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2014Yearbook

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FOREWORDWhen was the last time you did something for the first time?

I remember when Bryan told us about his vision of creating SMST’s own yearbook – grandiose, ambitious for a society with barely a year of ex-istence. As the Publication Officer without any background in editing and designing and no technical literacy in the realms of Adobe Photo-shop and Microsoft Publisher, oh how ironic, I felt trepidation and I had many misgivings about how everything will turn out.

Nevertheless, I took the plunge. Thank Heavens for my good friend Ni-gel, who suggested the use of Microsoft PowerPoint, don’t mock, and the very artsy font ‘Century Gothic’, without which I would still be stuck with figuring out how to torrent some fancy design software. I am also grateful to all the contributors, Jan who helped with the editing and of course, Bryan without whom this would not have come to fruition.

With that, I leave you with a quote:

I am glad that I took my first step even when the next step ahead was nowhere in sight.

Yours Sincerely,

Edward LimEditor

Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.

- Martin Luther King, Jr. –

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SMST Executive Committee

Bryan LeePresidentMBBS IV

Chris CheongVice-President

MBBS II

Zoe HernstadtSecretary-Treasurer

MBBS II

Edward LimPublications Officer

MBBS III

Andrea TanSocial, Integration &

Welfare OfficerMBBS III

Chew YiningLaunceston &

North-Western Tasmania Representative

MBBS IV

Terence KwokPublicity Officer

MBBS II

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July AMSASG-SMSA Exchange, Australia Leg

2014 EventsAndrea Tan & Edward Lim

In January, the first event we had for SMST was a Med Fresher’s din-ner in which the first years and the seniors gathered together for a dinner in Singapore. This was a great time for the first years to get to meet each other and also their seniors. This get together al-lows them to clarify any queries they may have before leaving for Tasmania and embarking on the school year ahead.

Our first event in Tasmania was the Summer Picnic & Sports which was held at the Cenotaph. Everyone bonded well over a delicious pic-nic as well as some competitive Frisbee and Soccer.

After the mid semesters, we or-ganised a lastertag competition for the students, which was per-fect for relieving some stress espe-cially after the exam period.

In July, 11 2nd year medical stu-dents from the National University of Singapore (NUS) visited Hobart for an inaugural 1 week exchange hosted by SMST and UTAS. The visit-ing students participated in a busy week of activities which aim to fa-

miliarise them with the historical, cultural and social as-pects of Tasmania, the Australian health care system, and the life of a medical student at UTAS.

Towards the end of the year, we organised a mock OSCE for the second years. As it was their first time having a 4 station OSCE, we wanted to give them a rough idea of what to expect, and tried to simulate what an OSCE was like.

March Summer Picnic & SportsMarch Summer Picnic & Sports

May Ultimate Laser TagMay Ultimate Laser Tag

July AMSASG-SMSA Exchange, Australia Leg

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May Ultimate Laser Tag

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NTEN

TS6

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MUSINGS OF A FIRST YEAR

PROCRASTINATION

THE LITTLE THINGS IN LIFE

WHY I’D RATHER LIVE WITH NON-MEDICAL STUDENTS

BRUNCH!

I HAVE A CONFESSION

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DO WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY - DO BRUNCH!

My motto has always been “Do what makes you happy”. Not to engage in all vices of life with absolute abandon, but to always be aware of things around me and conscious-ly do things that will make me happier than had I chose something else.

And amongst other things, brunch makes me happy – like genuinely happy. Now, as I sit at a Starbucks in Singapore, thinking of all the brunch places I’ll tell you about, I’m getting really excited.

**DISCLAIMER: I have been in Hobart for merely a year. There may be some (hope-fully minor) factual errors. Also, I love brunch to begin with, so I may be extremely biased.

Cafés serving brunch food have been springing up in Singapore, congruent with the endless photos and posts uploaded on Instagram and Facebook. The café scene in Hobart is not as dynamic, but there defi-nitely are very decent places.

Salamanca is an area that is home to Sat-urday’s Salamanca market. Get around it for good crepes; jam donuts; berries & cream; spud-baked potato filled with

cheese, chives, bacon, etc.; and hot dogs. There are also vintage teapots and plates, various honeys, souvenirs, chocolate, and fudge; you can walk off your morning treat by walking the length of the whole market several times.

But more importantly, Salamanca is home to many brunch places with outdoor and indoor seating so you can soak in the late morning sun as you indulge in Magic Mushy at Machine Laundry Café, (amazingly sau-téed mushrooms on toast with poached eggs, tomatoes, greens, etc,), Deluxe Avo-cado at Salvete (salmon, avocado slices, and egg on sourdough), Eggs Florentine at Zum, and the wallet-friendly Big Breakfast at Rendezvous. Machine Laundry Café also offers dry cleaning and laundry services so you can do your laundry while you eat.

Many of my friends also rave about the Salm-on Scramble at Salvete. Its pile of salmon and scrambled egg with a generous drizzle of rich hollandaise sauce is absolutely heav-enly. All these places at Salamanca do a su-perb job with the regular “eggy” breakfasts.

Nearby Salamanca is Battery Point. Here,

Agnes Sowon Park

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you can find pockets of cafés and restau-rants in an otherwise very quiet residential area. Definitely check out Jackman and McRoss for amazing pastries (their choco-late croissant is to die for), desserts (tiramisu, poached pear, berry tarts). and brunch (Smoked Salmon with Scrambled Eggs on Pastry!!!!). Jam Jar Lounge has a cozy back-yard and dimly lit and comfy couch area, and a menu that changes seasonally. If you are into healthier, raw-er food and tea, Pol-len Tea Room is for you. They have such a di-verse range of organic loose leaf teas (chai,

and Villino Espresso just 5 minutes away. If you are looking for a café with slightly funk-ier ambience, check out Frankies Empire Coffee House on Elizabeth Street. They also have free wifi – a rarity for cafes in Hobart, but an absolute essential for students.

On a side note, Vita, a new froyo place that opened mere few months ago, has very good coconut froyo with a wide range of toppings such as desiccated coconut, vari-ous compotes, nuts and miso-cheese cook-ies.

I got excited and carried away writing this – the length of this piece ended up more

rooibos, oolong, various detox teas), cold-pressed juices, and healthier-than-its-coun-terparts brunch food (chia porridge with co-conut milk, bircher muesli).

If you have a long break, or early days, there are several good places near Med Fac/Men-zies, too. Other than Courthouse Café right across the road with friendly staff who are very much in touch with many Menzies stu-dents, Pilgrim does very good coffee. There are also Kafe Kara (Chef’s Light Breakfast my favourite there), Criterion Street Café,

than twice of what it should have been! My key point is: expect to find more than your regular Eggs Benedict and Big Breakfast in Hobart (although, yes, these brunch staples are really good here too), and I hope this piece got you excited for weekends in Ho-bart. I look forward to seeing all of you next year in Menzies, perhaps over brunch and coffee! ■

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I HAVE A CONFESSION.Heather Tan

For the majority of my life I’ve been a snob and a highly bigoted one at that. Having lived in Melbourne for most of my life, I believed it to be far superior to its supposed capital Canberra, more peaceful than hectic Sydney, and as for Hobart, it was just a little novelty island off the south coast of Australia where mainlanders could escape to for a few days when they needed a break from the city life. So imagine my surprise when I found out that Tasmania was going to be my home for the next 5 years. The thought that I would ever live in another state had never crossed my mind.

My move to Hobart wasn’t without the trepidation and apprehension that normally ensues any leap into the unknown. Yes, Hobart was a mere 45-minute flight from home, but stepping off the plane felt akin to stepping out of the wardrobe and into Narnia. I was in a whole new land and everything seemed alien. Where were the high rise buildings and graffiti strewn walls, or plastic bags and trains? I made the mistake of asking the Metro lady for the train timetable and was met with a funny stare and handed the bus time-table.

I felt nothing less of a tourist and thus it was without surprise that I felt drawn towards the internationals during my first few days in medical school. I marvelled at how they could move across countries and adapt to a completely different culture. I’d never really had any friends from overseas as snob culture dictated that most of my friends were Melbourne born and bred. But I soon realised that we had more in com-mon than I’d initially thought and as I became better friends with them, I realised a few things. So here are some of the things I’ve learnt from being friends with international students.

They are capable of switching accents on a whim. I’d never realised it but Singaporeans have two types of speech: The one that’s reserved for polite, formal talk or to those unacquainted with Singlish, and the other which fits my stereotypical image of a Singaporean and is adorned with ‘lah’, ‘loh’, ‘mah’ and the like.

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They like to post food links on each others Facebook pages when you’re most starving. There has been many a time when I’ve logged onto my Facebook page and been greeted with friends linking each other to the ‘top 10 nasi lemak places in Singapore’. Such eager-ness is unheard of within my Melbourne friends. We normally leave choosing a place until the night before and then give up and end up Urbanspooning it. No guesses for whom the award for enthusiasm goes to... They are natural comedians. Singaporeans connect on a whole different dynamic and have a natural flair for witty puns and jokes. They also love to tease each other about any-thing and everything. I’ve realised that this is an ingenious way to comment on someone’s faults without seeming too harsh. For example, “Wah, 5 cents also wan count”. The equivalent of Australian speech would probably leave the recipient wishing the earth would just open up and swallow them whole. They are also extremely supportive of each other. This was the first time that I saw these many clubs and groups all dedicated to help-ing each other out, from the Singaporean Students Society to mentorship programs to Facebook groups. I was truly amazed at how close-knit the international community was, and how genuine everyone was in wanting to help. I could already imagine the scenario if I’d suggested we start up an interstate group. Crickets... I’m truly grateful for being given the opportuni-ty to make some of the closest and most gen-uine friends I’ve had. And as time went on, I realised that I was actually growing to love the island I once saw as a prison, because it isn’t the location which matters but rather the peo-ple who are surrounding you. ■

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MUSINGS OF A FIRST YEARPademelon Watcher

As I sit behind my computer screen, fin-gers tapping at the keyboard, I still cannot quite believe that I’m doing this at home, and not in my room back in Hobart. The year has just whizzed by at what seems like lightning speed. It feels like it was just yes-terday that I stepped onboard my flight to Hobart, my heart a mixed bag of emo-tions, my mind not quite knowing what to expect.

I still remember my first journey from Hobart airport to the city. The view along the way was absolutely breathtaking and I thought to myself, Wow, I will actually be spending the next 5 years in this picturesque place. My heart did a little flip of excitement as I pondered starting a whole new journey right here in Hobart.

Having spent one year in medicine, my perspective of the human body as an enigma has certainly taken on a deeper and new meaning. In the midst of work, however, I’m glad that I stopped to smell the roses along the way (quite literally, during spring). All through summer, when the city basks in full glory of the sun; autumn, where fallen leaves create golden path-ways; winter, where a snow capped Mount Wellington stands in the far distance and spring, where trees don the most vibrant of hues, there wasn’t a moment that I didn’t enjoy.

I savoured every bit of the year (and some great food too). Last but certainly not least, the year just would not have been the same if it were not for the wonderful people I have had the opportunity to meet. It has been an incredibly amazing year. ■

Rural week was one of the best parts of the year. I truly enjoyed each and every activity throughout the week, be it the hospital visits or outdoor activities or even just having dinner with friends at a table in the dining hall. As it was my very first time travelling out of Hobart to other towns, the rural week experience was truly an enrich-ing one and I eagerly anticipate future ru-ral exposures.

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Let’s start with a bad metaphor, in a haiku:

Work piles up quicklylike leftovers in a fridgeI prefer fresh food

Didn’t that change the mood? Now on to the topic. I like eating fresh food. I also don’t like touching the pile of work quickly piling up because it reminds me that there’s still so much I don’t know. Yeah yeah, I have to! But it’s no fun. By the middle of the semester there’s so many leftovers in the fridge that I feel like there’s always something nasty I should be eating. Like week-old fried rice. Or how to differentiate glomerulonephriti-des. Ultimate Frisbee, manga, hearthstone – anything else that I do that puts off work makes me feel guilty. It’s classified as pro-crastination. Because, really, who wants to eat 2-week-old fried rice?

I’m sure a lot of students (especially med-ical, I believe) empathize with this. Hence the word procrastination has grown to mean a lot of things. A lot of the time, it means browsing Facebook, or baking (#procrasti-baking) (Thank you, all procrastibakers for your contributions to our mental health. It means a lot, really.). Other times, it means housework. Also playing computer games. Reading. Chatting. Knitting. You name it. Even doing stuff like organising events is considered procrastination to some peo-ple! Really, anything that isn’t studying. It’s a very good way to classify activities.

WARNING: Semanticky rant incoming. Impli-cations on daily life approaching zilch.

Even so, I’m not sure I like the word the way it’s used. Because it implies that everything that we do is secondary to our studies. But wait, PRIORITIES, mister! Yeah, I understand. I’m not suggesting that we should prioritize playtime or cleaning over studies (actually, maybe cleaning). But it seems to me that it devalues my effort making tasty, healthy food when I call it procrastinating, not cooking; and the work put into grinding my character in an RPG (Hi, I’m Michael, and I’m a game-oholic). It contradicts the con-cept of carpe diem when we’re distracted by the task that we’re putting off while we invest time in activities we love. Well, there’s that, and I’m also a little tired of having to ask what it means by procrastination when people tell me that they’ve been procrasti-nating. “What’d you have for lunch today?” “Oh, not leftovers.” (Doesn’t tell you much, does it?)

Semanticky rant over.

Enjoy your procrastination-free holidays, ev-eryone! ☺

PROCASTINATION, [ prə(ʊ)ˌkrastɪˈneɪʃ(ə)n ]:

•The act of postponing or delaying something•To medical students: the act of doing anything but studying

A: What have you been doing today?B: Oh not much, just procrastinating.A: Doh.

Michael Khor

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WHY I’D RATHER LIVE WITH NON-MEDICAL STUDENTS

Avinash Kannadhasan

I’ve just stumbled into 4th year, which means it’s time for me to move to Launces-ton and find a house to settle in with people who are re-pulsed at the thought of dis-secting a cadaver, who are not obliged to consider how the human body functions and simply don’t have to worry about sitting for OSCES. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not a hypocritical medical student who hates his own kind. I just think there is much more to gain when your housemates are not medical students, unlike us. Here are my reasons why.

When you live with non-med-ical students you are receiv-ing a truly overseas experi-ence, more so when your roommates are from different cultural backgrounds. Often with medical students, we choose to be surrounded by familiar friends and this of-ten subsequently translates as limiting our exposure to only a few cultures in a city like Hobart. Hence ventur-ing outside of your comfort zone, when looking for ac-commodation, will give you a chance to meet people you wouldn’t otherwise en-counter and a chance to get to know them on a personal

level. An inevitable benefit of this to me was that I gradually developed my confidence in presenting myself and inter-acting with people from dif-ferent cultures, though some might argue I still have a long way to go.

As you build relations outside of your medical sphere and break out of it, your day to day conversations do not re-volve around medicine or the intricacies of neuro-anatomy which you will soon realize is a welcome breather.

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If you play your cards well, you might also get the best of both worlds, where you are not only able to rely on your med-school friends for moral support but also your housemates. This can be largely helpful especially during the exam period when stress levels are soaring and house chores might take a back seat. But you can always count on your dependable non-medical housemates to lend you a helping hand and provide encouragement and support. Such ex-periences create the foundations for life-long friendships that you can cherish.

Households, depending on the people residing, have different expectations and hence may have different environments which may or may not be suited to your own personality and liv-ing style. Whether you choose to live in the University Accommodations or in a rented house-hold, it will do you good to have an idea about your potential housemates and the type of household; whether they have regular house parties or they prefer to live independently, and a general idea of the social and cultural norms.

As a medical student in Tasmania, you are probably a highly sought after and respected po-tential housemate. It is often also easy to forget that you are also offering something unique in terms of cultural diversity to the household. Adding to this your own personal affable traits makes you quite a catch, so you have every reason to be confident when searching for a house on Gumtree. ■

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As a med student with an extremely busy academic schedule, I have found that I am often prioritising study over my previously valued ex-tra-curricular activities. How-ever, I acknowledge that it is important to value the small-er things in life, and take time to remind myself that there is more to my life than under-taking a medical degree. This may be through enjoying the company of family and

friends, going for a walk, or reading a chapter of my cur-rent novel that is not a text-book.

In particular, I have realised that one of the non-med highlights of the year for me was discovering the exis-tence of Thai Veggie Hut. This delightful vegetarian restau-rant, found in Bank Arcade off Liverpool Street, has my vagus nerve firing faster than Christine Chuter can finish a sentence. Just the thought of eating 3 serves of Veggie BBQ with Roasted Sesame (this is in my opinion the best dish available – it may or may

not be the only dish I have tried…) will have people on the bus quickly relocating as far as possible from me, for fear of being drooled on. To anyone who has not ex-perienced what this fabu-lous restaurant has to offer, I would strongly advise catch-ing the next plane/ bus/ mum’s lift there in time for your next lunch. Even if that means tomorrow. The serving sizes are generous, the prices are very reasonable, and the taste is unimaginable. Think of the joy you experienced when a 3pm two-hour Theme 4 lecture was cancelled, then

think 1034adg3234 times bet-ter. This will give you a rough idea of how much their food gives me, as well as my waist circumference, satisfaction. The only downside I can think of is the fact that they’re not open for dinner. I may have over-heightened your expectation of Thai Veg-gie Hut to the level of a 3-star Michelin restaurant. However, this was my intention to be-gin with, so that none of you miss out on what could be a life-changing experience! ■

THE LITTLE

THINGS IN

LIFEOlivia Chung

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HINDSIGHTunderstanding of an event or situation only after it has happened or developed.

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11 TAKEAWAYS FROM FIRST YEARLing Li Ting

1) Services such as Skype and Google Hangout are essen-tial for combating homesick-ness and catching-up with friends who are all in different time-zones.

2) Some kinds of stationery in Australia are expensive, so bring them from Singapore if you want to use them. Eg. Re-inforcement rings at Popular = S$1.50 vs at OfficeWorks = A$6.50

3) Textbooks are useful for some subjects, depending on individual preferences. It is cheaper to get new text-books from Singapore, such as from ResearchBooks Asia. While in Hobart, the Tasma-nian University Medical Stu-dents’ Society (TUMSS) Online Marketplace group on Face-book is a good place to get second-hand books from se-niors selling them off.

4) Getting a printer of your own is cheaper than printing

using school or accommoda-tions’ printers, especially if you like to print out lecture notes. Buying generic ink is also a good way of saving money.

5) Themes 2-5 lectures may seem boring, but they take up a significant proportion of marks during exams, so do study for them as well!

6) It is normal to come out of lectures after spending the entire hour taking copious amounts of notes and have no idea about what was ac-tually taught. It takes some time to figure out the con-tent, but you will eventually get there. :)

7) Moving your arms and legs around in various positions to try and remember actions of muscles and their myotomes is quite effective – people even do it during exams!

8) Lecturers are generally quite nice, so do drop them

an email if you have any questions.

9) For competencies, prac-tice makes perfect. Practic-ing finding the surface anat-omy landmarks on yourself and on your friends as well as going through the entire pro-cedure really helps.

10) Prepare for practicals be-forehand, especially in Se-mester 2 where you only have an hour for each Anatomy/Histology practical. The time in practicals can be used to clarify any questions that you may have and to take a good look at the materials and models provided.

11) A hooded waterproof jacket is good enough for rainy weather in Tasmania, as the rain is usually quite light. It would be good to invest in a puffer jacket (down jacket) for the winter months, though, particularly if you have low tolerance for the cold. ■

ON HINDSIGHTChew Yining

- An important year to con-solidate all the theory knowl-edge and clinical practice that you have garnered over the last few years (eg. will be good if you can do a Talley & O’Connor cardio examina-tion with your eyes closed by the end of the year).

- With all theory knowledge learnt over the course, rec-ognise which bits of Anato-my, Physiology, etc. are im-portant in a clinical setting.

- Observe how doctors pres-ent patients and start practis-ing during the year, if, like me, spontaneously synthesising information and communi-cating it in a logical manner is not your forte.

- Note patients with good clinical signs ad examine them with a friend in your free time. i.e. pulsus paradoxus, murmurs, bronchial breath sounds, etc.

- If you want to practise ve-nepuncture and cannula-tion, introduce yourself to the phlebotomy nurses or head down to the day surgery unit respectively. (I had a great cannulation tute with a ran-dom nice anaesthetist in day surg, but be prepared to see lots of scopes. I found it a good place to try cannulating real patients, because I could never seem to find one on the wards, though I probably didn’t try hard enough and most day surg patients who are in for scopes are hardly ever acutely unwell, and thus have nice juicy veins).

- Be polite and respectful. Try to take initiative, introduce yourself always, and grow a thick skin.

- All notes with patient details should be shredded in the hospital. There are specific bins in the hospital that you can dump them into – just ask around.

Year 3

Disclaimer: This list is by no means exhaustive and is a culmination of my per-sonal hindsight, observations, and things that we were told over the course of the years.

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Ward rounds may seem bor-ing and pointless at times, but it is important to remem-ber that it is a privilege, not a right, and if you are going to be there, you might as well try and learn something.

- Try and be 5-10 mins early more often than not, to ob-serve what the intern has to do ie. pre-pare the list etc. Different people have dif-ferent organisational styles and ways of doing things; it’s good to observe and adopt the ones that may suit you.

- Offer to help out with menial tasks if early eg. update the list with a new set of blood re-sults etc. It gets you thinking about why certain investiga-tions are ordered for certain patients and also gets you fa-miliar with reference ranges, etc. Observe and ask ques-tions about what happens clinically if someone has a low haemoglobin, low potas-sium, etc.

- The intern may also review scans and imaging from the previous day, so that could

be useful for your learning as well.

- Observe how a round works and try to be intuitive and an-ticipate what may be need-ed (often helps if you are working with the same team)

- A clipboard is often useful - carry a couple of imaging, path forms, blank progress notes and other relevant pa-perwork with you.

- Get/return files and ask if you can write notes. (The ju-nior doctors are usually more than happy to run through SOAP with you. If not, you could also read the previous entries to see how they like them written up.)

- If the team doesn’t let you do anything, don’t be dis-couraged or upset. Remem-ber that most of us, being per-fectionists, like things done at a certain standard or in a cer-tain way and it may be diffi-cult to entrust someone with a task on their first day, so just keep turning up early and continue to be enthusiastic.

Ward Rounds

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Year 4

My views are more specific to Launie.

Clinical rotations

- Let the registrar and interns know that you are keen to see patients in DEM. i.e. they get a call from DEM, if they are busy, you can head down first to take a history and examine the patient and then present to them. (My experience was that most teams expected us to do this to a certain extent and it was one of the best ways that I learnt and consoli-dated information.)

- When doing so, practise writing up ad-mission notes, review imaging and path results, and one can also practise writ-ing up a drug chart (NB. The team is not allowed to use a drug chart written by a student, but no harm if you practise writing one up. Get someone to review it and then shred it after.)

- Early in the year, get mini cex signed for everything that can be signed off. You would rather have fulfilled all your requirements by the second half of the year, than be scrambling around the hospital trying to get one signed off a day before the due date.

- Talk to seniors and doctors before the start of a rotation about what clinical experiences, procedures, and learning goals that you wish to get out of the ro-tation and prioritise accordingly.

- Supplement clinical experiences with lectures, tutes and background reading

Clerking and cases

- Currently the requirements for the above have not been standardised across the various schools, so the follow-ing would be more from a Launie per-spective

- Get them over and done with, earlier rather than later.

- Kill as many birds as possible with one stone eg. See a patient in DEM, present to a doctor to have that signed off as a mini cex, present that patient during grand rounds (a requirement for some rotations like ortho) and then use the same patient as a case! : )))

- If things haven’t changed much, the O&G consultant wants every patient that you come across (ie. in clinics, or on the wards, etc.) clerked. It’s quite im-possible to be clerking every single one, so just make sure you clerk more than 4 a week, or a more reasonable-looking number.

- When sitting in in clinics, ask the recep-tionist for a list of patients – useful for jotting down brief notes next to the pa-tient’s name, and for reference when doing up your cases and clerking pa-tients.

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P3

- Volunteer and participate!

- By the end of the year, you should be thinking more about what is important for this patient in-stead of going through the motions of performing a cardio exam. Patient often comes in with mul-tiple problems across various systems, thus multiple targeted exams often have to be per-formed.

General

- Do all the NPC modules early at the start of the year. If Pharmacology is not your best subject, it may be useful to jot down some quick notes while going through the modules.

- Start collating all the relevant documen-tations, etc. that would be required for your portfolio throughout the year. (You will need a ring binder and 20 dividers.)

- It’s more likely than not that we are all perfectionists; however, it’s important to pri-oritise things and put the correct amount of effort into things i.e. if an assignment is formative, decide how long you should spend on it and stick to that. One needs to weigh up the pros and cons of spending the same number of hours on a formative (pass/fail) piece as compared to a graded assignment – time may be better spent elsewhere.

- If you aren’t an early riser, start getting into the habit of doing so (I’m still personal-ly working on this!). ■

General Stuff

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MY TAKE ON FITTING INTO A NEW CULTURE

Joel Thio

Honestly, it seems scary as ever coming into a new community of people that look differ-ent, talk differently, have different hobbies and interests, and essentially aren’t one bit familiar. For myself, it was overwhelming; even as a more outgoing individual (well, that’s what I see myself to be), it was tough figuring out the Australians and how to fit in.

I remember spending the first few weeks staying in my room, youtubing insanely and chatting with old friends from Singapore; essentially just being a bit of a hermit, a comfortable hermit. That’s when I realised I had to make an effort, and that I paid more than $50,000 a year to learn medi-cine abroad, so why waste the opportunity of getting to learn about a new culture?

I came out of my comfort zone and signed up for medcamp, made an effort to start conversations with locals, and changed my accent and slowed my pace of talking to help communicate better with them. It was then that I realised they were no different from us, personality wise. They may speak, look and act differently, but the inner com-position of Australians are just like us Singa-poreans, and perhaps even more polite and courteous in some cases.

As time went by, some of us were invited for lunch with them, and some Australians even invited several more outgoing Asian kids to their house parties and barbies.

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Honestly, it takes effort, and stepping out of your comfort zone at the start, but it really pays off in the end when you realise you are part of the commu-nity of your year in medicine, just like you’d like to be if it was a university in Singapore. I found myself becoming a more confident individual, learning how to hold decent conversations with Australians, and with people from other racial groups that I couldn’t or was too shy to before.

Truth is that they are going to be your mates for five years or more, so don’t try and survive medical school only by knowing a small group of people, mingle. You’re going to have to work with them anyway, it’s medicine.

In my opinion, being in the medical profession is all about confidence, con-fidence in meeting new people from other cultures and in handling stressful situations. Thus, where’s better to start than in meeting and getting along with people from a different culture? We’ve done it, I’m sure you guys can too! Good luck, I’m sure you’ll be great! ■

MEDICINE ABCChris Cheong

Just remember ABC. Always Be Consistent. With whatever you do for this course, put in consistent effort and the results will definitely show. As MBBS is a year long assessment, consistency is a very important trait. Perform to the best of your abilities for every assessment and you’ll be fine for the year! Attend lectures and do mind maps to summarise the large amount of content you’ve covered. It’ll help during exam revision! ■

2014 Yearbook

24

EditorEdward Lim Vern Khan

Assistant EditorHo Hui JanBryan Lee

DesignerEdward Lim Vern Khan

Assistant DesignerBryan Lee

ContributorsAgnes Sowon ParkHeather TanPademelon WatcherMichael KhorOlivia ChungAvinash KannadhasanLing Li TingChew YiningAndrea TanJoel ThioChris Cheong

PhotographyMicrosoft ClipartEdward Lim Agnes Sowon ParkHeather TanJoel ThioDion Li