bunnylysis

Oh I realize that while everyone, after their first week of university posted what life is like. Well! To give a fair assessment, I decided to wait until my time there was over. Or rather I was too lazy and forgot. ^^; In any case! I believe that for med students, life is kind of like a black hole you never get to crawl out of. In the first year alone while other people get days of the week off, we get 5 days a week, sometimes 6, from 8am till 4-5pm Not to mention the homework..

THAT'S ONLY THE FIRST MONTH. IT GETS WORSE >=D...

In any case, I made some really really cool friends there. I'm really grateful to them-- people like Alycia for taking me into her OG when i was utterly and completely lost in the crowd...and sea...of RJ and HCI people. >_>... And also to the rest of their OG for making me feel so welcome. Haha..Sneha, I would've used your user name...but it's screwing up lj-cut!!



-dies- That was a huge amount of text, writing..I'm dying. -flops- At first I started out writing a description and then my message...and then I just went on with message. -groans- But yes, on the whole, thanks to EVERYONE in the OG. I had an awesome time and will miss you guys =( Outside the OG, there are some people I also got to know..but never exchanged contacts with. Kind of makes me feel sad =(

I'll try to keep up this blog with updates about UCL so if anyone just wants to read what it's like to study there..doesn't want to have to log onto msn too much...stay in touch over here? =) In any case...I've typed enough.. Signing off~



<3 estelle

 "I don't expect you to be an unwed mother."

Imagine hearing that at 7.30am in the morning. In school. From your mother.

Back up a sec, how did I go from not even dating to fornicating in sin? Oh yeah, since my mother decided to give me a list of her expectations for whoever I date much less marry.

"By the way, if you decide to get married, we're withdrawing all forms of funding. So make sure your husband can support you."

...Fair enough. I mean, I do have a midas touch.

"Including school fees."

Hold on. I'm getting married before I end university? Holy cow. I hope he's hot. and rich.

Yees my friends, that is what you get from parents. That by the way, is just the latest in the line of lectures my dearest mother has had coming my way. Ever had the race lecture? It goes something like...

"You should not marry anyone but a Chinese. We Chinese are an ancient race, and hence our genes are far superior to other races. I also do not expect you to wed a black, an ang moh, a jap, a korean, an italian, an american, a british..." (I'm not repeating the full list) "...Oh but I don't mind a Jew. They're another ancient race."

Okaay. You should know that my grandparents are like that too. Apparently, I'm not the only one with the race lecture. My indian friend gets it too. She's luckier. She gets an arranged marriage!!!! YES. IN THIS DAY AND AGE. Come, do share your woes of parental lectures with me. I'd actually like to hear them. ^___^

Long story short, she has to like, no LOVE her future son-in-law. I think not dating/marrying would solve that problem quite nicely. Don't you? <3
 

 Today after my university lecture ended and I was at ACJC tutoring my juniors, I came across a conversation topic between one of the seniors and one of the juniors. The junior had written an essay for his GP paper about 'Being the Best'. What got my attention was the definition of what it meant to be the best.

My initial response was that we should simply be the best where we are located--for me a year back, that would have been my junior college. Only when I listened to my senior's response did I realize how narrow-minded that view was. My senior--is a student at Stanford College in America. He asked: Is it to do things to the best of your ability? Is it to be the best in your field? The best in your school, the country or at an international level?

Growing up in a small country like Singapore, it's easy to lose sight of the rest of the world. It's easy to have the mentality that going to the National University of Singapore is enough, being the top of that cohort makes you the best there is. Sometimes, we get the mentality(that may have been fostered by our environment, the media and whatnot) that other countries are inferior to us in terms of academics--which is not true. Managing the education system in areas ten times the size or bigger than Singapore is no mean feat. Other countries have more citizens and thus may have more people pulling down the bell curve. At the same time, they have more human resources--more individuals to choose from that could outstrip our own.

Just how many of us try to push our boundaries to stand on an international stage?

In a way, being the best is about being competitive, pitting your mind against the cream of the crop and not just regionally but across the globe. It is people who are crazy enough to push their boundaries, going beyond what normal people would say is 'Enough'. I guess to me, the initial, simple-minded concept I had of 'Being the Best' has fallen away. It is like taking the frog out of the well and dumping it in the ocean among the sharks.

Another question comes to mind. When can someone honestly say that, "I am the best"? Possibly never. The "best" is such an absolute term that it would be sheer arrogance to say it and the glass ceiling to our evolution--if there was someone out there who was incomparable in every way, for all time, would they still have the motivation to keep moving forward? There will never be someone who is absolutely the best for all time--look at Roger Federer, he maintained his world ranking as #1 for 237 weeks before finally being overtaken by Nadal. Even during the period of being #1, he still lost matches, though considerably fewer than other players.

Knowing there are others out there better than us keeps us pushing, striving to get there. In the chance that someone reaches a #1 ranking, knowing others are catching up and a fear of being overtaken keeps them on their toes.  Competitiveness-perhaps therein lies the key to our growth.

It seems I have written a short essay. It was never my intention to do so, thus I will cut it short here. Should anyone have views differing from mine I would be interested to hear them. I am sure there are a wide variety of views on this topic.

Does anyone ever have grandfathers who in the middle of the night. And I mean literally. 12am in the morning...1am in the morning, take a stroll down from their room in the attic(oh and the attic is huge btw. it's not some awful room in case you think I abuse my grandparents XP) to see whether all the lights are switched off, whether their grandchildren are sleeping or not? This would be when I turn off my lights and hide under my blanket in hopes he's fooled because I'd like to avoid the lecture I'd get for staying up so late.

It's kind of scary. His staircase creaks you see. So you know when he's coming down and going up. So you have to hide under the blanket...listening......till the creaks dissolve. Then you know you're safe.

Okay....it's probably because he cares or something. Or so someone's going to tell me. Though honestly ^__^ If my parents themselves don't impose a curfew I don't see why he should bother. It feels kind of restrictive sometimes if you know what I mean. Though I suspect he's just taking the walk to check that EVERYTHING is switched off so he doesn't waste money on electricity bills->Which makes sense. I only wish he wouldn't tell me to go to sleep when he does that.

Just. Why does he do it in the MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT???

....Okay. Going to stop mid-rant here to avoid annoying some people with my needless waste of their f-list space. =) Just going to ask here. Does anyone have grandparents who do this too? Or parents?? I'd like to know if I'm not the only one. ^^