Medicine in Edin + other fun things

Unimaginative blogpost title, I know.

This will be week 3 in Edin. :) Weather hasn’t changed significantly yet. Hope everyone back home is doing great! Am blogging from the uni coms again, so I can’t post any pictures. Do look on FB for my Edin album, though–all the pix have been nicely captioned so you know what you’re looking at. And well, if I don’t know what they are… you won’t know either I guess. LOL.

Classes have officially started, albeit with a “soft” module called vertical themes. It’s much like our good ol’ BS and Comm med in IMU–at least, that’s the general impression I get. People here skip them. Some of the lecturers are quite sleep-inducing, but most of them are fairly engaging and I can… somewhat stay awake. Mmm public health. Next week I start my GIT rotations at the Western General Hospital in Edin. According to seniors, it’s the least well-planned module, the largest in scope, and the most difficult to get through… :( just my luck! Hah. Starting with gastroenterology. Fingers crossed, will be silently praying all the time that I get through it fine. During briefings they didn’t hesitate to share with us how 40 out of the previous year failed Year 3.

Cropping the post so the main page isn’t a wall of text–do click if you want to read on.

The EOS Lifestyle

…is what I’m living at the moment.

With the End-of-Semester 3 exam looming in the back of my mind, I go about my daily activities–it infuses a little more restraint and discipline in terms of time management and what I should and shouldn’t do…

It’s a little hard to concentrate on studying, because of the summative that was two Fridays ago. But I’ve been trying, praying, trying, and praying again. The summative went really well, though. Throughout that studying period, so many things happened (seniors/friends dropping in randomly to quiz us) that just can’t be attributed to coincidence anymore. :) A Greater Hand moved in the background even as we sat in those glass fish-tank studyrooms in the library, mugging our minds out.

 

New hairdo! (bad pic, though)

What can I say? The days have been passing by splendidly. Saturday (the 30th of May) I went with mumsies to get a new haircut at Guessen Hair Studio @ Plaza Mon’t Kiara. Japanese haircuts always sit well with my hair! At night, I went with Matthew (ex-choir mate) to watch our old choir, The Canticle Singers, perform their “Be Our Guest” concert at Perdanasiswa Hall, UM. It brought back a lot of good memories, and we quietly sang our parts through a few songs. :) Yay for student rates! Apparently Matt looked young enough to pass–they didn’t ask him for his student card. We went out for drinks later, and did a lot of catching up. Lovely night.

Sunday I woke up late for church, had a gruelling audition for the X’mas musical in the afternoon, then attended the Global Day of Prayer with mum & dad at night. I still can’t feel the passion to pray for my country, but I certainly heard a lot about its importance that night. The worship was amazing–I teared up during more than one song that night.

Monday was…Monday. Studying attempts. A lot of random laughter in the library. Aaand today (Tuesday, after midnight) was another “studying attempt day”! Karaoke’d with Leon, Jaeric & Jo @ Sunway Pyramid Red Box from 11am-2pm, went to uni to try study (I finished ONE miserable note) before having dinner and scooting my cute little butt off to swing dance!

ltr: Sookyeen (sp?), Abang Lionel, Matt Bedell, Guat Seng, moi

Socials venue changed to this place called Sid’s Pub @ Bangsar South. It was easy to find. And I discovered how BAD I had become at dancing… I forgot almost everything! Took more than a few dances to get back into the swing of things, ha ha (pun intended). Got stepped on. Got knocked into. Danced (badly) with Matt Bedell! Had a ton of fun.

Now I’m at home, showered–in a state of half-dress–and about to head off to bed. :) Just felt like sharing.

Tomorrow, another fun-filled, fantabulous day awaits! And then, of course, there’s Friday. ;)

Broadway Jazz ala KL Swing style

Have I told you how much I love swing lately? :))

With Abang Lionel. No, we're not posing. HAHA

Saturday night was an awesome night out at yet another swing class, followed by a semi-social with a Broadway Jazz theme at Lake Club, KL. Sing Lim from Swingapore Jitterbugs was the guest instructor, and since I was busy I missed the first two classes (sniff) and only made it for the last one–intermediate.

D: I’m sad I missed the first two!!! WHY WHY WHY!!??!

IT WAS SO FUN YET AGAIN! Sing is sooo cute. :) Chan Meng is pretty awesome too. I also had my first taste of blues. It’s slow and rather sexy. I felt jakun as always, but honestly, had so much fun!

But yeah. We’re a good-looking bunch.

LtR: Moi, Pei Ru, Sean, Queen Ming, Nabihan, Aizat, Chris

When the social ended around 1am, a few of them went on for an after-party at Sky Bar. I had to go home though, having to wake up for worship duty in 5 hours… Oh well.

I had my fill of dance–until Tuesday slides by again. ;) Swing socials @ Aliyaa (Bukit Damansara), Tuesday nights – 8pm til whenever your legs give way, anyone?

Swingin’ My Heart Out!

So far, I’ve managed to go to two swing gatherings organized by KL Swing… and WOW, were they fun! :)

The first one was a workshop & social afterward with guests Ed Fai & Chengos Lim at the Shall We Dance studio in Bangsar, and then the second one was just a fun social at the Aliyaa restaurant in Bukit Damansara, near HELP university college. Met some really fun people, and they’re all awesome at swing dancing! Watching them is a treat, dancing with them even more so… Siigggh. My life is complete. :))))

:)) Swing simply never fails to bring a smiiiiiillleeeee to my face! All the happy chemicals in my brain emerge, and stay there for hours, preventing me from getting the sleep I *should* be getting for the next day’s events. Ah well. So happy even now. So fun. So wonderful!!!

Matthew came for the taster class, and he had fun, albeit some trouble with the steps and where to move to and end up at… And how to move his hands, and how to fit the 6-step swing to 4-beat music… LOL. Oh Matt, don’t think too much when swingin’! Just move to the beat and have fun. Don’t become an overly theoretical doctorrrrr.

Yes, so… Dear God, THANK YOU for the wonderful gift of dance (especially swing dance, teehee). :) It really, really, really makes me so happy.

It Don’t Mean a Thing…

…if it ain’t got that swing.

OMG. OMG. OMG. OMGG!!!!!!

AM I DREAMING, OR WHAT??!!??

SWING DANCING has lindy-hopped its way onto the tropical shores of my homeland, Malaysia, in the form of a bunch of enthusiasts that have started this website, KL Swing!

Which means only one thing: I GET TO SWING DANCE AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh. My. GAWWWWWWWD.

OH. MY. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!

RIGHT NOW, WORDS CANNOT EXPRESS THE SHEER ELATION THAT I FEEL!!!!

Swing dancing is here. Swing dancing is here. It’s finally here. Oh. Wow. OH YES!!!!! YES YES YES YESYESYESYESYES!!!!!!

Months ago, when I came home from Canada, I thought I’d have to hang up my dancing shoes for life, letting the moss and mold of the fresh tropical humidity cover them up forever (until I leave for more icy shores). I’d scoured the internet for “swing dancing in KL or PJ” to no avail. I’d called up dance studios, asking if they taught Swing, or knew any places (or people!!) that did Swing. My search yielded nothing but more sadness, and I decided to put those dreams on hold.

But now, everything’s changed–A studio in Bangsar holds Swing dance classes every Tuesday, beginning 25th November. SIGN ME UP, BABY!!! I’m dreaming of moving my feet once again in time to those driving beats; I can already hear those careless, carefree, jazzy beats, infused with the passion and soul of the musicians exposing their very beings, and the push and pull of the energized, raucous dancefloor, filled with swinging couples, throwing themselves into that MAGIC which we call Swing Dance.

Ohhhhh yeaaaaahhhh.

Only problem now is that I need a lead (a guy partner) who is willing… (or you could be a girl who is willing to lead)

Hmm. Any takers? (you’ll get a 30% discount on class fees, honest! The studio offers that as an incentive for lead partners to step forward)

:))) Please say yes.

If you don’t know what Swing Dancing is, go YouTube “Swing Kids” or rather, ask me to lend you the movie for the time of your life. :)))))))