Update!

It has been more than half of a year since I last updated this blog before heading to India.

I'm currently enjoying a short semester break, a period of time where I can temporarily escape the hectic university life. Yes, it is hectic, considering the fact that we have to attend six days of classes per week. The Saturday is just another day of waking up early in the morning and dragging ourselves into the classroom for hours of lectures. How about Sunday? Having greatly deprived of adequate rest throughout the week, it is the only day that I'm allowed to sleep until whatever time I want. After that, I have to revise the topics taught by the lecturers for the rest of the day if I don't want myself to get embarrassed when bombarded by questions from lecturers in the next day. I would find myself guilty if I don't revise something on any day. Time management is the tricky part. It is hard to decide to work, play or sleep.

The diagram above explains everything.

Nevertheless, I never imagined how much I could have learnt during such a short semester. In short, as a first year undergraduate taking Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS), I'm required to study three main subjects namely anatomy, physiology and biochemistry. Anatomy has been generally recognised as the most dreadful subject that everyone of us must face. It deals with every single detail of the human body structure, thus posing a large workload one has to strive very hard to gain an understanding. However, I can see it is of great importance to absorb as much knowledge as we can from the scale of a single cell to the gross structure of human body, as it is the basic of everything. Physiology is dealing with the function of human body, whereas biochemistry gives a macroscopic view at the happenings such as metabolism running in the human body.

I once heard a comment from a working doctor:

"One need not to be a genius to choose this career, what it takes is actually the diligence, perseverance and self-discipline."

I agree. Medicine is a field of wide knowledge. Unlike how we have been studying in the secondary school, there is no fixed syllabus or textbook in the medical school. Information is everywhere, and from the well-categorised source of medical knowledge, we need to put in great effort to integrate, store and apply the knowledge.

Yes, we study a lot. No matter how badly we are going to forget the details after several months, we are forced to cram everything into our mind, and expected to recall it during examinations, especially the oral test called "viva". I have been lack of confidence at speaking, moreover sometimes it is not easy to understand the English spoken in their accent, I'm always afraid of having any kind of interaction with the Indians in any session. Not to mention I'm always confused by the indication shown via shaking head. They shake their heads for saying yes and do the same for saying no.

India is a unique where we can observe a lot of extremities. We get to see how the poor blends with the rich, how the wealth mirage is accompanied by severe poverty, how the high-tech companies and skyscrapers mushrooming in the cities where man power is still the main workforce of everything. Men form a the line to carry and pass bricks, they build ladders using robes and woods to reach the great height without using machines.

If I'm asked "How's life in India?", I don't know how to provide an answer. I can't think of a positive thing to share with. I came across with a lot of negative incidents: Open defecating or urinating, reckless driving on the road, dirty streets where people spit and litter everywhere, unscrupulous auto rickshaw drivers who love to earn more via cheating, slow action by staff in public sectors, unstable electricity where at least ten blackouts happen everyday, beggars chasing after you, extreme weathers, not-so-tasty-food, terrible road condition, the over-obsessed students, the lack of courtesy, and more. Life has been depressing knowing I have to spend five and a half years in this land. By the time I'm back to Malaysia, I am a man of 26 years old, if everything goes as I wish.

Life is tough in India. I'm truly honest to point out this. We need to be mentally strong or else we are going to trap ourselves in the maze of troubles. It would be a different story if one goes to some other countries such as Australia or UK. Frankly speaking, I feel a little envious when I see friends of mine are currently going for their tertiary studies in those countries. Every photo taken there seems to be more scenic.

However I'm very grateful to have been granted the chance to pursue my dream in India. I believe the hardship and challenge could help to train and prepare myself to traverse into medical field in the future. I do not regret to have chosen this pathway. People often say it is good to enroll in medicine or dentistry in India. I'm not sure if this is plausible. From my point of view, I could just say the way we are educated in the college has been a great experience. We are able to gain great exposure towards some aspects where it is not possible in my own country. For example, we have relatively complete specimen and enough number of cadavers to study in the dissection halls. Professors are professional, they are highly experienced at teaching undergraduates. I'm impressed by each of them. I'm quite sure they are much better than the professors in my own country. I guess this is the only positive thing I'm able to talk about India.

There is a lot of stories to share, hopefully I can come out with another interesting article after this!

I'm here, far away from my hometown

For the very first day I came to Sepang whereby its roads vary so much from the map given by the JPA, taking more than an hour finding the location of the smallest college in the world in the remote town. I guess everyone who had been coming for Kolej Teknologi Timur would be in surprise once he saw the location and the size of the college which is far beyond his expectation as if he had gone to the wrong place. This college appears to be a single-blog-building comprising of our hostels above the lecture halls. It is very long, about the length of 13 shops in a row.

First day ( 06/07/09 )

• I discovered that there are so many scholarship holders coming all the way from Sabah and Sarawak, maybe 40% out of the 112 of us who will be going to India for medicine.
  
• The lecture hall which I registered as KTT student here is smaller than my previous tuition classroom.
  
• Tranquil, this is the best word if I'm to describe this place by using only a word.
  
• I had established the wi-fi connection provided by the college as a trial user, which means that I will have to subscribe to the "KTT HOTSPOT" for RM40 per semester starting from next week. However I didn't have adequate time to stay online.
  
• The hostel is old, but it is spacious. It consists of two small sleeping rooms and a wide living room ( 10 feet x 26 feet ) . My roommate is a Chinese from Sarawak and a Kadazan from Sabah as a housemate. There were only three people occupying this room.
  
• The advertisement board was fully pasted, there were all the second hand items to be sold by the seniors. I saw a “special combo”- a fridge and a washing machine which costs RM600 for the total.
  
• I bought a set of original Chemistry and Biology text books for RM300, I got two free gifts - a disc with questions of pass year papers inside and a Chemistry reference book under the package. This is the first time I spend so much in purchasing books.
  
• I met my seniors from the same secondary school here. There are five currently but two of them ( Indonesia-bound ) will be leaving the college by this week after their 1-year-programme.
  
• During this orientation week, we would be divided into 10 groups. When it was the time to introduce ourselves to the other group members, we found a girl who is not willing to do what she will be doing soon, dentistry. She told us she was forced by her parents to do so.
  After voting, our group was named “Aramaiti”. It simply means the sharing of joyfulness among the people.
  
• We heard something scary and mysterious. It has something to do with the “Tangga 11” while my hostel is just located at tangga 10. The facilitators didn’t want to tell us more about the story. We instinctively thought ghost incidents happened there.
  

Second day ( 07/07/09 )

• I was facing a difficulty in remembering my group members’ names, especially the Malays’ during the ice breaking session in the morning.
  
• All of us have to prepare something for the group performance in the coming closing ceremony, and my group got the title “ Dikir Barat ” ( a kind of Malay cultural performance whereby there are rows of performers sitting on the stage clapping their hands and singing accompanied with the music of Malay traditional musical instruments. ) I knew what it is but the other Chinese in my group seemed never heard of it.
  
• We had to create cheers for our team, however I didn’t have any idea. ( I was experienced in creating cheers, but in Chinese )
  
• We were made clearer about how to use the transport system in this college. There are three vans and a bus which charge different payments for different places we want to go, such as LCCT, KTM, Giant ( the nearest fast food restaurants are available there ) etc. We have to purchase a ticket in the library before using the service.
  
• I paid another RM260 for the old books and pass year papers to my senior. They are all in photocopies.
  
• There are two cafeterias in my college, Indian style (Mamak) and Malay style. The roti canai is my favourite :D
  
• I washed and ironed my clothes for my very first time, by using hands. I know what you are thinking, I never helped in household works before.
  

Third day ( 08/07/09 )

• The lecturers were emphasizing “cut-off points” for A-Level repeatedly. We have to gain 12 points taking from the best three subjects. For an A, 5 points will be given, 4 points for B, 3 points for C and so on. That means, in order to clear the cut-off points, we have to at least get three Bs in the examination. However getting only 3 Bs is below my target.
  
• We had a lot of briefings about the rules applied to us in term of our behavior. The penalty for all the violation towards the rules is money-related.
  
• I felt very sleepy throughout that particular day. I was suffering from sleep deprivation. The mosquito last night was furious.
  
• A telematch was held. We played four games. I felt they still have a huge margin to improve in designing games for us.
  
• The group members started to call me “Leng Zai” which means “smart or handsome guy” in Chinese (-__-lll)
  
• The seniors started to knock our hostel doors to promote their items for sale.
  
• We took the whole night to collect the ideas for our performance. We created a poem talking about KTT. We found it tough to create the claps and the melodies.
  
• There came another housemate, a Muslim from Sabah. He is friendly but a little bit shy.
  
• I had booked the plane tickets from AirAsia company for two to-and-fro trips for the coming semester break in August ( 22-08-09 to 31-08-09 ) and Hari Raya break in September ( 17-09-09 to 27-08-09 ).
  
• My roommate, John is experienced in Internet business, the field that most of the same people at the same age with us don’t traverse in.
  

Forth day ( 09/07/09 )

• Our schedule from the morning until the afternoon was fully arranged with subject briefings. The heads of subjects were giving some words regarding the subjects we are going to taking once the lesson starts in the next week. I will have to take Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Mathematics and also IELTS which I worry the most.
  
• They college did an aerobic exercise for us. It is as similar as the previous telematch.
  I went to the top of the small hill located behind our college. I could see that the small town was slightly covered in haze. However there was windy. It is an ideal place for everyone to release tension and enjoy the refreshing air.
• We spent the whole night practicing “Dikir Barat”. All of us did a good job in giving cooperation and the complicated performance was soon settled in fast progression.
  
• The girl who is miserably choosing the wrong course remained silent and looked saddening. The facilitators had counseled her.
  

Fifth day ( 10/07/09 )

• A female Indian sitting in front of me showed me her hand phone that remained intact although it was accidentally flung out from the balcony on the third floor while she was waving to the seniors passing by.
  
• I have registered the subjects I will be going to take - Physics, Mathematics, Chemistry and Biology.
  
• My housemate, Ali told me that Chinese is diligent in his point of view. He salutes us very much. However in my perspective it is academically obssessed, not really diligent.
• I was dressed in Malay costume for the first time.
  
• We turned out to be the champion of the group performance competition :)
• My housemates watched Madagascar until midnight.
• I found that the Malays are totally different with me. We don't even share a sense of humour. Most of the time I can't understand their slang.
  

That's all for the first five days. I enjoyed very much during the orientation week. Although sometimes I would find it hard to resist the sleep-inducing-tone of the lecturers while briefings ( I didn't fall asleep ) , we do know more about the college lifestyle, the average learning hours for each subject, the operating system of the library etc. Starting from next Sunday, 13-07-09, I will be sitting in a lecture hall listening to the teachings by the lecturers respectively. I will post some of the photos in the next time. Keep in touch!

Rubella

I have miserably decided to countermand my intention to attend my best friend's birthday party at tonight after my doctor had diagnosed that I'm infected with rubella, a highly contagious disease.

I googled for the symptoms of rubella, they are mild fever, headache, loss of appetite, mild conjunctivitis ( no wonder I feel pain whenever I twist my eyeballs ) , a stuffy nose ( this is torturing ) , swollen lymph nodes ( yes I have one behind my left ear ) , rashes appeared on the face spreading downwards ( my mother did worry if I got dengue fever ) etc.

I was wrong when I related my illness to the extreme hot temperature, instead it is more likely that I was infected during the medical check up in the hospital. Hospital is indeed a dangerous place.

It would be considered as selfish if I'm still being stubborn to spread the virus among my friends in the party, who knows one of them is now pregnant? :p

Note: Rubella may cause miscarriage or the baby can be born with severe disorders.

Medical check up

It was the fourth time I went to the Hospital Sultanah Bahiyah for medical check up in this morning. My friends and I had made a wrong decision to choose this "old hospital" instead of Kedah Medical Centre which could have completed our check up within two days.

We were ordered to fill in the forms beside the counter in the first visit which could be frustrating as we needed to repeat writing our names, IC numbers, home addresses which were the longest and all of us got fed up and started blaming about what we could think of. We peed into two urine containers and got our blood extracted on the same day. I could feel the pain when one of my friend was torturing by a nurse who could hardly find his vein and poked the needle in and out for about 6 times. When we were going for our Mantoux test ( test if we acquire tuberculosis ) , the nurse appointed us to visit the TB department on the next day, therefore I thought the whole process must be complicated and time consuming, but I found myself wrong in the second visit.

The whole Mantoux test ended up within 5 minutes by injecting a small amount of tuberculin beneath our skin that would be swelling for a while after that. I wondered why the nurse ( or medical officer ) wasn't willing to do the same easy-looking task during our first visit. I was shocked when I accidentally saw that there was a bruise at the part where my blood was extracted. My friend told me it was normal.

It was our third visit to Hospital Sultanah Bahiyah to examine whether we did have the possibility to acquire TB by measuring the diameter of induration which was explained that it was due to our natural immune respond towards the bacterial protein. My induration showed 6mm. According to the medical officer ( or nurse ) , those whose induration size exceeds 10mm are in high-risk category. We were then joking with another friend who had his size greater than 10mm by not socialising with him anymore. My bruise was getting more serious.

Today we got our reports for the urinalysis and blood test. However the report for the blood test was not completed. We have to take our next visit, which is the fifth visit, which I didn't expect, to another hospital in order to complete it. Everyone had measured his or her height, weight, blood pressure and sight ability. After that, we headed to the clinics and consulted another medical officer respectively. Actually this was the last step to certify our medical check up forms. Ahah! My bruise can still be seen clearly.

I wonder if there will be the sixth time.

Medicine (part 2)

I was rudely awakened by my parents who seemed to be more excited than me to tell me that they had received the late coming letter sent by JPA in this morning. They asked me to guess which country I will be heading to. I hoped for the word " Australia " to come out between their lips. However JPA denies my chance for me to be my cousin's junior. I got India.

Well, although Australia tops the list but I'm glad to get India. India has always been the well-renowned country in training the professionals to excel and contribute in certain critical fields especially in health care. Some people even stated that there are so many corpses in India, which means to be a kind of convenience or advantage to the medical students there ( try to figure out why :p )

Every one around me feels proud of me, they keep on complimenting me as if I already got my medicine degree. They asked me to give discount if they seek for my help in the future. They even started calling me Dr. Lui. It is still a long way to go, to be what they expected ( specialist, general practitioner, blah blah ) What I have to do now is just preparing myself to endure the hardship. I don't think too much. It is still not the time for me to decide which specialist I want to be. I have not even started my foundation course, to be specific, Cambridge A-level which I will be taking at Kolej Teknologi Timur.

I did feel abandoned when all of my friends ( JPA scholars ) are registered in one of the college known as INTEC. However how will it be if I compare the five-year of homesickness to the 18 months of not having old friends? From another perspective, maybe it is better for me to not relying too much to my old friends. As time elapses, I might be more independent and confident to communicate with every one there in English.

I'm still having worries about the interview I have to pass in order to secure a place for me in the universities in India, or maybe I think too much. Here I come, India :)

Medicine

Fortunately, I'm chosen by the Public Service Department (JPA) to pursue my tertiary study under its scholarship in medicine. People told me that I'm as lucky as winning lottery as the total amount spent on me could be nearly a million ringgits. However it is not the time for me to enjoy the savor of victory, I know I shall start preparing myself mentally in order to push myself through the hardship that I might face soon.

Pursuing medicine means I will works as a doctor a.k.a medical officer in the future. I've read many of the blogs written by the medical students as well as doctors. They share their two cents to those who are going to join the medical profession. As most of the people will say, being a doctor is glamorous and can earn big money. It is a misconception indeed. If we count the salary of a doctor hour by hour and then compare its ratio to the other job, we can conclude that the medical job can only bring you monetary stability but not wealth. A doctor cannot be a millionaire.

What propels me? First, I had grown an intense loving towards science and mathematics since I was small. I expect I will be doing science-related job after I've grown up. It doesn't make sense right? Okay actually I'm finding job satisfaction at the same time. I can imagine when I manage to bring the patient's health back to an acceptable level, all things worth. Secondly, I'm inspired by my cousin, Chang Yang who is currently undergoing his fifth year medical education as a medical student. Apart from that, his siblings are also working as doctors in different hospitals now. This spurs me a lot. My parents were encouraging me to follow my cousin's step since I was in primary school. They even started imagining the time when my cousins and I are working together in a private hospital. In fact, they didn't force me to become a doctor but slowly analysed the benefits of being a doctor to me. Actually there are more threats than benefits for being a doctor but I quite agree with some of the points. A doctor will know more about health and hence he can be the health consultant of the whole family which will then practise healthy lifestyle together. A doctor might develop more philosophies about life due to the challenging life saving tasks.

Good grades in examination is needed to get you into a medical school but grades alone will not keep you afloat for long. You need a stubborn determination to progress in medical field that requires a decade of training. I've heard that a number of medical students were giving up in the first year studying medicine, it is a waste of time and resources indeed.

I've ready to endure the five years of intense study and a full lifetime of dedication to humanity.
I'm one step closer to my dream.