Nesting

It has been a while since I actually have written a “post” post. I have been quite busy, you see, what with the upcoming exams and such, so I have been pretty much confined in my own little nest. And like a mother hen, I have been “nesting” and “trying to absorb” piles and piles of information into my tired little brain, which I hope would be stuck there for the next remaining few days or so, haha. By the time of the exams, I hope the little “study eggs” would hatch rather nicely and be able to help me remember the things that I have studied these past few weeks or so. How’s that for a bad analogy? Hahaha.. I am just de-stressing for a while, so just bear with me now, hehe.

There is a LOT to learn in med, you see. And I am just in my first year. When I think back to my Biomed years, it seemed to be such a breeze compared to now, well in terms of workload that is. The assignments were fewer and were usually due at the end of the semesters. And we had much more free times, more breaks and less anxiety. In med, we had FQs which can be considered as a small assignment each week, which are needed to be done and presented to the rest of your PBL group within 2-3 days time. At the same time, you have to learn everything you have to know in relation to the case of the week, which are varied although they are based on the System block, such as neurology block or musculoskeletal block. I have to try to keep up to date with the cases though sometimes I admit that I do get lazy and waited to the end of the week or a more so to actually read the case more thoroughly, haha. That must change in the future. :p But I do enjoy the fact that I get to meet up with different sorts of people. Well, maybe that’s due to the fact that we were kind of thrown in and mixed together into a group. There are 40 PBL groups this year, so it really is random, and it depends on your luck whether you get a good group or not. It is really in Med that I actually get to hang out and get to know “orang putih” friends. During Biomed, we, the Bruneian group, 13 or 14 of us, usually hang out together and did our work or practicals together. We do make a few “orang putih” friends but they have their own “orang putih” groups as well, haha. But in med, it is a different setting completely. The format or course work is very different indeed. As I said before, everybody gets randomly allocated to different PBL groups, which you would be spending most of your year with. The people in your PBL group are the ones that you will have your PBL tutorial sessions with, practicals with, clinical coaching with, workshops with, eat with and you get my drift, hehe. Being used to be together with Bruneians since Biomed, now we are separated and each have different schedules from one another. But luckily some of us actually are put in pairs to different groups together. Sometimes there were practicals or tutorials in which we get to see each other. The only definite time for everyone to be in the same place at the same time would be in the lecture theatre.

There are times when the anxiety levels are very high. These would include the times when we actually have to record videos at the hospital, of us “acting” as the doctor and trying to get the History of the patient, which will then be reviewed by your tutor along with your PBL mates. The first time going for “ward” visits was quite exciting and I don’t really know what to expect. So there we were, dressed rather smartly though acting a bit awkwardly (and you can see it was our first time) going on ward tours, smiling consciously to patients who you do not know would be receptive of your smiles or not, hehehe. Being in med, makes me more independent, sometimes travelling to the hospital alone, going to tutorials on my own and so forth. Pandai- pandai lah bawa diri, haha.

Hmm, it seems like I am in a reminiscing mood tonight. I should be studying ni, ish ish ish. I was thinking of just writing a quick short post as a break from studying, haha.. My exams will be on Tuesday and Wednesday. I am really looking forward to Wednesday.. really.. hehe. But dreading the exams as well since there are still some stuff to study yet. But on a positive note, I am very much looking forward to Thursday since I’ll be flying off to Brunei that morning! Come to think of it, I haven’t really started packing properly yet. I just threw in some of the stuff that I have bought into my luggage and some are still in their bags on my wardrobe floor, hahaha.. My room is a total mess right now; some papers were strewn on the floor, on my desk and some of my bed. The clothes that I have retrieved from the clothing line just now are still in my laundry basket waiting to be hung in my wardrobe (I will do that tomorrow during one of my “breaks” haha), dusts are collecting on some of my display and room decorations (I swear my room is always collecting new dusts that I have to clean and wipe every few days! Ish ish ish.. I shudder to think what will happen when I get back in a few months time.. I will probably be welcomed by a giant monstrous dust bunny.. hahaha :p) and you get the picture, haha. If my mom could see the state of my room now, she’ll be really “bising” hahaha.. coz she always likes things neat and tidy all the time. But excuse the exam time, now I couldn’t be bothered since I have other things on my mind hehehe.

As I said before, I am looking forward to Wednesday. I am planning to do a last minute shopping for some stuff that I haven’t bought yet. There’s the hand bag that my sister wants me to get, some more boxes of tea for my mum, and some other small stuff in my list. I am actually considering of buying something for my own. By that time the allowance will be out, yezzerr.. :p So things to do after the exams would be:

1) Do last minute shopping (maybe at Indroo)

2) Go to Hsn and Mea’s place to send house keys

3) Go home and properly pack

4) Prepare passport, tickets and all necessary documents in one place

5) Cleaning campaign at home

6) Don’t sleep since will be too excited to leave for Brunei the next day :p

Once in Brunei, I will be getting a few days rest before starting my elective. I'll be spending 2 weeks of GP at Sungai Asam Clinic (I still dont know where the exact place is yet, hehehe.. I will need to do a little exploring before starting the elective there :p) and another 2 weeks at the gastroenterology department at RIPAS. I don't know what to expect during the elective. I havent really thought much about it now, been more preoccupied with the coming exams. Though there's a little mixture of excitement and nervousness since this will be my first elective or attachment as a med student. Hehehe.. I hope I will be able to enjoy the experience and learn new things.

Well there you go.. There’s my version of a “short” post, haha. Bah, will try to get my brain working again. Or else will try to sleep and continue studying tomorrow.

Gd night! :)