FRESH START:When you last heard from me, I was moaning about the Scrooge-like scheduling of my exams right after Christmas. Well, Christmas wasn't quite as awful as I had predicted. I allowed myself two full days off for Christmas Eve and Day and went back to work on St Stephen's Day, writes Laura Brady
Packing up my books temporarily, I went home to my family in Meath and got all wrapped up in the wonderful festivities, putting all thoughts of acetylcholinesterase and its like out of my mind.
Another distraction arrived later in the form of New Year’s Eve. I leapt at the chance to abandon my books and get glammed for a few RCSI house parties. I even got to learn to bhangra dance – it’s always a cultural adventure in RCSI. As for New Year’s resolutions, I vowed to study less, as I realised that I was becoming something of a hermit.
The exams themselves were on us in no time after the New Year, and I was delighted to get started, knowing from my extensive Leaving Cert experience that anticipation is the worst part. However, when I returned to college for the exams, I was shocked to find that these end-of-semester exams, upon which I had not placed a great deal of importance, were seen by the majority of my colleagues as more important than the Leaving Cert. I thought the Leaving was supposed to be the most important exam of our lives. My educational goalposts move again.
I tried to ease the tension with a beaming smile and upbeat attitude, but was soon shot down. Nevertheless, the first exam went reasonably well and I looked forward to putting more of them behind me.
Unfortunately, the following day I had the horrendous misfortune of picking up a dose of the ’flu, and was pronounced “medically unfit” to sit the rest of exams that week. Some would have considered the temporary stay a blessing, but I, who had sacrificed my Christmas and half my sanity preparing for them, regarded the situation as a worst-case scenario. I hastened my recovery to return just in time to take the final exam. It went delightfully well, and I tried to enjoy the feeling of success that accompanied the completion of that exam, rather than dwelling on the fact that I shall have to take the remainder of my exams in September.
Needless to say, I partied like someone who had put the first semester of medicine behind them for good. The feelings of elation and freedom could be read on the faces of all my peers, and we painted the town red for three nights in a row, until the adrenaline wore off and the exhaustion took over.
With semester two a fortnight away, I've returned to reading for pleasure – as opposed to purely for information – and flew through two good books in three days. I've also been indulging myself in slightly more television than I would usually, and enjoyed the new season premieres of both Lostand Grey's Anatomy.
But since a person would grow terribly unhealthy indulging in endless hours of sedentary “activities”, I’ve packed myself up and flown off to Prague from where I currently write. I feel like a foreign correspondent.
This city is lovely (and cheap), but a part of me is eagerly awaiting the return to Dublin. I want to put all my big ideas about better study practices into effect, but mostly, I really enjoy the day-to-day routine of my college life. Maybe it’s the effect of the recession on me, but I’m now thankful to have an occupation to go home to.
Laura Brady is studying medicine at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
