Productivity
Last Monday, I had my first dissection. I didn't get to slice open anybody or even to watch it being sliced open. We were studying the respiratory system, the ribs and the vertebrae [backbones] associated with it, so the breastplate of the cadaver [a woman, by the looks of it] had already been cut.
I had a really good demonstrator who taught us, very nicely and cheerfully, the different parts of a human vertebra. We were even given a chance to reach behind the left lung of the cadaver and touch the 19th vertebra, T12, to which the last [twelfth] rib is attached. We had gloves on, of course! A little bit of her flesh came off on my fingers when I went in to touch her vertebrae. I wasn't as disgusted as I thought I'd be. One girl in our group just refused to touch her.
Later, we got to feel real lungs and got to see what living and breathing in the city does to your lungs.
It was an eye-opening experience.
The rest of the week went by in a breeze. One of my professors, who teaches us biochemistry, tells us before he starts a slideshow, "This is the mickey-mouse version of it." and then says things like "These are very simple diagrams here, you can find some sexy diagrams of DNA in the textbooks." Annoyingly funny.
Did you know that washing your hands is a clinical skill? Not just that, it's a clinical skill that I got wrong the first time I tried it. Now I'll practise whenever I wash my hands and even in the shower! I saw my demonstrator from the dissection room in the clinical skills lab, so I followed him so I could learn to wash my hands from him. He looked a bit surprised to see me and before he could say anything, I said excitedly, "I'm back!"
Without missing a beat, he smiled and said, "Like a bad smell.."
Smartass.
On Wednesday, I went out with my desi [er, South-East Asian] friends. I'd never met most of them before. Aleea and Hassan are doing medicine with me and I knew Adeeb from before, but I met like 10 other new people that evening. Can't even remember all their names. One of the guys, Ali, was really nice :) Yeah, really nice. He had brown eyes and was originally from Lahore [brought up in England, though]. He reminded me of Yousuf.
I wasn't feeling too good on Friday, had a bit of a headache.. so I didn't go out anywhere.
I went out yesterday [Saturday], though. Went down to "the scene" again. This time around, the Bank wasn't such a great place to be, so I got out of there and went to a pub/club called Switch. They were playing really good music there so I danced a bit. Ok, I danced a lot. I even danced with another guy. Things happened between us, thankyouthatwillbeallnofurtherquestions.
Then later, I met these two other guys.. they were cousins. The three of us left Switch and went to another pub. They were really nice, both of them.. in a Tom and Jerry sort of a way. One of them even offered to pay for my lemonade.
I left for home at around 00:30. Crazy Lucy was lying asleep on the easy chairs when I got home. She had prob'ly passed out. When I tried to cover her with a blanket, she woke up.
Today, I did some written homework.. had to think up an ethical dilemma in a medical setting. I had writer's block or something.. I just couldn't imagine a dilemma. I admit I took some help from the 'net, but I changed the main details.
Then I went out to shop for groceries from Wilkinson [yes, I'm a cheap bastard, what's your problem?] and the Co-op. I can't believe I spent only £8 on groceries.. it's a colossal achievement for me to spend less than £10 on groceries. I love me!
After got some more reading done, I made some pasta. Real good pasta this time.. used butter, cheese spread, pasta sauce [duh!], ketchup and spices. It actually tasted like food for humans. I was so proud of myself! peccavo, you need to visit me soon to tell me if my pasta is anything close to what your taste buds prefer.
Another week ahead! Eid al-Fitr is on Friday. I might wear my black kurti to my lectures and draw some attention.
I had a really good demonstrator who taught us, very nicely and cheerfully, the different parts of a human vertebra. We were even given a chance to reach behind the left lung of the cadaver and touch the 19th vertebra, T12, to which the last [twelfth] rib is attached. We had gloves on, of course! A little bit of her flesh came off on my fingers when I went in to touch her vertebrae. I wasn't as disgusted as I thought I'd be. One girl in our group just refused to touch her.
Later, we got to feel real lungs and got to see what living and breathing in the city does to your lungs.
It was an eye-opening experience.
The rest of the week went by in a breeze. One of my professors, who teaches us biochemistry, tells us before he starts a slideshow, "This is the mickey-mouse version of it." and then says things like "These are very simple diagrams here, you can find some sexy diagrams of DNA in the textbooks." Annoyingly funny.
Did you know that washing your hands is a clinical skill? Not just that, it's a clinical skill that I got wrong the first time I tried it. Now I'll practise whenever I wash my hands and even in the shower! I saw my demonstrator from the dissection room in the clinical skills lab, so I followed him so I could learn to wash my hands from him. He looked a bit surprised to see me and before he could say anything, I said excitedly, "I'm back!"
Without missing a beat, he smiled and said, "Like a bad smell.."
Smartass.
On Wednesday, I went out with my desi [er, South-East Asian] friends. I'd never met most of them before. Aleea and Hassan are doing medicine with me and I knew Adeeb from before, but I met like 10 other new people that evening. Can't even remember all their names. One of the guys, Ali, was really nice :) Yeah, really nice. He had brown eyes and was originally from Lahore [brought up in England, though]. He reminded me of Yousuf.
I wasn't feeling too good on Friday, had a bit of a headache.. so I didn't go out anywhere.
I went out yesterday [Saturday], though. Went down to "the scene" again. This time around, the Bank wasn't such a great place to be, so I got out of there and went to a pub/club called Switch. They were playing really good music there so I danced a bit. Ok, I danced a lot. I even danced with another guy. Things happened between us, thankyouthatwillbeallnofurtherquestions.
Then later, I met these two other guys.. they were cousins. The three of us left Switch and went to another pub. They were really nice, both of them.. in a Tom and Jerry sort of a way. One of them even offered to pay for my lemonade.
I left for home at around 00:30. Crazy Lucy was lying asleep on the easy chairs when I got home. She had prob'ly passed out. When I tried to cover her with a blanket, she woke up.
Today, I did some written homework.. had to think up an ethical dilemma in a medical setting. I had writer's block or something.. I just couldn't imagine a dilemma. I admit I took some help from the 'net, but I changed the main details.
Then I went out to shop for groceries from Wilkinson [yes, I'm a cheap bastard, what's your problem?] and the Co-op. I can't believe I spent only £8 on groceries.. it's a colossal achievement for me to spend less than £10 on groceries. I love me!
After got some more reading done, I made some pasta. Real good pasta this time.. used butter, cheese spread, pasta sauce [duh!], ketchup and spices. It actually tasted like food for humans. I was so proud of myself! peccavo, you need to visit me soon to tell me if my pasta is anything close to what your taste buds prefer.
Another week ahead! Eid al-Fitr is on Friday. I might wear my black kurti to my lectures and draw some attention.