DAY 441/442

Nov 15 & 16

1) Here I am, staring at a blank screen, wondering what to talk about my daily life. These days, in particular, have become a lot less exciting due to the upcoming end-of-semester exams. Less than a month from now, we would actually have finished our exams, and I will be looking forward to spending my second Christmas away from home.

2) As I mentioned previously, we had Quiz 2 the very next day after I returned from UK. Suffice to say, I did not do much revision and ultimately, my results were subpar. I have three weeks to fix that, hopefully. But before all that, I had time to attend the RCSI Journal Club's Event - welcoming Prof. Arnold Hill (Chair of Surgery), in presenting two of his research papers. It was fascinating how one of the papers, "S100B as a serum marker in endocrine resistant breast cancer", was the culmination of the past 15 years! I can only imagine all the ups and downs that the research team had to go through to get to this stage. A truly remarkable feat, I might add.

3) Today was Oman's 47th National Day! Many of my Omani friends had set up the Expo Stage at the New Academic Building, complete with photo booth and traditional snacks. There were two large posters detailing all the wonderful tourist destinations and points of interest. We took many photos at the booth, and I even got the chance to write a congratulatory note on the board. It was fun learning a bit more about the cultures and traditions in another country.

4) This evening, we had our Small Group Tutorial. Separated into three groups, each group had to tackle a question regarding the "Molecular Medicine" module. We were asked about Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Huntington's Disease. After some deliberation, we managed to get something written on the canvas provided. Finally, I had to go up and present for my group. It wasn't easy trying to remember lectures which were given at the very beginning of the semester, but at least we did a decent job.

5) The rest of my day has been a repetitive cycle of studying a little, getting distracted, and then just pacing about. I need to get my head back in the game, so to speak. And on that note, I'll end my blog here. Thanks for reading, and have a good day. Cheers!

Happy 47th Oman!!

Journal Club's Event - with Prof. Arnold Hill

(presented by Lanny and Deena)

Over 2,000 contributors went into publishing this piece

The decor was spot on imo

I have yet to meet the person behind the suit ^^

Posters of Oman

Guess which one was mine? :^)

Apparently, it was also Mexican Day at the Dispensary

(They had burritos/bowls for €5.50)

DAY 165

Feb 13

1) Today was a very long day for us. Essentially another 9-5 lecture, and for some of them there wasn't even time for lunch! This isn't really healthy haha. Anyway, we had so many lectures, from REGUB, GIHEP to HBPS, and two P4S (Passport for Success) programmes. For me, I had my Small Group Tutorial at 4pm, which means I had to skip the last P4S programme.

2) To top it all off, the website where we download our lectures and timetable (called MOODLE) had gone down. So many of us had no clue of the upcoming lectures only until the very last minute. Fortunately, the problem has since been rectified, so it's all systems go again.

3) After what was essentially a full day of lectures, I was more than happy to pack my stuff and head to the library. Had my fried rice for dinner soon afterwards, and here I am trying to sort out my life haha. I have a lot of things to sort out, from appointments to projects and assignments, so I'm hoping to get all this done soon. Here's to more hoping XD That's all for today's blog update, and I hope you enjoyed it. Thanks for reading, and have a great day. Cheers!

The RCSI Library, fully equipped with skeleton staff :)

My morning layout

Some pepperoni pizza

Fried rice for dinner ^^

DAY 40

Oct 11

1) Today was another routine day. Got up to have cereal and milk for breakfast, before making lunch to take to RCSI. I almost forgot that class began at nine instead of ten, but luckily my roommate reminded me. Phew! Anyway, attended one lecture, before me and my friends went to the lounge to self-study.

2) After that, we were broken into small groups (around 10 students) and attended the small group tutorial. Today was our first clinical practical on cardiovascular disease. So we were taught how to inspect, palpate, percuss, and auscultate - the four common steps in diagnosis of a disease. I really learnt a lot today! It is really great that we get to practice in real life on a surface model (actor/ actress) in addition to reading the lecture slides itself.

3) For lunch, I had the toast that I made at home. Then it was an additional two lectures before school ended. There was a debate event scheduled tonight at 6.30 p.m., but I decided not to go because we weren't given the opportunity to debate. So came home, baked a simple steak and veggie pie that I got at Dunnes, and went up to my room to study.

4) Our room light had fused unexpectedly the previous night, so I called Eric (who's in charge of maintaining our house) and he gladly came to fix it. Thankfully, the light's working fine again, so I can study haha. Guess I will leave it at that for today. As always, thank you for reading, and have a great evening. Cheers!

 Cereal with milk

Nothing like a good breakfast to start the day! :D

Lunch - homemade toast!

Steak and vegetable pie,

not bad at all