Where have I been?!

Alright, there have been a couple of things that have happened in the last little while that I have failed to mentioned:
1) Mr. Thankey has reluctantly decided to open the flood gates in terms of extra-curricular activities.
2) Brisbane had a taste of Old Man Winter on Thursday, May 19th, 2005.
3) Veevek is slowly spiralling into madness...MADNESS I SAY!

Alright, let me explain the aforementioned numbered items.On May 10th, there was an international student night that was hosted by the University of Queensland Medical Society. It was a night whereby international students, from all 4 years, would be introduced to topics such as United States Medical Licensing Exam (USMLE), foreign doctors practising in Australia, and opening remarks from Ken Donald, Head, School of Medicine. Because of the complexity of those issues, we didn't have any guest lecturers (which we were going to have) to shed light on the bureaucratic issues that affect international students. The reason for having this information session, which was a first at UQ, was because of the marked increase in the number of international students in the course. There are more than 50 international students in my year, half of us are Canadians, the other half are comprised of Bruneians, a few Singaporeans, Americans, and Europeans (British and Norweigan).

An Australian medical degree is fully recognised in Brunei, Malaysia and Singapore. This makes life a whole lot easy for students that want to practise medicine in those countries. As for Canadians, we have to write the Medical Council of Canada Qualifying Exams (MCCQE), which all Canadian students attending a Canadian medical school have to write as well. This is not the hard part of getting into the Canadian system. The hard part is qualifying for a residency match through the Canadian Resident Matching Service (CaRMS). Applicants who are students or graduates of international medical schools are eligible for the second iteration provided they have passed the Medical Council of Canada Evaluating Exam within 5 years of the beginning of training. According to the Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada eligibility criteria for the first iteration match, graduates of international medical schools are not eligible to be ranked in the first iteration of the match by medical programs recruiting to first year residency other than those at accepted to apply in Quebec. What does this mean? It means that Canadians that have gained medical degrees from outside Canada/US are matched in the second round, if there are any spots left. In the 2005 match, there were 629 IMGs (International Medical Graduates) and of that only 80 were matched. Tis pitiful! At the moment, there are a few vehicles of change that are looking to get Canadians IMGs to be considered for 1st round consideration. As it stands, international students that are able to get into a Canadian medical school (and successful graduate) are considered for 1st round, even though they may not necessarily be Canadian citizens or permanent residents. To make a long story short, there are a number of things that need to be considered if Canadian graduates from Australian medical schools want to go back to Canada to practice medicine.Now, there are just as many complications for international students to stay and practice medicine in Australia. I would write about it but then I would be up for a few more hours, which would mean that I would be procrastinating even more from revising the gastro-intestinal tract.

To move on with it...it was a night where I was elected by the UQMS to represent MBBS Year 1 international students on the International Student Sub Committee. This sub-committee consists of 5 international students, and (for the time being) convenes monthly to discuss academic and administrative issues relevant to international students. One of the main focuses of the ISSC will be to improve communication between the School of Medicine and its students. So, what will I, along with the other members of the ISSC, be doing? Our first priority is looking at the creation of a database of information about how students can return to their home country/work in another country/stay in Australia. The second is to provide some assistance to UQ by coming up with a list of universities with which to pursue relationships for international rotations/electives.So, in the end, what does all of this mean? It means that Veevek has to make more efficient use of less time that is directed towards studying and revising.

The second item - Brisbane had a freak hail/thunderstorm yesterday! More than 150 lightning strikes were recorded in the Brisbane area. At uni, it was raining like mad. However, a few hundred metres away, there was a huge hailstorm! Right outside my house, there was enough hail to come up above my ankles! The roof of my pool collapsed due to the weight of the hail. Here's what the Sydney Morning Herald said about the event:

Brisbane is bracing itself for a second bout of thunderstorms after a freakish deluge of hail brought the city to an abrupt standstill late yesterday.

The storm, which damaged homes and business and cut power to more than 7000 houses, hit without warning about 5.30pm, surprising weather forecasters and peak hour commuters. The temperature fell suddenly as up to 50 millimetres of rain and hail fell on parts of the city, producing a sludge that prompted some to make the most of the extraordinary conditions with makeshift sleds.

Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Geoff Doueal said it was a once-in-a-lifetime storm."It had a great volume of pea-sized hail with it, and what caused all the havoc was not so much the size of the hail, but the great volume that was coming with the storm," he said. "It was a fairly slow-moving storm and the hail tended to block up drains, gutters, and then some heavy rain with the thunderstorm inundated people's properties. "For this time of year we haven't seen hail like that in the Brisbane city at all." Mr Doueal said the storm cell grew from a small thunderstorm to an intense barrage of hail within 15 minutes, leaving no time to issue a severe weather warning.ABC TV was forced to take its 7pm news bulletin from Sydney after the ceiling of the Toowong studio partially collapsed and received extensive water damage. Part of the Toowong Library caved in.

The State Emergency Service took calls from 200 people whose homes were overrun by water and hail. "Most of the damage centred on broken skylights and water inundation caused by the hail, blocking drains and gutters and water having nowhere to go," a rescue service spokeswoman said. About 200 power poles were hit by lightning and a felled tree brought down five powerlines in the northern suburb of Kedron.

Mr Doueal said the storms lasted several hours. They were expected to return late this afternoon. "We're likely to see some sort of thundery showers again today but it's very unlikely that we get a freak storm like that over the city again," he said."It just really was a build-up of hail. If you get big hail, it pounds into your car and makes big dents. We don't think that sort of thing happened - it was all very small hail, but it was the volume of hail which was quite amazing."

A friend drove me home from uni and traffic was so slow! I was thinking, "Move over people! Let a Canadian show you how you would drive in snow." Seriously, it took us more than 30 minutes to travel a distance of 1 km or so (for those of you in/know Calgary, that would be almost the same distance from 17th Avenue SW and Sacree Trail SW).

And as for the last item on the agenda - madness! Yes. All this studying (or the attempt to study) has been making Veevek quite sleepy and lethargic. I have quite an elaborate study schedule and tracker, that it seems all pretty on paper/computer that I just like to look at it and not do anything. Hmm...that's counterproductive to why those aids are used, hunh? :) Yes. Indeed, I've three and a half weeks till this exam and I feel as if I'm already cramming the information in my head. I know that I will pass (well, at this rate of studying, I'm not sure about that) but do I really want to just pass? I mean this is information that I should be able to compartmentalise and have to access to when I am dealing with patients, na? Now, I am just obsessing about it.Whew...I tell you, there is nothing like a good rant session, innit? :)