Hello :)

Exams finished last week... In the meantime, I was contemplating on pressing the big orange "Delete This Blog" button, to delete this blog off the surface of the world wide web. But I had a friend complaining that she went on my blog only to find a very old and stale post...

So, I thought of posting today. Firstly... remember when I said that passing the orthopaedics exam is pretty much like doing this... ?

Well... I got to know two days ago that I did manage to do just that!

I guess that would be "YeY!" for me! But now, there are other obstacles to worry about, with the big one being called neurology this time. I felt crappy after the exam, and so did a lot of my friends. In fact, I got this message from a very thoughtful colleague that same day, you know, to try to cheer me up a little bit...

"Hey Marquita! I'm Cathrine.I just wanted to tell you that yesterday on Facebook there were people in our class who wrote that for number 2 of the neuro exam, everyone gave different answers... some said cluster headache, some brain tumour, some trigeminal neuralgia, optic neuritis! So no need to worry too much... Maybe there wasn't just one good perfectanswer! :) And as to number 3 everyone said it was difficult!"

Anyway... che sarà, sarà I suppose! At the moment I'm allowing my brain cells to enjoy their strike that will soon come to an end... either tomorrow or on Sunday... depends on whether I want to see this piece of crap on TV...


I'll at see whether my friend was right in saying that Kamikaze Lover is the worst of Philip Vella and Gerard James Borg... So far, I don't like what I am seeing on YouTube. It could either be the song, the main singer... or both!

Stress...

It's that time of year for the vast majority of students I suppose. Martine posted a very useful post on how to keep yourself motivated when bored studying. But with exams (very scarily) fast approaching, stress will be more likely to feature than boredom whilst trying to cram into your (poor) brain all you can till doomsday.

So, here is something that you may find useful. Feel free to use and distribute the stress reduction kit below to all who may require it. This can be used on a prn basis (i.e. used as required), though its abuse is highly unrecommended, for reasons that will render themselves obvious later on.

Warning/Disclaimer: Please note that all treatments have their fair share of side effects, with the above stress reduction kit potentially causing headaches, bumps on the head and severe bruising, especially if not careful. Unconsciousness is possible on overdosing, though when that happens, stress reduction activity will cease automatically.

Wishing you the very best of luck!

2008 Summary

"If the events of 2008 could be summarised in 20 words these would be the ones: euro, Morena, elections, fireworks, hunting, Lourdes, Mamo, kidnapped, Muscat, buses, Simshar, Karl, Nicholas, migrants, MITTS, privatisation, St John’s, tariffs, Piano and shootout."

TimesofMalta.com

The above inspired me to compile my own 20 words. Well... at least I tried to compile 20 but only managed to get to 15... which is kind of saying something about how eventful my life is at the moment.

Euro: I had to change from Maltese Liri to Euro with the rest of the Maltese population.

Election: 2008 was not just any election year... I got to vote in this one for the first time!

Newsletters: Well, Youth Ink is practically dead. But, I'm now taking care of Sphygmo, which is being made available online for the first time (saves a few trees together with the costs of printing). The Christmas/New Year issue is bound to come out soon (I hope).

Book: Ending the Search Beginning the Quest was published and printed, with lots of copies having been distributed for free already.

Exodus: The exodus of young doctors, including fresh newly graduates, has led to much commotion in the press and a concerned government. Yes... I think the issue did genuinely concern the authorities. In fact, they're trying to deal with the problem constructively such as trying to implement the Foundation Programme here and trying to provide specialist training. Well... ANYTHING is better than being tied down for two years (or else!), as suggested by quite a few members of the public in order to get back their tax money used to educate us "for free".

Exams: There were quite a handful of these, as to be expected. But... In 2008, the Departments of Medicine and Surgery held their first third year practical exams as part of the Medicine and Surgery progress tests last June. Very well received initiative and things ran quite smoothly on the day considering it was a first.

Behavioural: Behavioural Science is finally over along with third year!!!!

Travel: Went on a student exchange in Vienna with two good friends in July. Then went to London on holiday in September. It was great. But, I had to miss this year's outreach at Assisi. Apparently, it was a great success where people really saw God's hand at work!

McDonald's: This is where I spent the rest of my summer when I was not away.

Ratatouille: A Mater Dei Hospital worker had his salad garnished with the head of a rodent. Quite the scandal of the year! Nevertheless, Papillion still lives on to see the dawning of 2009... and still supplies medical students their daily coffees.

Strike: Although the strike that caused much havoc was the 4 day strike undergone by the public transport operators, this refers to another strike which mostly upset the students. Yes, I'm talking about 'Lecturers behaving badly' and 'students being used as bargaining tools' in the dispute between government and UMASA. There was a strike last summer and now, it seems that there is another one going on, with University examinations possibly being postponed if the current deadlock in negotiations for a new collective agreement for lecturers persists. Nonetheless, I'm still having my exams starting on the 19th January. So, I spent less time reading the newspapers and more time studying my neurology! (It kind of explains my blog deadlock lately.)

Chircop: This was not one of the 20 words in the Times of Malta article so I thought of mentioning it here. The medical community said goodbye to one of the most dedicated of people it could ever see. He was a dedicated doctor, a dedicated family man and also a dedicated politician... Karl Chircop. May he rest in peace.

HealthFest: MMSA held its first ever Healthfest at City Gate Valletta (yes, the same City Gate which the government is planning on rebuilding together with the Opera House site).

MSF: Médecins Sans Frontières came to Malta to provide medical aid to illegal immigrants.

Babies: No not my own! But some very old friends became very new parents with two new first borns coming into the world... both of them boys! Baby Matthis and baby Thomas, may God bless them both and their families.

Wishing all of you who read this blog a happy new year! May it be a prosperous one for everybody.