Lessons Learnt From Living Abroad

If you had asked me just 3 years ago if I'd like to move abroad, I would have probably said no. I was comfortable in my bubble in the UK; all my friends were there and everything was predictable and fairly comfortable. So if you had told me I would actually be living abroad pretty soon, I definitely wouldn't have believed you. But here we are almost 2 years later and I've moved to Zambia then China within the span of 4 months. Talk about a plot twist!

I don't remember the move to the UK as particularly significant. I was just going along with what my parents said would happen, and when it happened I just took it all in my stride. Honestly, the people around me were way more excited than I was! But as a 6 year old, it's hard to look at that kind of move with the same perspective as a 20 year old, which is how old I was when we eventually left the UK.

Growing up in, and living among 3 different cultures (so far) has really shaped me into who I am today, which is a topic I want to dedicate an entire post to in the future. It's a cliché sentiment, but all your experiences really do shape you into the person you're going to ultimately become, and today I want to share what lessons from moving abroad (specifically in China) I learnt!

Before we get into it, I have written a few of posts about my time in China, such as some habits I've picked up, experiencing some cultural shock, and my experience being a black woman in China. Do check those out if you're interested!

Becoming self-dependent was the first thing I noticed about myself, and this was molded by the fact that I was now in university too. I didn't have parents or a sister just downstairs to rely on anymore.  My friends were all busy with university or work all the way on the other side of the world. Any decisions I had to make were to be made by and for myself. Having to navigate a new culture, a new language, and new people from different countries all bringing their own cultures and languages was difficult and lonely in the beginning, and it sometimes still is now!

Jumping into adulthood like that was a definite shock to the system, but it's a shock that is now paying off. Being able to take care of my own finances, travel by myself, and live by myself are things I only would have been able to do had I come all the way out here. 

Because I became self-dependent pretty quickly, the next thing I realised was how resilient moving abroad can make you. Being thrown into a new country with a completely new culture has made me way more confident in my ability to navigate through almost any situation! After some time, things or people that used to make me frustrated and easily annoyed turned me into a person who could face these challenges and just keep it pushing. 

A big part of being more resilient is facing and accepting reality. A lot of people will leave university or leave the country they wanted to move to because it didn't live up to expectations, or that the journey wasn't as smooth as they wanted it to be. It's being able to look at your new life and accept that things are different that makes all the difference. 

Finally, another lesson I learnt is that living abroad can make you used to just about anything. What do I mean by this? British people love to complain, and if we're going complain about something, the weather is near the top of the list. I went form complaining about summers of 27° or sometimes even 30° to living in summers of 37° and humidity thrown on top of it. 

Another example is just being outside itself! People staring, pointing, and whispering is part of the norm here and it's something that I've just grown used to. If I'm lost or need help with anything, I can walk up to a stranger and speak a language I've only been learning for just over a year, whereas in the UK if I was lost, I'd be dependent on Google Maps the whole time. 

So those are a few things I've learnt and come to realise since living in China since 2018. Time flies so quick, and in September, it'll be 2 years since I've been here (which is still crazy to me!)

I hope this post was interesting, and if you've ever lived abroad please tell me your experiences below!

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5 Must-Watch Medical TV Shows

Surprisingly, when you ask a medical student what their favourite medical TV show is, many will say they don't even watch any! A lot of my friends don't have that one medical show that they're attached to, but I happen to enjoy this genre thoroughly! When asked why, a lot of medial students say they're just not realistic or interesting. I totally agree about the unrealistic-ness of it all, but I do find them entertaining to watch, so I'll keep doing so!

Some aspects of medical shows I enjoy are how they tackle issues like insurance, end of life decisions, and the bureaucracy.

I have here a few of my favourite medial TV shows that I want to share with you all, and if you've watched any I haven't listed, do leave them down below!

GREY'S ANATOMY

This is definitely the OG of all medical shows, and the most loved and popular! It's been running since 2005 and we're 16 seasons in and still waiting for more! I love this show because it's thoroughly entertaining - there is intense drama straight from season 1 - and the hundreds of characters all get to have moments where their back stories are explored. I found that there were moments where the drama outweighed the actual medicine and especially from season 14 onward, it seemed heavily focused on the romance aspect.

There were some very cool cases and surgeries I found interesting, like the woman who grew numerous mini spleens following a surgery, the face transplant on the woman with amnesia, the man and woman connected by a pole going through the both of them following an accident, and the woman with toxic blood that made most people lose consciousness.

CHICAGO MED

I honestly feel like this show is 70% drama and 30% showing actual surgeries. I don't recall any specific surgeries or cases that pop out to me, but I can tell you all about my favourite couple and all the crazy things that happen to the characters. I'd recommend this show if you're into the drama of it all but not necessarily if you're looking for medical inspiration.

DR ROMANTIC

Once you get past the cringe of the name, it's a great K-drama! The thing about Korean dramas is that they are all focused and principally centered on romance, and the main genre it claims to be is sprinkled around in scenes here and there. Medical dramas are (mostly) set in a hospital and surprisingly has quite a lot of medical content, but it's definitely a romantic drama at the end of the day.

Dr Romantic season 1 is centered around two doctors who work in a big hospital in the city, and after an almost fatal accident and a touch of medical bureaucracy, both end up working in a small countryside hospital. It highlights medical bureaucracy so well, and puts into perspective that medicine and the medical field is still a business that some benefit from, while others suffer at their hand. It follows their journeys as they grow as doctors, while also highlighting other medical professionals like nurses and doctors who aren't surgeons (which I don't think is really done in Western shows!). I have yet to finish season 2, but it follows a similar plot!

THE GOOD DOCTOR

This was a hugely popular show when it came out, and I hopped onto the trend and finished the first season in 2 days. When season 2 came out, I just didn't have that same fire anymore, but did manage to get through it eventually. It puts a different twist on all medical shows in that the main character is autistic and training to be a surgeon. There are a lot of cool cases in this one; the very first episode has a tracheotomy (which I still find fascinating whenever I see this in a show), a tumor growing in a fetus that has to be surgically removed, and a man with a 200 pound tumour growing around his body.

I think it balances drama with medicine pretty well, but honestly the characters are a bit forgetful!

DOCTOR STRANGER

This is another Korean drama that actually has quite a lot of medicine in it! It follows a boy and his doctor dad who were tricked into going to North Korea and they ended up being denied to go back to South Korea. He trains as a doctor in North Korea, falls in love, and tries to escape with his girlfriend but they end up separated. When he reaches the South, he starts work as a doctor and tries to find out what happened to his girlfriend. There are a lot of cool surgeries and cases in this one, which I enjoyed.

The drama-to-medicine ratio is surprisingly very good so I'd definitely recommend this to any K-drama fan or medical TV show fan!

What are your favourite medical dramas?

Tell me below!

What Deleting Social Media Taught Me

The trend of deleting social medial is all the rage online. People claiming all sorts of benefits and advantages to either deleting all their distracting apps or just not using their phone at all, and encouraging others to do the same thing too. When deciding to delete social media, I didn't fall into the hype because of what I read online, but rather because my final exams were coming up and I wanted to focus. Just as simple as that!

So sometime in mid-June, I deleted the 3 most distracting apps from my phone; Instagram, Twitter, and 小红书 (a Chinese app similar to Pinterest/Instagram) and gave myself 3 weeks to go without, and this is what I learnt!

THERE IS SO MUCH TIME IN THE DAY

Usually, I get to the end of my day and wonder where all my time went. How is it already 8pm? When did it get so dark outside? When you think about it, you may only spend your time scrolling through your apps in 10 minute increments, but those 10 minutes add up fast during the day. They eat up your time and before you know it, you've reached the end of the day with nothing to show for it. I found that whenever I was bored, I'd switch through those 3 apps just for something to do and those 10 minutes would become hours very soon, and it would be a scramble to get something done that should have been done ages ago.

I found that by deleting social media, I was less rushed and could take my time in doing what I wanted to. The first couple of days were honestly painfully long, but on day 3, I woke up and got into the swing of my new routine.

I AM EASILY DISTRACTED

When I study, I set a timer on my phone and put it somewhere I can't reach. To do this, I use the app Forest because if you exit out of the app, the tree you select to grow will die. Sadly, an update to the app now means you can exit out of the app, use your phone as normal with the timer still running in the back and your tree won't die! So, I found that when a lecture was on the boring or difficult side, I was able to "give myself a small break" and scroll through Twitter or update my Instagram story, which meant I was ultimately getting nothing done.

Not having these apps anymore meant that even if something was hard or not that interesting, I literally had to force myself into continuing. Again, the first few days were hard but after giving it some time, I was able to adjust. If I found my mind drifting off, I'd have a stretch and motivate myself to keep going with a snack (or several!)

NOT EVERYTHING HAS TO BE SHARED ONLINE

If you follow me on Instagram, you know I love to update my stories with basically everything I'm doing, cooking, eating, where I'm going etc. Part of it is because I live in China and want to share my experiences online, but another part is because I just love taking photos and find satisfaction in people commenting on the photos and whatnot.

This gets exhausting - every blogger and their mum has spoken about how stressful and tiring it can be to keep up with both your everyday life and your online life on top of that, and I get those feelings very often. Getting rid of Instagram was a relief because I didn't need to share what I ate or did that day. I didn't think "How many people have viewed my story today?" or "What time is it, I need to post something", or anything along those lines. I could just do anything and leave it at that!

Having re-downloaded my Instagram has made me realise that I genuinely enjoy capturing everything, but it still shouldn't be at my expense.

BEING OUT OF THE LOOP IS OKAY

One of the things about social media that draws me in and keeps me hooked is how I like feeling like I'm on top of the news and trends and whatnot. Twitter can find out the breaking story or latest meme before anything else, and finding out about something as soon as it drops is a weird enjoyment of mine. But when I got rid of Twitter and got out of that bubble, I was left with the realisation that it really doesn't matter!

In fact, going back on Twitter has put it in even greater perspective, as I see that getting most of my information from social media (and ultimately from other people, strangers, and their opinions) is really a disservice to myself. Sometimes it's fine to just not know anything, and after the events of May/June, it's important to log off for a while.

READ: Turning Your FOMO into JOMO

As well as all of this, I found myself way more productive and happier overall! Removing the pressure of just your presence simply being online was amazing, and I would definitely delete my social media again or even make a habit out of doing it regularly! Being left alone with just my thoughts and no one else's opinions let me know myself more and I enjoyed that too.

Have you ever deleted social media? What did you learn?

Finishing The First Year of Med School! | Med Diaries 002

Well, what a fail Med Diaries turned out to be, eh? I had initially planned to have these written and uploaded once a month but here we are 3 months after the first post went up, and this is only the second one I'm writing! It was a busy time during May, June, and the beginning of July - finishing the semester and studying for finals, then being told we have to have an extra month of lessons after finals. As I'm writing this now, we have one more week left before summer ~truly~ starts, but all that to say; I'm now officially done with my first year of medical school!

I never thought those words would come true, because some time after June, time started dragging and every day just molded into one another, the routine became monotonous and the studying seemed never-ending. But I'm done now and it feels like a dream!

During the final semester, I was taking regional anatomy, biochemistry, physiology, Chinese language (Mandarin), and sports, and all of them were online, yes even sports! Our next semester is looking to be partly online and partly regularly, but we'll see how it goes what with the whole Covid situation.

So for the next semester, we've got Pathology, Microbiology, Immunology, Pathophysiology, and Chinese History and Culture. I think it's gonna be another tough semester just like the others before it, but hopefully I'll be able to just push through and get to the other side!

Highs of the previous semester were realising that I could definitely motivate myself to do the whole online school thing, and also having free time to both cook and study during exam season (which is practically unheard of for a medical student!). Some lows, however, were the monotony of the semester and also not being able to have lab! The labs for all subjects have pushed to the next semester, which means it's gonna be even busier than what it would have been.

So, this was just a quick little update to say where I've been and what I've been up to!

Please look forward to the next one! :)

Your Role In The Black Lives Matter Movement

The last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind of emotions. Each month, 2020 brings us something more shocking than the last and May was absolutely no different. The killing of George Floyd was a huge wake-up call for so many people out there, but the fact that another person had to lose their life at the hands of police brutality in order for us to once again reaffirm the fact that, yes, black lives do matter is a problem in itself.

I took time away from posting when the news first broke out; it became stressful to be online so I would get a few updates throughout the day here and there. A few days passed and I became more and more engrossed in finding out ways I could help out with petitions and spreading the word. Countless of petitions signed later, I’m still here trying to figure out a way to move forward.

It is evident that in 2020, it is not enough for non-black people to be “not racist”, but to be actively anti-racist. We all have a role to play in how we can bring down societal and systemic racism that *spoiler alert* isn’t just rampant in the US, but is very much alive and thriving in the UK and all over the world.

I ~do not~ speak for all black people when I say that I had my own learning and unlearning to do over the last couple of weeks. From thinking back to secondary school and sixth form at how I let so much slide in the classroom to how I navigate my day-to-day life right now living in China. I’ve also been thinking about how I as a medical student can ensure I don’t end up playing into the hands of racism in the medical field. Black women are 3 to 4 times more likely to die during or after childbirth than their white counterparts, and that is absolutely terrifying. Not only that, but black and Asian people are more likely to die from Covid-19. As someone who will be working in the field one day, I (just like all my fellow medical students) have a duty to make sure this statistic isn’t still standing 10 years from now. My curriculum in China isn’t heavily centered on bias in the medical field, so it’s up to me to educate myself on this every day.

I want to share important and useful resources that we can all use in order to start being actively anti-racist. A lot of them are what I have/am using at the moment, and if you know of anything I have not mentioned, you are more than welcome to sharing in the comments, because after all, we all have a role to play in this. 

TO SIGN

• Change.org
  Justice for George Floyd
  Justice for Beronna Taylor Justice for Ahmaud Arbery

 

TO DONATE

• https://blacklivesmatter.carrd.co/#donations

• YouTube fundraiser to financially help the Black Lives Matter Movement with no money
  
  

TO READ

• How to support the protestors demanding justice for George Floyd - Teen Vogue

• How to take anti-racist action in your life - Teen Vogue

• How to support the Black Lives Matter movement if you don’t live in the US - The Lifestyle Files

• Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race - Reni Eddo-Lodge

TO WATCH

• Get Out

• When They See Us

• 13th

TO FOLLOW 

• Rachel Cargle

• Aja Barber

• Layla F. Saad

TO DO

• Continue educating yourself even after this stops becoming the trending topic.

• Talk to friends and family members no matter how uncomfortable.

• Get rid of the idea of “not seeing colour” - this article on The Everygirl explains how problematic and counter-productive this is perfectly.

• Speak up and stand up when you see racism or injustice.

• Petition and donate as much as you can.

• Diversify your feeds and follow more black creators.

• Understand your privilege and how you can use it to help black people and uplift their voices.

So What's It Like Being Black In China?

What better way to start off a new month than with what could be a slightly controversial post! This post has been in my drafts for weeks now, and I've been nervous about writing it out to the fullest extent that I could, mainly because the internet is heavily censored here. Every time I would draft a little bit, I'd get nervous about uploading and think "nah, not now", but I think it's time! Whatever I write will still give you guys an idea of what it's like to be a black woman in China today.

When I read Tanya Weeke's post about this exact same topic I decided that yes, I should make my own post and upload it anyway. This isn't going to be a discussion about what's happening to Africans in Guangdong; there are plenty of news sources online and videos on YouTube recounting what's going on, including my own Instagram post on the subject. Instead, this is going to be me telling you guys about my day-to-day life as a black woman living in China - all the ups, downs, and everything in between!

Now, I should say that this is my experience in China. If you're black and you've been here before, your experience might be different depending on a lot of factors. If you're black and you plan on coming here one day, your experience here could be totally different from mine. 

So let's start off light, and that's with all the staring. I mainly lived in predominantly white areas in the UK, so I know what it's like to be stared at in a whole number of ways. But the staring in China is on an entirely different level because here, it's not just one or two people on the road or in the shops - it's everyone! People driving their cars craning their necks out the window (sometimes while still driving!) to stare as I walk past, entire metro carriages stopping whatever they're doing to stare as I enter, everyone in the shop going quiet and staring if I walk in - and the list could just go on and on. Side note - if you have your hair in braids or an afro, be ready to swat hands away because people here are shameless and will absolutely shove their hands in your hair if you're not looking!

I honestly don't mind if it's kids doing the pointing or staring, simply because they're kids and a lot of them don't know any better, but if it's anyone above teen age I have a problem with it, and usually stare right back until they feel embarrassed. The crazy thing though is that a lot of older people here don't feel embarrassed at all and will just keep on shamelessly staring anyway! In the UK once eye contact has been made people usually look away, but that's something that doesn't happen here haha!

Going hand in hand with the staring is the pointing, whispering, and my personal enemy - photos. People here really think we don't notice them "slyly" whipping out their phones and taking a photo, but we 100% always do! In fact, I think I've developed a 6th sense for it now that it's happened so frequently!

The thing I mostly hate about photos is that 99% of the time, people don't ask and they just decide to take one themselves. However, there are some occasions where people will come up to me and kindly ask for a photo. Sometimes parents ask me to take a photo with their child as it's usually their first time seeing a black person either ever in their life or not through a screen, so I sometimes agree and we take a few selfies together. It's honestly crazy how that small action honestly ends up making someone's day!

On top of being pointed at, stared at, whispered about, and having my photo taken, there's also the never ending questions strangers come up and ask out of the blue. They range from a simple "Where are you from" or "What are you doing in China" (not said maliciously by the way! People are just curious as to whether you're studying or working!) to something as deep as "So does your country have the same resources as China?" I've even had a Didi driver ask me how many wives a man can have in my country, which was honestly just the strangest thing I've ever been asked. If they see you can hold down a conversation in Chinese, they get very excited and questions become more and more so be warned!

I will admit, I do love it when kids come up and say hi because they want to practise their English or because they just haven't seen a black person before!

And that's another point - whether you're black from America, the UK, Canada, the Caribbean, or anywhere else in the world that isn't Africa - if you look physically black, you're African point blank and the period. When people ask, I've just stopped saying I came from the UK and just say I'm Zambian instead, because they just don't believe me! 

All of these things happen relative to how many foreigners are in the area. Since I don't live in one of the big cities like Shanghai or Beijing, a lot of people in my city aren't used to seeing foreigners at all. And if I go to an area that isn't around a university campus or the main town, then all I'll be hearing is "外国人, 外国人" (wàiguó rén = foreigner) as I go past.

A lot of people wonder if Chinese people are racist and how racism is handled over here, and I've only had one nasty experience in my one and a half years of living in China. I went to the bank to receive some money - a bank I always went to and they had always been nice to me before but on this particular day, the teller took one look at my passport (as a foreign student, you need to take your passport and school ID everywhere, otherwise you can't get anything done!) asked if I was African, and said I'm not welcome to the bank anymore and no amount of arguing could get her to change her mind. It was a huge pain in my behind because I had to travel all over the city looking for a new bank to sign up with, but the fact that in China you can discriminate against someone just because of where they come from - and legally it's okay - is a massive problem that needs to be addressed - just look at what's happening in Guangdong!

A lot of people are rude, just like anywhere else in the world - people refusing to sit next to you on the bus, or crossing the road when you go past etc - but I have also met a lot of lovely people here who wouldn't do anything like that! You do have a lot of thoughts that go through your head when someone isn't particularly nice, a lot of it being "are they rude because they're in a bad mood today, or are they just racist", but if you let those thoughts take over every time something happens, you'll have a pretty miserable stay in China!

Before I came here, I thought making Chinese friends would be easy, especially as I was living on campus, but I've found it much harder! To this day, I only have one person and a lovely family I can call my friends and they're all pretty great! In my experience though, a lot of the Chinese people on campus befriend the white students or other Asians. It might just be my introvert nature of not wanting to approach people first though!

Any strange experiences? Of course! A strange experience I had came last summer when I was with my other foreign friends. We went hiking up a mountain near our uni and once we got to the summit, we took in the view and started taking pictures. I noticed a guy come and sit on the bench right next to us and start staring at us intently. I ignored him at first, because everyone stares so it's not a big deal. But when we started exploring the shops at the top (shops on a mountain, only in China!) I noticed him again - it's that 6th sense! - following us in and out or waiting outside for us to come out. When I told my friends what was going on, we decided that we should leave because none of us had been followed before and even though he was young and didn't look like he could do anything, you can never be too careful.

As we were heading down, he was following really close behind us, my friend turned around to ask him if he was lost or something, and this guy said he was looking for a bus stop! On a mountain! We sped up, but every time we spend up he decided to too. We took a pause at some benches and he started up a conversation with us, but blatantly lying about where he was from and whatnot. He followed us all the way to the entrance and thankfully we managed to slink away in a crowd but turning around I could see he was looking for where we went! So weird, especially because if we were any other race I doubt that would have even happened!

It wouldn't really be a proper analysis without me telling you guys about my experience with other foreigners here in China. Coming from the UK, I'm used to being around a lot of other minorities, but the difference there is that we all have one thing in common, which is that we all grew up in the UK. In China though, all foreign people come from different backgrounds and all have different upbrinings; we don't have anything in common other than we're all now living in China.

That being said, I've had people straight up to my face tell me they didn't think black people were clean or that they're surprised black people don't behave in the way we're expected to. It's been a shock for people to learn that not all black people are the same, and that their thoughts are destructive and rude. I've also seen that if I make friends with someone from a different ethnicity, other people from that group are now more accepting to smile at me if we pass each other in the halls or say hi to me if we're in a queue. I'm guessing because they've seen now that whatever stereotypes they had were so far left, and if someone from their country thinks I'm okay, then it's fine for them to be open now too!

So that's been my experience of living in China! September 2020 will mark 2 years of living here, and I cannot believe it's been that long this quick! It's not been so bad living here. A lot of people are just curious and want to find out about you, so if you're an extrovert and love talking to people and can even converse in Chinese, I have no doubt you'll be able to make a lot of friends and have a pretty good time. 

Other than that one bank experience (and the strange guy on the mountain), my time here has been really good! I'm used to the staring and can even zone it out now if I want to, but with the photos I just don't think I'll ever get used to that! I'm really excited to see how the rest of my life here will play out!

What's been your experience living abroad? Do tell me below!

Related post: Experiencing Cultural Shock In China

My Post-Quarantine To-Do List

Quarantine, lockdown, social distancing, and self-isolation are the big buzzwords of 2020. I've read them so many times since the end of January, and not one day goes past where I don't read them while scrolling through Twitter, Instagram, and even WhatsApp now too! I've been thinking a lot about what life will be like moving forward - when university goes back to normal and I'm able to be outside for longer than one and a half hours at a time. My university dorm is still taking the coronavirus very seriously, so the strict rules that applied a few months ago are still applicable for us now.

1. VISIT SOME NEW CAFES

There are so many in my area, as well as the area around the medical campus so I really have no excuse not to! I'm not a study-at-a-cafe type of person, but I am a visit-a-cafe-and-pay-for-an-overpriced-drink-and-pastry type of person, so I'm just patiently waiting for my time to shine. My favourite bakery Rosa has recently renovated and added a cafe section right by my dorm, so that will be the first spot I hit up when the time comes!

2. VISIT THE VAN GOGH STARRY NIGHT ART CENTER

My city has this amazing art center showcasing Van Gogh's works in really cool ways with rooms decorated floor to ceiling with his paintings. I had planned to head there this past winter holiday but we all know what transpired... So, I will hopefully pay a visit this summer, but we'll see. They do discounts if you have a student ID, so I'm excited to save a bit of money too!

3. GET SOME UDON

To celebrate my birthday back in October, my friends and I headed to a Japanese restaurant for some ramen because I was really really craving udon at the time (very specific I know). Fast forward a few months and would you believe I'm still craving udon! I'm a big big fan of noodles and all forms of ramen in general, so a trip back to the same restaurant is definitely on my list.

4. HIT THE SHOPS

As I've said before on the blog, we're only able to go out for an hour and a half 3 times a week. If you head to Walmart you're given 3 hours to allow for travel because all the locations are pretty far and require hopping on the bus or using the metro. So it only makes sense to head out for the supermarket or to pick up some takeaway nearby and swiftly head back to dorm before we get scolded by admin. When we can finally head out without restrictions, I need to head to my favourite stores and stock up on some skincare I ran out of recently. I miss aimlessly wandering around Miniso anyway, so I'll make sure to do that just because I can!

5. START RUNNING AGAIN

This is such a "me" thing to happen, but back in January I decided to start going for a run 4 times a week. I told my dad about it so he could keep me accountable, yet only managed to head out for a run one time (!!!) before our dorm went into lockdown. I want to properly get into it and make it a long-lasting habit, but that can only happen once we get out of lockdown, so I'm putting it on my list to make sure I actually do it.

6. SHOOT MORE OUTDOOR CONTENT

My medical school schedule is hectic and doesn't always allow me to have a lot of free time. Despite this, I really want to diversify the content on my blog by showing some of the best bits of my city. I'm estimating that when this semester is over, we'll be out of lockdown mode and I can properly schedule time to head out and get some shoot new content. This one is a bit up in the air but I hope I can make it happen!

7. TRY NEW MILK TEA FLAVOURS

Not only are there many cafes in the area, but there are also a bunch of milk tea shops that opened up, and every time I head out I feel like an old one closed down and a new one shop opened up! I'm pretty good at avoiding dairy in general (lactose intolerant), but there's just something about milk tea that I just can't do away with just yet. It's a struggle dealing with it afterwards if you catch my drift, so it's a dangerous habit I will get to working on one day...

8. VISIT MORE PARKS

I'm thankful that China has some very beautiful natural spots that I haven't even scratched the surface of yet! A lot of parks here are free to get into and are the perfect place to capture some lovely photos and relax with friends. So far on my list are Meixi Lake, Xihu Park, Huaya Pavillion, and maybe I can squeeze in a trip to Zhangjiajie, but the list is ever growing as I search up new places online.

9. HEAD TO A BUFFET

Really, just because.

10. ORGANISE A BIG MEET UP WITH FRIENDS

A lot of my friends are back in their home countries, so we've been keeping in contact via video calls on WeChat or through those tags going around on Instagram (lol). I get excited thinking about what it'll be like once we're all back together again and able to head to these places and eat all this food!

So that's my post-lockdown/quarantine/self-isolation/social distancing to-do list! I've been indoors since the end of January, and if I had to estimate the days, it's probably been between 75 and 80 (that number alone is making my head spin). It's been tough, but I'm still managing and able to keep myself positive and excited for this chapter in my life to firmly close and hopefully never open again!

I'll see you in the next one!

The 3 Apps I Used To Up My Insta Game

Just before we went into lockdown over here, I decided that my Instagram needed a boost, and a big one at that. I was at the same number of followers after about 6 months of not posting, and the theme I had been trying to keep up with was looking a bit worse for wear. So I decided that it was time to start putting more effort into Insta again and boy has it paid off!

My grid is looking very *chef's kiss* at the moment, so I thought I'd share the apps I like to use for editing!

To start off, I only use my phone to take photos; I don't have a camera and don't plan on getting one either. I snap and edit all on my trusty Samsung.

FOODIE

I either take photos straight out of the stock camera, or use Foodie (which I often opt to do). Foodie has so many filters that add an amazing effect to any type of photo. It was originally an app made specifically for food, hence the name, but they have since updated to perfect your landscapes, flat lays, selfies, and anything in between. The standard filters I use to take a photo are YU2, IN3, or BQ2 depending on the type of photo.

It's a perfect app all on its own; you can change up all the basic settings like shadows and whatnot, and you can also add grain and dust which I like to use for my stories!

LIGHTROOM

Once I've snapped the photo in the filter I want, I immediately transfer it over to Lightroom. I didn't have a proper handle on Lightroom in the past and the photos were just terrible now I look back. But now, I've got it down thanks to a preset I made for myself. 

When coming back to posting on Insta, I decided the theme I wanted to follow was a moody slightly de-saturated but still warm theme, so to make my preset I just went into the Profiles tab, selected Modern 3, added some grain, de-saturated it, added some texture, made the shadows and blacks stand out, made some colours more vibrant and saved it as a preset. Now, I just copy and paste it onto the photo I'm editing and tweak it slightly depending on the type of shot, so if it's a shot of a sunny day I'll amp up the blues and greens, or if it's a flat lay I'll increase the whites and highlights.

KUJI CAM
It was a toss up between Huji and Kuji but I settled on Kuji simply because it's what all my friends use to edit their photos! I use this app simply for the dust effect I like to add as the final step. There are over 30 to choose from and some extra ones that look like snow (that would have seriously come in handy if it snowed at all this year!) This is the final step in my editing process and if there's something I want to add like de-saturating or increasing the exposure I'll do it here. Of all the filters available I only really like KJ, BL, A2, and A10.

The app is also great if you want a vintage shot - there are options to add the date, make it slightly more 3D, and filters that you can use to really get that ~aesthetic~ if that's what you're after.

BONUS!
To plan out my feed and make sure I'm not posting the same type of photo 3 times in a row, I use the app Preview. In the past I used to use Planoly but didn't like how it only let me upload 30 photos in a month. With Preview I can add as many as I like whenever I like and it's great!

So those are the apps I love using to edit my Instagram photos and it really took my grid from awkwardly changing colour scheme every few photos to having a solid theme I'm really happy with at the moment! I hope you enjoyed this post!

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The Reality Of Taking Online Classes

Most people by now have had updates from their jobs or schools about shifting onto online classes or working from home due to the coronavirus now spreading to a lot more countries than it was in just a few weeks ago. A lot of people however aren't able to WFH, and my heart really goes out to all of you if this is the case. However for people who now have to study or work online, it's a big change that even I wasn't ready for when our classes shifted online.

I've never taken an online class before; GCSEs and A-Levels were all done in person obviously, and during the first year of uni and first semester of med school, everything was done in the classroom. But for the second semester of med school, we started our online classes here on the 17th of February, so it's already been over a month of bad internet connections and jumbled schedules.

I always naively thought that for people who take online classes, it must be easier than people who get up and leave the house because you get up and just turn on your laptop, but boy was I wrong!

It's just as tough and rigorous as going into uni, and then there's the added element of having to motivate yourself to actually wake up in the morning to listen in on the lecture. The hardest part for me has actually been having too much time in the day. Our lab classes are now free periods and there's around 6 extra hours a week that normally would have been taken up by biochem, anatomy, and physiology lab. I'm someone who likes to have a schedule and routine. Now it's up to me to fill in these empty spaces, and in the beginning it was quite difficult to know what to focus on. To curb this, I've been using the calendar blocking technique, and a blog post will be published next week!

So since there are a lot of first-time online class takers now, I thought I'd share some tips I've picked up over the last month on how to make the most of it. This post isn't directed towards people with jobs that they used to go into everyday, as I don't know how each company is tackling this, but it's specifically for students like me!

1. HAVE A ROUTINE

I made a routine for myself early on because I knew that this would seriously help me out in the long run. I use the calendar blocking technique to keep track of when I'm going to wake up, study, have class, do homework, work on the blog etc, and I do this all with the standard Samsung calendar that came with my phone. A routine has been vital to make sure I don't fall behind on anything (we'll all have to go back some day!), and vital in making sure I don't spend all day on one thing - or nothing for that matter!

My current routine looks like this; wake up at 7am, scroll through my phone, eat, and start studying by 8am. I have class at 2:30 in the afternoon, and 10am in the morning sometimes, and the last class will end at half 5 in the evening, so in between all of this, I'll shower,study, clean, eat, or just scroll through social media. I study until 9 in the evening, then just chill until I feel tired enough to go to sleep.

I would suggest getting a morning routine underway as soon as possible and try to stick to it. I have a blog post on some healthy and productive habits you could adopt as part of your new routine, and I went back to it when our classes shifted online.

2. SET DAILY GOALS

I like doing this to get a sense of accomplishment at the end of each day, and so there's always something tangible to work towards. Each night I make a list of small goals I want to accomplish the next day - how many flashcards I want to make or go through, or which chapters I want to get through for example. I think it's especially important now that things are online because you're having to motivate yourself and keep yourself accountable. 

It's also really motivating to have something to work towards, which is another bonus because like I said above, it was quite tough for me in the beginning.

3. STICK TO AN END TIME

Being indoors all day really makes you realise just how much time there is in the day. Because of this you may begin to feel like you should be doing more with yourself but I don't agree with this because it will definitely lead to burnout. I stop studying at 9pm at night, "switch off", and spend some time doing something enjoyable like finally indulging on going on my phone guilt-free. It's important to still treat your days like a regular school day because when it's time to get back to class (hopefully sooner rather than later), the transition won't be so harsh.

4. HAVE PATIENCE WITH YOUR TEACHERS

We're all going through this together - student and teacher alike - so it's important to be patient with everyone right now. For a lot of teachers (especially mine), they haven't taught online before so it's a learning experience for them, just as much as it is for us. I remember in the beginning it was easy to become frustrated because we all hadn't used the online platforms we're all experts on now. Everything has changed in a short space of time so if you extend a bit of kindness to your teachers, it could really go a long way.

5. TAKE IT ONE DAY AT A TIME

Don't be so hard on yourself and don't feel like you have to do more than you really have to. Work at your own pace and leave enough time to do "real life" stuff. As a medical student, it was tough to squeeze all of the stuff I'm able to do now, like do laundry, video call my parents for as long as I choose now, cook (it's been amazing cooking for myself again!), and even work on the blog! Honestly speaking, if it wasn't for us not being allowed out, I probably wouldn't have gotten my blogging mojo back.

So take this time to yes, still be productive and work towards goals everyday, but to also give yourself some time do to other things again. Take it one day at a time and don't force yourself to become a productivity machine overnight.

I hope everyone manages to stay safe and happy at a time like this. The news is a lot to take in everyday, what with numbers always increasing and the outcome in a lot of countries looking really bleak at the moment. I'm glad the situation in China is improving - currently my province and the city of Chongqing have no new cases reported, and a lot of the temporary hospitals in Wuhan are now closed, with a lot the doctors who came from other provinces now able to go back home to their families.

If you're able to self-isolate please do, because it only takes one person to catch it and spread it to someone else (a lot more people are asymptomatic spreaders than we think - check out this article on CNN) and there are a lot of at-risk people out there. 

Again, please stay healthy and I'll see you in the next one!