Graduation Party!

The first goal accomplished(!!!)

In order to deliver the good news I have to begin by elucidate the past two weeks. After Sagi sadly left us to study on our own until the exam we really stepped it up. He left us with a big booklet of old entrance exams in all subjects. While looking through the booklet I found myself puzzled over how easy some of the exams were. The latest Charles University Exam, however, was not that easy. To be honest I found it very hard, not considering knowledge, but rather how the test was built. It was a lot of statistics, graphs and tables that had to be read and I found it very time consuming. Even the biology part seemed to be more mathematics than anything else. While we did it I got really mad and didn’t want to concentrate at solving the problems. Come to think of it I guess I just got scared.

The two weeks of complimentary lessons were just enough to fill our need of guidance. We studied real hard the first week and when we only had one weekend left until the exam we began to fill rather saturated. I packed my belongings and said farewell to the family I’ve been staying with to move to Jackie and Jeanine’s apartment in the city. It really saved me a lot of time and energy and I don’t miss going by bus for two hours every day.




To sum it up we read a lot, quizzed and went through the old exams over and over. “Questions tend to repeat themselves...” Moshe said twice before he left.
Anxiety and nervousness set a seed in us for the last days and I don’t think that I’ve ever felt so tranquil and stressed out at the same time for such a long time. I tried to calm my senses and get rid of the latent imploding feeling in my stomach that spread every time someone mentioned the exam or anything about it.
The last two days were the worst. All I could think of was to get the exam over with.
When the day finally arrived I felt completely the opposite – I started to doubt myself and wondered if I needed more time to prepare. I slept very well the night before felt thoroughly rested when I woke up. We had a kickass breakfast and went to school to fight the very final battle.

The dean from Charles arrived in a grey suit, smiling when he entered the classroom. We took our seats and got the exams. Two hours later we were all done and were told to wait for the personal interview with the dean. The limit of passing was 65% which, for the Charles Exam type, is a pretty difficult border. The exam is a multiple choice exam where more than one statement might be correct. The tricky part is that if you mark a statement that is incorrect it will erase respectively one point from a correct statement. The total score of one question can not drop below zero which made guessing possible but not recommended since you might lose the whole question. The test consisted of 45 questions with the total score of 320.

The break until the personal interviews was like waiting for your final judgement, as if your whole life was at stake. After two hellish hours we finally went back to the office where we were called in one at a time. I didn’t think that waiting could be so cruel. I got called in as person number three from the end. Moshe met me in the door and told me: “You passed the exam - this is not going to be an oral exam but rather an interview, congratulations...”

I entered the room and took a seat in front of the dean. After a short introduction he asked me about my interest in medicine, hobbies and work experience. It was a delightful conversation without any extravagances. The professor gave me the letter of admittance to the 1st Faculty of Medicine, Prague, and wished me good luck.

I'm going to Charles and I'm now officially a Med Student (!!!)

It took a while for it to really settle...

The way of Physics

This week we got introduced to a new teacher.
His name is Segi and he is for sure the best teacher I've ever had, and most probably the best I'll ever have(!).

We're doing physics the whole week and one of the first things he taught us was his way of dealing with physics questions:

1) Cut the bullshit, keep it simple and stupid
2) Write the data
3) Convert the units
4) Feel artistic and D-R-A-W
5) Find the relevant equations
6) Play the equation-puzzle game
7) Do the math

Wow, I really admire him for making physics so much fun...

How to: Miss not only one, but two trains, on the same day

Today was hectic, but almost adventurous. And after today I know that missing two trains, on the same day, is possible – even if one’s in time.
My booked X2000 train was leaving from Stockholm at 14:22 pm from track 10. No problem so far but what if the same type of train was arriving just five minutes earlier – with a completely different destination?

Stressed and thinking that I was a bit late I hurried to platform 10 and recklessly jumped on the train at the platform. I was looking for my seat and found a mother and her child occupying both the seats. I asked them to check if there was a double booking, something that rarely happens thou, and when she said “yes these are my seats” I started thinking if they might be on the wrong train.
This took about 1 and a half minute and it was just enough for the train to start rolling towards – that I found out just the minute later – Gothenburg.

Not to bad after all, I usually travel there to get home, but the thing is that my plans and my booked train today was scheduled to go to Norrköping to Caroline and her parents.
My heart beat pretty fast and I thought that this is not only going to take a lot more time but also cost a lot more cash. I wasn’t too fond of either of those facts.
I rushed through the train to find any one of the train crew to ask if I was entirely screwed. The lady in black and white with a perfectly tied red tie told me that “there’s no problem – just get off in Södertälje and you’ll be able to jump on your train that was supposed to leave ten minutes after our train...”.
So I did and found out that another person had made the same mistake as I did. I wasn’t too worried after this but as we stood, deserted and abandoned at the vast platform with no signs of any scheduled stop of our original train, I started to think that maybe the clippie didn’t checked her facts before telling me it was okay.

The other person that was in the same situation as me didn’t have as much patience as I had and started to call the train booking support to make sure the train would stop. As she spoke, an X2000 blasted by in 200 kilometres, leaving nothing but dust in my eyes and mouth.
“That’s our train...” I said to her and smiled at the irony of it all. The support worker in her phone told her to get a new ticket so that’s what I did as well.

“Waste of time and cash – just as I thought...”

As I sat, waiting for another two hours until the next , I really couldn’t get over the fact that being too early actually was costing me extra time and money. It really bugged the shit out of me.
I started to read the paper and after that I wrote a summary of my day on it, since I didn’t have any regular blank paper in my study material. “This is going to be a good post in the log...”, I thought and smiled.
Things were just about to get worse...

My new train was scheduled to leave at 17:02. The ticket said:

17:02 ... Södertälje – Flemingsberg ... 17:16
17:18 ... Flemingsberg – Norrköping ... 18:33

At the black board time schedule there were two trains with the new time to arrival added to the original time:

17:05 ...Stockholm ... (Intercity) Track 6
17:07 ...Linköping/Norrköping (Regional) Track 8

What would you chose?

Of course I went to track 8.
Consider the fact that track 8 and 6 are at different platforms and it takes approximately two minutes to get from one platform to the other. When I stood at track 8 I looked at my ticket one last time because I really didn’t want to miss yet another train. Then it hit me – what if I’m supposed to go back to Stockholm in order to change train to Norrköping. Also, the original departure time was matching with the train arriving at track 6. If that wasn’t enough the ticket also said Intercity – not Regional.
I thought “this is not happening...” and when I turned around to look over at the other platform I saw a train there, ready to leave.

I ran like a fucking cheetah down the many stairs, elbowing my way through. When I got up on the other platform and I saw my train leave in a distance. “fucking aye?! this is NOT happening(!)...”.

My first reaction was to hit my foot really hard into the closest thing beside me – a ten centimetre thick iron balk holding the roof up over the platform. I cursed for a while but stopped when I saw that I was surrounded by children going on a field trip. My second reaction was to think: “Oh fuck, there’s still a way to get there...” and I instantly began to run down the stairs again. “The other train towards Norrköping havn’t left yet..!”.

Another minute of cursing and kicking iron balks would make me miss my third train this day. Luck was on my side and I did catch the train. After some smooth talk with the clipper I was allowed to border the train without a valid ticket.
Come to think of it I bought two tickets á 370SEK in total for two separate trains to get to Norrköping and didn’t even take one of them. In total I spent an extra 170SEK and almost 5 hours on a trip that should have taken 1 hour and 12 minutes for 200SEK.

No sad face thou, as I said: It was an adventurous trip and I finally got there – if yet not in time.

All roads lead to Rome...

My Normandie

The shore looked calm as I gazed along the sandy horizon from my front seat in the amphibious assault landing craft slowly roaming towards my inevitable fate.
I wasn’t nervous at all, in fact, I was utterly prepared for what I expected from the forty minutes to come. Our platoon had been trained for over two months in order to be able to accomplish the mission - given to us just two days ago.

As we got closer to the shore my mind focused on the task. It was broken by the discussion about earlier comrades fought and fall but I tried not to get carried away.
Instead I moved my hand to the magazine attached to my M1 Carbine .3 Calibre just to see if it was properly loaded. I also disobeyed the uniforms restrictions and unbuttoned the first button of my brown jacket.
“Feeling comfortable makes me aim better” I said to myself...

Our platoon chief, Cpt. Cohen, approached us and gave us the order with crucial effectiveness. I was eager to begin and recklessly jumped off the craft. The cold water filled my boots but I had no regrets as I began to sprint up the first part of the shore.

All quiet. I could hear my breath and my heartbeat while I positioned myself behind a wall of sandbags. From here I had a good view of the eastern enemy bunker.
The first bullet whined over my head and I pushed myself to the sandy ground in order to get as hidden as possible. I didn’t want to reveal a weak spot.
I thought of why I became a soldier in the first place and as the second bullet came I released my gun from the strap. The bullets hit the sand around me and I aimed for the bunker and pressed the trigger. Then it happened.

Shellshock

I had only read about it before but never seen it with my own eyes. Today I was the victim.
I barely saw the solid green sphere looking metal shard – that rolled up against the sandbags in front of me – before it went off with a ear-splitting blast leaving nothing but a high pitched frequency in my ears. The blast wave blew sand in my eyes and the heat burnt the hair sticking out under my helmet.
Completely unable to move, I found myself petrified and paralysed. All I heard was the beep and my heart beating loud in my chest.

I was conscious and alive but left vulnerable and intimidated on the ground in the line of enemy fire. It took me all of my remaining strength and bravery to get back on track. To my big surprise the enemy stopped their machine gun fire and aimed to the west.
“They probably think I’m dead...”

As the crossfire ended I took the opportunity to get on my feet again, I was badly injured but the adrenaline filling my vessels made me run towards the east border. An entrance in the bunker suddenly approached in my periphery and I took a run for it. The wooden door smashed open when my left shoulder hit it and I found myself staring the enemy in the eyes.

The outcome was mine to decide and I raised my gun and pulled the trigger the millisecond later. The remaining bullets in my magazine penetrated flesh before they instantly stopped in the thick concrete bunker wall. It was a challenge but I moved on eradicating all threats until the least foe was on his knees.
A shallow bleeding from my arm resulted in a pulsating pain but I was alive and had accomplished my task.

I fled the bunker with a map and papers of the enemy orders and headed back to the field. In a distance I saw my comrades regrouping, treating the injuries from the crossfire.
I shared the news of my individual victory and showed them the map and the orders. Pvt. Onsum, Pvt. Malmberg and Pvt. Balasingam started to discuss the results but were cut off by Cpt. Cohen that showed up from the trench behind us. He called for me so I went up to him and gave him the papers. He looked at them and ordered me to follow him into the trench.
Down there he began to question me about the mission. My answers seemed to be satisfying and I felt relief. We headed back to the platoon and we were all given his personal recommendation for further missions...


In a parallel universe:


I felt a certain calm as I gazed along the tree line in the horizon from my blue subway train seat speeding towards my inevitable fate.
I wasn’t nervous at all, in fact, I was utterly prepared for what I expected from the forty minutes to come. I have been practising for over two months in order to pass today’s exam – given to us just two days ago.
When I entered the school my mind was focused on the task. It was broken by the discussion about earlier classmate’s exams, failures and wins. I tried not to get carried away.
Instead I quickly read through some of the material just to make sure it was as sharp as I wanted it to be. I loosened my tie and unbuttoned my white shirt since I believe I’ll make a better result if I feel comfortable.
“Feeling comfortable makes me think clearer” I said to myself...

Our teacher, Dr. Cohen, met me in the lunch room and gave me instructions. I was eager to begin and recklessly asked for an earlier start of my exam. A cold chill went through my spine but I had no regrets as I began to walk to the examination office for my biology and anatomy exam.
All quiet. I closed the door and took a seat in front of my examiner.
The first question came: “What kind of doctor do you want to become..?”.
I leaned back in my chair and thought of why I’d like to be a physician in the first place. I didn’t want to reveal any weak spots and answered generally.
The second question went good but then it happened.

Brain block

I had never experienced it before, only heard people talk about it. Today I was the victim.
I didn’t see it coming – when the examiner said: “Okey, so tell me about the Female Reproductive System...” – I totally froze. That was the sole subject I didn’t know by heart. I went numb and couldn’t even name the anatomy. All I heard was my heart beating loud in my chest.
I was aware of my mistake and failure and felt very intimidated sitting there unable to answer the questions she asked me. To my surprise she stopped and turned it all around.
“She knows I lost it and this is it...”

When the questions ended I got some time to breathe and get back on track. I felt the adrenaline in my vessels and I managed to calm myself enough. “Okey, so tell me about the Gastro-Intestinal System instead...” she said. All of a sudden I had an entrance back in the game and I took a shot for it. I smashed my nervousness into pieces and looked the examiner in the eyes.
The outcome was mine to decide and I began to draw the anatomy, nailing it and the physiology. She smiled and could see that I was relieved of the tension. She gave me quite a challenge but I managed to answer correctly and after a while she gave in and gave me her evaluation. The failure beginning was still nagging in my head but I thought I’d made it up pretty good in the end.

I walked out of the office with my G.I drawing and the grades of the exam. I headed back to the lunch room and I saw the curious faces of my classmates. They were still discussion their exams in order to make some sense out of it.
I shared my experiences and evaluation with Jeanine, Fredrik and Arani. They instantly began to take it into consideration but were cut off by Dr. Cohen that showed up from his office. I showed him the papers and he told me to get into his office for the second exam.
The questions went good and he was very satisfied. I headed back to my classmates and we admired our personal recommendations for further studies...

Every day is a vicious battle...

Into the crossfire, without a tactic

Today was yet another good day. It began with me meeting up Jeanine at the subway station and we went into town to roam the streets for some new and springy clothes for me.
Jeanine found me a really sweet tie, one of the smaller and narrower ones and I fell for it instantly. I also found a pair of pants and the kind of converse I’ve been looking for.
After that we went to school and finally we got to see Dr. Moshe again.

I don’t know what took him two months to get here, maybe because he walked from Israel or just don’t like us. Nah, that’s just a mean exaggeration of the truth. I was really irritated and almost didn’t want to face him again and I really thought he’d act as if nothing happened.
We’ve had built up a fairly big load of questions during these two months of his absence without getting any answers and with the exams and application deadlines coming up rather fast. The atmosphere in the class was pretty much radiating a fat “whatever” before he entered the room.
It’s actually amazing how he turned it all around in a couple of minutes. If that goes for all of us I can not say for sure but for me, yes, I felt very satisfied with the way he handles things.

The following hour was filled with questions regarding everything from applications to exams – like an intense fight between two Spitfire fighters firing their double Hispano 20mm cannons loaded with questions and answers.

The remaining time of the course has been as a big black hole – unscheduled and unplanned. That was also straightened out – resulting in a well planned schedule and more school hours. Dr. Moshe offered us to fill the gap between the 6th of May (the original end of the course) and the 26th of May (the day of the final entrance exams) with additional lessons and repetition.

In the break we went for some food and meanwhile Dr. Moshe handed in the application forms and the 300EUR fee for the entrance exams. We also got a HUGE booklet with old entrance exams, some of them even unpublished from the universities (regarding the entrance exams 2009 if you’d believe Dr.Moshe).
The upcoming weeks are going to be dedicated to physics and I really enjoy it – which differs a lot from high school where physics were totally out. It might have to do with the fact that back then we had 13 different substitute teachers in one year and the lack of motivation – it’s AMAZING what motivation can do to you, two years ago I would totally reject everything that even slightly reminded of physics.

Yet another surprise was that the applications were not needed to have attached documents such as CV, medical status, grades and financial insurance which some of us spent a lot time to fix in time. It seems that we weren’t supposed to send that until after we got accepted to the university.
Dr. Moshe also revealed the fact that the upcoming two weeks are going to hold three course exams, one written and two oral. At the same time he raised the bar quickly handing out an unprepared presentation about the kidneys to Niyat.
I could tell that he was very impressed by the way Niyat conducted the presentation and totally NAILED the questions afterwards. She really did great and it was obvious that Dr. Moshe didn’t think that we’d stepped it up as good as we have since he continued the physics lesson with a big smile on his face.
The oral exams held this and next Friday is going to be a lot different from the ones that we’ve had so far. This time we’re not allowed to prepare anything and we’re going to be tossed right into the crossfire – like landing the shore of Normandie without a tactic.

In the practical art of war, the best thing of all is to take the enemy's country whole and intact; to shatter and destroy it is not so good.
- Sun Tzu

I’m looking forward to Normandie...

Another week gone by the wind

I got a lot of catching up to do and a lot of pictures to publish – so let me begin.The last week has been hectic with a lot of course material grinding and presentation drilling.
We did manage to complete the mission thou – to pass the second oral course exam in chemistry.
I, Jeanine, Jackie, Degol, Arani and Niyat got together a couple of day of the week to sit in the park and go over the materials whenever the weather was good. The last days of the week we also went early to the office in order to use the whiteboard to drill presentations.



We figured that having our own whiteboard in the future is going to help a lot and more or less decided that it’s a good idea. We even stayed after school to study. Ambitious, you might say? Totally necessary, is my response.The material of the chemistry is not as wide as the Anatomy and Physiology but it’s harder to structure and keep separated into the different categories. That goes especially for organic chemistry which we’ve dedicated loads of hour to repeat. It’s not much understanding, just a lot to drum into one’s head.

Considering the fact that Dr. Moshe STILL hasn’t got back to us and the time to send in the applications for the different universities are closing in everyone have been kind of stressed up lately. Budgets are being discussed along with living conditions and the choice of school. It’s a lot to think about and we really would like Dr. Moshe to be here to answer our questions.
When we try to contact him all we get back is pretty much “just stay calm and wait for me...”
That’s exactly what we don’t want to do due to the lack of trust established lately...

Still, I think mine and everybody else’s progress is, as mentioned before, going great(!).
Everyone seemed to pass the oral exam today and that really makes me happy.

The oral, unprepared presentation exams are quite funny actually. It goes like this:
The day before the exam we get a time that we’re expected to show up. When we arrive we get a subject, obviously hand picked by Dr. Moshe (I guess he still have a hand in it), and twenty minutes to prepare a presentation. We cannot use any notes or other accessories than a piece of paper, a pen and our brains hopefully containing the knowledge about the subject. After that we have to conduct the presentation smoothly covering as much of the material as possible being able to answer questions give both during and after the presentation.

Before you get your subject it feels kind of a medical roulette. You’re both nervous and excited at the same time. You just want to know what subject you’ll get so that you can focus on one thing and not the whole course material.

Once the subject is revealed all tension is gone and you focus to the maximum level possible.and I must admit I nailed it pretty good. I was actually hoping to get something from the organic chemistry since we’ve drilled it so much but still, it went good and I’m more than satisfied.
Claudia, our teacher, was really not holding back with the questions and she got me doubting a few times but that’s just a good thing.

Now I’m at the train back home and a lot of things need to be done this weekend.
I got to finish my application and all the attached documents such as passport copy, upper sec. school grades translations, passport photos and a short essay answering the question: "Why do you want to study to become a physician?"
I also have to clean and move the last stuff out of the apartment since we're leaving it next week.

"Sorrow happens, hardship happens, the hell with it, who never knew the price of happiness, will not be happy"
- Yevgeny Yevtushenko

Steak, palt and beer

This week we got together after school to cook.
Jackie showed us her mad skills in making 'pitepalt' and the day after that we craved some steak and beer which we had, BBQ'ed, and yes, look at the picture - the disposable grill is inside.

The question remains: did the steak get grilled more than we got smoked? ^^

Pepper steak with a taste of summer for the win...