It's already the second day of May already. Wow! Time really does fly. I love the month of May--spring (or autumn here) is in full bloom, and the weather is just perfect.
I know that it's been a couple of weeks since I last posted anything, so let me update you on my comings and goings. Let's see. This weekend is another long weekend in Australia! Tomorrow is their Labour Day, so I have an off-day from school. Yippee! I love being able to sleep-in for another day of the week. However, the weekend is a bit dampened by the impending due date of my ethics essay due a week from tomorrow. I finally have a topic I am happy with, but the writing part has yet to happen. I started last night and am very slowly progressing through it. My goal is to finish most of this by this weekend so that during the week, I can revise and do my references section. Wish me luck!
Last weekend was another long weekend here in Australia--Anzac Day. Basically, it's Australia's Memorial and Veterans' Days combined. I spent last weekend trying to learn about the respiratory system and V/Q ratios. Not exactly fun, but it's important stuff. Also, last Friday night was Kat's bday BBQ. It was really fun, and it's amazing how many people I met from the first year med class. There are so many of us that I just keep seeing new faces and meeting new people. But yea, Kat's party was a blast--the most fun I've had in a while! Then on Sunday, Jeff, Darren, and I watched The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo. Pretty good movie, though I prefer the book. Can't wait until my sister lends me the other two books of the trilogy!
It is here that I must digress a bit and mention my walk to the UQ campus last Sunday. Usually, when I head to school, I always take the bus, but since it was a holiday weekend, I decided to walk and find out exactly what my route would be. I didn't get lost (whoo!), and it was during this walk that I finalized my ethics essay topic and knew exactly what I was going to argue. I love runs and walks!
This past week, I also got my exam results back. I did all right--most importantly, I passed. =) I did better than I expected, but there's still lots of room for improvement. But I'm happy since I have had no exposure to any of this anatomy and physiology stuff before. Not only that, but the last time I actually was in school was 4 years ago...so yea. And now it's time to start major studying for June exams. Those will definitely be a lot tougher!
Coming back to this weekend now, on Friday, I went to watch Iron Man 2 with a whole bunch of classmates. I didn't really want to watch it as I wasn't a huge fan of the first Iron Man, but I gave in...it turned out to be rather good, this second movie--much better than the first! Yesterday morning, I met up with my mentor assigned to me by the Australian Medical Association. Dr. Solley is an allergist, and he's really nice! Hopefully I can shadow him during clinic some time.
Last bit of news--this week, I found out that I will not be able to complete my elective in the UK. Boohoo. The school decided two months after the fact that the Ochsner cohort will not be allowed to go abroad and must stay in Australia for our elective. LAME. I am particularly upset with this as I have spent a lot of time and effort setting up housing and also looking for doctors/hospitals willing to take me on. I have friends who have had their electives approved already; some have even paid a deposit to secure their spot! But what's new? This whole UQ/Ochsner set-up is not really well organized, and you can never trust what they tell you. I can deal with all the day to day stuff of attending classes and pracs, going to PBLs, and even taking exams. I can deal with spending a lot of time reading textbooks and learning things on my own. However, I'm really fed up with the UQ/Ochsner administrative crap. We're paying $20K more than all of the other foreign students here--for what, we're not really sure since the SOM can't give us a clear, straight answer. We were told that we could do our first year elective anywhere since we cannot for our 4th year elective and also must come back Australia for a 4th year rotation. But two months after everyone's started looking or have confirmed spots, guess what? They tell us that we're not allowed to go overseas. It's a whole bunch of BS. I treasure this opportunity to be able to study medicine in Australia. I really do. But UQ/Ochsner really needs to get their act together.
So yes, after my ranting and raving, I hope you all have a great rest of the weekend and a wonderful week ahead! 6 weeks and counting before I get a two week holiday!!
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