What to do with all this TIME.

I’m feeling rather adrift.

I have been home; Not only have we had the customary week of the summer where relatives descend en masse to my parents house, I’ve been taken out to dinner in order to celebrate, I have sorted out finances, and even got through the conversation where I told my parents I was returning to London because I was bored out of my skull.  I have survived, even enjoyed myself a little, and returned.

I am still bored out of my skull.

Most of my friends are now either medics or graduates- the graduates are all back home or scattered around doing grown up things like moving in together and getting jobs, and the medics are all off in sunnier climes preparing for the start of clinics again on monday.  I still have two weeks before my BSc starts- I am tempted to actually start reading for my dissertation now, because, well- why the hell not?  I know what I want to do,  it’ll be interesting, and I’ll sure appreciate it when it gets to Christmas and I’ve already started it! (Yes, I know- geek.)

I’m actually a little wary about doing my BSc- I’m excited because it’s something I know I’ll love academically, but I’m in the bizzare situation where all of my long-term friends here are either 4th years now, or just starting clinics.  I guess what it boils down to is I feel a little fish-out-of-water, and I’m concerned I’m not going to make friends- which is stupid, because I generally find it easy to do so.

Ah well, today I am going to meet my sister for coffee, and then we’re hitting the shops so she can use my student discounts!

Medicgirl xxx

ps. It has been asked what BSc I’m doing- I’m currently holding out on answering, as even in a medical school as large as ours, it will pretty much blow my cover!  I would like to request though, that if at any point any of my readers work out who I am- they respect my attempted anonymity.

8 Things about London MedicGirl

A long time ago, I was tagged by DoctorScientist, I’ve finally remembered and got around to doing this so here are my 8 Things. Or rather, here are my 8 things that unless you know me very well indeed shouldn’t be too telling as to who-I-really-am.

1.  I hark from the country; grew up on a farm, and as a child was magnetically attracted to mud, water, and grime.

2.  When I was little I used to avoid putting my clothes away properly by doing sensible things like… stuffing them in the drawer and then carefully laying things over the top to make it look neat, or once even lifting up my mattress and carefully placing said clothes there (I know, even I’m raising an eyebrow at my bizzare childhood logic).

3.  Also when I was younger I once crawled under my bed and scrawled on the slats in lipstick. Alas I decided the scrawl looked like a wolf and from then on was scared of going under my bed.

4. I have secret names for people.  Sometimes these are so I can chat about said people in public with other friends, sometimes the names are secretsecret names only in my head.

5.  I listen to songs on repeat.

6.  I want my last meal on earth to be macaroni cheese.

7.  I make amazing scones (seriously, I’m renowned amoungst my family and friends for it). I also make a damn good pancake.

8.  When I go running I am always a bit worried that someone walking will overtake me whilst I’m running up a hill.  So far this has not happened.

I don’t really do tagging because I have no idea who’s already done this, but go ahead if you want to :) 

Medicgirl xxx

London Medicgirl’s Oscar Speech

There are a number of people that need to be thanked for their contribution to my successful year;

Firstly, my mother and father- for telling me that they didn’t mind if I failed, and that the 15,000 pounds it would have meant down the drain wasn’t a waste because I’d done so well to get so far (liars, but lovely liars).

My Sister for not complaining about the washing up over exams.

My flatmate, for although he cannot cope when I cry, he is very good at preventing it from happening in the first place.

My revision-friend.  She deserves a LOT of credit; I wouldn’t have passed had it not been for the amount of work we put in, and I certainly wouldn’t have done said work had it not been for not wanting to let her down!

Gin, Baileys, and Amaretto, without which this year would have been very dull, and there would have been much less sleep. (edit- it has come to my attention that perhaps my liver does not wish to thank them.)

And last, but not least, Atopic Law Student who listened to me moan, cry, say I was going to fail, and then dragged me out of the flat when revision got too much (to listen to it all over again).  The only way in which he failed was that he did not provide enough gossip for me to live vicariously through him while I was stuck in my room for weeks!

So thank you to them, and thank you to all of you who keep reading this.

London Medicgirl xxx

London Medicgirl defies the odds!

At our last exam we’d been told that the exam board met on wednesday and results would be out on thursday. Naturally there was speculation as to WHEN on thursday they would be out, but we all came to the conclusion that it would be around the time they did in March- so about 9.30-10.

Bear in mind we are medical students.

I know I am not the only one who woke up at 5am, as while I supped my coffee and whiled away the hours online, I saw a number of facebook statuses (Yes, I know, I know. I’m a loser) that suggested the same.

Obsessive checking of the emails (on my part) started around 9.

I attempted to watch Grease 2, Ugly Betty, and Friends, but I have a feeling that the world could have been ending out of the front window and I still would have been dashing off to check one-more-time every 2-3 minutes.

I started cursing the Medical School Administration at about 10.

“What are they doing? The lazy &^£^%$ s have been in for an hour!! Don’t they KNOW we’re all panicking.  This is our FUTURE and they’re all having a cup of bloody coffee!”

Other peoples facebook statuses started to get stressed at about 10.30.

To give the medical school credit where credit is due- our administration are actually lovely; even the ones with less of a reputation for kindness have always been friendly and co-operative with me. 

At 11 my mother made me a cup of tea, and I paced around a bit.

On the hour, every hour, I realised everyone was doing what I was doing- thinking “Oh, I bet it’s out NOW!” because the server would suddenly get Alzheimers and go all slow- of course this would immediately make you feel sick, as that usually means you have an email and it’s downloading; today it just meant that 350-odd medical students were checking their emails at exactly the same time.

Results came out at 12.10.

By this time my mother had gone off to do useful things, and my dad had gone out because “All this tension is too much to bear”, so I call my mother into the room as I scan the email, heart in mouth, wanting to vomit.

It is OK.

There are little P’s on the page.

I have not failed.

I do not have to do a directed elective.

I can do a BSc.

I have not wasted £15,000 with nothing to show for it.

I am still a medical student.

I have not come at the top of the year (as if I ever expected to??!!!)  but I am not at the bottom, so although come graduation I may not be working in a good hospital, but at least I will be in a hospital.

This is the point that my dad suddenly magically reappears with a teeny bottle of champagne, so we each have a glass (I’ve not eaten all morning so it goes straight to my head) and then cook lunch; which for me is chips. 

Chips, mayonnaise and champagne.

(A very happy) Medicgirl xxx

LondonMedicGirl Off-Duty.

I am not dead.  
Exams came and went; there was stress, evil questions, many mistakes, a long tearful phonecall to motherlondonmedicgirl, and then they were over and we were tumbling from the exam hall, and staggering down the road to the nearest pub in order to tip alcohol down our throats (Make mine a gin and tonic please).

Since then, my life has been somewhat of a social whirl, interspersed with sleeping (preferably at random moments on the day), and eating (fat-coke and crisps to stave off hangovers). 
I have started to tidy my room, and been shopping.
I have treked across london to help out a friend (during which time I was a horrible horrible back-seat driver and flinched a lot and shouted at him).

I am currently sitting in my pyjamas listening to a new CD, and trying to muster the enthusiasm to get up and do useful things like All-the-washing-that-didn’t-get-done-over-exams. 

Right.

Shower…

MedicGirl xxx

Pretty Flowers and Skipping Lambs

So I’m revising Puerpural Fever, and I come across “Offensive Lochia”… now, having not done Gyne (that’s next year) and presumably having forgotten if we were ever told what it was, I googled it.  Being a medical student, and therefore somewhat of sick mind, I also thought it could be interesting to have a quick click on Images…. I found it quite amusing that there were just pictures of skipping couples and daffodils.

What’s worse than a bunch of medics in one room?

A bunch of pre-exam medics in one room.

Exam-fever has truely hit the medical school, and as such I am ready to kill the majority of my colleagues. 

No. I do not want to listen to a breakdown of what you’ve revised.
No. I do not want to hear all about what you’ve still got left to do.
No. I do not need to know exactly how you’re going to fit this into the coming weeks, or how much you revised today, or yesterday.

There is one thing that I hate more than post-exam analysis, and that is pre-exam analysis.  So, if you’re one of these culprits… next time your msn list looks surprisingly empty, it may not be because everyone is off revising, it is probably because- like me- everyone has blocked you because they really don’t want to know.

On a lighter note…. I bring you Medicine According To My Sister:

“Nephrology would be exciting. Kidneys are cool- they have all those woogly-things in them.”

Medicgirl x

London Medicgirl is unwell

So it’s been a rather uneventful weekend- I decided that in order to not get spoiled in regards The Last Harry Potter, I should read it ASAP. It therefore made sense to get that out of the way and give up the necessary time to reading it- hang the revision!

So yesterday was spent rather enjoyably curled up in various places in the flat(I found I rotated depending on my mood), and  punctuated by many phone calls to Atopy Law Student to discuss the book as we both read it on our respective sides of the city. 

I then ended up going out for a friends birthday, and much food was consumed, as well as moderate amounts of alcohol, before I bowed out early on the basis of wanting to come home and sleep (and read a bit more). 

This was when things got interesting.

Weirdly- I was fine before- or I thought I was fine at least… but within about half an hour of getting home I felt like death. I felt sick and my eyes were burning… in the end I did actually vomit, which helped slightly, but I was still left with a temperature- shivering and shaking despite being actually boiling hot.  So I did what any self-respecting medic does when her mother is on holiday and her sister is a hypochondriac, I rang a friend that could do nothing about it, and wimpered down the phone to them.  Surprisingly perhaps, despite a distinct lack of medical literature on the subject, it did actually make me feel better, and I managed to get to sleep afterwards.

This morning I felt a little better- but still not right. I’ve spent much of the afternoon napping, and still feel tired. I guess at least my body is having its little tantrum now and not in three weeks time!

Medicgirl x

London Medicgirl grows up.

Something rather disturbing happened to me tonight; I went over to partner-in-crime’s house- another medic- where we revised for a couple of hours and had supper together before going out for another friend’s birthday drinks.

Maybe it was the tiredness. Maybe it was the stress. But I actually had more fun revising than I did once out…  The upshot being we both left together rather early, much to the chagrin and shock of our colleagues, who are more familiar with a more lively gruesome-twosome.

 Still, watch this space, I’m sure once exams are over I’ll be back to normal.

 Medicgirl x

Keeping your eye on the finish line…

It has come to my attention that there are just some things that I cannot run out of my system, and as such, work has taken a distinct back seat this week while I sort out other things. 

I’ve given myself until Saturday morning to be annoying.

an·noy·ing [uh-noi-ing]
–adjective
Ignoring the pile of work by your desk, listening to certain songs, eating your feelings and being far too introspective for your own good.

Luckily there have been enough revision sessions and clinics that I’ve had to attend, so I’ve not slacked off entirely;  definately a good thing given how exams are now looming and I’ve got a shocking amount of work to get through.

Medicgirl x