It’s Grad week! Hundreds of thousands of students have been graduating since Monday the 15th, and I thankfully was among them. Alhamdulilah (Praise be to God). Graduation day came and went so incredibly quickly that I didn’t really have time to process it. I’m currently sat in IKEA’s cafe, with some dinner and a cup of tea and I am ready to reflect on my University years properly because I feel like it is important so that I can close the chapter.
briefly, medical school went a little like this
Let’s talk about the actual degree first shall we? I just completed a Bachelor of Medicine Bachelor of Surgery MBBCh at Cardiff University. A medical degree that gives me the opportunity to apply to work as a junior doctor. My course was orientated around problem-based learning and early patient contact. My first year comprised of full body dissection, heavy basic sciences and an introduction to interacting with patients. All years were clinical and I had hospital placements, patient house visits and GP blocks from the beginning. Problem-based learning means we were split into groups of around 10-12 to unravel clinical cases in allocated case session times with a supervisor. From diabetes to dementia, heart failure to haemophilia.. we went through A LOT and a large chunk of the learning was self-directed. Third year onwards was pretty much all hospital placements all over Wales. I’ve lived in many parts of the country in some nice, some not so nice, hospital accommodation. I have also seen a lot of patients with very interesting diseases and stories. Comparing final year medic me to first year medic me, I have grown a lot, toughened up, challenged myself more. I also figured out that it is okay not to like all parts of Medicine but get the job done anyway. I was trying to write a summary of my whole journey including highlights, but it is near impossible.
Here are my three top memorable moments of medical school;
1
Just weeks into being a student, i walked into the dissection room amongst dozens of other first years and we were allocated a cadaver for the next 3 months of full-body dissection. i’ll never forget the smell of dissection and how overwhelmed i was that we were in a room of deceased people that had willingly donated their bodies for us to learn from
2
During my obstetrics and gynaecology block, i spent a whole day with a couple in the delivery suite. they were so kind to me and they were hilarious i almost forgot i was there to be signed off to have seen a natural birth. when night came, the lady went into labour and seeing a baby being born for the first time was just incredible
3
So many memorable moments but my third has to be my medical elective in kuching, malaysia. mainly because i still can’t believe how much time you get allocated for it and it was a holiday with some medicine. the common things you see on uk wards in comparison to in malaysia is so different, and as a future doctor you learn how important your clinical skills are in places where you don’t have the luxury of all the fancy tests and scans
University life
Moving down, I hardly knew anyone in Cardiff which meant I had to start from scratch at Uni. New city. New friends. New everything. I had my aunt and her family who lived nearby for the first few months, which was super nice for me to settle in. Being Muslim and seeking some friends on the same wave-length, I joined the Islamic Society and got to know a lot of incredible people through it. First year was filled with ice-breakers, a lot of netball, tennis and swimming and just a lot of settling into Uni. Building up a network and community from the beginning helped me establish myself as a person and not just as a medical student - I ended up being on the ISOC committee for a year, then moved on to join the FOSIS campaigns team where I served a wider community of Muslim students through working on mental health, community and creative projects alongside some incredible creative and inspiring people. Towards the end I got much busier with medicine and family life and decided to focus more on building myself as an artist and being a Scout leader alongside Uni because that was all I had time to do. Looking back on it, although a lot of what I did wasn’t long term, I am glad I pursued the ventures I did.
the hardships
I’m not saying the following to complain, but just to show you that I had my share of setbacks and hurdles, just like many if not everyone. Five years is a long time and life happens. University for me was not just about my medical degree. I had a lot of family responsibilities that I never talk about. I ended up not looking after myself and just really losing a sense of what my purpose even was in Cardiff - exams seasons were less focussed at times, I lost a lot of weight and my mental health took a turn for the worst. Eventually I pulled myself up, realised that life is sometimes just hard and you’ve got to make tunnels through mountains. So that’s exactly what I did and here I am, with hardships left, right and centre but I’m still smiling and creating those tunnels.
If you’re going through something hard, know that it may sound crazy but that might be exactly what you need to go through to become a better and stronger version of you. Life is filled with difficult situations, difficult people and difficult outcomes but also incredible opportunities, incredible coincidences and incredible learning curves.
Gosh. I just made that up on the spot.
The creative/salamsanctuary life
Uni is the richest poorest time of your life - in terms of money and time. Being a medic did not stop me as an artist or to fulfil any of my goals really, it just made me plan my life better. Here are a few creative things I did in the past five years;
art summer school in london
exhibited in cardiff and london (during exam time)
built an creative social media following
spent my summer in granada
built a creative community through attending workshops and exhibitions
visited art exhibitions from italy to beijing
met local sudanese artists and came to know of the art scene in sudan
lead islamic art workshops for young scouts
completed multiple art commissions
donated my art to charity through requests
batik painting in Malaysia
visited an youth art school in Thailand
… and this is just the beginning.
what’s next?
I have thought long and hard about this. And changed my plans a few times. I didn’t want to choose my next step based upon what it the most logical for me to do, but I wanted to align my goals and passions with my plans. After speaking to creatives and doctors I look up to and have come to know of the years, I sat down and wrote three different plans for my future. I looked at all three and thought long and hard about whether some time off would be good for me. But in the end, I decided to take my F1 job, and move down South by the beach to start work as a doctor. I’m still apprehensive of whether this was the best decision, but I’m going to go with it. I’ll be working hard towards continuing a creative life also (I have a few plans in place), and I know ultimately I’ll need some time off from Medicine. Whatever happens, I have strong faith that what will be, will be and Allah swt does not disappoint His servant.
Until next time,
Shaimaa
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