20 June 2007- 21 june 2007

a White Tie event, which according to dr. wiki, is "the most formal dress code that exists for civilians".

10-18 june 2007.

huixin, yifan and i went to barcelona, granada and seville.

was great fun :)



10-13 june 07
Barcelona

modern, buzzing metropolitan city with wonderful Gaudi architecture.
visited Zara and Mango in their homeland but didn't get anything.
had our first taste of tapas in spain for 2.80 euros a tapa - v pricey cos it was along their main street.

Parc Guell;
Barceloneta- la playa- the beach, where we had dinner;
spanish Bridge of Sighs;
Gaudi's wierd and wonderful house.

14-15 june 07
Granada

the Spanish city with great Islamic influence, for it was here that the Muslim conquerers set up base camp in the 13th century.
so we visited the beautiful Alhambra citadel/palace.
it was really beautiful, and the best part was that the architecture is so different from the style i've seen other parts of europe- cos its oriental- so it wasn't boring depite the fact that we spent 4 hours in there.
and since Christian conquerers set up their stronghold at the Alhambra later, there was an interesting transition in the interior design, but with both styles harmonizing beautifully.


we watched flamenco one night- cost us 8 euros, including a drink.
really enjoyed it a lot!
the guitarist, singer and dancer were all amazing.
very emotional and expressive.
and the best part was that it didn't seem that touristy- we watched flamenco in this little cafe recommended by the hostel, so most of the audience consisted of the hostel occupants BUT there were locals as well. somehow the artistes gave me the impression that they were not veterans in the field but were instead upcoming artistes who were trying to build a base and work they way up.
they really gave their all in every song- resulting in an intense performance each time cumulating in heartfelt applause.

we watched flamenco in seville as well.
in a converted coal yard, where entry was free but we had to buy a drink.
recommended by lonely planet.
it was sooo crowded and touristy.
couldn't see the feet of the dancer so that was a waste.
the dancer was older that the one in granada so i guess that made me conclude that she was more experienced. and indeed it showed, cos she knew how to work the crowd, with each song ending dramatically to thunderous applause from the audience, 90% of which couldn't see her feet. singer looked really bored, and all 3 artistes just gave me the impression that they were thinking "watever, lets just get this over and done with for this touristy audience who wouldn't know better anw". so we left halfway.

little alley our hostel was situated in;
Alhambra;
view of Granada from the Alhambra;
flamenco dancer in granada.


16-18 june 07
Seville

home of the third largest cathedral in europe.
where we finally found the 1.70 euro tapas bars that the guidebook talked about.
and where we watched bullfighting!

finally got my spanish up to scratch (vaguely) in seville. had forgotten all of it over the tripos, tried to remember in barcelona, got a bit better in granada and in seville could talk to the bartender at the tapas bar, who refused to speak to me in english cos he claimed that my spanish was ok (not true). maybe its cos i praised the tapas- "muy bien!"

tapas bar;
cathedral;
we met jiahui, hk and audry in the cathedral!;
yf and i at the bullfighting ring.

watched bullfighting with yf (hx didn't want to watch animals being murdered for entertainment).
incredibly exciting.
and very very scary.
it should be made R(A) i think.
there were actually little boys sitting in the row below us.
who would turn around and look at me like i was mad every time i screamed.
but it was really scary loh.
how can u not scream when u watch a guy run towards a charging bull?!

more on bullfighting later.

i'm off to the senate house to await the announcement of the Tripos results.
only found out yesterday that the results would be released today.
but they didn't give us a time.
so we are just going to wait at the senate house until the results are published.
exciting!

¡hola!
estoy en granada y voy a seville mañana.
granada es muy bonito.
me gusta españa :)
¡hasta luego!

¡hola mis amigos!
i´m in a hostel in barcelona, heading off to granada in a couple of hours.
spain is lovely, and gaudi architecture is amazing.
getting by with a mixture of english and half-hearted spanish :)
happiness!

8 down.
EIGHT.
at last.

2 papers and 2 miracles today.
it was a miracle i survived the whole ordeal. and i that i could finish the papers.
esp the crazy cdb one.
it was a miracle that i could do the path paper at all.
only started reading histology at 1 am and stopped at 430 am.
so i slept 3 hours.
and went for both practicals in a zonked out state.
path prac was... insane.
i looked down the microscope and saw a skin slide.
i knew it was skin cos the question said so.
all i could think of was "what on earth is going on"
spent 15 mins staring down the microscope to no avail. gut feeling was metastasis but i didn't see keratin whorls so i thought cannot be.
in the end i managed to squeeze sth out.
and then there was the coronary artery slide.
had no idea what was going on. saw some thrombus, collagen and some fatty stuff.
and since it was an artery it had to be atherosclerosis or thrombosis.
so just to be safe i said it was both.
without really knowing wat i was looking at.
all the while i was thinking "if i get this entire section wrong.. its 20% of the paper.. not that bad la..."


and then as it turned out after checking hk and ty they both wrote the same thing and they must be correct so i'm quite pleased ah :)
but my drawings and description are probably all crap
but its ok :)


and cdb.
1 word
"phage"
AT LAST.
but it was P1 phage not lamba as someone pointed out after the paper.
hope it didn't affect my answer cos i answered based on lamba.
a rather difficult question too, i must add.

just thank God for giving me the strength to go through it all.


NO MORE pathology
forever and ever and ever and ever.
YAY.

cannot panic
cannot freak out
cannot give up

and 3 more to go.

cdb paper 2 today.
2 words
"no phage"
why no phage again?!!!
argh.
10 questions choose 8, i was banking on a lot of development coming out and one on phage. in the end only 1 animal development and no phage.
argh.
could do just manage to do 8 questions (ie had sth to say)- had absolutely no clue about the other two, so really thank God for seeing me through it.

didn't manage to finish my last essay :(
the skin on my finger was peeling so it was quite painful.
but its no excuse for bad time management. boo :(
for the last part 5 essays choose 2, and i could only answer 2- no clue about the other 3.
really thank God that i could answer at least 2!!


went to destress with tianyi after lunch. that was fun.
then went to cf. was nice talking to everyone again.
truly thank God for the cf!! the prayer support, fellowship, worship and all really sustain me and keep me going.

and 4 to go.
more than half way done!!!

today i sat for the Most Feared Paper.
the paper i was convinced i couldn't do.
since the start of the year.
in fact i was still convinced of this fact last night.
and felt quite drained- it felt impossible.
biochem paper 2.
with instructions in front saying "Section B: Avoid excessive use of material that you have already used in Paper 1 and duplication of material in Section A" (because the external examiners who marked the papers in the past complained abt this)
and 14 short answer qns- and 2 essays in 3 hours.
contrast this with CDB- 8 short answer qns and 2 essays in 3 hours- and no clause.

Biochem, with the integrative questions- the Most Feared Questions.
for me, that is.
with past questions like "the human genome- an end or a new beginning?" and "is reductionism an aid or hindrance to the understanding of the biochemistry of the cell" , i was convinced i wasn't going to be able to do the paper.



so i was quite down.
and felt that there was only one thing to do
i msged xiaoen and hx to pray for me.
which they have been doing.
and they were v encouraging.
and reminded me psalms 121:1,2
"I lift my eyes to the hills-
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord
the Maker of heaven and earth."



sat for the paper
didn't finish revising all the topics.
and every single topic came out.
couldn't do the bacteria questions.
as for the integrative questions, i did the one on "the role of phosphate in the cell"
which is basically everything.
and another on amplification.
spent too long on the first essay and only and half an hour for the second.
and after thinking abt the qn for 5 mins i concluded that i couldn't think of any example that they specified they wanted.
but i still wrote the essay and 5 mins into it i was suddenly hit by an idea. a few ideas actually.
so i mangaed to complete the essay somehow.

so i really thank God for seeing me through the paper.
the paper i've dreaded since the start.
the paper i thought i'll never be able to do.
i somehow completed.
by God's grace and that alone.
thank you Lord.