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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Med Diaries 001

 Happy April everyone! A new month has brought a new blog series to these parts and I can't wait to share it with you all!

Med Diaries will be a once-a-month series where I share how the past month has gone for me in terms of my life as a medical student, and as well as that I'll be sharing resources, accounts, websites and anything else that I've found useful that I think other medical students will find useful too. I share my daily med student life on Instagram so if you want a day-to-day glimpse into the life of a med student in China, be sure to follow me on there!

Also, to see my real-life "day in the life" of a med student in China, be sure to check out my YouTube channel!

ONLINE CLASSES

We started online classes on the 24th of February so it's already been over a month of this new lifestyle. I made a blog post on the reality of online classes where I gave tips for anyone who has now shifted online, but it was pretty general and applicable to any kind of degree.

As an MBBS student, online classes are really not conducive to our learning. I know in other countries, online lectures are preferred by a lot of students, but for us in China actually being in lecture is the only way we're taught. We don't have labs anymore (more on that later) so our days are only spent on live lectures and studying. This semester, I'm taking regional anatomy, biochemistry, physiology, Chinese language and Sports (lol yes, that last one's online too).

Anatomy was my favourite last semester because systemic anatomy is very straightforward - we went through each system in the body starting with the skeletal system and ending with neuro anatomy. This semester is regional anatomy where we go through each region of the body and learn everything to do with it at once. We started with the upper limb, the thoracic region, then the lower limb and pelvic region, and we started the back today - all online! It's much more difficult than last time because having to learn all the nerves, vessels, muscles, diseases and everything else all at once is overwhelming and taking up a lot of brain power.

If you follow me on Instagram, you'll know that biochemistry is essentially the bane of my life right now. I'm not naturally good at chemistry so it's been hard motivating myself and understanding the content. Some parts have been pretty good - carbohydrates, lipids and amino acids so far have been decent but the rest of it is just not meshing well with me. I've been trying to find a good study method for it, so we'll see if that works over the coming weeks.

LAB

Lab is an essential part of a medical student's education. This semester we were supposed to start dissecting cadavers in anatomy to work on finding all the structures we learn about in lectures, but we aren't able to do that with our university still not opening. Our lab exams make up 30% of our final grade for anatomy and biochemistry, and if we happen to open as normal near the exam, it'll be near impossible to study well and pass with a good grade.

I'm worried about being rushed to study everything in a short space of time and not have enough time to review everything we're rushing over. It's scary how our education has been essentially put on hold and pushed back indefinitely. Considering how hard regional anatomy is compared to systemic anatomy, and also throwing in the fact that biochemistry would be 100x easier to understand if we had lab, the fact that we don't have lab is just very unfortunate.

We had an online lab session for anatomy where we watched a video of a dissection and had our lecturer explain what was going on but it's just not the same!

TEXTBOOKS

Physiology has been an amazing subject so far! We have a specific Chinese-English textbook we're supposed to use, but since we haven't been able to go into school to buy textbooks, we're left to our own devices. I looked for it online and ended up finding another gem instead - Guyton & Hall Textbook of Medical Physiology. Everything in it is laid out clearly and the illustrations help with understanding the info. It flows well with the way our teacher's PowerPoints are laid out so I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything that would be in the Chinese-English textbook.

For biochemistry, I need all the resources I can get my little hands on! USMLE Step 1 Lecture Notes for Biochemistry & Medical Genetics, and Lippincott Illustrated Reviews: Biochemistry have been good for trying to understand the difficult bits of content we're covering. 

All the PDF versions of these books can be found with a simple Google search if you think they'll be useful!

ONLINE RESOURCES

The only online resource I want to share right now has been Teach Me Anatomy. It is hands down the best website for learning anatomy. Everything is simple and straightforward and it takes the most difficult concepts and makes it easy to understand within a single study session. I've been using the website since the first semester of med school and it's just as handy now as it was back then. They lay out each part of the body and everything to do with it - so everything to do with the head is all in one section, and same goes for the leg, or pelvis etc. If you're a med student, bookmark it and save it for later because it will definitely come in handy!

So that's been the first edition of this new series I've been thinking of doing for a while now! 

I hope it's been interesting for the med students out there and if you have anything you've found useful or helpful this semester in med school, do let me know in the comments below!

Here's How Time Blocking Can Help Boost Your Productivity

I know, I know. The world is in a state of panic and the last thing a lot of people want to hear is 'productive this' and 'productive that'. I get it, so if you're able to, I'd definitely use this time to take care of yourself physically and mentally, pick up a new hobby (or re-discover an old one), and just relax and do anything that isn't "work". 

However, being a medical student, I just don't have that kind of luxury and I'm sure a lot of other students don't either. So if this post made you roll your eyes, then it just isn't for you and that's okay!

This post is for people like me who abruptly shifted to an online platform and needed to find a way to motivate themselves, limit distractions, keep themselves accountable and get some sort of a routine in their life.

I started using the time blocking (or calendar blocking) system during my first semester of medical school, stopped using it when my weeks became repetitive because I just knew what I needed to be doing anyway, then started using it again during exam season when things started heating up. It's a great system that I would recommend at a time like this when a lot of our normal routines have been spun upside down. 

So, what is time blocking?

Quite simply, it's allocating specific amounts of time to a particular task and intentionally slotting them into your calendar to ensure they get done. It's amazing for prioritising what's important because in a regular to-do list, you don't see the entire picture laid out in front of you the way it is when you schedule everything into your calendar. It's easy to end up focusing a lot more time than you intended on one task, but when you slot it into your calendar you can decide how long you want to spend on that specific thing. It's also great for letting you concentrate on one task at a time and making sure this time you have will be spent on it.

I use this method to create a routine in my day. I set a wake-up time, lunch time, breaks, and an end time in the evening and it's been amazing!

Here's an example of what last week looked like:

(I tried to take a nice blog-ish photo but the camera quality on my old phone is abysmal lol).

As you can see, I've inserted my classes, when I'm going to study, make new flashcards, do homework (let's just look at how long I spend on biochem... *shudder*), and when I'm gonna work on the blog.

I've also created a lunch break from 12 and I end my day at 10pm, as well as another little break after my afternoon classes. 

During these breaks I do stuff that doesn't need to be written down, like eating or cleaning because I already know I need to do that anyway.

To achieve this, I use the standard Samsung calendar app that came with my phone and it syncs to my Google account so if I wanted to check it on Google Cal, it's easy to do so. I also like to colour coordinate everything because it just looks so much better, so you can see that my classes are yellow, dedicated studying is blue, homework is purple, creating flashcards is green, and blogging is peach.

In addition to this system, I do still use to-do lists so I can structure the time I intend on spending on something. So where it says "study anatomy" for example, my to-do list would break down the tasks I need to do just for some structure. I even have a whole blog post about perfecting your to-do lists if you're interested!

So, that's what my calendar looks like!

A tip I have is for you if you're also looking to start using this system to prioritise what you need to do and be realistic about how long you can actually spend doing that thing. I spend one day studying or working on a maximum of 2 subjects - I can't realistically go over all of them in one day. Depending on you, it might just be one subject you can focus on, and that's great too. 

I now set my tasks every evening because I used to get a bit overenthusiastic about what I can achieve in a day and end up not finishing everything. Now when I set my tasks in the evening as opposed to the beginning of the week, I can think about what I didn't do during the day and plan my next day accordingly.

If you prefer to lay your whole week out on a Sunday or Monday, then I'd advise you to be flexible with it and not be too rigid with your time; it's fine to switch things around!

Another tip is to slot in the most important things first. The very first things that get scheduled in are my classes because they're obviously the most important. After that, I'll put in homework, then allocate time to study. Anything after that depends on how much time I have left over, like blogging, flashcards or adding in more time to study if I'm up for it. I work around my class schedule to regain some sense of normalcy, because it's what I used to do when our classes went ahead as normal. If there are non-negotiable things you need to get done, definitely schedule those in first.

I hope you found this post useful! It's such a weird time the world is going through at the moment, and I've found what's helped me is building a routine and trying to stick to it as best as I can. I don't always fully go along with my schedule; just on Saturday I spent some time out when I had no initial plans to haha. But I don't give myself a hard time; just re-schedule whatever I didn't manage to get done and keep it pushing!

You can save pin this post for later! ~~~

Photos by Alexa Williams on Unsplash

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!

Loving Lately

So I've been toying around with the idea of introducing a series (or two, keep your eyes peeled!) onto my blog for the longest time, and after brainstorming a whole plethora of ideas, I can now introduce the first series I've wanted to put out for ages!

It's nothing groundbreaking or original by any means, because almost every blogger I follow has this type of post in some capacity, but I still wanted to introduce it here because I have a lot of stuff to share that isn't to do with my regular type of content. So Loving Lately is just going to be a collection of the things I'm currently loving at that moment - TV, music, Instagram accounts - just anything that is currently bringing me happiness and joy. If you see the name switch around a couple of times, that's just me working out a few others I liked too hehe.

TV //

So I'm sure everyone by now has watched Love is Blind right? The cringy and yet somehow still addictive show that got really popular overnight and still has people talking. I saw a lot of tweets about it and surprisingly found some episodes on a Chinese app I use for watching western shows. Unfortunately, only the first 5 episodes are available, and I'm waiting for it to be updated but thanks to social media, I know how everything's turned out! Lauren and Cameron were my favourite couple from day 1 and I just need the other episodes to be updated so I know how others broke up! Definitely one to watch if you haven't already.

I've also been enjoying Legacies as a something to watch while I eat my dinner. If you're a fan of TVD or The Originals, then you'll enjoy this too! If you have no idea what I'm talking about, think werewolves, witches, and vampires in a boarding school. I'm actually done with that now, and I'm thinking of starting a new medical show to enjoy.

PODCASTS //

The only podcast I've been listening to regularly is Elevation, although I've been listening to snippets of others here and there when I can. Because of the virus, all church meetings have been cancelled until further notice, so I've been listening to sermons instead. I love Pastor Furtick because he gives you the message in a way that's easy to understand and always relevant (even the sermons from years ago!). I've been listening to one before I go to sleep and it's a great way to end my night.

MUSIC //

Doja Cat has been my #1 most listened to artist lately. Since Tia Tamera came out, I've been listening to her old music and patiently waiting for a new album to come out, and when Hot Pink came out it was on repeat all day (and still is!). She can sing, dance, rap - just so versatile and definitely my new favourite artist right now. Just check out this live performance of Say So! Dua Lipa is another honorable mention, although I'm patiently waiting for Future Nostalgia to come out before I talk about it in depth.

Because I've been indoors since mid-January (wow), I've had no new opportunities to improve on my Chinese speaking. So, I've been listening to more songs in Chinese and plan to translate a few to gain some new vocab. Now, I promise myself this every holiday but there's always a distraction that pops up but because I'm not allowed to go outside, there are no excuses! I've liked Li Ronghao's album 耳朵 and hope to start translating (and fully understanding) at least one song a month if there's time!

YOUTUBE //

Finally, a precaution I took when the virus first broke out was to avoid all meat until it blew over. However, I've decided to stick to being veggie for a while longer after doing some research on the animal industry and the overall effect that meat has on the body. To keep me inspired for meals, I've mainly loved the channel SweetPotatoSoul and Pick Up Limes. A lot of their meals look delicious and I want to try them out, so I've been all over their websites, channels, and Instagrams for inspo. If your diet is mainly plant-based (or even if it's not!) I would highly recommend these two!

So, that's the first edition of Loving Lately! I'll only be uploading a post whenever I actually have things to talk about, like right now because other than studying all I can do is consume crazy amounts of media.

I hope you enjoyed this post, and I'll see you in the next one!

Photo by Sincerely Media on Unsplash