Finally it's a weekend! The first week of university life has been a tiring albeit an exciting and eventful one, with daily day-long lectures and nightly inter-block games interspersed with thrilling and memorable moments. Here I shall attempt to capture some highlights of the week, which will serve as memories of how I started my university life! =)
11 August 2008 - White Coat Ceremony
It was a milestone that marked the beginning of my life as a medical student, the start of a treacherous journey that promises to stretch me to my limits, but certainly a meaningful one that I will not regret. Upon conferring us our white coats, the Dean repeatedly emphasised the responsibilities that come with our entry into the profession - the duty of preserving health and to serve the community. Those responsibilities would be shouldered by all of us since Day One, and it would continue to stay with us till the day we enter our graves. Yet as many previous experiences have shown, we may start off having lofty ideals and noble aims, but often the arduous journey through medical school and the harsh realities of life will soon turn many of us into opportunistic businessmen who prey on ill-informed patients, or cold, overly-professional physicians who fail to relate to patients effectively. It was a timely reminder for us that while we embark on this journey, we still have to stay true to our principles and values (that so many of us claimed to possess during our interviews and essay tests), for as long as we wish to practice the trade (and art).
Inter-Block Games (IBG)
Held every night during the week, it was very tiring at times when I dragged myself to attend the event either to take part in some of the games or to cheer on my block mates, after daily doses of at least 5 hours of lectures, from 8.30am in the morning till minimum 4pm in the afternoon. But living in a hall means I have to try my best to be part of hall activities. Otherwise I would be missing a large and fun part of hall life, as well as the chance to mingle and bond with my fellow Keviians! Hall life has been very exciting so far, and I feel comfortable being together with my groups of friends - the F Block Committee, the Malaysian gang, as well as the medic people. I guess my councillor Jonathan couldn't be more right - living in a hall means your social circle will be very very wide, because you'll get to know many more people, and you'll get to eat, sleep and play with them until you know them so well!
Lectures and Tutorials
Due to the build up of fatigue accumulated over the week of late nights and intense physical activities, towards the end of the week I realised I have been sleeping more frequently during lectures, to the extent of being caught by Prof Chin. Lectures for us start at a pretty standard time of 8.30am daily, as compared to other faculties' whose sessions might start at 10am or even in the afternoon. =( The earliest we ended was at 4pm. I felt rather scammed at first by the seniors who promised us daily schedules that would end at 1 to 2pm (without practicals). But apparently they miscalculated the number of new subjects that we, as the guinea pig batch (read: once again!! T_T) have to take. Thus our days have been extended in order to accomodate these new subjects.
Our new subjects include ethics, medical & society, PBL and information literacy. While our seniors had a one-week module for ethics, we have to study it as a subject equivalent to anatomy, biochemistry and the rest, and it is examinable and would stretch for 5 years. My first impression of my ethics tutorial group wasn't too good, because almost everyone was so quiet and dead during the first session except Joshua who kept talking. My PBL group was very fun and lively though, with a lot of nice characters in it. Nonetheless, everything is still at its beginning, and things might change for the better or the worse in time to come. I just pray that both groups will get better and better as time goes by!
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