Each day varies

In Medicine, we have a huge calendar that we check everyday because each day varies a bit. Even with the variance, there were certain things that stayed the same. We have about 6 hours of lectures and two hours of practicals per week. We also had a special clinical class that would come up about twice a month that would be about 3 hours. 

6-6:30am start

On the days that we had lectures (that would start at 9), I would wake up at around 6-6:30 to squeeze in a quick workout before getting ready to leave for the library. As hard as it was to wake up at that time, I found that early morning routine was a nice way to start off my day refreshed and energised! After grabbing a quick coffee and some toast, I usually head to either the McClay or the Biomedical library to watch my online lectures.

With most lectures being delivered through teams, I found that having a certain place to watch your lectures (even in a café) that distinguishes school from home is an excellent way to reduce burnout and just stay motivated to go to the lectures.

Practicals

On Wednesdays we usually had practicals at around 11, so I would head there after our 10 AM class. We usually have anatomy practicals where we partake in dissection, and I can say for sure that practicals were my favourite part of first year. It would be the place where we could see real life examples of our content and apply our learning. And because of the pandemic, it would also be the day we got to see people in person, so everyone really loved them!

Best places for lunch

After our practical, I would usually grab lunch with a friend at the many wonderful restaurants on botanic (Boojum, Umi Falafel and Maggie Mays to name a few). This was also a nice break from studying and learning all day. I would then head back to the library to review the material for the day or just catch up on studying.

Revise to retain!

The one thing I learned about the medicine course is that you do need to always keep revising. There is a lot of content that comes your way and to keep it manageable (especially at the end of year exam), revising a little each day helps so much. Studying with friends makes it twice as fun and effective too!

Home at 6pm

At around 6, I would head back to my accommodation to make dinner and chat with my roommates to cap the day. I tried my best to not study too much at home and keep school and home separate so that it doesn’t get exhausting. Some days are quieter, and some days are a lot busier, but this was my day the majority of the year.

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Medicine at Queen's

Manasa Ramakrishna Medicine | Undergraduate Student | Canada I’m a 20-year-old international student from Canada and currently studying Medicine. I figured the best way to combine my love for science, travelling and working with people would be to do international medicine. Outside school, I do classical dance, sculpture and biking!