Nostalgic India 1

Officially back to blogging. *waving hands*
Why?
To kill time & to enrich myself by writing some bombastic pieces for self improvement. bullshit

This blog has been abandoned since the day I went to India for my study and till now, I'm done with my dear dental school. Ohmygod! 
So, I'm gonna talk about what's been going on in these 5 dreadful years. (5 DELIGHTFUL years I mean) 

FIRST YEAR
I bid goodbye to my mother at the airport and she was weeping when I stepped into the departure hall. However, I didn't shed a single tear. It's not that I don't have filial piety, (I do miss my family too!) I guess I was just too excited to study abroad. I met my new friends and everyone was so looking forward to the new journey! =D
The first meal I had from Air India was this. 

The rice was not spicy luckily or else my tongue would get burnt lol. (But now imma curry lover after 2 years of 'training' in India)

I could still remember I was sitting in between 2 full-figured Indian men. As you know, economy seats are usually pretty congested. I was actually trying to act nothing and pretending to sleep but I could not even rest my arms on the armrest because once I moved, I could hit the arm of people beside. Help! I'm squashed! Therefore, I tried to search for a new seat. I rushed to an empty seat beside my new friend, Thila and phew, what a relief!

After 3 and a half hours of flight, we arrived at Tiruchy airport. 

    

Well, we were told we had to travel for few more hours to reach our destination, Salem. We were all seated in a van or 'tempo'. The journey was TERRIBLE HORRIBLE vegetable!!  Just imagine you are playing bumper car for a 6-hour-journey.... and we 4 girls were awfully squeezed at the back row with our baggage. @@

 Before we started our 'bumper ride', we had a good meal at.... somewhere lol

Soap-like dessert. It tastes just like soap but in the end the taste turns to mint. #Idontlikeit

Sceneric view along the journey

Reached our hostel eventually, and to our 'surprise', we could not stay in the hostel shown in the brochure. Instead, we had to stay in Junior Quarters which was further than the former. 

So basically we had to walk 15 minutes everyday to the college under the hot sun...

And sometimes, your umbrella protested against you. 

I had no idea what was she trying to do to the cow..lol

Now, let's introduce the hostel we stayed for the first 6 months. The junior quarters have 10 units, each of them is occupied by 6 students with twin sharing. I shared my room with a sweetie, Vivien. 

Living hall with a plasma tv?!

No doubt, 15 min of walking defo sweats much.

The bathroom was actually ready in 3 days, with the workers walking in and out your house with shoes everyday! I can't really believe the high efficiency of the local people. Wow!

I could still remember my housemates and I woke up at 6am because the sun was already shining brightly like 10am. Similarly, the night falls as early as 6pm. The time zone in India is UTC+5.30 which means it is 2.5 hours later than Malaysia.

We had a visit in the senior hostel that we eventually moved in after 6 months. (After protests with the admin actually..lol)

The pantry

Cafe Malaysia that serves Malaysian food kononnya...

Academical wise, my first year subjects were

1. Anatomy

2. Physiology

3. Biochemistry

4. Oral Biology

Anatomy

We had to learn the basic anatomy of head and neck in details, ranging from different nerves passing through different foramen, names of all sorta arteries and veins that killed me many nights for viva exams =.= 

Facing the fresh specimen with the formalin smell is very common but we ought to pay full respect to them because without them, we could not learn a single thing.

The fun part was the drawing part. We had to draw all the structures in the head and neck, pretty tedious initially but I love drawing. 

I would never forget the first thing I giggled so hard in the class was the lecturer pronouncing Anatomy as Yan-natomy.. oops. No offence! =P

Physiology

This subject teaches you the function of our body like the nerves, blood, lymph etc. We had to learn about the bleeding time that requires you to test on your own. That means you have to prick yourself to collect the blood for the test. Haha! We also learn about how to use the microscope to count the cells and blood pressure measuring. Pretty fun!

Biochemistry

Talking about biochem, the most memorable one was the lecturer Dr Rita with her definitely-audible voice. I think she needs pei pa gou sometimes for the sake of her voice. Another thing is the subject requires you to mix potion in the lab, no i mean perform some chemical tests hahaha! 

Oral Biology

This subject is divided into 2 portions, Tooth Morphology and Oral Histology.

In tooth morpho, we have to learn the entire tooth including its length and width, and carve the tooth. I was really bad at this initially, wasted many blocks of wax. 

While in oral histology, we deal with the microscope and learn how the cells and tissues look like in magnification. 

Basically, the first year was all about adaptation and perseverance. I enjoyed much throughout the year because I had friends around, I seldom feel homesick. We often had potluck, birthday celebrations, travelling and watching movies in a room. So much shouting, so much laughter...

To be cont.