The first newcastle United game... plus medical school!

I just came back from my first Newcastle United game. The game was great! NUFC played leicester city and won 1-0. The only sad part was that it was raining the whole time! The game was intense and so were the fans. The tickets that we got were amazing... front row seat, next to the corner post. The stadium was packed with white and black striped colored shirts (i need to buy one.. i felt so left out) and the Newcastle united chants were heard all over the stadium. TOON TOON, Black and white army..TOON TOON.. black and white army TOON TOON...

The NUFC has such a big fan base that there were so many security guards in the stadium. The stadium even leaves a whole block of seats empty so that NUFC fans dont get in fight with away team fans. Also, even though we were not playing Sunderland (a premier League team and next door neighbor) and a huge rival of Newcastle United, the fans were chanting songs calling Sunderland ..a Scumberland. as I said INTENSE!

Last week went by pretty fast. There is so much to learn in such a little time. I had my first experience with cadavers. The cadavers were already prosected so I did not have to dissect it. I think its good because I dont think I have to time to spend three to four hours digging through fat to expose a nerve or an artery. I will get my experience when I go to Grenada.

My long weekend went pretty fast.. mostly studying. I think I made a mistake by studying anatomy all three days as after saturday I was not able to absorb much. I think going to the game was a great decision as I was able to get my mind off of studying and just enjoy and relax for that moment.

Life is good! Missing everyone back home. I am eagerly waiting for my two packages!

The First week!

Yay! I finished my first week of medical school on friday and let me tell you... medical school is no joke. Throughout the week, I went to classes (1 PM to 5 PM) and attended review sessions (5-6PM) for Biochemistry, Histology, Human Anatomy and Bioethics. After classes, I catch the metro around 6:30 PM and come back to Kirkley lodge by 7:00 PM. I eat, study and go to sleep. I also attend labs in the morning ... medical school is hectic.

I really like my overly excited professors! They make the lecture fun and their unusual accents make my classes more interesting! I am starting the anatomy lab this week and I will be able to see few cadavers and test my knowledge of back muscles and spine.

Here are some of the pictures! They include white coat ceremony, the millennium bridge (the only tilt bridge in the world), streets of Newcastle, and some more bridges!

BTW my social life is next to none but I have made some good friends!

the orientation week?

Orientation at Newcastle was very classy! St George's had organized a warm welcome including faculties from both the universities - Northumbria and St. Georges, they had arranged lectures to get students accustomed to the new environment, and had also made available Newcastle tour for the parents weekend including a great afternoon British tea. Pretty much most of it was useless...

My roommate and I decided to explore Newcastle ourselves. Why wont we? We have metro passes that can take us to any part of Newcastle for free! Following are my experiences:

People here at Newcastle are called Geordie's and they have a very strange accent. Their dialect at first is really hard to understand/ grasp but at the end you will know what they are trying to say due to their excessive hand movements and facial gestures (just like Chris Holmes). They like to call students, "lads or pets" and they say "cheers" for goodbye or after every sentence. Cheers is some much better than goodbye... you can never have a sad face or a monotone while saying cheers! Some of my favorite sentences are: "Ya been doon to toon?" (have you been to the town), "youz neva go doon that street?" (you never go down that street), "Met, waz the netti?" (Mate, where is the toilet?). In all, the people here are very friendly and enjoy beer and futbol!

Newcastle has a great infrastructure consisting of new and old architecture! There are different monuments within the city but at the same time has worlds only tilt bridge called Gatesehead Milennium Bridge. I will let you know more about this when I have more time... till then enjoy the pictures and Cheers!

Journey to newcastle!

Hey Everyone! Its been two days since I have left United States! I have reached Newcastle, UK comfortably but at the same time in a very peculiar fashion. First of all, my plane from Newark, NJ was about five hours late. This delay made me miss my connecting flight from Copenhagen, Denmark to Newcastle. Thus I was redirected to an another route and gave me an opportunity to make another stop over at Dusseldorf, Germany. I had approximately 15 minutes stopover in Dusseldorf and I had to go from terminal C to terminal A during this time. Finally, I reached Newcastle airport at around 5 PM and arrived at my temporary home - Kirkley Lodge.

Some of the highlights of my journey were as follows:

From my flight - Newark - Copenhagen : I met a quantum physicists - Antoine Suarez from Zurich. A brilliant man who made an excellent contribution to my knowledge about quantum physics and its relation to embryology. According to his work, an embryo does not gain any personal identity till it is about 7.5 weeks old. Personal identity was defined as the stage when an embryo starts developing neural activity.

At Copenhagen, Denmark: Due to the flight delays - Scandinavian Airlines generously provided me with 75 danish krone (DKK) which is about $14.00. I was able to buy chicken ceasar salad and a nice beverage. At this airport, I saw a Ferrari430 Scuderia and Ferrari 599 GTB. (sorry! i did not have my camera/time to take pictures)

Anyways! I have reached Newcastle safely. Most of the students here are from USA or Canada. I am living with a guy from Siberia and one from New york. They are really nice and are helping me out with this new town.