Another year over...

It's been almost two weeks since the last of my exams ended and I've been loving the freedom- too much. It's made me too lazy to blog, to exercise, to do whatever but laze around and eat, eat and eat. Seriously, after those stressful three weeks, I can swear that I'm now on the brink of obesity. Okay. So I'm exaggerating. But fat I am. (Makes a mental note to hit the pool.. soon.).

So readers, missed me enough to read a really long post? Hehe.. yes, I have lots to tell and as the title suggests, the entire wrap up for the year 2007. Well, it's hard to put everything that happened this year into words.. lots have happened, some bad but mostly good. Compared to last year, this year was definitely more laid back. Perhaps it was the non-existence of the med entry competition that kept everyone hard at work last year or perhaps we were no longer newbies to varsity. If my memory serves me correctly, this time last year, I was freaking over whether I'd get my interview letter or not and preparing for the final showdown. Now, until a couple of hours ago, I was worrying if my Estee Lauder magazine would arrive(I included a picture at the end) and preparing for nothing exactly but anticipating the start of my summer studentship on Monday. See the vast difference?

For those who missed out getting into med, the start of 2007 marked the beginning of a long and challenging journey. Mostly the battle with our own emotions and acceptance. It took a couple of months and lots of deep soul talk, but in the end, I think most of us pulled through. On behalf of everyone, I can say proudly that we all survived, unscathed and stronger than ever. So what if we have to wait another two years? Or resit UMAT? Redo the interview? So what if we have to learn about genetics (just the mention of it sends me recoiling in horror) and how to draw polythene chromosomes? Or learn about the origin of moas? All I can is for those for intend to reapply and follow their dreams, this two years won't be wasted. We can revel in the pleasure of knowing more about the oxygen dissociation curve, the control of blood pressure, anatomical terms, what factors affect the metabolism of ampethamines (grapefruit guys, incidentally blocks metabolism of drugs, so taking drugs with grapefruit juice is a strict no- no) than our fellow class mates sometime in the future. So whatever it is, second year Biomeders had a reason to smile.

Smile we did but tears were shed as well. Not literally of course. My biggest test came when my bag was stolen on campus in August. I was pushed to my limits and without the help of my friends and family, I doubt I would've learnt to smile for the UMSA ball just two days after the incident! hehe!! Maybe it's time to confess the reason why I left my bag inattended that day was because I wanted to try on a necklace for the ball! I know! All my fault! But everything turned out fine.

We had frustrating times as well, most notably the times when we didn't get Don Love's part of genetics and how last minute studying really saved our arses. I think all would agree that Biosci202 aka Genetics was perhaps the most notorious of all our papers this year. Why, we heard scary stories about Medsci205 aka Physiology, but in a way, I thought it was a rather rewarding paper.. but for genetics? Yuck. Don't get me wrong, apart from Howard Ross, we had great lecturers. Don Love with his impersonation of a cartoon character named Don Love made his lessons interesting. Richard Gardner was one of my favourites, giving us notes and repeating things he thought was challenging. And even Brian Murray was so- so with his posh accent. Ross was the bane. I seriously did not get his part. I loved evoloution in high school but I just did not get his part. And add on the fact that he does not help us learn by not enclosing his lecture slides and only puts fill-in the blank notes up.. it's a major, and I stress this, a major surprise I managed an A+ in genetics after the exam where I guessed about 60% of Ross' MCQs.

So Year 2 as a Biomedical student is over and 2008 is the final year of our degree. Holidays just started but I'm already looking forward to the start of Semester 1. I've decided to choose Neurobiology as my third year option but with the Cardiovascular paper in semester two. But first, there's summer and Christmas and Chinese New Year to think about (YEAH!!)...

p/s: Won't be spending another summer in retail (Sorry S&C..) My summer studentship starts this Monday and lasts for ten weeks. A bit daunting. But expect updates! Till then!!