venezia

merry christmas everybody! and hello from the best country in the world (malaysia). haha, oh no, i did not just say that. but home is home and i am loving every second of it. family, friends, dogs, food and tv; all far far away from the cold! i really cannot ask for a better holiday.

anyway. venice, as promised.

25th-28th Nov 2010

i LOVED venice. it's gorgeous, and i was pleasantly surprised to see that the beauty of the island is still very much preserved despite it being rather touristy. november isn't the best time to visit, but due to tight schedules and depleting bank accounts (it was the only place with cheap flights when we checked out), we decided, why not. after all we only had a few days' break after our exams and venice seemed to be the most logical place to go to.

actually the only reason i said november isn't the best time to go to venice is the rain. and also that it was getting a bit cold, but that wasn't at all a problem coming from england. venice floods really easily and the slightest of rain would flood many parts of the island. now i believe it when they say venice will be underwater soon enough. it is very likely, so please go to venice before it sinks.

the good thing about going at an odd time like november is that you can avoid the crazy summer crowd. it was already quite packed with tourists when i was there; i really can't imagine summer time! peihua said: it's so crowded in the summer even the pigeons don't have their own space to stand on the ground. hahaha. i thought that was very funny and the perfect description of how congested it gets. and we're talking about a place where there are no cars, no buses, no motorbikes... were there even bicycles? i don't remember seeing any. the only mode of transportation on land is your own two feet, though there are water buses running through the grand canal.

they say the key to really experience venice is to get lost. and get lost we did! we did not plan our trip meticulously like we'd always do. all we did was settle our flights and accommodation. then we hopped on the plane and before we knew it, there it was - the grand canal - right before our eyes. and then... we just walked. and walked. and walked. we were amazed by the hundreds of canals, big and small, as we crossed an astounding number of bridges. there's food at every nook and corner - cafés, pizzerias, fancy restaurants, bakeries, gelaterias... to be honest, i found that food in venice wasn't fantastic especially since we were on a budget, but everything seemed to be decent enough to fill our stomachs and get us going. gelato and coffee, though, were amazing! nothing beats italian coffee and gelato!

if there's one advice i'd give to anyone planning to go to venice, it's really, just go. don't think much of it, plan minimally, clear your minds and just go. go get lost on the streets and get lost in its beauty. don't like a busy, crowded street? simply turn into a quiet alley and stand on a bridge over a canal. watch people on gondolas go by. listen to the sounds of accordians or enjoy the music of a random italian fiddler. classic.

:)

the famous grand canal - first thing you see when you reach the island

isn't this scene so picturesque? :)

a very flooded piazza san marco! the square is surrounded by high end shops, cafés and lots of fancy restaurants

the basilica san marco and doge's palace. flood had subsided a little bit.

the ponte di rialto/rialto bridge. the rialto market is here too - they have a variety of trinkets and foods and souvenirs

my outfit for the cold weather and rain. also a special note to commemorate my very loyal black umbrella which was unfortunately brutally destroyed by the strong venetian winds :(

in front of the *deep breath* basilica di santa maria gloriosa dei frari (super long!)

breakfast of panini and coffee! i love italian sandwiches. fresh salami, prosciutto, mozzarella, parmigiano, gorgonzolla, rocket, spinach, tomatoes, olives.. the list is endless!

and don't get me started on gelato. haha. a daily must-have.

italian pastries and desserts!

dining al fresco

the grand canal on a very good day. wanted to go on a gondola ride but it costs about 90 euros a ride. haha no thank you, maybe next time.

a gondola passing along a small canal. peaceful view isn't it :)

went over to one of the islands of murano called colonna, which is just about 10mins boat ride from venice. murano is famed for its glass products.

colonna: a quaint little village, lots of elderly people (lol) and floating markets.

an extremely retarded statue with medial strabismus!

another random canal. they don't call venice the city of canals for nothing.

a proper italian dinner on our last night

tonnes of souvenir stalls and shops everywhere all selling the same things

*almost* the most wonderful time of the year

i'm going home this friday! SO excited, but i still have an audit to complete and *GASP* my OSCE results to face the day before i fly back. sigh.

but christmas is near and nothing can stop my holiday cheer! :)

i love the manchester christmas markets. despite having to battle through crazy crowds, they make me feel so warm and fuzzy and certainly get me in the festive mood. AND the food is yummm-mehhh (although prices are ridiculous).

anyways. really lazy to actually type out something substantial, so i'll leave you with pictures!


mervin with spicy german hotdog (BEST!), trlau and meeee (with christmas punch!)


phua and albert. it started snowing heavily, all of a sudden. stupid weather.


giant santa which makes an appearance every year


in front of harvey nichols which had awesome window decorations, but obviously could not be captured by my pathetic phone camera. this was before it snowed.


christmas meet-up at chiquitos! pictures from van's trusty blackberry.


with kheng and voreak


the girls!: me, eleanor, van


mervin (who's here AGAIN :/ hahaha), and tr (who looks really weird here)


hamster ooi

chilling (literally)

back from venice!

but more on that another day, when i'm bothered.

i am done with paediatrics and o&g. thank. the. lord. i mean, i really enjoyed o&g while it lasted, and for awhile there i did consider going into the field in the future. but i have since changed my mind as i got tired of it towards the end. really, if you are sick of something after only 6 weeks, you shouldn't be doing it for life. :p (actually i realised that i only like the gynae part - i really wouldn't mind doing gynae oncology or something - but no obstetrics please)

so i guess it's back to internal medicine for me. :)

the OSCEs were... weird. they were do-able to be honest, but some of the questions just totally put me off. i was actually aiming high but now i think i have to settle for something average. oh wells, as long as i pass.

just started my 3rd SSC (student selected component) this week - doing an audit at the GP. just had to get it done and over with because we need to complete both a community SSC and an audit by the end of 4th year. i like it because i don't have a set schedule and i can go in whenever i want to. i don't like it because it's so dull and i have to travel quite a fair bit to the GP each day, and in this sort of weather, who wants to do anything, really. i'd very much prefer to lie under my duvet and snore away. besides, i really HATE walking (or rather, sliding) down that damn slope to catch the bus. i want to buy myself a sledge, but then it wouldn't be very useful to climb UP the slope, which is also a bloody chore.

sigh.

hurry up december 17th. i want to go home to sunny malaysia, provided the weather doesn't get too ridiculous and cause manchester airport to close like last year! i swear, i may just kill myself then.

scouseland

liverpool was way above my expectations. it was never a city i would bother visiting, mainly because of all the bad press surrounding it. dodgy, chavvy, dirty, polluted - these were the preconceptions i had of the city all this while. (wayne rooney is from liverpool - need i say more?)

to be honest i only went to liverpool over the weekend as an obligation to my dear childhood friend Sharmaine, who's currently in her final year of med school there. the only reason i looked forward to visiting was because i'd not seen her in a long time and wanted to catch up. i did not realise what liverpool actually had to offer.

upon getting off the train at liverpool lime street, i was surprised to see how big and nice the station was - reminded me a bit of manchester piccadilly. right outside the station itself i found that the place was refreshingly modern, streets were amazingly clean, and there were even some nice buildings around. as for the people, well, tracksuits and hoodies - guess you can't run away from them. hahaha. actually you hardly see them in the posh areas of the city, but once you go further away, you'll see more of them chavs and you'll find yourself in the dodgy, chavvy, dirty and polluted industrial liverpool that everyone talks about.

then again, it's not like i spent my time in the lousy areas of town. why would i?

here are some of my favourite pictures from the trip :)

albert dock.

sharmaine and i. known her since we were kids! we were neighbours before she moved to another neighbourhood (which isn't very far). spent most of our childhood together at the swimming club which was our 2nd home. lol.

the wheel of liverpool, which i honestly did not see moving. but this area looks nice no?

liverpool's mega shopping area - one liverpool. impressive! very impressive.

view of albert dock from one liverpool.

the cavern club where the beatles first performed all the way back in 1961. for those who have been living in a cave, yes the beatles were from liverpool.

sharms & i with a sculpture of john lennon.

the beatles museum at albert dock which i did not go in.

a quiet little alley off one of the streets.

specialty teas and a scone at brew on bold street. bold street has very nice cafes and novelty shops! i love that area.

latin food for dinner at las iguanas.

hehe us again.

jian min was there too! my imu batchmate.

(i hate how my hair kembang after a long day)

and avier from my a levels days, whom i've not seen since... well... a levels.

liverpool (plus a lone manchester) medics

dim sum at mei mei's in chinatown, with sharms and li shan.

liverpool! i will go back over and over again now that i've established the fact that i like it! hehe. they've only developed the city a few years ago after it was voted european city of culture one of the years. it was apparently really quite crappy before that. haha.

well i'm really glad i went. had loads of fun and met the nicest of people. as for now, it's time to start preparing for the osce. what a mood killer.

disheartened

i've never really used the phrase "can't catch a break" before, because everything has always seemed to fall into place for me. sure i've experienced some minor blips here and there, but life has been kind and generally smooth-going.

this week, however, i really could NOT catch a break. nothing i did or said seemed to be on the right track. perhaps i've prematurely hit the burnt-out point for this academic year. really? already?! it's only october for heaven's sake.

sometimes i really hate medicine. sometimes it is the patients which make me hate medicine; sometimes it is the doctors - what they say, what they do. but it doesn't take me long before i am back on my feet, bad memories erased in a snap. because i tell myself how much i love what i'm doing (which is true most of the time) and how i can't imagine myself doing anything else. in fact it has been a VERY long time since i've actually sat down and wondered what the fuck i'm doing in this field. a long long time. i made a promise to myself never to ponder on such negativity anymore.

but today i came back home from hospital, worn out and extremely resentful that i have gotten myself into this. apparently all i needed were 2 people - a patient and a doctor, both on 2 separate occasions - to take me down and make me doubt myself. seriously, how incredibly stupid is this? why am i being overly sensitive? i am hardly this way, at least i never used to be. what is going on? and in the midst of obs and gynae, which i have been thoroughly enjoying?

i don't know. maybe i've been on a high for awhile that the most trivial of incidents and slightly harsh words brought me down to ground zero. or maybe it's almost that time of the month when my emotions are running wildly all over the place. yeah, i will blame it on the hormones. heh.

i must snap out of this. i must. i know what i'm doing. i constantly strive to be competent. i yearn and thirst for knowledge day after day. nobody can take me down; the only person who is able to do so... is myself. why am i sabotaging myself. why.

sigh. perhaps this is one of those stupid off days. i just hope that next week, things will be back to the way they were.

liverpool for the weekend. please let it be fun.

comfy

moved out of my old place into a new flat - no longer able to walk 5 mins across to the hospital but the place is conveniently 5 mins away by bus, and exactly halfway between the hospital and town. and it's quiet and isn't falling apart (unlike my old house!). also because it's just tr and i, i now have the liberty to cook/bake/use the oven as much as i want to, without getting into people's ways or feeling bad for using up too much electricity.

i like this place. it's peaceful. and my room is cosy. :)


pictures of my room taken with tr's android's vignette photo feature:






















you're all welcome to stay (with prior notice of course). especially you, michelle lim.