Thesis presentation

Hello Everyone!

I hope everyone is doing well and that you finished mid-terms. I cannot believe it’s almost April! Soon it will be time for exams. However, it’s not even April yet and I feel the stress of school. On Tuesday March 22nd, I will be doing my thesis presentation. I am very nervous because I will present all my research in front of other fourth year students. On the other hand, I’m also excited because I will be doing something new, a different challenge that I haven’t faced before. So in that sense, I am looking forward to doing the presentation as well. If any of you are interested, please visit Buller 527 after 3 pm and check out other presentations. Hope to see you guys there! And I will definitely tell you how it went after it is finished.

Esther

Med School

Hey Everyone!

How was your reading week? Mine was uneventful, but very stressful. The reason for that was because I had my UofM med school interview at the end of reading week. The actual interview went by pretty quickly considering it was 2 hours long. However, the weeks leading up to the actual date was absolutely nerve-wracking. On the bright side, I am so thankful of my family and friends who helped me to keep calm and always encouraged me at times I felt down. Furthermore, a group of friends and I practiced together and that was very helpful too.

I would like to give you all a breakdown of the interview style and format. First of all, the MMI (Multiple Mini Interview) is designed to have a more objective view on the candidates. Many universities found that the panel interview was biased, so they switched to the MMI format. For my interview, there were 12 stations: 10 interview stations, 1 writing station and 1 rest station. You have 10 minutes at each station. 2 minutes to read the question posted outside the door and 8 minutes to talk about the issues of the question with the interviewer (minus the writing and rest stations). This 10-minute deal is designed to mimic doctor-patient interactions in the doctor’s office. The questions are a mix of ethical and personal questions in which you have to answer to the best of your abilities. It’s also good to add any personal experiences you have had to add, if appropriate.

Overall, I thought the interview was a good experience, but very scary at the same time. I answered all questions to the best of my abilities, but it is hard to tell if that was enough or not.  Now all I can do is wait.

After the interivew, all the groups had a tour of the facility and I loved it! There is a simulation lab at the UofM. It is used by medical students to help them learn about certain procedures in dealing with real patients. I thought it was really cool to see all the ‘dummy’ patients. Hopefully I will be there next year to actually experience it in person. If you guys have any questions about UofM med or the interview, please feel free to leave comments!

Until next time,

Esther

February

Hello everyone!

It’s been awhile since my last blog…I hope that everyone spent January well. I don’t know how it went by so fast but it definitely did. Now that February has started, I have to start studying hardcore for midterms coming up. Unfortunately, the weather has also been very cold and I caught the worst cold last week. I hope everyone else is bundling up and staying warm!

Last Thursday, I was able to make it down to Inner City Youth Alive Bridge drop-in center where I usually volunteer. It had been awhile since I had last visited because of exams in December and school. It felt really good to be back and see all the kids again. The good news is that the Bridge had been preparing for a huge renovation and update for the drop-in center. It looked amazing. New gym, new building, new everything! We even have a climbing wall on one side of the building. How cool is that?!?! The whole neighbourhood was invited for the grand opening and there were prizes, games and good food. It felt incredible to be part of something new. I was so glad I could make it and be reminded of how good it felt to volunteer. Enjoy some of the pictures below!

Me and Stanley – my best bud!

Kids and crafts

Prizes

Climbing wall

Happy New Year

I cannot believe it is 2011 already. I hope that everyone had a well-rested break filled with joy, family and friends and also new expectations for the New Year! It felt rather short for me…but that’s usually how the winter break feels. I also hope everyone did well on their exams and are preparing well for the new 2011 school year. I was worried about one exam in particular, my Human Genetics Test 1. However, I did much better than I thought so I was very grateful. Sometimes long answer questions may be beneficial for receiving part marks rather than right or wrong answers involved with multiple choice format tests. Although most first and second year courses have multiple choice tests, third and fourth year courses focus mostly on short and long answer. Both test formats have their pros and cons so I hope everyone can prepare well either way.

This semester I am taking a full course load once again and I’m feeling the stress already. This is especially because my thesis paper and presentation are due in March and April. It seems like a long time away, but I have a lot of work and preparation to do before then. For example, I need to organize all my data, finish experiments, get experiment results, put all the information together, then write the paper and prepare my presentation. I have never written a thesis paper before so that makes me a bit nervous. Also, I don’t mind doing presentations in front of people, but it will be somewhat nerve-racking because it will be in front of all the science honours students and faculty members. It’s a new challenge; something that I haven’t done before, but I’m looking forward to sharing all the research I have done over the past year. It’s somewhat exciting!

I hope that everyone has a good second week of school! See you next time.

Esther

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Hello everyone!

I do hope that you are all finishing up exams or have finished exams already. I still have one more exam left this Wednesday. Unfortunately, it is the last day of exams…right until the bitter end! However, I am grateful because I had a lot of time to study in between.

The past few weeks have been pretty uneventful because of studying for exams and school. On the bright side, I believe my winter break will be packed with fun times to spend with my family and friends. First of all, my cousin is visiting Winnipeg and I haven’t seen him in several years so that will be exciting. Also, as a youth group Bible study teacher, I will be attending the youth group winter retreat next week. However, I will have to drink lots of coffee or tea because the young ones have so much energy! They tend to stay up quite late so I need some extra power for that. In January, our family will probably go on a day ski trip to enjoy the outdoors and tobogganing periodically as well. A Harry Potter movie-thon is also scheduled sometime during the break. Although it’s embarrassing to say, I haven’t seen any of the Harry Potter movies…but I have read the books!

I hope that all of you will have a blessed holiday season filled with good times with family and friends. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! See you again in 2011.

Love,

Esther

Winter Season

Seasons Greetings Everyone!

Winter has truly arrived in Winnipeg. I hope that everyone is keeping bundled up and healthy to prevent from getting ill. I know that getting sick during exams is not pleasant. Surprisingly, I have kept healthy over the past few heavy snowfalls! I think that a healthy intake of vitamin C really helps the body’s immune system to fight against disease. So, I have been eating a steady amount each day. I recommend all you guys to do that as well!

However, as all university students understand, winter is also the time for our dreaded exams. I hope that everyone studies hard and do well on their exams this semester. Fortunately, I only have two exams because my other two classes are 6 credit hour classes. That is, no final exams this semester! On the down side, I have my second exam on the last day of exams…which is really unfortunate. However, I do have a lot of time between my exams so I have plenty of time to study. 

Good luck to everyone on their exams and have a blessed holiday!

Love,

Esther

Human genetics

Hello Everyone!

Last blog I was talking about the amazingly warm Winnipeg weather. Unfortunately, the true winter weather has finally arrived. Our snowfalls have been pretty regular over the past few weeks. I do hope that everyone is able to keep safe and mostly out of the ditch if possible! I guess we do deserve the name, “Winterpeg.”

I recently finished my first Human Genetics test. I like the course because we get to learn genetics in the human aspect. For example, we learned about Down syndrome (also known as Trisomy 21) in more detail and the possible mechanisms that can result in the disease. Of course, there are other diseases that we learned about as well. Most undergraduate genetic courses tend to focus on plant and animal genetics at the cellular level. However, I find the class difficult because it is so unlike any of my other classes. First of all, we have already had 5 different professors come to teach the class, each ranging from about 1-5 lectures. On top of that, I haven’t really been exposed to human genetics during my undergraduate education, so it’s difficult to put all the pieces together. We just finished learning about pedigrees and mechanisms of how certain diseases can arise in family trees. I have to tell you, it isn’t as simple as Genetics 1 or 2. There are many complex mechanisms that can all influence diseases in human beings. I guess that’s why the science field is so difficult to even justify certain concepts and theories, especially in human beings. We are too complex! This class further helps me to recognize why I want to be in medicine; to learn about the human body and all its complex systems. I do believe that the course material is interesting and will become more interesting as the course progresses. Unfortunately, it will take me some time to getting used to the different style of learning.

Anyway, I hope everyone will be able to enjoy the Winnipeg weather! Maybe hit the slopes before exams start or…enjoy shoveling the snow! I definitely have shoveled enough snow thus far. Anyways, I will talk to you all later!

Esther

Chivalry

Hey everyone,

I hope you all have had a good week so far. Mine has been going pretty well. I’m excited because it is almost the end of the term! Although we have exams coming up, I think winter break is going to be fun.

I wanted to share an experience I had on the bus the other day. A few young university students were sitting in the handicap section of the bus and chose not to move for some elderly people who came onto the bus later. They even had the nerve to say, “Old people should just stand.” Maybe the times have changed, or I am old-fashioned. But I didn’t agree with the attitude of the young students. It reminded me that I should respect the elderly, whether it’s on the bus or even driving. One day, we will all become older than we are now…so let’s remember to be a little more chivalrous to our elders.

In the spirit of chivalry, it was also Remembrance Day this week. I hope everyone took time to remember and respect the fallen and living soldiers. 

Love,
Esther

Winnipeg Weather

Hey Everyone!

What a wonderful few weeks of weather we had…it was almost as if we weren’t living in Winnipeg! T-shirts and shorts in October were very unusual, especially this time of the year. Even just a few years ago we would all be wearing our parkas with snow on the ground. However, the rain has started once again. This is the time of the year I wish that our rain will turn into snow soon. Maybe I’m a true Winnipegger…snow is what we should have on Halloween!

Speaking of Halloween, anyone have any suggestions to which party to go to for the weekend? I know there are lot of things going on, but my friends and I can’t seem to choose one. I definitely haven’t dressed up for Halloween in a long time so I will have to see what I can think of. Unfortunately, many of my friends will not be going out because they have their DAT coming up within a week after Halloween. Good luck to all of you who will be writing the DAT in November.  And Happy Halloween!

Also, my mid-terms are finished now and I have about two weeks to chill. However, I know that this is the time to catch up on everything else before the second wave of mid-terms hits…and soon it will be exam time! Some mid-terms went really well, others were not as great as I thought they would be. On the bright side, there are always exams to make up anything lost during mid-terms. As a student, there are many times I am so caught up with marks and grades I forget to actually take time to learn about the material itself. I am always reminded that grades are important, but learning is even more important and more valuable. If I can learn and understand the things presented in class, I do believe that I can be a better student. Maybe we can all be reminded of these things once in awhile.

Love,
Esther

Thanksgiving

Hey Everyone,

It is once again mid-term season and I’m sure all of you are studying hard. I hope that everyone has adjusted well to their new classes this year and are ready for exams! Thankfully, this year my mid-term schedule is not bad. I have about one mid-term and one assignment for a few weeks. I hope that all of you guys can get through your mid-terms well. Good luck!

On the bright side, it is the long weekend so I hope everyone will have some time with family and friends. Eat lots of turkey and study hard!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Love,
Esther