MBBS 2: Semester 1 (On the Highway to hell)

My oh my, has it been long since I was able to put thoughts through a post and give myself some headspace.

First things first, our 2nd year of MBBS started on September 14th and my.. can we all take a moment to realize we are now week 10 out of 17 in this semester?! Time sure as hell passes by quickly when you are thrown into a MONTH of hell. 

My current status: *see image below*

MBBS 2, Semester 1, BOY people were not kidding when they say it was going to be one of the MOST tired, MOST painful and exhausted experiences you feel in this program! I don't even remember what 8 hours of blissful sleep feels like anymore. My body has grew accustomed to running on low sleep (minimal of 4 hours) and 2 cups of caffiene (at this point, can someone please invent an IV drip of coffee?)

Lets start with the subjects taken in this semester, and how its all going so far...

HISTOLOGY AND EMBRYOLOGY

I am sure EVERYONE taking this course has reached a level of  D. O. N. E

Why? The sheer tediousness of having to do a 'weekly summary' and on some weeks to 'sketch' the histology slides is just frustrating to do when all these summaries only adds up to a mere 5%. To top it off, no marks are provided for ANY of these summary homeworks we are made to do. So, we have absolutely NO idea about how much effort is sufficient effort, and if it amounts to their standard of 'worthiness.'

If you ask me personally, handwriting these summaries are tedious, and not everyone learns by writing summaries, some like me prefer to type out notes/  use flashcards. The quizzes we had so far are a hit and miss. BUT my biggest issue, was the lack of adaptability in providing student's with more attempts due to the network errors  and internet instability THROUGHOUT the globe. This is the ONLY department so far, that is really a stick-in-a-mud and had pretty much refuse the suggestion of adding an extra attempt for our sense of peace whenever we experience a network error (something we CAN never predict btw...given that we are STILL ONLINE learning). 

So overall, this course is tedious with their weekly summaries, and the lack of adaptability brings a bad taste in actually allowing me to appreciate histology as a whole. (Mind you, i did love histo prior to this degree.)

CHINESE 3

非常难。

Its pretty obvious, that with every level.. there will be an increase in difficulty especially in languages. This is cause you would not just have to had remembered the prior grammar, vocab and characters, you have to be in the A- game and try your best to catch up with current material and hope to god you don't fall way way behind.

SO far as per usual, Class 2 has gotten the most homework, BUT the difference is, this Professor is so understanding and kind to not put or give us any when we have quizzes/ tests coming up from other subjects. Instead, she either extends them or give us at a later date. Very appreciative of this effort from her.

REGIONAL  ANATOMY

Okay 6 years down the track, and if anyone asked; If I had personally experience a dissection session, I would be saying " YES, but with my eyes, Through my monitor screen." 

Now, if this doesn't scare, you.. it scares the shit outta me. Why? I fear falling behind and missing out on big opportunities on hands-on anything. I reckon Anatomy is one of the subjects that you have to had experience it in person. There is only so far theory, books, youtube, video clippings and live stream dissection classes can provide for. 

Presently, the only thing I had to experience in this subject was a painful 4-5 hour lecture of heavy course content material (which of course I will be reviewing by myself) and a "lab specimen" test. And you might all be thinking, "HUZZAH, no real lab experience, but a lab test.... NICE."

PS: Look at this accuracy of anatomy labs online. I am tearing from this truth 😓

BIOCHEMISTRY

What is a description that informs others how behind you are in course and you are internally screaming inside? I like to describe myself with the  following statement below:

        " Generally, I am BEYOND F**KED"

Lectures are a big no no for me so far, as I proudly use the timeslot for this course to catchup on materials from other classes. RIP. But i am sure... I will get to it some day. Hopefully catch up on ALL the missed lectures (a total of 20 lectures so far... hahah 💩)

Solution: Is there a watch playback 4x speed somewhere? 

MEDICAL GENETICS

This was a HALF-sem subject.... and I am so glad to be DONE with it. (Though i honestly wished histo was also half sem... lol).

Lets start with an overview of this course! 

Course content, not too bad... some were interesting BUT course LOAD? Boy, it was too much to handle in 10 weeks. The load for this course amounted lots of effort and dedication; not to mention a great depth of understanding of knowing shit. We were hit with a mid-term test of this unit 4 weeks back, and that was a major 💩- show. We had under 45 minutes to type our answers to ✨simple✨ questions.

THOSE questions... were not at all ✨simple✨. If anything, it tests my speed of typing and a race against the clock. After that exam, I think our batch can submit an application to join  a contest on trying to replace the fastest speed typer of 212wpm. At this point, we are all record holders for fastest typing in an exam. The best joke recorded after that exam was "Even Mendel couldn't type that fast"😆

Immediately after the mid-term, we had 'GROUP presentations"... i say group because it was not your average 'group of 5 to present a topic. It was each class of 27-33 students WORKING together to make this powerpoint slides and PRESENT it. Essentially, what they were asking for was each class to represent how well you guys can collab and deliver the topics. In the end, each class delivered well, for all the PPTs were such well made (good job on all the PPT makers for each class and class reps for handling this project)! Blood, sweat and tears from this presentation 💓.

Then 2 weeks after this, we had our FINAL for MED Gen (which was just yesterday). I think it went pretty well , considering on the fact the amount to cram in such short period of time. 

Overall, GLAD to be DONE with this subject, for now.... I can use this time slot to catch up on my 20 lectures of biochem that I am so behind on.

Now, there shall be a "season hiatus" and I will be back writing about the rest of the semester after finals~

Fingers cross, the highway to hell switches to a peaceful ride down to Finals! Stay strong if you are on this same route as I am, and lets keep threading water  and survive this semester together! 

Lots of love,

-D-