Hey guys, it's been a long while since my last post I know. Sorry! Anyway, let's jump straight in. Firstly, Freshers' Week was held from 15-21 September. You guys are probably curious about what it's all about and I've to say, all in all, it wasn't as interesting and fun as we expected, save for the few activities we went for. It was actually quite confusing at first, because different activities were held by the four student unions and they each had their own timetable. Fortunately, attendance wasn't mandatory, so we could pretty much choose which to go for. Most were parties in clubs and bars, which we didn't bother going, except to a few just to satisfy our curiousity. One of them was the Headphone Disco, where there are two DJs playing but the music is only audible through headphones. Each of them were given their own channel, so different people would be dancing to different songs and when you removed the headphones, the scene of dancing bodies in the relative silence is quite amusing!

The events we enjoyed the most were the Traditional Ceilidhs. It was SO FUN!!! For those of you not in the know, here's an excerpt from Wikipedia:



"A ceilidh is a traditional Gaelic social dance originating in Ireland and Scotland, but now common throughout the Celtic diaspora. Originally, a ceilidh was a social event of any sort and did not necessarily involve dancing. The music is cheerful and lively and basic steps can be learned easily. About half of the dances in the modern Scots céilidh are couple dances performed in a ring. These can be performed by fixed couples or in the more sociable "progressive" manner, with the lady moving to the next gentleman in the ring at or near the end of each repetition of the steps."



At first, even though there was a short introduction and a dry-run before each dance, the instructor's accent was so strong that most of us didn't catch a thing! So we ended up bumping into other people, turning in the wrong direction, staring at each other cluelessly etc etc etc. We usually got it halfway through though, so all in all, it was a really fun night! Here's a photo:

The subsequent Ceilidhs on the other nights were much better, probably because we already kind of knew the steps. Great fun!

School started on 22 September, although we had introductory talks during Freshers' Week. It's been two weeks since then but I've still to get more used to the new teaching style here. That only applies to the medical school, as they're using a Problem-Based Learning approach, in which small groups of eight students are given scenarios from which they're to pick out their own learning objectives and research their own answers. There is barely any input from the facilitators (not teachers, you realise) except to guide the group in the right direction when they start veering off-path. There isn't a fixed syllabus as well, telling you what exactly you need to know and how in-depth you should direct your own learning. So basically, we have two of such 2-hour long sessions every week, after which we'll all go to the medical library to peruse the textbooks for answers. We don't have our own textbooks because there isn't any book that we will use completely, just bits of different books, depending on what we're looking for. Furthermore, different books have got slightly differing information, so it's good to look at a range of them.

Other than PBL, we've got lectures, labs, clinical skills sessions and vocational studies sessions. So far, in clinical skills, we've learnt how to measure blood pressure and do super basic suturing. Oh, measuring BP isn't easy, particularly for females, whose brachial arteries are so hard to find! Some of them also have really faint pulses and it's hard to hear on the stethescope. During vocational studies, we mainly discuss about the appropriate professional attitude and behaviour of doctors and ethical issues. Soon this will include GP and hospital visits too, when we'll get to interact with patients. Sounds interesting!

So how have I been spending my days? On weekdays, it's just school, then the library and I usually meet mummy for dinner but that was before she went back to Singapore. On weekends, we sometimes go to the chinese supermarkets, sometimes to our senior's house (when we're invited of course) and sadly enough, we've been going to the library too! We're not muggers okay, it's just a case of no choice. If you can't finish your work during the week, then you've to sacrifice your weekend! Luckily, the medical library is open 24/7.

Yup, mummy went home on Friday. It was good that my lecture finished just in time for me to rush down and send her off. Guess I got used to her being here, my connection to home, so I didn't really feel far from my family. It was really saddening to see her go on Friday but I know I'll be okay. There are my friends here, so I really will be fine!

Okie, that's all for now. I promise I'll upload some photos the next time! :)