5 years, 4 months and a week to go....

To officially become a doctor. Though I've stopped counting the days after the first 2 weeks of medical school. Because everyone started becoming more friendly, we have our share of inside jokes, medical jokes and just plain random fun from time to time. Birthdays (including my own) have been with almost complete strangers, and yet it seemed to be one of the best, according to all the birthday boys and girls here.

Why I mention birthdays is because, we're used to spending birthdays with family members, close friends and in a familiar environment. And here, in a (still) unfamiliar environment, everyone will do their best to make that special day for another person one of the best days they have had, even though they are not as close as friends back home.

University life means growing up, taking up responsibility, studying hard, having fun with your batch mates, and essentially, preparing you for the big bad world out there, where you are let go from the loose chains that holds you back here.

It's a great chapter that has opened up for me. And I'm glad I made it to medical school.

And now my books are calling out to me.....yearning me to read about the body and its various functions per system. (Physiology, in other words) :)

College

Well, here I am in Medical school. Its been a week since classes have started.

This is what my routine has been for the week:

Get up, take a shower (even in the cold water..sometimes the heater isn't switched on), brush teeth, get dressed, wear lab coat and name tag, make sure the classmate down the hall is ready, go to breakfast, eat, walk to the lecture hall, try not to doze off in the lecture, take down notes, walk to the lab (for the day), do the practical, have lunch, walk to the dissection hall, observe the parts in the cadaver and walk back to the room. Then, study a bit, talk to classmates in dorm, eat, read a bit, and sleep.

This is a complete change to how my routine used to be. In my school routine, mum, dad and sister would be present.

Its a fresh change, and something that I think I needed after all those years.

I hear so many of my classmates say that they're homesick and that they miss their friends, but I haven't missed my parents and friends much....not yet at least. I guess its because I know that I will always try to be in touch with them, no matter what. So my homesickness is channeled through phone calls (which is getting expensive :S ) and after today, Skype, Facebook, and Messenger.

Right, back to my anatomy book, and notes. (you'd think they'd be nice to freshers on the first week, but I guess its medicine, no breaks if you want to save lives.)

And the countdown begins...

Wow...five days 'til I'm off to The Motherland, and 2 weeks 'til Uni....

And what have I been up to so far? Well, when I first thought about the summer before college, I pictured myself reading loads of books (sorry Friend Who Gave Me a List of Books I Have to Read :'( ), watching the list of movies that I compiled over the months of school (well, I kinda did watch some of them....like 'City of Angels'. Its a beautiful movie) and meeting up with friends everyday.

This is how my summer turned out.

Sitting in front of the laptop almost all day, getting yelled at for being on the laptop all day, watching CSI:NY, listening to Coldplay, watching Naley (Nathan/ Haley) clips on Youtube. (One Tree Hill followers, you know what I'm talking about. And the one reason I love those clips? Nathan Scott is the perfect man for me.) As for meeting up with friends...well, I've only met my school friends a couple of times, and my neighbourhood friends, well, we had 2 sleepovers, went for a movie, and met up quite a few times. (Then again, this was before each of them started to go on holiday/ leave for uni.)

I guess life just never works out the way you want it, unless you work your head off to make sure it does. There are so many things that I would want to have done better in my years at school, but maybe, its the way life's supposed to be. Take it as it is, and remember the best bits about it. My years at school are some of the most unforgettable moments of my life, and the people I've met there, they've changed my life. They're irreplaceable. Years from now, I'll meet someone on the street, and if they possess a quirky habit, like chewing gum like a cow chews cud, I'll be able to point at that person and say 'HEY!!! That's just like ''Guitar Hero''! :D '

I'll miss school terribly, but I know that I'm not the only one in this position, and if we try our hardest, we'll keep in touch, and go back down memory lane when we meet up again in December, and maybe, create more memories with the Class of '10.

Love you all, Sen10rs :D

*Names in this article have been subject to change

Perfect Endings

Perfect endings of books are when you are satisfied with how the plot turned out to be.

Perfect endings of movies are when the male and female leads get together in the end.

Perfect endings to chapters in life? Is there really one?

For me, the perfect ending to a meeting is the anticipation of meeting again. It holds hope and happiness (if the person in question is, in fact, a fun-loving kind of person that you would like to meet again, which many people in my life are..)

The perfect end to a relationship? I've always looked at it as well, not an end..just as an extended break, because, well, ending a relationship ain't very pretty. On the other hand, a route change is the less painful, and better ending to certain relationships (e.g: the ex you had is now one of your closest friends)

The perfect end to life? If we're talking about death, its in an unexpected way. It hurts less not knowing when you will die, keeps everyone else from giving you sympathy (unless you like the attention, but then you realise the only reason you're getting the attention is because you're dying, and not because of who you really are, which is really very depressing if you think about it), and when you see your life flash by in those few seconds before death, it will be filled with happy thoughts, rather than 'Damn! I haven't lived life yet! Ok, so the docs said I have this much time right? What can I do to prove that I have lived life?' That just shows how much you regret not doing in your life.

To all of you out there, live life to the fullest. Take in each meeting with anticipation. Keep a relationship going, be it your parents, siblings, friends, BF's or GF's, colleagues, people you meet on the street..

Keep your life simple and pleasant, if you want the perfect ending.

This one's dedicated to the friend I ranted to about my 'perfect ending'.

Yearbooks

In the years prior to my senior year at highschool, yearbooks didn't really hold that many memories for me. Sure, there were the class photos and stuff, but I'd always come back next year, see the same faces again and have fun like I did the previous year. Every year, the style and theme of the yearbook would vary. One year it would be a graffiti styled yearbook, the next it would be a time theme. This year, the yearbook committee (comprised of seniors mainly) took on a collage theme. So when you flip through some of the pages, you'd be able to find crazy pictures of your class, your friends and even yourself!

I never knew there was so much hard work put in to get the yearbook together. The committee had sent out mass Facebook messages to our grade to get our graduate profiles in, the photos we wanted, the timings for the individual photos, details on what we were allowed to write and what not to write and the maximum number of photos allowed on the profile per person...the list is endless. I started to wonder how their jobs would have been even more arduous had it not been for the Facebook group and the easy methods of communication we now have (MSN, cellphones, etc.) My partner in class was the head of the Yearbook committee and she'd always have a to-do list on her file. There was at least one item on the list related to the yearbook. I'm sure she's glad that its over, and that it was a success too.

After months of hard work and cooperation, the yearbook now is a beautiful compilation of memories from the academic year '09-'10. Great work, Yearbook Committee '09-'10!

This post is dedicated to the Yearbook Commitee, and the Class of '10 at ISC-DXB.

'Tale as old as time...'

The old Disney movies are just the best. They hold equal amounts of love, fun, laughter, joy and tears. A beautiful princess, a charming prince, a malicious villain, catchy songs, and laughs all along the way. What a wonderful way to spend the weekends as a child.

During the large gaps between my exams, I was YouTubing all my favourite Disney movies. The Lion King still makes me cry. Colours of the Wind makes me want to jump out of my chair and run into the nearest rainforest. The Jungle Book helps me find the 'Bare Necessities of Life'.

Its really surprising how I outgrew watching all these movies. Lots of life's lessons were in those movies. Lots of nightmares too. E.g: Ursula the Sea-Witch. If there's one Disney villain I NEVER want to confront, its her. And Scar (only because he'll push me off a cliff). And Jafar (he's one creepy cookie). And...you get my point.

Even the songs are so heartfelt, and timeless. Everyone knows 'Can you feel the love tonight' and 'So this is love'. My all time favourite is 'God help the outcasts' from The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Its such a selfless, and wonderful song. A song that holds great importance in today's world.

Old Disney movies are just awesome. Revisiting my childhood was never more enlightening.

Hi! *wave*

I'm writing this late at night, the night before a Math exam. Perfect timing to start a blog. Blogs have always fascinated me. It gives a person the ability to speak their mind about anything and everything. And here's my starting point.

Dr. (To Be) basically is because this is the time I spend before I join medical school in the fall. Hopefully in time, the blog name will change as well. *fingers crossed* Absolutely anything written here is open for comment, and discussion.

*wave* bye! :)