Entry for Medic Ed Video Contest 2012. Dribs and Drabs of Everything Else by Iman Lim 1st Year MMA.
Monday 23 April 2012
Thursday 12 April 2012
Jesmine Kuan UNPAD Dentistry
It was my first time being away from Malaysia, away from family, away from friend and away from my bed and being independent in my studies and taking care of myself. It was a hard time saying goodbye in the airport but we all make it through after all the hugs and tears.
After that, we do went Bandung shopping, we do went for a lot of university event.. sooner or later, we got use to the place and came to love it <3
It was my first time being away from Malaysia, away from family, away from friend and away from my bed and being independent in my studies and taking care of myself. It was a hard time saying goodbye in the airport but we all make it through after all the hugs and tears.
MY DADDY
MY MOMMY
MY YOUNGER BROTHER, JASON
MY FAMILY , BUT ELDER BROTHER, JEREMY IS MISSING. HE IS
CURRENTLY STUDYING IN MELBOURNE
ELDER BROTHER, JEREMY.
YES THEY ARE HEAVY BUNCH OF PEOPLE
THE BOYFRIEND
FRIENDS WHO ARE ALWAYS THERE FOR ME
After landed in Indonesia, it felt like Malaysia. The
weather, the people, the food, the shops, the houses and everything, it felt
like Malaysia, but the feeling is not the same. Something was missing, it was
family. I got through those feelings and told myself that I am here to study
and to learn. Lucky for us, we came here with a bunch of friends. Once we
arrive in our university, I was amaze with the size of it, it was huge and it
is full of green. We went straight to our dorm once we arrive, but we all
dentistry student was disappointed because we all thought that we were supposed
to stay in bale with the medical student but we ended up in some dorm out of
the campus.
After we had register, we gave our luggage to be taken
to our dorm and we had to walk. It was one bad constructed road. Okay, lets
imagine you walking in “ kampung” road with more rocks, that is how the road
is. We arrive to our dorm and it didn’t look that bad but we all know bale was
way much better. After getting all ready it was dark, we were new so the only
place we know was bale’s café. It was 7 plus and it was normal dinner time for
Malaysian, we reach the café and guess what? The food was all sold out. We were
all starving for food, went over to the bale mart to get ourselves some mee in
the cup. We sat outside the café eating our maggi, laughing and talking. It was
cold at night, it felt like Malaysia when it is raining. Every night the
weather is this cold, it was nice. After that we went back to the room and hang
out.
After that, we do went Bandung shopping, we do went for a lot of university event.. sooner or later, we got use to the place and came to love it <3
ORIENTATION DAY
FIRST TIME IN BANDUNG
COOKING IN THE HOSTEL.. YUMMY
MERDEKA
EVENT
Diary
of a trip by Catherine Lee
Here’s
this, life as a medical student has ups and downs, cries and laughter,
happiness and sad moments. What motivates me to go through the tough time apart
from the love and support from my family is the small happy events or trips
that never fail to put a smile in my heart. My most memorable trip was the one
to St. Petersburg, Russia. It was a same old same old day and exams had just
ended. Out of nowhere, one of our course-mate T decided to organize a
backpacking trip to St. Petersburg. We headed to the train station located at
Metro Beloruskaya and immediately got ourselves each a tickets the cheapest one
with bunk bed. Well you know for students, luxury travels aren’t exactly a way
of life, and we needed the bunk beds as the train ride was estimated of 12
hours. Since it was our first time at that particular area of Moscow, we even
took some time to walk around later after getting our train tickets.
T
wasn’t someone who likes planning ahead far, and so we just realized having our
transportation settled, we have not yet booked a place to stay. Having informed
T, he immediately hit www.hostelworld.com
and we got ourselves a 9.80 euro/night B&B hostel as he’s the pro. Anyway,
the trip consisted of 5 of us. Me, Terry, Gab, Joanna and Chien. With all the
hustle settled and our document’s done, packing was a cinch since it was just a
short trip. I was kind of excited because it was an unprecedented trip and so
short noticed.
It
was a night train ride, so at least we get to sleep in the train and arrive in
the morning wasting no time. Everything was in lock, stock and barrel as 5 of
us arrived at the platform and marched our way towards the train as the wind
was gushing through the open air space. The conductor wasn’t so friendly to us
and sought of gave us problems. Luckily there was a Samaritan/Russian who
speaks English and decided to give us a helping hand. His name was Nikolai.
Anyway, that’s settled and all of us hopped on the train and was ready for our
crazy dreadful 12 hours train ride. After a few hours of sleep, we were awaken
by an old lady selling snacks and beverages, and that’s when sleep ran away and
all of us surprisingly were wide awake as the train was slightly flinging left
and right rocking in a two beat tempo. Chit chatter and board game. Reading and
heart to heart talks sums up everything. Before we knew it, the long 12 hours
was gone and we’d arrived. T with his daredevil happy go lucky attitude decided
to get acquainted with Nikolai, and wonderful and enough, he decided to be our
tour guide throughout our who trip as despite being from Moscow, he travels to
St. Petersburg every twice a month for work.
We
headed towards our hostel with not much expectations. It was drizzling and the
wind was howling. We found the place after a long walk and everyone was
famished. Nikolai wasn’t with us at first as he had his own place figured out
already. As we arrived, we were greeted by the landlady which was very peaceful
looking, in a nice way. Settled down, we hurried ourselves to the metro station
which Nikolai said he would meet us up and take us to lunch. We went to this
cafe, sadly I couldn’t recall it’s name but it is very much similar to
TEREMOK in Moscow where it sells
pancakes, waffles, salads etc. These shops are very common and typical in
Russia. Pancakes are called Blinchik in Russian. Anyway, we gobbled down
whatever was ordered was had some talks with coffee getting to know more about
Nikolai. See, the nice thing about Russians which also amaze me is their
patriotism. Generally every Russian that you speak to, will know this and that
about the history of every part of their country, and for me being a
“historian”, I was curious and exited to know more about St Petersburg.
Anyway, after a nice simple lunch, we headed to St. Isaac’s Square which nearby was located St. Isaac’s cathedral. There was also Kazansky Cathedral and Church on the Split Blood. What really caught my attention was the name of the last church mentioned. The Church of Our Saviour on the Spilled Blood derives its catchy title from the fact that it is buil on the spot where Alexander 2 was assassinated by a hand grenade in 18xx(can’t really remember which year). Inside the cathedral, you could even see the very cobbles where his blood was spattered! This church is one of the most conspicuous buildings in St. Petersburg as it was not designed in the baroque style of the day, but built in the classic Russian style of St. Basil in Moscow. After the revolution in 1917, it was closed for business and during WWII used as a veggie market – earning it the nickname at that time “Church of Our Saviour on the Potatoes.” True Story.
Next, we headed towards the Hermitage and managed to catch a sunset glimsp over the river Neva. There was a bridge across and there majestically stood 2 guardians which were Griffin. No idea why it was there though. Across the river from the Hermitage is another absolutely essential St. Petersburg attraction – St. Peter and St. Paul’s Fortress. I don’t want to continue talking about history but everything was amazing and breathtaking. Oh I nearly missed out a fun fact about the some history related facts. My name is Catherine as well so I have to mention this. On a warm August afternoon in 1782, a large crowd gathered along the Neva River’s south embankment. On a balcony above, Empress Catherine appeared and dedicated to St. Petersburg its newest monument: the Bronze Horseman, a soaring likeness of the city’s founder, Peter the Great, commanding a half-wild steed. Immortallised in the words of the great poet Pushkin “Behold the image sit and ride, upon his brazen horse astride.” Our day ended in MacDonalds. Short simple yet most informative in my opinion. Having return to the hostel, everyone went into Lala-land in no time.
Restful
Sleep! We headed downstairs to the common hall of the hostel and was greeted by
the same reception lady but this time accompanied by other tourist as well, and
of course since it is a B&B, breakfast is provided as well. We had Kasha(porridge),
with bread, butter and salami(some meat stuffing) and also some weird looking
but surprisingly delicious fried flour ball. We managed to exchange contact
information with other tourist as well as sharing what we did in St Petersburg
over the past few days. After washing up and dressed up ready for another
exciting ahead we headed out for the metro. Today we are heading to Peterhof.
It was a 2 hours bus ride with the 5 of us accompanied by Nikolai.
Peter the Great’s favourite residence, Peterhof, is a vast complex of palaces and parkland designed to rival the splendor of Versailles. Vast tracts of landscaped gardens are interspersed with statues, water features, pavilions and sumptuous mansions – the most famous being Mon Plaisir, overlooking the gulf of Finland. Another note, Peterhof is best known for it’s 120 fountains, switched on from May to mid-October, some are which designed to soak the unsuspecting visitor, but sadly that’s not the time we went there. The pictures I include later will share the other stories and show a better description on how marvelous the place looks like. I have been to quite a number of places, but never impressed so much as I have been by seeing the splendure of Peterhof. I fervently hope to come again during the period where the fountains are on and get myself soaked! We even rented ourselves a bicycle each and cycled along the hilly terrain in Peterhof. It was one of the best experience I’ve had in so many trips. We took photos of every detail and even many jump-shot(the pictures where everyone jumps!).
After
that we went to a nearby town to this small restaurant but opened in a hut.
Voluptuous meals!!! We ordered the best dishes according to Nikolai which was
the Armenian Cheese Rolls, Pumpkin
cutlet, “Ossetrina pod Syrom”(sturgeon baked with cheese), Basturma(marinated
beef), Beef Khartcho with fresh tomatoes and for desert, we had Khalva(syrupy
walnut dessert), Apple pie and Chocolate vodka. Smashing and delicious. Best
meal I could remember in weeks. Anyway the day ended with our bus ride back and
heading back to the hostel to nestle for the night. Big thank you to Nikolai
and those interested can find him through my facebook under the name Nikolai
Kotov.
Time
flies when you’re happy. Finally, it was time to go back. We bid the lady
working at the B&B goodbye and thanked Nikolai as well. Heading to the
train station, I could see the faces of my friend which were satisfied but also
not too happy on the fact that we are heading back to Moscow and back to
studying again. Well, I’d say everything is like an ECG, ups and downs. On the
way back in the train ride, I was carefully writing my dairy and recording
every single detail of this trip and at the same time looking forward towards
my next trip to whichever part of the globe. A picture paints a thousand words.
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