jan's blog 🌸

Average reading time : 6 mins

Assalamualaikum and hi yalls,

So yeah, I successfully completed another posting Alhamdulillah. Oh and before I forgot, HAPPY NEW YEAR. since I think it's probably still January right. Life has been okay-okay so far, but I wasn’t as tired as I was before. So let's talk about my successfully completed posting. My second posting this time is Surgery. For this posting, we are not required to go to the hospital, except on Fridays, where we would need to go and visit the Orthopedics OPD.

So what is Surgery?

Well to start, General Surgery is the branch of surgery that covers the main areas of surgical treatment. General surgeons treat diseases of the abdomen, breast, head and neck, blood vessels, and digestive tract. They also manage care of patients who have been injured or who have deformities or other conditions that need surgery.

Very bookish definition right? because I did copy and paste that definition from Google. tehee.

But to define it in my terms, it is not what I thought it was. How naïve of me to think that Surgery department handles all the surgeries, and go to the Operation Theatre (OT) everyday. Surgery is such a broad area dummy (speaking to myself), but basically what we learned in this posting is whatever mentioned in the definition above; we studied hernias, breast diseases, male reproductive system diseases, varicose veins, arterial diseases and wounds. But the main thing that we need to learn (for every posting) is that we need to learn how to ask proper questions to the patient to get information on the disease. We need to get our core in history taking and shine it like a diamond. But doing history taking is basically like a police interrogating a crime suspect. But you're a doctor (an awkward med student) asking a real life patient.

Then we need to learn skills on how to observe and examined the diseased area of the patient, to confirm our suspicion on what disease the patient has. Again, I would say it’s very much like playing detective.

How is it conducted?

As I mentioned before, for the surgery posting, we are not required to go to the hospital. All classes were held in our lecture hall, which took only 5 minutes from our hostel. We have two classes everyday (Monday to Saturday) except on Wednesday and Saturday where we only have morning classes. Luckilyy, we get to visit the hospital again, on Friday mornings where we would go to orthopedics OPD which I would be talking about later.

our seatings in the lecture hall

Theory class

So for classes, for the first week, the lecturer himself will take all the classes, where he explains all about history taking and examinations of various diseases that we can see in Surgery department. After he finishes with all his topics, the next classes would be either a Case presentation or a SDL (self directed learning) class that is conducted by all of us students.

Case presentation

Case presentations are done in the morning sessions, and each student basically have to take a history from patient and present the case the next day. However, since we are not going to the hospital, and not meeting any patients, our doctor/ lecturer would act as a patient and we need to take history from him, and also do the suitable examinations required for the particular disease. Then the next day, we would present the case to the class. Emphasis is on what kinds of questions that we need to ask in different diseases, and what are the specific examinations that we need to do, in different diseases.

my art during my SDL presentation. horrible except for the legs which is kinda cute.

SDL presentation

SDL- Self directed learning, is a session where the students will take over the class. We need to study the topics that we are assigned and teach the class. The lecturer will not be teaching the topics, so you need to present properly and also listen to other student's presentation thoroughly. The SDL presentations are done in the afternoon, but usually the lecturer would add up points if we have missed anything, but just think of it as if your tutoring your friends, so you won’t get too nervous.

I also forgot to mention that, we had the chance to go to the Clinical Skill Labs to practice the examination methods on various mannequins or human models. a

Orthopedics OPD

At first, the idea seems a bit bizarre that we need to fit in almost 20 students into the doctor’s OPD (out-patient department) room, but that’s exactly what we did. The room was definitely bigger than the OBG OPD room (where I talked about in my lost post here), but it was still, a room, and patient are constantly coming in and out to meet the doctor, while we are there, all of us are there. I can’t imagine how the patient would feel, having an entire class watching them, but we just need to suck it up and think of it as a learning process.

So what exactly do we do in here?

The doctor would normally show us different X-ray images and discuss a little about orthopedic surgeries and how it looks like in the X-ray. Our first class was extremely overwhelming, as I definitely did not refreshed my anatomy knowledge for awhile. He showes us some X-ray images and just tring to name the parts of the bones took me quite a while (with a help form Google of course). We also had the opportunity to look at a patient, who had undergone an amputation of the middle toe. Rough picture inserted below, and he had came for his weekly dressing of the wound. Then, we also saw a case of a little girl, who had a fracture on her elbow, and the doctor applied POP on her arm. It’s interesting, because the last time I’ve ever saw a POP was during my art class in secondary school, now it’s in the hospital. 💀

EPT Viva and MCQ

For the most exciting part of the posting, at the end, we would have the end posting test, which is conducted as a VIVA, and another test which consists of MCQ questions of around 30 questions.

For the viva, the questions the lecturer would ask are about what examinations we need to do for patients, the procedure on how to do the examination, why we need to ask certain type of questions to the patient, and a little bit of theory from the SDL classes that we had. But the VIVA was basically to assess our skills on taking history and performing different examinations.

The MCQ questions is more focused on all the SDL topics, and I think we were given around 15 minutes. The questions was not too hard and manageable, and honestly by that time, I just wanted to get over with it and go back to my room to sleep.

me waiting for my turn for online Viva.

Review

For this posting, it was okayyyy. A bit anticlimactic because we’re always in class, but I appreciate it so much as I was definitely not as tired as I was in OBG. Our lecturer loves to explain, A LOT, so sometimes (most of the times) I doze off 30 mins into the class. However, surprisingly, I have sparked a little bit of interest on Orthopedics, although the doctor was a bit sarcastic and asked us tons of questions that made me feel dumb, it was sort of a nice slap of reality. The things they do in the department like fixing bones, and figuring out the problems in X-rays interest me a bit. But most probably, majority of patient that came to the OPD was elderly patients. IT resonated with me a lot, because I just imagined if they were my grandparents and back then, I really wanted to help them when they were in a lot of pain. So yeah, but we’ll see. I still have my eyes open for other departments but orthopedics would definitely be in my list.

Thanks for reading guys. Congratulations for making it here. See yall sooon !

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Written on : 30 December 2021
Edited on : 10, 15, 16 January 2022

Posted on : 16 January 2022

Assalamualaikum and hi yalls,

For the past few years, I've been subscribing to a few newsletter on my email and it's been very interesting. Not seeing myself do one anytime soon but I really do enjoy reading others. So towards the end of 2021, Elizabeth Filips (if you know Ali Abdaal she's part of his team and she's like a female version of him) has sent this template in her newsletter and I'm so intrigued to try it out as it is a fun way to sum up my 2021. I'll put up a link on the template at the end if you want to try it out too! Btw I know it's already 2022 but it's never too late to do it right? Enjoy!

Average reading time : 6-8 mins

1. How did you have fun differently in 2021?

My fun time is ✨ cleaning time ✨. Adulting real hard here I know, but it's just so therapeutic and eases my mind. I also had fun by watching random shows with my mom, and just spending time woth my family

2. How did you suffer differently in 2021?

I'm pretty bad at handling my feelings. I usually just take some time to be alone, sleep, process my feelings and cry sometimes. I rarely ever open up.

3. What people/kind of people did you spend less time with in 2021?

I spend less time with people that has no clear idea on what they're doing, or just doing things aimlessly. Not that I spent a lot of time with other people lately. But I also tend to spend less time with people who lacks awareness of what's happening at the moment. By that, I mean people who are too immersed in their smartphones and ignore people who are right in front of them.

4. What people/kind of people did you spend more time with in 2021?

My family had most of my time this year and I love it.

5. What did you feel guilty for in 2021?

I'm feel guilty to myself a lot this year because only now have I finally learned slowly about myself, meaning I realised that I haven't been taking care of my mental health that well. That needs to be fixed

6. What 3 people are you the most grateful to in 2021 and why? How can you thank them? How can you find more people like this in your life?

My mom -she just did so much for me and she means the world to me. I have no idea how I could ever thank or repay whatever she has done for me, but I love her and I'd do whatever it takes
People who keeps you in check -people who always reminds me stuff, tell me off if I'm doing shit wrong. I should do the same for them because sometimes I tend to just not mind someone else's business.
People who are on time, and make an effort to be on time (or earlier). Especially when it is a planned activity, I feel like I had blocked out few hours of my day for this activity with the other person, and if the other person didn’t came on time as promised, then they’re basically just taking my time by their own free will. That’s something I definitely do not enjoy. I have no idea how to purposely find people like these, but I want to meet more of them.

7. What have you learnt about the way that you deal with uncertainty in 2021?

I dealt with it badly. I would worry aimlessly about it that it gave me so much anxiety. Definitely need to fix that. But I do think that because it's called uncertainties, doesn't mean it'll always end up bad, which is what made me worry too much. You and no one else know the outcome. So I need to not only fret over the result, and enjoy or experience the journey to it.

8. What new habits did you create in 2021? Which ones would you want to keep?

Clean up my emails
avoid 'hot' discussions
compare myself to my past self, not with other people

9. Did you feel you spent enough time with your family/significant other in 2021? How would you change this in 2022?

Yes definitely. I might not be able to spend a lot of time physically with them next year, but I'll definitely catch up to them constantly

10. When you’ve felt proud of yourself in 2021, what were you doing?

I was definitely enjoying the moment and probably was doing the thing that I love, or doing something new that challenges myself

11. What things did you stop caring about in 2021?

toxic people
what other people think
throwing out things that I'm not using

12. What new thing did you spend a lot of money on in 2021?

gadgets. 🤳

13. What new thing did you spend a lot of time on in 2021?

My laptop probably.

14. What do you feel you’ve gotten a lot better at in 2021?

I’ve definitely properly made some clear boundaries for myself and around myself that I definitely did not have before this. I feel that it is very important to keep reminding myself that there are stuff that I can, I should, I shouldn’t, I mustn’t or I couldn’t do, and that’s completely okay and me not being able to or not wanting to do something that others do, it’s not a bad thing. Accepting that, was a life changing step for me.

15. What did you rediscover pleasure in in 2021?

I definitely re-indulged myself in reading lots of manga and playing The Sims again. Sooooo much fun.

16. When you felt at peace this year, what were you doing?

I was probably in the living room at my house, doing my chores while watching TV, and just waiting for the time to pick my sister up from school. It’s such a small thing, but I would go back to that day, anytime.

17. What kept you up at night with excitement this year? Was it worth it? Would you want to do more of it?

The day before we had to go to the hospital and meet patients. Definitely worth it. And I’m doing more of it each and every day. Or to be exact, I might be doing it for the rest of my life, like it or not.

18. If you had to teach one thing you learnt this year (that would improve one’s quality of life) what would that be?

That ‘perfection is the enemy of good’. Because sometimes, people avoid to do things, or try out new things because they would have a feeling that they would not be good at it, and it’s not worth trying. I avoided a lot of things this year because I was scared that it would take a long time to make the thing ‘perfect’. But instead, it left me with zero results at all, which is way worse than perfect. It’s better to hand in an assignment that’s not going to get full mark rather than not submitting at all........right?

19. Which of last years goals did you not achieve? Why did you not achieve them? Will you carry them on to 2022 and if not why?

this won’t be applicable to me as I completely forgot what were my goals for 2021. So, nothing.

20. How much closer are you to your “by this age” milestones (if you have any)? Do you find yourself caring less or more about these?

I am getting closer, slowly but surely, but it’s still far ahead. I try to stop thinking about the time that I need to achieve it, but rather, just focus on whatever I am doing to reach that destination.

21. At the end of next year, if you are drastically exceeding your expectations, what would you be doing?

Maybe by the end of 2022, at that time, I would be a Notion master, had posted at least one post per month for my blog, grew our podcast listeners, be able to talk to patient confidently without hesitation, and lastly, I would probably be able to say that I love and am proud of myself.

There you have it! 21 questions to sum up 2021. I really enjoyed going through it actually. And btw you guys can hit me up in my DM's on any topic you want me to write about since I'm planning to post more regularly. Happy new 2022 guyssss !

Source/ Template Reference

Elizabeth's Annual Review 2021

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Written on : Late Decemeber 2021

Edited on : 1 January 2022

Posted on : 8 January 2022

Average reading time : 10 - 12 mins

Assalamualaikum and hi yalls,

Again, it's been a long time. Trying so hard to keep this blog alive so here I am, again. I am now finally a 3rd year medical student, and we finally starting to get a feel of clinical years (I'm also in India, if you don't already know). To be completely honest, it was definitely overwhelming to face the fact that I will be facing actual human beings, and talk to them, as healthcare workers. I felt very undeserving and not competent to talk to the patients but we'll get more into that later. This might be a long one so you can scroll to whichever part interests you.

Brief insight on semester 5

So before we dive deeper, let me just give a brief orientation about our current syllabus or program or semester whatever you want to call it. Basically each year consists of 2 semesters (6 months each) and I have successfully completed 2 years of that. Alhamdulillah. Those first 2 years are basically the pre-clinical years, or in other words massive cramming of theoretical subjects which consists of Anatomy, Physiology and Biochemistry for year 1, with Pathology, Pharmacology and Microbiology for year 2. Which brings me now, to semester 5, or beginning of Year 3, which is the start of clinical years. The schedule this time around is pretty interesting because we basically move in form of 'rotations' we have a total of 6 rotations- Obstetrics and Gynecology (OBG), Surgery, Medicine, Community Medicine, Psychiatry, and Pediatrics. We will basically take turns going through all of the rotations and we would get around 21 days for each rotation. Our batch is divided into 6 groups- around 20 students in each group, and each group is assigned to different rotations/ postings. We will get posted into a hospital in Udupi- TMA Pai Hospital, which is around 15-20 minutes away from our hostel, and we would have classes and rounds in that same hospital.

Definition of OBG

My first posting for Semester 5 is OBG which is short for Obstetrics and Gynecology, or in Malay pakar sakit puan. The department basically handles women's health problems- where obstetrics handles anything related to pregnancy and gynecology handles other women related issues. Obstetrics is an interesting department because it basically deals with healthy women (who are obviously pregnant) that undergoes a normal life event, however proper care (antenatal care) should be given to these amazing women to detect and avoid any complications during and after pregnancy.

Brief insight on experience

Although me and my group mates were so excited to go to the hospital for our first posting, unfortunately we couldn't because one of our batch mates was tested positive for Covid. So we had to have online classes for a week due to quarantine, which sucks a bit because we're finally in India, but it is all for the sake of our safety so, it's fine.

Personally I think the OBG department in my hospital have a lot of interesting stuff that we can do. We could go to the out-patient department (OPD), and "shadow" the doctors when they're meeting patients in the clinics, we have grand rounds every Wednesday which made me feel a bit like in Grey's Anatomy, where we would follow our doctors to see patients in the wards. Then we could also go to the wards and take patient's history everyday, which is a bit nerve wrecking at first because we were a bit scared due to the language barrier and I just have a lot of anxiety talking to strangers in general, but, everything turned out great! And the most exciting part is that we can go to the Operation Theatre (OT) and saw a lot of different surgeries and child birth, which made me call my mom and say thank you for giving birth to me. (You should too)

Doctors advice in hospital

As it is our first time in the hospital, the doctors gave us a lot of advice especially on how to present ourselves in different of the patient. We are basically babies among the healthcare workers but we still bring the image of a doctor in the hospital. So, we should maintain a decent attitude and be mindful of what people would think about us. We should also wear proper and clean attire to make a good impression on the patients. However, we should not wear a strong perfume to the hospital because it might aggravate some of the patient's symptoms, especially preggo mamas.

OBG doctors are such a blessing. They were very nice, knowledgeable, and very motherly. It was such a great start for my clinical years. *hugs to all of them*

Seeing first surgery with tips

I went to see a surgery the very first day we were posted in the hospitals. We changed into scrubs and it was so exciting. The first surgery that we witnessed was a abdominal hysterectomy (removal of the uterus through the abdominal wall) and I loved it, but then the lecturer said there was another caesarean section (delivery of a baby through an incision on the abdomen and uterine wall) happening in another room, and we went and watched that. I was shocked, it was not normal delivery, but I was still so shocked at what the mother had to go through just to deliver the baby out. Well technically the doctors pulled the baby out, but the sound of the baby crying was such a relief even to me a mere bystander. I imagine it must be the happiest moment for the mother. My other batch mates did have a chance to witness a normal labor, but unfortunately I couldn't due to some health issues. I really felt a bit missed out, but I am grateful for whatever I saw. Maybe it wasn't the right time for me to witness that.

My last surgery was another hysterectomy, supposedly to be a vaginal hysterectomy (removal of the uterus through the vagina) of a prolapsed uterus. Well, at the beginning it was, but because the fibroid in the uterus was too big, the doctor shifted to abdominal hysterectomy. And during that day, we stood watching the surgery for more than 3 hours, an eventually had to excuse ourselves before the surgery was over because we had another class. But I loved it so much.

Meeting patients

Okay, so we are in India right, in Udupi to be exact, so most locals here can converse in a little bit of English but for most of the times it's really hard to decipher what they're saying. Locals in Udupi mostly speak Kannada, and we in fact, have had a few classes on Kannada, but, the most I could say in Kannada is either good morning, have you eaten? and count from 1 to 3. So it's a bit hard communicating with them. However, we tried our best, and we learned a lot from patients, both in terms of communication and knowledge in the medical profession.

So some of tips from my side is:

prepare a format for case sheet before talking to the patient so you know exactly what you want to ask
just build up your courage and go talk to the patient
if the patient cannot understand you or don't want to talk to you, don't be disappointed or sad and just move on to the next patient
be very mindful of you patient's well being. yes you have a job to take the patient's history, but please do not disturb them if they are in a lot of pain, or busy with other stuff. try to read the room

OPD experience

The outpatient department (OPD) or in simpler terms, the hospital clinincs, is where patient from outside, can meet and consult with the doctors. So each of our lecturers have their own respective cabins/ rooms and at most 2 students can enter and 'shadow' the lecturers mainly to observe how the lecturers take patients history, carry out examination of the patients- palpation on the abdomen, measuring fundal height, per vaginal examination to view the cervix, pap smear. All the theories for basic examination is taught by the lecturers during class, so it is very important to see how the examinations are carried out by the doctors so we would have a greater understanding.

also one of our lecturers reminded us to always wear our stethoscopes and be proud that we managed to reach the clinical years sobs

My tips for getting the best in OPD is:

head to the OPDs in the morning because there would be a lot of patients during that time, they would hardly be any patient in the afternoon so you won't be able to see much
try shadowing all the lecturers and observe the differences in each of the doctors (lecturers) aproach to the patients. don't get too comfortable with one lecturer and neglect the others tehee
the doctors would mostly speak in Kannada and most of the times you wouldn't be able to understand a thing, but what you can do is observe what the doctors are writing down (because they'll note down everything in English) and just pay full attention to all the examination carried by the doctors.
if you have any questions, don't interrupt the lecturers when they're busy talking with the patient, wait for the right moment, or you can always just jot down your doubts and ask the lecturer in class

Ultrasound room experience

The ultrasound room is basically the same as the OPD room- the fact where you just shadow the lecturers, and look at the scan, I was so surprised that we could clearly see the baby faces and little fingers. It's just too cute. Apart from observing the fetus at different stages in the womb, we also took this time to practice calculating the due date of the mother as the last menstrual period date is clearly stated in the monitor.

One thing that took me by surprise was that, in India, the gender of the baby is never observed during the ultrasound because it is illegal. So we never got the chance to learn how to find out the gender of the baby in the ultrasound room.

End Posting Test

For the every posting, we will have an 'End Posting Test' (EPT) on the last day, on for OBG department, they decided to do a viva as an EPT. Viva voce is an oral examination, instead of a written exam, the lecturers would directly ask us questions and ask us to perform whatever examination on a mannequin. During the entire posting, I really didn't study as much because I was running here and there between the OT, OPD and wards and died once I reached my room. However, Alhamdulillah, I did manage to get a decent mark (which I am not very proud of) but I really do think I need to read a lot more and need to manage my time better.

What did they ask?

It is a must to memorize all terminologies taught in class as they would probably bombard you with 10 terminologies for you to define.
DO NOT skip antenatal and postnatal care. I did and got that question, I fried my answers real hard it burnt.
Study the maternal pelvis and fetal head thoroughly, they would definitely ask, BOTH.
By heart all the steps in a gynecological and obstetric examination. They will ask you to demonstrate.
Familiarize yourself with presenting a history, they will ask you to present a case, they will ask questions based on your case. Prepare at least one complete case history of gynecology, ante partum, and post partum case each.

What I wished I could improve

The first thing I wished I could do, is to practice more on the mannequin regarding all the physical examinations because we never really actually practiced on the mannequin because we did not know that we could
To not neglect antenatal and postnatal care. (big mistake)
Be more systematic in organizing my notes and utilize my time better.
Talk to more patients and took more history
Tried presenting cases more in classes, because it really helps a lot when the lecturer listens ti your case and correct whatever you did wrong.
Another note is, do not rush to buy the textbooks, yeah India's textbooks are so much more cheaper than in Malaysia, but you will definitely regret if you hardly use the textbook, so what you can do is, go to the library and go through some of the books, or download some eBook versions of your textbooks and start from there. Only buy textbooks that for you is the most helpful.
For me the textbook that I use the most is Dutta's Textbook of Obstetrics and Dutta's Textbook of Gynecology. It is much more detailed and easily understandable. Another textbook that is recommended is, Obstetrics by Ten Teachers and Gynecology by Ten Teachers, these books are much more brief and gives you the whole idea of the topic without diving much too deep.

Thank you all who reached the end of this post. I appreciate your time reading through all my writings and hope helped you at least a lil bit. If you have any other ideas for a blog post, feel free to DM me and I would love to hear from you. I am making a promise to myself to post more after this InsyaAllah so please pray for me too.

Again, tqsmily !

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Written on : Early December
Edited on : -

Posted on : 19 December 2021

Average reading time : 8 - 10 mins

Assalamualaikum and hi yalls,

It's been quite a while and I don't have any excuses, but life since my last post has been very eventful. Here's a brief summary :

Got myself back to Malaysia during the global pandemic in a flight with only 14 passengers. Lots of empty seats. Celebrated Hari Raya Eid al-Fitr quarantined in a hotel. Survived Year 1 of med school. Bought myself a new laptop and iPad. Moved into a condo/apartment house with the fam. Spent a LOT of my time with my family due to lockdowns, which I hardly ever get. Tried out some online business, but I don't think it felt right with me. Readdicted to buying books and struggling to find time to read. Adulting really hard because I was so excited buying these : Vacuum, mop, air-fryer, bed vacuum, sheets, covers, dainty jewelries and the best part, I got my medical insurance covered yeay!

So there's that, and today I'll be writing something that I struggled a lot with. Time management, study techniques and apps. And me being a YouTube addict, I was easily influenced and felt attacked by all those productive guru flaunting and sharing all their interesting methods of studying and time management tips. Some days I felt really inspired and some other days I felt like I was a worthless human being not using my time properly like how these successful people have. Those that I watched were Ali Abdaal, KharmaMedic, TheStriveToFit, Rachel Southard, Kinza Hussain, Elizabeth Filips and Soony Sun.

Honestly, these were all amazing Youtubers with highly beneficial plus informational and entertaining contents. They took a lot of time and effort to share their study methods and tips mainly on how to survive the med school. Me being a typical potato, managed to scroll through their YouTube comments and wow they definitely did helped a lot of students all throughout the world. Doing all these while managing to survive in med school? 🤯 However, I don't think I'm among the lucky ones (yes I'm a couch potato) that were able to do better with that. I tried a lot of their methods but some worked, some not really. Worst part is that I felt really bad, and hopeless because I couldn't do it.

But now that I began reflecting upon myself, all that is completely OKAY! People aren't born the same, what works for them doesn't mean it'll work for you. We all have our own ways of doing things, and at the end of the day it all depends on ourselves. But still, how are we supposed to know if it works or not? You would never know. Unless you try it for yourself of course. Is it worth it to give it a try? Definitely. (but please don't try experimenting with new methods when you exam is on the next day okay?) Go ahead and try out any methods that you want, at the end of the day, you'll find one that would be worth it, or come up with an entirely new method that is completely unique to you. I definitely agree that we need something, that would allow us to utilize time efficiently. There's an Arabic proverb that says, time is like a sword, if you don't cut it, it'll cut you. So, regardless whether you're in middle school, college, working, or even a housewife, I do think that managing your time is something very important.

So if you scroll down further later, I'll be simplifiying some of the study methods or productivity hacks for students, but if some of it you can still apply even if you're working. All of these are the methods I learnt mostly from YouTube and even if you don't feel like trying any of these out, at least now you know about the existence of these methods.

1. Anki Flashcard

This is one of the things that I was so excited to try out. If you have never heard of it, it is basically an app for you to make flashcards and allow you to retain the information through active recalling and space repetition method. This method seems very promising to me, as it is backed up with evidence from researchers that you'll able to keep information longer and faster through this method. If you dived deep into this anki-pit, you'll know that going through 1000+ flashcards a day is nothing to them. I've tried this one during my final block of Year 1 and I can vouch that it really does do it's job. I probably gone through at most 600+ flashcards a day, and for me, it took around 2-3 hours to complete.

The only drawback for me is that, I had to spend a lot of time to make those cards and didn't manage to find time to do my notes. Yes, the point of doing this flashcard system is so that you won't need to make your own notes anymore, but well, I'm still attached to it and I can't help it. Probably my method of making the cards is wrong but yeah, that was my problem with it so far. But regardless, it really does work, especially for anyone who's not fond of making their own notes. Here are some vids from YouTube if you want to know more.

2. Study With Me videos

screenshot taken from Lofi Girl, TheStriveStudies, and MD Prospect

I really love this method and use it religiously. When I first discovered this method, I would always play the videos every chance I get whenever I'm trying to complete stuff, be it studying or just doing any work in general. If you don't know what I'm babbling about, there are basically videos in YouTube where they record themselves studying, with or without a Pomodoro timer (I'll explain about this next), some with lo-fi background music videos or some doesn't have any background music (just ASMR). So you just play the video, put your phone away, and start studying or complete whatever work you have. They'll usually provide a 5-15 mins break in between. So for a person with zero self control like myself, it really helped me a lot to avoid any distractions. It's basically an online study-buddy. It helped me a lot, especially whenever I'm too tired or have zero motivation. Trust me, whenever you feel that way too, the key is just START. Trick yourself and say that "I'll do this just for 10 minutes". Once you start to do something, then only would you have the mood to continue. Or else, you'll end up wasting 2 hours scrolling through TikTok, speaking from experience.

and I recently secretly saw my sister use this method too. But with a different video, I'll just leave that video here.

3. Pomodoro Method

This is a study method created by Italian Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s. The method is designed with a core of a 25-30 mins work sprint and a 3-5 mins break. Then after 4 Pomodoro sessions, take a longer break, for around 15-30 mins. This could be easily applied for both work and studying. Keeps you sane for a little bit longer. I was a bit curious as of why it is called "Pomodoro Method" so I went ahead and Googled it. It was named after a tomato-shaped timer that Cirillo has used to track his work when he was a university student. So cute. If you're interested to learn more in depth about it, here's the link for his book.

This method fits me a LOT because I do not have a long attention span and like I said, I have zero self control, and get easily distracted. Whenever I want to get something done, I would just set in my mind that I would finish 3/4 sessions today and get all my work done. But recently I discovered a method where they improvise this technique by changing the break with one episode of anime (minus the opening and ending song), which takes around 15 mins, but working a little bit longer, which is for 50 mins, rather than the short sprint 25 mins. I tried it a few times, and this one really helps whenever I'm feeling too down or have zero motivation to study. They call it animedoro.

4. Notion note taking app

This looks very promising when when I first found out about it. I'm not too knowledgeable regarding this app, but this app isn't limited to just note taking, people actually use this as a digital journal, planner, keeping track of their expenses, businesses, and you can actually do mostly anything with it, because it's entirely up to you. It's extremely customizable, you can personalize it with your own creativity and use it however you want. A lot of medical YouTubers are using this app too because you can link it to your class notes and to a lot of different subject. I'll insert a few screenshots on how other people use this and look how pretty they are ! It's available on Windows, Mac, Apple Store and even Google PlayStore.

picture references from Pinterest

I tried out Notion for around a month, but still haven't gotten really familiar with it. It's really interesting and extremely customizable. But dear me find it a bit terrifying because there's a lot of different settings and buttons. A bit too complex for your girl here. But yeah I feel like if I learn about it a bit more I would definitely get hooked. I'll insert here a Twitter thread that I found really helpful if you want to learn about it a bit more. Click here ! And here's a simple introduction vid on YouTube because I am actually a YouTube addict (if you didn't already know from these excessive YouTube links)

5. Listing down simple tasks

I learnt this one from a youtuber TheStrivetoFit, she gave some tips on how to utilize and manage our free time. You just make a list of stuff that you can complete within 5 minutes, 10 minutes, and 15 minutes, and whenever you have those short breaks, you can complete whatever stuff you need to do. Here's an example

5 mins : check emails, take out the trash, make bed, mengaji one page

10 mins : sweep floor, do laundry, do dishes, organize notes, plan to do list,

15 mins : 10 min walk, do dishes, cook lunch, read through class materials,

By listing these stuff down, you'll more likely to do simple stuff that you tend to procrastinate. Trust me once you do this, you'll never look at your free time the same way. It is a very easy and simple tip, but extremely useful to me.

So CONCLUSION ! What I learned by trying out these methods are,

Whatever tips and methods given, are just suggestions, and sharing from people that finds that way useful to them. It does not mean that it would guarantee to work for you but there's no way of knowing that it won't. Not unless you try. I was a bit too overwhelmed with all this methods that I felt that I was doing everything wrong. How I used to study is, I would ALWAYS do my own notes, read them, understand and memorize, and try to recall it by explaining it out loud or writing it down. This would be an endless cycle of repeats. Classic, but works well to me. But when I found out that this method wasn't as effective as active recalling, I started to doubt myself. Maybe I'm doing it all wrong.

But guess what, I've been doing my own method for the past, what, almost 10 years? It's so hard to let go and it's embedded in my muscle memory. Why would I listen to people that tell me that 'hey, stop writing notes, I found out this new method and I didn't even write a single note!' I feel and I know it's the best for me, and in no way am I saying that other methods is bad. Did I regret trying out Anki? Did I regret trying out active recalling method or maybe spending hours understanding the mechanism of the Notion app? Definitely no. It was a great experience. I would love to try it again, and figure it out and maybe make it suit my study method. But the next time I'm trying it out, I won't stop writing down my own notes, because that was my first mistake. Don't stop what you've been doing just for the sake of trying out new things. When I started trying out Anki, I completely stopped writing notes, my source of reference was all over the place, and when I wanted to get back to check the information, I already forgot where it was.

To end this post, my advice is to keep yourself open to other methods. If you feel like the way you're studying right now doesn't satisfy you, go ahead and explore. There are tons of study method out there, this post barely touched the surface. Be brave to try, be brave to fail. Even if you're comfortable with how you study right now, try to explore other study methods that you find interesting. If it works then kudos to you but if it doesn't, trust me the experience is definitely worth it.

______________________

Written on : 21 March 2021
Edited on : 28 April 2021, 12 June 2021

Posted on : 12 June 2021

Assalamualaikum and hey yalls,

So for this second part of this post (click here if you haven't read the first part), I'll be talking about stuff that I brought, or that I recommend you to bring and stuff that aren't necessarily important to bring. I had a lot of this questions before coming here and I sure you have to. So let's just get to this post.

STUFF TO BRING

1. Money

So to some this is a pretty sensitive topic, but we need to set the numbers straight, because first of all, you'll be living alone, far from you family, and you need to take control of you own life and manage yourself. You're also going to buy a lot of necessities stuff here, textbooks, appliances, groceries, necessities, so you would need to prepare quite an amount of money beforehand.

I would recommend bringing RM5k+ amount of cash with you. It seems a lot, but you would use it for the first 2-4 months here because your family wouldn't be able to transfer money to your account here as it takes around 1-2 months time for you to activate your bank account here. So just keep that in mind. I would also advise you to change all of the money into Indian Rps before going to India, because it would be easier for you and you wouldn't have to rush to the money changer if you're suddenly out of Indian Rps. It would also be better if you exchange your money to at least a 500 rps change, because they also have a 2000 rps bill. It doesn't matter much, but it would be a problem when you buy stuff and they don't have change for you.

2. Clothes

So I definitely can't tell you how many clothes to bring or etc because every people packs differently. But I can say that please only bring clothes that you are really going to wear. Ironless clothes is the best, at least prepare 2-3 ironless clothes for your lazy days. Take note, I'll be writing this in a woman's POV, and I can't give much advice for guys because I really don't know.

I would also like to advise you guys to bring 2-3 'pretty' dresses or anything proper or nice for a dinner, as we would have a few events here and there. If you're the type to dress up a bit for those, please do so. If you're the type to not care much about those kind of stuff, you do you boo. Or, you can just buy sarees or Indian clothing here for a change. It's all up to you. I came here without bringing any 'dinner' proper clothes so yeah I had to go find myself one, and just bought a simple kurti.

As for shoes and stuff, well I brought a pair of flats for class, 2 pair of non-sport shoes (idk what you call them), a pair of nice flats which I rarely use, and a pair of sandals. Probably brought a little too much, but I'm pretty sure there are some that brought more. I did need to buy sport shoes here to jog and play sports, (not that I play sports a lot) because I didn't have one. I bought my shoes online and shopping online here is pretty easy because most of the stuff have a 'pay on delivery' option. So even if you don't have a bank account yet, you can still shop online.

OH and make sure you bring towels for yourself too, and pack it in the bag that you're going to carry and not carried by the lorry as you would have trouble taking shower without one later.

3. Pillows, bedsheet etc

So I brought my own pillow, and a blanket and you'd probably think how would I fit it inside the luggage? So I just bought a vacuum plastic bag from shopee (click for the link) and compressed it and problem solved. Stupidly enough, I forgot to pack bedsheets with me so the night that I arrived, I just covered the mattress with kain batik that I brought, and it be like that for a few days until I get my bedsheets. If you don't want to bring any pillows or stuff, no issues, you can just buy them all here.

4. Skincare

As a woman prone to breakouts, I brought a year worth of stock of my skincares and I really didn't regret it. If you use skincares like Loreal, Simple, Garnier or other normal drugstore products or famous skincares, you can certainly get them here, but because mine is not available here, I had to stock up. AND GIRLS, please don't abandon your sunscreen or sunblock here, the sun might not feel that hot, but the next thing you know is that you are a shade darker. If you want to see whether or not your skincare is available here or not, you can visit this website (click here), which is kind of like Malaysia's Watsons or Guardian.

5. Stationeries

If you're the type to be particular about your stationeries, please bring your own supplies because they might not have the same one that you're using. If you write notes on paper, you might need to bring a lot of pens because oh boy, it's a lot of writing. You can also use iPads or tablets in class to write down notes, which would actually make your life easier too. But again. it all depends on your preferences.

6. Electrical appliances

For the cases of electrical appliances, you can buy everything here, no issues, some are a bit pricier but if you didn't bring it and need it, you have to buy them anyways. I brought my own iron because I know need it the most, and I brought a Malaysian extension plug so that I can use my chargers without using an adapter.

For adapters, if you want to buy one, make sure it's the type like I show in the picture below (the white one) Because if you use the universal one (the pink one), it might not be that well fitted with the plugs, but you still can use it. I bought the adapter here, and you can easily find those in most shops here, Some of my friends even brought rice cookers, kettles with them from home, but again, it all depends on you. If you can fit it, have extra space, then bring it. It'll save money. Or else, just buy everything here. If you have a chance to buy from seniors, please do so, because they sell it with a much more cheaper price. Anything actually that the seniors sell, if you think you need it, just buy it, but please make sure it works fine before paying to the seniors.

so this is the type I recommend to buy, I googled and it's called European plug adapter

this is what I brought from home, it's the universal plug adapter and I rarely ever use this one

as you can see, the universal type one doesn't look sturdy and doesn't fit perfectly to the plug

and this one looks like a perfect fit

7. Malaysian food

Well as Malaysians, we would definitely miss our Malaysian food, so it's natural to think that we would want to bring as many local food as possible. Maggi and instant noodles would be one of our priorities but don't worry. You don't need to stock up a lot of Malaysian food when you're packing, this is because you can actually courier stuff from Malaysia and that's what most of us do.

There would be courier services like ST Express or ICS Courier that would allow your family to ship stuff to you. Normally the minimum limit would be 15kg, so you can stock up all the food you want there. Once you know your room number, you can directly give your address to your parents at home, and they can proceed to ship the stuff to you. It takes around 1-3 weeks for the courier package to arrive so at least you can bring at least one big packet of Maggi to keep you going.

8. Medicine

I cannot stress on how important it is to bring your set of meds. If you yourself have a health condition make sure to bring your meds. If you're a healthy human, then at least bring some Panadol, flu, cough, and more importantly the, diarrhea medications as you would have a high risk of getting that. When I first arrived at the college, I immediately felt a sore throat, and I was having cough, flu for the first 3 weeks. Maybe my body was just adjusting with the weather here but you really need to take good care of your health because you can't afford to miss a class if possible.

9. Sanitary pads (for women obviously)

As for me, I'm very particular of what type of sanitary pads that I use, and here they do not have our brands like Kotex or Libresse. So far I've only noticed them having Whisper and Stayfree. (guys you can skip this part if you're still reading, it won't make sense). So I did bring a generous amount of pads that would probably last me for 3 months? Then, I asked my parents to courier more pads from home and so far I still have a lot left. If you don't mind about pads, then you don't necessarily have to bring them with you. But if you are, then please do so.

STUFF YOU DON'T HAVE TO BRING

I'll list down a few things that people might think they need to bring, but for me you can actually buy them here instead of packing it with you.

Umbrella
Dehumidifier
Plates, mugs, spoons
Clothing rack
Raincoat (umbrella is sufficient, it just less than a minute walk to the academic building)

Just don't overpack with stuff that you don't actually use or need and pack early so you don't panic. And me giving this advice, is actually very funny because I packed like 2 days before my flight because I really-really DESPISE packing my stuff. I ended up just piling everything I wanted to pack in a corner of my house and paid my sister to pack the stuff into my luggages. So I did ended up forgetting my bedsheets.

That's all for this post. Happy packing !

Average reading time : 6-8 mins

1. How did you have fun differently in 2021?

2. How did you suffer differently in 2021?

3. What people/kind of people did you spend less time with in 2021?

4. What people/kind of people did you spend more time with in 2021?

5. What did you feel guilty for in 2021?

6. What 3 people are you the most grateful to in 2021 and why? How can you thank them? How can you find more people like this in your life?

7. What have you learnt about the way that you deal with uncertainty in 2021?

8. What new habits did you create in 2021? Which ones would you want to keep?

9. Did you feel you spent enough time with your family/significant other in 2021? How would you change this in 2022?

10. When you’ve felt proud of yourself in 2021, what were you doing?

11. What things did you stop caring about in 2021?

12. What new thing did you spend a lot of money on in 2021?

13. What new thing did you spend a lot of time on in 2021?

14. What do you feel you’ve gotten a lot better at in 2021?

15. What did you rediscover pleasure in in 2021?

16. When you felt at peace this year, what were you doing?

17. What kept you up at night with excitement this year? Was it worth it? Would you want to do more of it?

18. If you had to teach one thing you learnt this year (that would improve one’s quality of life) what would that be?

19. Which of last years goals did you not achieve? Why did you not achieve them? Will you carry them on to 2022 and if not why?

20. How much closer are you to your “by this age” milestones (if you have any)? Do you find yourself caring less or more about these?

21. At the end of next year, if you are drastically exceeding your expectations, what would you be doing?

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