One year, five years, ten years from now –where will we all be? I’m already feeling nostalgic for these past few years.
I can’t believe it’s been close to exactly five years since I first blogged about my med school journey. We had no idea what we were in for back in 2016. Nobody tells you the details (certainly nobody told me). That you’d cry out of doubt and frustration in a random bathroom, that one day you’d have to measure the urine output of a dozen patients using a syringe, that you’d meet the most interesting people and make the most incredible memories.
That five years would feel like the blink of an eye.
Instead of doubling down on my review for the licensure exam (which I did kinda do, to be fair), or focusing on my duties as an intern more seriously, I consciously decided to savor moments as they come, and to say yes to making a couple more happy memories.
So this is that post. A little bit of internship, a lot of everything else.
INTERN JARI, SIGNING OUT of active duty from The Medical City. Thank you to all our residents, consultants, nurses, orderlies, patients, and admin staff for helping us grow over the last two or so years. I’ve become so comfortable napping in random corners and power-walking down multiple hallways that I know I’ll definitely miss TMC, no matter where I end up training and practicing. Oh, and thank you for giving us permission to use the helipad for an afternoon, haha! .ROOMIES.FUN FACT: Amanda and I have known each other since Grade 1 or 3 (???), all the way through high school in St. Scholastica’s College, and then even college taking up BS Biology in UP Manila. That’s almost two decades! We have co-existed for so long (in the periphery of each other’s lives) that the next chapter will literally be uncharted waters. I honestly wouldn’t have survived the last five years without her as my roommate. Thank you for being so considerate, neat, responsible, and sakto lang conversant, haha! I don’t know where time has gone, but this is us during one of our last rides to ASMPH. *And belated happy birthday! .
This is also a s/p ophthalmology, psychiatry, radiology, ENT and family medicine elective blog. I’ve been so focused on prematurely missing people that I’ve let go of all productive thoughts. Maybe I’ll come back to these moments and think of a more helpful #RoadToMD post.
Reporting for duty (for the last time in TMC?)
It’s absolutely crazy that I’m done with my last duties in TMC (this assumes that I’ll be officially graduating from internship).
You know that crazy shower thought where there must have been a day when your mom/dad picked you up, set you down, then never picked you up again? One day your parents just said, kaya mo na ‘yan, and left you to walk the brave new world on your own. It kinda feels like that… Like there will come a day when I’ll enter TMC and walk out of it, then never come back again.
This is the part where I should talk about looking ahead to the future instead. I did absolutely appreciate my last week “rotating” in family medicine —it only cemented my desire to be a primary care physician and a family medicine specialist in the future — but as it was a purely online rotation, I won’t clog this post with too many zoom screenshots.
Visiting room. We only had one full day rotating in the Psychiatry department –our schedule was super tight because another cluster was taking minors the same time as us. This was my duty team (subcluster 3A represent etc, featuring Shaira, Justin, Ilou, Raph) for that singular duty. I considered psychiatry as a specialty, but that was before I realized how much I needed sunlight and mobility (basement wards are not my thing). And I only have a tablespoon of emotional intelligence. This was also the first day of ARCUS AIR, which was a mess. The less said about it, the better. .Highlights of radiology include Doc Reza just doing her own social rounds, the non-stop patient interaction in the interview room post, and the fun teaching vibes from all the residents I shadowed. Also, I was super lucky to have gotten the AM post for all three days of our rotation, so I was always home before 12NN! I proceeded to squander that time by napping as if I was compensating for something. .Last floors duty. It was our first (and turns out, not last) day rotating in ENT, and I told JD ‘let’s get a photo’ just in case. That was one of the most benign but also instructive floor duties I’ve had this month (thanks to Doc Raph and also to the hit-or-miss features of Arcus Air). Rule out ENT or any surgical field, but the exposure was still great! .Missing breakfast. I can’t count the number of times I’ve had this combo for breakfast over the last (cumulative) 12 months of clerkship-internship. This is the classic Starbucks ham-and-cheese croissant plus the iced latte from the vending machine. Ahhh, I’m already missing this set, and I haven’t even left. Maybe I’ll make the effort to experience this one more time in the TMC gardens… . One Big Family. With boards just around the corner, other batches (from 2016 to 2022 and beyond) have been dropping gifts in support. Thank you so much to this community! Finding milk tea or candy or even funny bookmarks in the quarters was always a delight. .
ft. Batch 2021 #21BigFlight
We’ve had several “last days” since July began. First was our last day of internship in required rotations, then our last day taking an OSCE inside the campus, then our last day of internship in electives a week later, and finally –finally, our last day together as a batch, after a long-short day practicing clinical skills.
(Unless we’ll get another last day as a batch with an F2F graduation, which I definitely won’t be opposed to!)
FINALLY, SUBCLUSTER 3A. It’s been a struggle herding all these people to the same place at the same time. Earlier this academic year, as we were figuring out subgroups, I really thought to myself I’d be happy to be with any group. I was so indifferent. When I ended up invited to this group, I felt a spark of excitement because I literally haven’t carried a decent conversation (longer than 15 minutes) with at least half of them. It was an opportunity to make new friends and explore the interesting bits of people –a contrast to the blandness of zoom. So yeah, twelve months later, I’m really happy things worked out this way. .Reprise: JD, Justin, Raph, David, Ilou, me, Shaira, and Kevo! 10/10 groupmates, on average, probably. Obviously I have a secret ranking on categories such as work reliability and wittiness. The more important question is clearly when we’d be able to study out together (good drinks and some waves are optional). With the end of the end approaching, the uncertainty builds up a bit more. .CEIP in real life! This was the dream team that never was. When we first applied for the Community Enhanced Internship Program, we expected more hands-on experience as we worked with consultants rotating in the community health center of Barangay Toro Hills. Instead, what we got were several months of twice the work in SGDs, exams, and case presentations. And a shared friendship over puns and academic suffering. I sincerely hope that the program continues in the post-pandemic world. .LEC6, incomplete. These two girls kept me sane and productive (and entertained, LOL) during YL7 and YL8. I’m thankful for the short moments in between internship duties when we’d catch up in the quarters. See you around, my future SROD Trina and ENTROD Faye! (Plus MROD Gian, OphthaROD Bcar, OrthoROD ??? Wildom, not in photo). .Pointing dictionary team! One of the less featured projects in this blog was the translating dictionary, headed and powered almost entirely by Kevyn Yu. I was just here for the editing and commenting. (Lea was on layout with Spica). Maybe someday when it gets off the ground, I’ll post about it more! But in a few words, it’s a pictographic tool to help patients and healthcare providers communicate in instances when there’s a language barrier. Good luck to us and the entire team! . Dead tired, but at least there’s food! Having to decide what to eat in the middle of two major exams is a source of fatigue I’d rather do without, so I’m glad batch 2025 (new babies!) and the ASMPH student council provided some grub for that long day. Thank you once again! .
And it can’t be ONE BIG FLIGHT without……. a photoshoot in the hospital’s helipad?
It took what feels like hours under the heat and a lot of direction, but we finally got to take our photo as one big batch. It’s honestly a miracle that we were able to pull this off (our seniors, batch 2020, weren’t as lucky!).
And since were were already there, I’m afraid we were obliged by the universe to take even more photos. For the memories.
MY PERSON, Faye!
BEST G12OUP
Me and whoever this is :)
Raph and I ✌
A9TOMY 💪
Future PROD David G!
My super super super OG duty group in OsMak = Faye + Stephen
Girls Girls Girls
HIT YOU WITH THAT (reprise)
Capturing love. From the ASMPH parking lot to the TMC helipad to the undergraduate quarters, these are some of the people I’ll treasure forever! .
EDIT 12/Aug/2021: Our “official” batch photos were released only a few days after I first put this post up, but then I became too preoccupied with boards review to update this post. Here they are, a few decades later.
#21BIGFLIGHT #21SE Our batch, in blue tops and wide smiles (not that you can appreciate it under our masks). We’re arranged in the exact order as an old batch photo. I probably have the original uploaded somewhere else in this blog. Can you spot me? .CEIP Part 2. I really admire these people. Our struggles during the first semester now feels like another lifetime, or a fever dream. .
Subcluster 3A, roofdeck version. There was a brief period in our lives when we were so hyped to play Among Us. That, too, feels like a century ago. .
Study, Eat, Repeat
I’m finishing the very long draft of this post at home in Paranaque. Today still counts as a rest day (ie, the first proper day I won’t have to think about my next duty) –so studying is off the table. I watched Black Widow with my mom and sister instead. (It was a great movie).
At some point next week, I’ll be going back to Ortigas to study (and maybe group study). I’m still trying to figure out what environment is best for me to review for the boards.
So far: coffeeshops have been a good bet.
Starbucks is my friend. If only this post is sponsored. I’ve been taking shameless advantage of my remaining allowance and all the points I’ve accumulated through the year. .Group study, ft. Raph and Romeo. Sometimes it’s a challenge (like when our pomodoro breaks don’t sync up, thus study breaks inexplicably extend over and over), but mostly it’s a boon. I think there’s something to be said about the occasional company in times of academic despair and/or productivity. .Serendipity: I think you can go to any Starbucks within a certain 2-km radius of Ortigas Center and you’ll find a med grad studying for boards. Seeing other people, like Jas and Paula (two of the best vibes during my OB rotation), breaks the monotony and adds a boost of serotonin. .Study, EAT, repeat. Et cetera. At some point in the night, you have to feed yourself with something more than just knowledge. In this case, pho. Featuring Raph and Kevo. .Correction: really big servings of good pho, and also good conversation. .
Catching up (with Chika Minute)
Surviving the last five years would have been impossible without these girls. There’s a special kind of comfort in knowing that you can just kalat (ie fall apart), ask stupid questions, rant and scream, share jokes, and more, without any judgment. Everyone needs a safe space and a home for their roots. This is one of mine.
It’s scary to think that we’ll be going separate paths, that there won’t be any galentine’s dates or birthday surprises, but I like to think of our futures as branches of growth still connected to the same tree. (Maybe it’s the bio graduate in me that keeps pushing these weak analogies.)
But I’ll miss you. And I hope to see you all again soon. Like in a couple of weeks soon!
For the future, note to selves: this is the pose we’ll keep on recreating every couple of years or so, no matter where we are. Sans mask, hopefully. .KDINNER (with quinoa). Chicken and soju –what can be better than that? Apparently, soju with melona and sprite. Life = changed. .
Team Karasuno or something (and KBBQ)
We’ve come a long way from our days as newbie clerks in Ospital ng Makati, and from our long bangag nights as senior clerks in Quirino. I can’t believe we’re basically graduating soon.
Karasuno jackets, aka another thing I bought during the 7.7 Shopee sale. Current opinion stands: Faye is Sugawara, I’m Daichi, David is Asahi. Thoughts? .Sibyullee with my clinical-year-constants. I have so many good memories dining out in Sibyullee, and I’m happy I got to add this one! .No words, except KBBQis really in a tier of its own. .
Eagle and Tandang ❤️
Before we were Tandang and Eagle, we were just Jesha and Jari, respectively. But to keep with the ASMPH-theme of this post, I thought: why not. Let’s keep up with the times.
As I’m not an expert on bird nomenclature (but who is), I can only say that eagle refers to us 5th year ASMPH students or graduates preparing for boards, and tandang refers to ‘younger’ school mates who’ve volunteered to help us out. It’s all part of ASMPH’s community design (aka “No Atenean gets left behind“).
I first met Jesha during the Ateneo Junior Summer Seminar in 2011 (actually a recruitment program for Ateneo College, masquerading as an educational summer camp for kids who probably tried too hard at school). As an introduction to this blog, formally: she’s a public health advocate, a sometime-researcher, a cool dancer, a great writer/poet, a stellar tandang, awesome friend, and annoyingly tall person.
Catching up!!!!!! After X number of months just checking on each other over messenger and twitter (and a bit of instagram), we finally got to see each other in real life. My friend, let’s both stay healthy as much as possible. .Elephant grounds: bestselling vanilla cafe latte (with latte art of a cerebelllum? prostate? wait—) and a tapa donburi, which may just be a fancy and overloaded way of saying tapsilog. 10/10, would repeat though. .
Outtakes
A lot of things have happened the last few weeks, and being myself, I took a lot of photos. Since it’s starting to feel like this blog post is on infinite scroll already, I’ll be uploading outtakes and other food shots on a separate post.
I’ve also caught up with some of the loves of my life (from high school and college), so that’ll probably take another post all on its own. Hopefully I can still save some extra time and energy in the coming weeks. It’s gonna be intense! [EDIT 12/Aug/2021: Due to time and energy constraints, this social blog post has been in the drafts folder for weeks, and will probably remain there until October or November.]
Since we’re now only waiting to be promoted, I suppose my next game plan is (a) to continue reviewing for boards and (b) to finally watch the Loki series with my sister and mom. Then I’ll scream about it, the same way I screamed about WandaVision and The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. And then I’ll go out again for a bit.
jari m 
Congratulations and best of luck!