So on Sunday afternoon my neighbour came over and we baked brownies using a pre-made brownie mix. For one of the brownie mixtures we added a layer of oreo cookies to the bottom. It turned out amazing!

Labels: baking, brownies, micro, microbiology, potluck, quiz, virology

FYI the title of the post is related to a music video (see below).

So I got a little daring and made sweet and sour chicken! I was surprised that it was so easy to make (I did cheat a little by using a pre-made sweet and sour sauce, but everything else including the chicken I had to cut up). 

I like mixing my rice with everything!

It tasted okay. But nothing I cook tastes as good as what restaurants serve, or what my mom makes at home (insert drawn-out sigh here). 

Our micro prof keeps us on our toes everyday because any day he could give us a quiz. And if the class doesn't score an average above 70 on it then he threatens to make the block exam super hard. Yikes! We're currently learning virology in micro. I never knew there were so many different families and subtypes of viruses. EIGHT types of herpesviruses, plus all the hepatitis viruses A, B, C, D, E, G… to name just a few of them!! 



Can't wait for tomorrow's season finale of Game of Thrones it's gonna be SO good I just know it!!! Also tomorrow is a pot-luck happening at school in the afternoon. My neighbour and I are planning on baking brownies, with a hidden surprise! Gonna be my first time baking brownies, hoping it'll turn out alright. 
Also, I'm currently addicted to this song: 



The singer (Henry Lau) used to attend my high school. He used to perform violin solos on stage at our talent shows before he got an opportunity to go to Korea and then a few years later he's a total kpop heart-throb and has his own music video and album. Yay I have a Facebook friend who's a celebrity lol! 

Here's an earlier video of him playing the violin:



Crazy talented dude!

Labels: cooking, food, henry, henry lau, korea, kpop, smtown, sweet and sour chicken, violin, virology, virus, weekend

So on Monday the third semester students wrote their block 1 exams. Path was fair, micro was a little trickier than expected, and psych was, to put it bluntly, a disaster. I think the class average for psych was a 60 raw, with only 3 people passing. Of course everyone was outraged, and we all complained in class the next day and so the professor curved everyone's grades by 10 percent, which is the first time that has happened to a regular block exam!



After exams that day I went to the grocery store for a much needed restocking of my fridge and bought what I could grab since I was getting a ride home from a friend.
That afternoon I made a flourless crust pizza out of cauliflower which was a hit among my neighbour, my friend and myself. It was an interesting experiment. It tasted like pizza but without the texture of a doughy crust. I might make it again later but for now I feel like I've eaten enough cheese to last me a while! Recipe here.




The rest of the day I just relaxed on my couch while watching Food Network on TV.
Then my friend came over in the evening and we ate pizza and chicken wings and fries. Okay that never happened. We only had the pizza I made but I wish we had chicken wings and fries and other junk food to celebrate finishing our exams but delivery doesn't exist on the island here.

The next day I went to buy more groceries, this time with my neighbour (who is also my classmate). We made fried rice together at my place, which was fun and turned out really yummy! I added pineapples and a little sweet and sour sauce to my batch. 

Labels: block 1, blocks, cauliflower, cooking, exams, food, fried rice, healthy, med 3, pizza, recipe

On Friday I decided to make congee, one of my favourite Chinese dishes. I put some water and rice in a pot and set it on the stove until it was boiling. Then I lowered the heat and poured in a seafood mix, which included crab meat, mussels, squid. I added some soy sauce and sriracha sauce to taste, then lastly some salt after borrowing it from my neighbour next door. The concoction turned out really thick and really salty, but tasty.



I ran out of food over the weekend so I made a lot of pasta. Pasta with avocado, pasta with tomato sauce, pasta with hummus, etc... So sick of pasta now!!

My fridge right now:

I'm just like,

I can't wait to buy groceries on Monday. I plan on clearing out the veggies section.


I'm feeling alright for block 1 exams. Path isn't too difficult so far. Micro is just a lot of memorization. And psych is... well, psych. We'll see how it goes on Monday.

Labels: block 1, congee, cooking, exam, pasta, studying, weekend

Hi there! Have you met the Ancylostoma duodenale, also known as the hookworm. 



Or maybe you've seen one of these? Fondly named Loa loa or the eyeworm. 



Or any of the 80,000 species of parasitic worms that exist with the sole purpose of burrowing under our skins and nesting in the crevices of our intestines. They're more common than you think! In the tropics and undeveloped countries that is - so sleep easy. 
We just finished worms in micro today, and thankfully we only need to know 25 of those species of worms. Plus a few dozen species of mycotoxins and protozoas. 

Anyways. 
On Friday the school hosted the First Term Party, which is a traditional welcome party for new students as well as the rest of the school. (See my post about my semester's first term party here from last September). There was a good turnout of new students, and everyone seemed to mingle together really well. The food looked good (my friend loves the lasagna which they serve every time), and the pina coladas were as sweet and cherry-licious as ever. All in all it was a fun night and everyone seemed to have enjoyed their time.


First block exams is less than a week away! Now excuse me while I go dream about,

Labels: first semester party, first term party, md 3, micro, microbiology, party, worms

Today is Mother's day and also a Sunday which means a new episode of GoT which I will be watching at 9 PM tonight in the comfort of my living space (which is just the basement part of a big house). So excited, because this will be the first time I actually watch it when it airs on TV, and will not have to pirate it later.

On Saturday I went for a run in the morning. I took a trail that circled the base of the volcano, and which led to the Botanical Garden. I think the distance from my place to there is about 4 km, and took me about half an hour. On the way back, however, there were so many hills, so I walked most of the way back. I was quite exhausted afterwards, and after a shower and a small breakfast I fell back asleep in bed. It was the longest distance I had covered to date (almost 8 km). When I woke up I realized that I got slightly sunburnt, and there were tan-lines from my shorts and t-shirt. I then decided that I will go during the evenings when the sun won't be as aggressive.

So I've been drinking A LOT of tea recently, thanks to my new awesome tea maker! So today I made some bubble tea for the first time ever!

Lychee flavoured bubble tea with jasmine tea!

Labels: bbt, bubble tea, game of thrones, mother's day, running, sunday

My Spring break has ended and now I'm back on the rock! 

Labels: microbiology, pathology, psychology, school, third semester

It's the last night before I fly back to Toronto for 2.5 weeks and my last shelf exam is tomorrow morning at 8 AM.
I spent half my morning packing everything in my house and the other half waiting to move. 

Can't wait to be back in Toronto where I can enjoy the small, simple things that I used to take for granted, like:
- walking around without being stared at by strangers
- enjoying Starbucks frappucinos, non-fat milk and no whipped cream please!
- going window shopping at Eaton/Fairview, then deciding that I deserve to buy clothes for myself and purchase stuff without even trying them on
- stuffing myself with platefuls of sushi and sashimi at AYCE sushi
- drinking so much bubble tea because I'm not going to get the chance to drink it outside of Toronto!
- eating all the yummy, juicy fruits from the fridge that I can get my hands on
- watching movies in the theatre while munching on popcorn 
- sleeping at 2 AM not because I have to but because I want to 
- taking the subway to places and using the down time to nap/stare into space/do crosswords in metro
- wearing jackets to stay warm 
- seeing friends again 
- 3G and wifi everywhere 
- eating a meal for under $5
- waking up in the afternoon and skipping breakfast 
- being able to eat whenever and wherever and whatever I want
- going grocery shopping at Costco and going around and sampling all their food samples 
- listening to radio stations in the car
- eating home cooked meals
Yup. That's pretty much my plans for Spring Break. To lead a normal life for two weeks. That is all. 



Also, the school just posted their Residency Placements for 2013 here.

Labels: exams, last night, match 2013, residency, residency placements, study hall

Labels: biochem, biochemistry, exam, med, school, shelf

Last day of class! 

Labels: class, last day

Two more weeks til the end of the semester. One more day of class left. The last few days seem the longest. 
Here's a picture of macarons, which are one of my favourite things ever. They come in a huge assortment of flavours and colours, ranging from the everyday strawberry or chocolate, to exotic ones like pistachio or salted butter caramel. YUM!

Labels: class, end of semester, macarons

Omg I thought this was an April Fool's Joke because it was announced so close to April 1, but looks like there's going to be a sequel to Finding Nemo!


So Sunday was Season 3 of Game of Thrones, and as you know I missed it because my TV wasn't working. But luckily, I have a friend who was able to download it, so I got the video from him. I will be watching it tonight. So excited. Words can't even describe.  

Labels: disney, finding nemo, game of thrones, movies, nemo, pixar

Labels: avocado, er, friday, good friday, neuro

Just had block 3 exams. Physio, neuro and biochem (in order of increasing exam difficulty). They were a little rough, but it was to be expected. This was the hardest block for biochem (pathways), and we had renal and resp for physio. And neuro was, well, neuro. What used to be an easy course is not so anymore thanks to one or two people in the class that ruined it for everyone. I passed everything but definitely could have done better. One more exam before the shelfs, and I'm already worrying about them. Everyone is agreeing that second semester is one of the toughest. 

View of sunset during one of my runs.

My first week and a half.

I made cookies from only two ingredients: banana and oatmeal!

Labels: biochem, block 3, blocks, exams, md 2, neuro, physio, running

First semester wrapped up in mid-December. I'm happy with how I did in all my courses. Winter break was relaxing but kind of boring, so I was glad to be back in school in January.
My three courses this semester are: Physiology, Neuroscience, and Biochem/Genetics. All the upper semester students have been constantly warning us about the difficulty of Physio, and they were so right! We had our first block exams yesterday (Tuesday), and the class average for Physio was a 56. Even though I passed, I felt very worried about my confidence in the material after seeing my mark. I thought I knew the material inside out, and it was supposed to be the easiest section of the course. The whole class was up in arms about it right after the test was finished, but the professor seemed unfazed about our reactions. I guess we just need to be more on our toes for her exams.
Anyways. The island feels chillier than usual, especially in the mornings. I have yet to turn on the A/C at my place.

I've changed my study habits up a bit. Instead of going to the study hall, I've been confining myself to my house. I hired a cleaning lady to come every two weeks to clean the entire house. It has definitely helped me take a lot of my mind and makes me feel more relaxed and at ease. I feel more focused and less worried about how dirty the floor is or how many spiders are possibly crawling up the wall. It has also reduced the number of trips to the convenience store, which means less consumption of junk food.


Some pictures I took recently:

Labels: biochem, md 2, neuro, physio

Nov 1

 It’s November!!!
Where did October go?? Oh yeah, it went towards studying for Block 2 exams, which was this Monday. So our new professor for histology just made us write the most ridiculous exam ever. Like. Ever. The entire class failed, except for 2 people. I won’t go into the details of the exam here. But it was ugly. Well that puts everyone in the hot seat now. Anatomy and Public Health were easy-breezy in comparison to Histology. But the end of Block 2 exams marks the beginning of the home stretch! Exactly one month and ten days until the semester is over. One more set of blocks right before the shelf exams.

 On Monday I went snorkeling with some classmates. Unfortunately, my excitement was dampened when we got to the beach and saw that the waves were extremely strong. Trying to get into the waters was difficult because every two seconds there would be a strong wave that knocked me off my fins – I mean feet. It was so bad that at one point my fins actually slipped off and I lost one to the sea. After that I decided to call it quits. Plus my feet and ankles were getting rubbed raw by the rocks and rubble at the bottom of the waters. I would still love to try snorkelling on a day when the waves were calmer. 

Halloween was on Wednesday, and since I didn’t have a costume prepared I decided not to attend the Halloween party that was happening at the Old Gin House. Instead I went to play ultimate Frisbee. Wishing I got candy on Halloween though.

 The weather has been the usual sunny skies and humid air. I'm just glad we're not seeing any more hurricanes. I've already had my share of wet weather to last me the rest of the year! That’s it for now! Just waiting for the weekend to come.

Labels: block 2, exams, halloween, histology, no candy, snorkelling

Before I head out into the storm to class to get soaked.. I just want to upload this image I drew this morning:

Labels: meme, statia, storm, troll

Labels: hiking, statia, the quill, volcano

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