the perils of

        Week two of the musculo-skeletal module is over, which means that we're halfway done with the module. And the semester is half over as well! Wow. Time really does fly when you're constantly cramming for exams, freaking out about SGDs, cursing the name of your Management professor, studying, splurging on a new Stabilo highlighter, taking a break from studying by discreetly sniffing your new Stabilo highlighter, buying microwave dinners from the downstairs Ministop, getting your car scratched by an old lady, looking at yourself in the mirror and crying a little, rocking yourself to sleep in fetal position, regretting several past personal decisions, eating breakfast the next morning while crying a little, and secretly promising to never return the hangers from a certain horrible laundry place because they delivered your uniform late, consequently forcing you to wear the an old dirty uniform for three days. While crying a little.         I'm kidding. Don't freak

(Picture unrelated to the post. This is a harmless cerebellum slide seen beneath a microscope.)           The day started with a mass held in honor of our cadavers. Afterwards, we all gathered outside the anatomy lab for the blessing ceremony. "I'm prepared to see the body," said Dia as we lined up outside, "Just not the face." I felt the same way. I don't know what it is, but seeing a dead person's face is just so different from seeing a dead person's arm or leg. Extremities belong to bodies, but faces belong to people.                    Before I knew it, it was my group's turn to enter. I breathed in and walked calmly, taking in the sight of twenty dead humans. They were invisible - beneath the blue sheets, all we could see of them were the outlines of their head, feet, breast, and knees. Each one was a different size and shape from the other. As my group gathered around Cadaver #3, I could see that he or she looked a little smaller th

        I think one lesson I learned today, however oversimplified and cheesy it may be, is that for every miserable moment that med school throws your way, there are little bouts of happiness to be discovered. Today in particular started with a lab exam from hell. And right after that came the lec exam from hell. Both were equally draining and depressing.         BUT after that, Dr. Banzuela treated all of us in the batch to UNLIMITED FISHBALLS!!! This was our batch's reward for having answered a difficult question during class last week (it was Dustin in particular who answered it, and all of us got to reap the benefits of his effort hahaha). The fishballs did wonders to boost our morale. Look at all these smiling faces! (Credits to Kamille from whom I did not ask perimssion to post this [hehe sorry])          Dr. Banzuela is one of my favorite teachers in ASMPH. I'm not just saying this because of the fishballs! He really make things easier to learn for everybody, gi

      This week was wonderful partly because it was punctuated with two holidays. You know how, when you're driving in the middle of a crazy downpour and the rain is just so noisy on the roof of your car that you can barely hear yourself think, when you go into a tunnel everything just becomes so suddenly still and quiet? And when you drive out the end of the tunnel, the rain comes crashing down again on your roof. Those two days were like being in the tunnel: sudden, temporary, silence.       And thank God that there isn't an exam to study for on Monday, because now I can spend my weekend gathering my bearings instead of scrambling to memorize names of enzymes and co-enzymes.        Not that the workload this week has been particularly hectic. I mean it is, of course, but it's also very fun. On Friday, we had small group discussions (SGD) about the case of a young 12-year-old male named JVC. When the case came out on Wednesday, we set to work trying to deduce a di