. This time around, I managed to complete all the tasks in under 15 minutes, which was really quite fast considering the time allocated for each candidate is around 45 minutes.

2) Shortly after the session, I went over to Tutorial Room 5 at RCSI for the next activity - a talk on how to write a professional CV. It was a very informative session, and we learnt all the do's and dont's when it comes to writing our CVs and cover letters. Hopefully all of this will come in handy next time I apply for something haha.

3) In the evening, it was back to studying as usual, and basically just covering up as much material as possible before our next quiz (which is on Thursday, not Friday as I originally thought). So much left to do, so little time... guess I better get started then. That's all for today, and thanks very much for reading. Have a great day, cheers!

How to write a professional CV - 101 ^^

Homemade fried rice

The surgical department finally provided us with the snacks they had long promised XD

DAY 179

Feb 27

1) Today has been a very interesting day for me. Three things happened to make it that way, the first being I got a haircut! After months upon months of letting my hair grow like Samson, I couldn't stand it anymore and went for a free haircut at the Dublin School of Barbering. Felt a lot better too, since my hair was so long it sometimes blocked my vision.

2) In the afternoon, I went over to the National Surgical Training Centre (just opposite RCSI) with my friends, Nee Kee, Esther and Zi Yan. We took part in the Laporoscopic Skills Competition, where the top two would represent RCSI for the Intercollegiate Finals! There were two tasks involved, the first was using the graspers (yes, that's what those long grasping thingamajigs are called) to insert a shoelace through five holes, while looking through the monitor. Apparently the all time record is a scarcely believable 40-odd seconds! The next event was stacking sugar cubes, again with the graspers. We had two minutes for this, and some participants were really unlucky when their tower of cubes toppled with seconds to spare! Although we tried our best, none of us made it to the finals. It was absolute fun though, and really gave us a feel of what it's like to do surgery.

3) In the evening, Khee Heng and I walked to RCSI, where there was a "Feed the Homeless" programme, organised by a collaboration between the RCSI Islamic Society and the RCSI Book Club. We were broken into groups of six or seven, with each group assigned a certain area to cover. We then took the goodie bags, which contained the essentials like food and water, some gloves, socks, hats etc. As we were assigned Grafton Street, it was quite easy for us to find the homeless people. Grafton St is the main street in Dublin, and it makes sense that underprivileged people would camp there, waiting for passersby to donate. And off we went - and we met many homeless people along the way. All of them were very friendly with us, and many were genuinely touched that we were giving them warm clothes and good food. Other groups weren't so lucky though. Apparently someone got told to f^&* off by a homeless person. Oh well, there will always be exceptions I guess. Luckily it didn't happen to me.

4) After the event, we returned to RCSI, where we were provided with a simple dinner. We also got a certificate each for our hard work, which was an added bonus. To be honest, I felt pity for the homeless people still stuck outside in the streets while I'm here in the warm library typing this out. It was absolutely freezing tonight, and the winds are really strong. Being out in the cold with them has made me realise how lucky we all are, with food and a place to call home. Most of my friends felt the same way too. Anyway, I will be leaving the library soon, as the staff have just announced that the library is closing soon. That's all for today, and I hope you enjoyed reading about it. Have a great day, cheers!

Surgical scissors

Breakfast :)

On my way to Dublin 1 for haircut

Before and after haircut XD

Pizza

Born again after haircut :D

National Surgical Training Centre, RCSI

Machine used for teaching laporoscopic skills, mimicking the human body

The first stage: passing a shoestring through the five keyholes, using only the two graspers and looking at this monitor (it's not as easy as it seems haha)

RCSI Dublin

INMED sent my friends and I an email recruiting volunteers for the event. After we agreed to sign up and confirmed, there was no reply from them, or any follow up. That is the last insult I will tolerate, first asking for help and then not even having the decency to reply!

My group mates for the "Feeding the Homeless" event :D

Achievement unlocked! ^^