Auscultating : Ending 2017

I pretty much feel like the blogosphere is dead, but who cares right?

2017 was quite an eventful year. Plenty have happened throughout the whole journey, and probably the chronology of pictures would speak more for themselves!

January:

Apart from finals, January was basically filled with a massive load of work on my final year project. My first taste of research started here, along with my passion for diagnostic imaging in veterinary medicine. I was very lucky to be able to work under and with one of the best sonographist in our country, my supervisor who thought me the fundamentals of ultrasonography, the meaning of persistence as well as the spirit of excellence. Our topic was on the different layers of ultrasound in cats, hence we got a lot of hands on experience on both ultrasonography and histology (the study of cells).

February:

After 5 weeks of strenuous sample collection, processing, data collection and analysis, the ultimatum was to produce the thesis as well as the presentation to the panels 2 weeks after the semester began. The level of stress, precision and in-depth knowledge on each aspects of our topic were just overwhelming. With luck and immense amount of diligence, we all managed to leap through the hurdles and produced our work. The late nights looking at histology slides with my 24" monitor were quite lonely and tiring, but I am quite glad I managed to complete this saga.

March:

March was nuts, but it was great. My supervisor finally joined the married status bandwagon and tied the know with the love of her life! I was thrilled and happy for her, and myself because I was basically the only DVM student invited to her wedding! At the same time, I also got to meet with the Japanese veterinarians who were going to be my colleagues if I were to fly to Japan for my postgraduate studies. My supervisor does seemed to be the word hard and play hard type, I'm sure all the students will be stunned with the reactions and gestures my supervisor did during the wedding night!

April:

After all the fiasco back two months to complete our FYP and Clinical Conference write up and presentations, the remaining months were left to complete our clinical rotations as well as preparations for the upcoming comprehensive examination in June. April was basically the time for me to complete my remaining experiences with livestock animals, because I knew I wouldn't be practicing in livestock much in the future. Wearing the coveralls, going into farms and getting dirty with the cows, pigs and chickens; its something I would miss a lot but not able to live with in the future.

May:

May was all about wrapping up our last bits and pieces of memories, activities and involvements in the faculty. Like every April or May in the previous years, our faculty held the Majlis Silaturahim to cherish the fact that vet students do not just rock in our studies, but on stage performances as well. The theme this year was Korean Wave, but the four of us here got stuck doing the girly dance to woo our Oppa. It was fun, the choreography was crazy and we had 1 long night to practice. But it was fun.

June:

June was probably the climax of the evens in 2017: our comprehensive examination. 5 years of knowledge, blood and sweat (no kidding, we lost a lot of blood from bites, scratches and cuts) are all tested in the 3 long weeks. 6 essay questions on pre-clinical, para-clinical and clinical veterinary science; 150 MCQs on 3 clinical parts and 20 minutes worth of oral examination on all 3 clinical parts as well. Long afternoons of group studying, long nights of insomnia, long hours of procrastination; but we all passed, so every moment of hard time was worth the pain. 

July:

After our battle with the final boss in our veterinary student lives, it was time for a good catch up before our departure in our future lives. It was a relief that this bunch of beautiful people accepted me into their group despite the fact that I was from another batch. It was also a relief that we all had the same ideology and aims to strive for the benefits of animals and humanity. We may only have had 5 years to know each other on daily basis, but our friendship will persist till we become old.

August:

August was a lot about releasing stress and meeting new people. And as vet students, a very great way in knowing more people from the inside and outside of the country would be joining international conferences such as IVSA Congresses. Malaysia became the host this year, and I joined as a participant instead of a committee to meet old and new friends from abroad. I have to say our bunch is pretty Asian-centered, probably because a lot of the Europeans couldn't cope with our games, and we couldn't cope with theirs either. Nevertheless, these people were one of the coolest ones around during the whole Congress! #Asianpartyrocks

September:

I finally joined an employment workforce in September, as a full time vet with a full time job! I was, and still am very lucky to be able to join a modest companion animal practice with a passionate and great boss and veterinary team. Trying to pick up clinical skills with ample eloquence to deal with clients and patients was not easy after 2 months of slothing, but my boss is always there to my rescue. 

October:

Plenty has happened in October, the good and bad in 2017. The good thing was, our buddy from our vet buddy line got married with his high school sweetheart! The whole wedding was simple but extremely down to earth and cozy to all who attended. The videos were really sweet, the band wasn't too loud and the food was just amazing. I guess I'm the next male Buddy scheduled to get married, but probably the guy buddy after me would go first haha. And the bad was I got into a huge accident, where I am safe but my car needed to be sent to the factory for a major makeover. Our insurance covered it but my parents weren't too happy about it.

November:

November was quaint but exciting because it was the time for our graduation ceremony! Receiving the certificate of registration as a veterinarian in the Registrar of Veterinary Medicine of Malaysia was exhilarating, because it means that I'm no longer an apprentice or student, I'm a full-fledged veterinarian in Malaysia now. Adding bonus to my academic years, I managed to receive two faculty awards with my name listed on the Hall of Fame in our faculty foyer!

December:

 

After 6 length months of waiting, December marked as the best time of 2017. Santa came late this year, but he brought an amazing gift, a fully-covered ticket to Japan for the next 5 years. I've managed to secure the Japan Government MEXT scholarship to pursue my postgraduate studies in Hokkaido University, with tremendous amount of help from my FYP supervisor and support from the people I know. This also market my last few months in Malaysia, as I will be embarking my next phase of life in Hokkaido, Japan.

2017 was a great year, I managed to learn a lot in my field, marked multiple achievements I never imagined I would, and accomplished my dream of living in Japan after 10 years of prepping myself for the country's system. The best thing about it is that I get to live there and also do what I love most, working with animals. 2018 surely would be awesome, and life as of now is extremely beautiful.