Two Semesters in IMU, A year in Malaysia; My 1st year as a medical student in a nutshell..
I'm still trying to come to terms with the fact that I've been a medical student for a whole year! What's happened in the past year?.. What has changed?.. What have i learnt?
This post is a trip down memory lane......
Semester 1
In February last year when i came to malaysia, i was stepping into the unknown. Living away from home for the first time, without a mum to run home to if things went wrong. I had faith in myself. I knew i could handle it (or rather i was determined to handle it!). True enough, for the first few months of Uni i didnt feel homesick at all. I was strong; kept telling myself that i was it was only 5months and then....back home!
23rd of February 2005..My first day as a Medical Student!
Orientation Week - The first week and a half in IMU (the orientation) was the most interesting, fun and hectic few days of my life so far. Of course i didnt call it "fun" during the that time but now, looking back, i realize how much fun it was. Doing things i would never have done otherwise (of course being forced to do them wasn't fun then). The best thing about orientation was meeting new people. Orientation promotes this sense of unity among batch-mates which i found very fascinating. I guess going through all the things that we did go through during orientation brought us closer together. When it came to orientation group-mates, i guess i got lucky. Having people like Karishma, Dinesh, Sarah, Jo Ling, Kenneth etc in my group, was awesome. Ice breakers, Treasure Hunt, Variety Night, Telematch, BBQ Night.. a whole week of being ragged by the seniors. The dressing up..Coming up with sketches..Practicing mini dance routines.. Stamina being tested (especially during treasure hunt).. I'm not going to write any details because it was one experience i know i wont forget for a long time to come.
First week of proper lectures - the fact that i'm a medical student finally sank in. Made me concentrate a little better on my work (only for a little while though). Waking up to make it in time for 8 o clock lectures was the worst part of Sem 1. It was during this time that i became a coffee-addict. Having a cup of coffee in the morning before lectures became a habit.
NETBALL - When i left school, i thought it'll be bye-bye Netball. When i found people equally as enthusiastic as i was about netball, i must admit that i was caught off-guard. The discovery that Karishma and i had this natural ability to communicate with each other extremely well on the court was a pleasent revelation. Word spread that we had 'chemistry' on the court. The only other person i've ever played that well with, was Tanzy (one of my best-friends from back home and one of the most brilliant netball players i've ever had the privilege of playing with.) Goodwill games were awesome. It was also my first venture out of KL and my first time at Seremban clinical school. Being ignorant of the fact that Karishma was atrocious at directions, i hitched a ride in her car to Seremban. Pretty soon I, the foreigner was the navigator, with a map of malaysia in hand for the first time!:-)
Summative 1 - Summative 1 was scary. Preparing for it was quite stressful. Being the first medical school exam (barring the bogus exam of course) all of us were stressed out. It was such a relief when it was over. Then was the April 27th incident. Didnt think it'll happen but it did. One week of holidays, and where did we go.....Penang!!! It was a great holiday. It felt great to be back in a family atmosphere. I loved Meenu's and Nisha's parents. Mufee, Hiru, Joni and I really enjoyed the trip. Less than a week later - Singapore! Meeting thatha after so long was awesome! Great food for a couple of days. Didnt like the NUS interview but i really enjoyed the trip.
The two weeks of Behavioural Sciences were relaxing. Then before we knew it we were studying for the Summative 2 exam. We were practicing Netball for MAPCU during our study breaks. Even though we lost the MAPCU Games badly, it was a great experience..(Netball always is!).
Summative 2 was over pretty fast. I didnt like the paper. I thought i had really mucked it up. The two 'study break' weeks were so hectic. Had a lot of work to do and the study break was just enough to finish studying everything. In spite of that i didnt feel like i had done enough. I wasnt too confident.
End of Sem exam - I hated the SAQ paper. I ran out of time. I wasted my time writing unnecessary things. The OSPE however was awesome! I loved the paper. So yippee!! I could go home!! Decided to stay on for a couple of days in the hopes of finding an apartment which ended up being a fruitless search.
During this entire semester, some of the best times were spent at home. I was blessed with awesome housemates including a great roomie. Clarissa (the big sister), Jo Ling (the organised one, the mum of the apartment), Nee Yi (the quiet one) and Hiruni (my Lankan buddy) made life so much fun. Late night chit-chats; Clarissa's fashion tips and sharing experiences.. C-25-1 rocked! We were by far the most united and happening hostel! Other interesting events - Late night pool-side hang outs, hangouts at Midvalley, countless movies, countless window-shopping sprees...
Wow.. that was one interesting first semester.. :-)
2 months of holidays + elective
Back to family!! Doggies!! Back to my room and its lilac walls! Elective with Nisha, Meenu and David.. Exploring Sri Lanka and just chilling out at home.. I felt like it was a well-deserved break.
Semester 2
September came all too soon and it was time to leave the paradise island again. Then came the difficult transition from chilling out at home to hitting the books. As September was IMU cup season, this transition time was postponed, rather conveniently, to October.
NHSD - We were all looking forward to seeing cute guys at IMU as the NHSD was coming up. With Dr.Vishna breathing down my neck about minutes for the NHSD meetings, organising it wasnt that pleasent. Meeting Pravin was the best part about NHSD. He's one of the most interesting malaysian's i've ever met.
IMU Cup - IMU cup was the best part of semester 2. It was the most enjoyable time in IMU since Orientation and winning 5 medals was a bonus, a welcome addition to my collection that’s collecting dust at home. Beating the crap out of all the other teams during netball was fun. The Final was one match I’ll never forget. Playing against a team which had the kind of support that the Sem 5s had is any opposing team’s nightmare. The game was played in the “true spirit of sportsmanship” with quite a bit of pushing and shoving, insolent statements and rude looks. We ended up winning 11-9; the first match I’ve ever won after going into overtime. The other most memorable event was the 4x100m. That was one of the best races I’ve ever run. It felt great to be the last lapper winning with a 50m margin. Jonitha, Kesuma and Sabrina were awesome. Hats off to them!
Summative 1 – One week to study for the exam. Panic set in. Guilty feelings.. The transition I mentioned earlier was made unconsciously. Suddenly I was in exam mood, studying my ass off for the first exam of Sem 2.
Diwali Nite – Most of my time between Sum1 and Sum2 was spent clilling out, planing Diwali Nite (which was held on the 25th of November) and planning the World AIDS Day Fund Raiser. Writing the emcee script with Rahul was a terror. For the first time in my life I discovered what people mean when they say that guys have a short attention span. Diwali Nite was awesome. These students are one talented lot!! Emceeing was fun too, especially the part where I said “crap” into the microphone. Barring the blunder we made in the end, I think Rahul and I did a good job. I still feel guilty about not giving Balwinder the credit he deserved.
Summative 2 - This was a killer! With Pharmacology and Parasitology together, the exam was a nightmare. I was sure i was going to flunk it. I was happy after the feedback session though, when i found out for sure that i had passed.
World AIDS Day Fund Raiser - 1st December 2005. This event was a huge success. We raised a staggering RM1700! It was a tremendous achievement for an event that was for the first time.
Then came planning Meenu's and my combined b'day bash. Being sick 2 days before my birthday kinda sucked but the party was fun; the dancing was great. I'm glad mufee made us have a party.Sue Yi's b'day party was fun. Exploring a side of KL that was previoulsy unknown to me; Kelana Jaya.
I was counting the days till amma and aiya came. Having them here was just awesome! Having a mum in the house again was really nice. I felt like a kid again and i behaved like one too till they left! Took them shopping to 1U, Midvalley, Times Sq, KLCC etc. Took them up to Genting Highlands as well. I was really sad to see them leave on 31st morning. But with all the studying i had to do for CVS, i didnt have time to miss them!
CVS exam - The exam was much easier than i expected. For one week of studying, i think i did a good job.
Rotations - Community medicine was just boring and i had to do a presentation on Hookworms! With Prish and Mufee doing Pin worms and Whip worms respectively, the atmosphere at home was a little too wormy for us. CSU was a little irritating with Tim Song calling me "Miss.SriLanka". BS was a joke but pretending to be an angry patient with Inthisham as the doctor was fun!. The Lab sessions were quite educational i must say. Dr.Tani and Dr.Radha were really good. My lazy pals made me do most of the work but i didnt mind that. Then came KKB!! I wont be elaborating on that since i've dedicated an entire post for that. Immediately after KKB... Orientation plans..Full steam ahead!!..
We had so much free time during rotations that we didnt know what to do with ourselves. Our malaysian counterparts left us "Vista ppl" at the mercy of each other's company. Prish, Hiru, and I (since Muf ditched us and flew back to SL) hung out with Geesh, Mubeen and Inthi. Those guys are really amusing. Such nice people..
Its the 23rd of February 2006.. Its been one whole year! At times my mind refuses to accept the fact that its been that long but so many things have happened; so many things have changed. I have changed...
Looking forward to the next year!...
This post is a trip down memory lane......
Semester 1
In February last year when i came to malaysia, i was stepping into the unknown. Living away from home for the first time, without a mum to run home to if things went wrong. I had faith in myself. I knew i could handle it (or rather i was determined to handle it!). True enough, for the first few months of Uni i didnt feel homesick at all. I was strong; kept telling myself that i was it was only 5months and then....back home!
23rd of February 2005..My first day as a Medical Student!
Orientation Week - The first week and a half in IMU (the orientation) was the most interesting, fun and hectic few days of my life so far. Of course i didnt call it "fun" during the that time but now, looking back, i realize how much fun it was. Doing things i would never have done otherwise (of course being forced to do them wasn't fun then). The best thing about orientation was meeting new people. Orientation promotes this sense of unity among batch-mates which i found very fascinating. I guess going through all the things that we did go through during orientation brought us closer together. When it came to orientation group-mates, i guess i got lucky. Having people like Karishma, Dinesh, Sarah, Jo Ling, Kenneth etc in my group, was awesome. Ice breakers, Treasure Hunt, Variety Night, Telematch, BBQ Night.. a whole week of being ragged by the seniors. The dressing up..Coming up with sketches..Practicing mini dance routines.. Stamina being tested (especially during treasure hunt).. I'm not going to write any details because it was one experience i know i wont forget for a long time to come.
First week of proper lectures - the fact that i'm a medical student finally sank in. Made me concentrate a little better on my work (only for a little while though). Waking up to make it in time for 8 o clock lectures was the worst part of Sem 1. It was during this time that i became a coffee-addict. Having a cup of coffee in the morning before lectures became a habit.
NETBALL - When i left school, i thought it'll be bye-bye Netball. When i found people equally as enthusiastic as i was about netball, i must admit that i was caught off-guard. The discovery that Karishma and i had this natural ability to communicate with each other extremely well on the court was a pleasent revelation. Word spread that we had 'chemistry' on the court. The only other person i've ever played that well with, was Tanzy (one of my best-friends from back home and one of the most brilliant netball players i've ever had the privilege of playing with.) Goodwill games were awesome. It was also my first venture out of KL and my first time at Seremban clinical school. Being ignorant of the fact that Karishma was atrocious at directions, i hitched a ride in her car to Seremban. Pretty soon I, the foreigner was the navigator, with a map of malaysia in hand for the first time!:-)
Summative 1 - Summative 1 was scary. Preparing for it was quite stressful. Being the first medical school exam (barring the bogus exam of course) all of us were stressed out. It was such a relief when it was over. Then was the April 27th incident. Didnt think it'll happen but it did. One week of holidays, and where did we go.....Penang!!! It was a great holiday. It felt great to be back in a family atmosphere. I loved Meenu's and Nisha's parents. Mufee, Hiru, Joni and I really enjoyed the trip. Less than a week later - Singapore! Meeting thatha after so long was awesome! Great food for a couple of days. Didnt like the NUS interview but i really enjoyed the trip.
The two weeks of Behavioural Sciences were relaxing. Then before we knew it we were studying for the Summative 2 exam. We were practicing Netball for MAPCU during our study breaks. Even though we lost the MAPCU Games badly, it was a great experience..(Netball always is!).
Summative 2 was over pretty fast. I didnt like the paper. I thought i had really mucked it up. The two 'study break' weeks were so hectic. Had a lot of work to do and the study break was just enough to finish studying everything. In spite of that i didnt feel like i had done enough. I wasnt too confident.
End of Sem exam - I hated the SAQ paper. I ran out of time. I wasted my time writing unnecessary things. The OSPE however was awesome! I loved the paper. So yippee!! I could go home!! Decided to stay on for a couple of days in the hopes of finding an apartment which ended up being a fruitless search.
During this entire semester, some of the best times were spent at home. I was blessed with awesome housemates including a great roomie. Clarissa (the big sister), Jo Ling (the organised one, the mum of the apartment), Nee Yi (the quiet one) and Hiruni (my Lankan buddy) made life so much fun. Late night chit-chats; Clarissa's fashion tips and sharing experiences.. C-25-1 rocked! We were by far the most united and happening hostel! Other interesting events - Late night pool-side hang outs, hangouts at Midvalley, countless movies, countless window-shopping sprees...
Wow.. that was one interesting first semester.. :-)
2 months of holidays + elective
Back to family!! Doggies!! Back to my room and its lilac walls! Elective with Nisha, Meenu and David.. Exploring Sri Lanka and just chilling out at home.. I felt like it was a well-deserved break.
Semester 2
September came all too soon and it was time to leave the paradise island again. Then came the difficult transition from chilling out at home to hitting the books. As September was IMU cup season, this transition time was postponed, rather conveniently, to October.
NHSD - We were all looking forward to seeing cute guys at IMU as the NHSD was coming up. With Dr.Vishna breathing down my neck about minutes for the NHSD meetings, organising it wasnt that pleasent. Meeting Pravin was the best part about NHSD. He's one of the most interesting malaysian's i've ever met.
IMU Cup - IMU cup was the best part of semester 2. It was the most enjoyable time in IMU since Orientation and winning 5 medals was a bonus, a welcome addition to my collection that’s collecting dust at home. Beating the crap out of all the other teams during netball was fun. The Final was one match I’ll never forget. Playing against a team which had the kind of support that the Sem 5s had is any opposing team’s nightmare. The game was played in the “true spirit of sportsmanship” with quite a bit of pushing and shoving, insolent statements and rude looks. We ended up winning 11-9; the first match I’ve ever won after going into overtime. The other most memorable event was the 4x100m. That was one of the best races I’ve ever run. It felt great to be the last lapper winning with a 50m margin. Jonitha, Kesuma and Sabrina were awesome. Hats off to them!
Summative 1 – One week to study for the exam. Panic set in. Guilty feelings.. The transition I mentioned earlier was made unconsciously. Suddenly I was in exam mood, studying my ass off for the first exam of Sem 2.
Diwali Nite – Most of my time between Sum1 and Sum2 was spent clilling out, planing Diwali Nite (which was held on the 25th of November) and planning the World AIDS Day Fund Raiser. Writing the emcee script with Rahul was a terror. For the first time in my life I discovered what people mean when they say that guys have a short attention span. Diwali Nite was awesome. These students are one talented lot!! Emceeing was fun too, especially the part where I said “crap” into the microphone. Barring the blunder we made in the end, I think Rahul and I did a good job. I still feel guilty about not giving Balwinder the credit he deserved.
Summative 2 - This was a killer! With Pharmacology and Parasitology together, the exam was a nightmare. I was sure i was going to flunk it. I was happy after the feedback session though, when i found out for sure that i had passed.
World AIDS Day Fund Raiser - 1st December 2005. This event was a huge success. We raised a staggering RM1700! It was a tremendous achievement for an event that was for the first time.
Then came planning Meenu's and my combined b'day bash. Being sick 2 days before my birthday kinda sucked but the party was fun; the dancing was great. I'm glad mufee made us have a party.Sue Yi's b'day party was fun. Exploring a side of KL that was previoulsy unknown to me; Kelana Jaya.
I was counting the days till amma and aiya came. Having them here was just awesome! Having a mum in the house again was really nice. I felt like a kid again and i behaved like one too till they left! Took them shopping to 1U, Midvalley, Times Sq, KLCC etc. Took them up to Genting Highlands as well. I was really sad to see them leave on 31st morning. But with all the studying i had to do for CVS, i didnt have time to miss them!
CVS exam - The exam was much easier than i expected. For one week of studying, i think i did a good job.
Rotations - Community medicine was just boring and i had to do a presentation on Hookworms! With Prish and Mufee doing Pin worms and Whip worms respectively, the atmosphere at home was a little too wormy for us. CSU was a little irritating with Tim Song calling me "Miss.SriLanka". BS was a joke but pretending to be an angry patient with Inthisham as the doctor was fun!. The Lab sessions were quite educational i must say. Dr.Tani and Dr.Radha were really good. My lazy pals made me do most of the work but i didnt mind that. Then came KKB!! I wont be elaborating on that since i've dedicated an entire post for that. Immediately after KKB... Orientation plans..Full steam ahead!!..
We had so much free time during rotations that we didnt know what to do with ourselves. Our malaysian counterparts left us "Vista ppl" at the mercy of each other's company. Prish, Hiru, and I (since Muf ditched us and flew back to SL) hung out with Geesh, Mubeen and Inthi. Those guys are really amusing. Such nice people..
Its the 23rd of February 2006.. Its been one whole year! At times my mind refuses to accept the fact that its been that long but so many things have happened; so many things have changed. I have changed...
Looking forward to the next year!...
posted by Ime @ 4:59 pm
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