Another year older...

...and none the wiser... *sigh*

THE day when I turned another year older was eleven days ago. Yeah I know, this is 'stale news' already, but I seriously didn't have the time to write about that day before this due to the exams.

When I was younger birthdays were anticipated events. You kinda looking forward to add that extra year in your age. But when one gets older one tends to stop counting the candles on their cake. Well, at least I did. Especially this year when my beloved classmates actually put my age's worth of candles on the ice-cream cake. Go figure the cake started to melt even before I blew out the candles, heheh...

And another first for me this year, is that we actually had an exam on my birthday! Luckily it was Pediatrics Surgery, which for me is a subject that is kind of interesting. The Qs? Undescended testis, esophageal atresia, Ortolani & Barlow maneuvers in congenital hip dysplasia etc etc. And alhamdulillah things were good during the exam. If not I don't think I'd enjoy the day as much as I did.

By the time I reached home after the exam it was already 2pm. After my (very much needed) short nap, the girls served me home-cooked pasta, some jemput2-like thingy (what was it ah Shrn??) and a birthday cake! Cho chweet of them, especially the cake part. It was sooooo my type of cake, and was made by my dearest roomie. Vanilla-flavoured-strawberry-swiss-rolled-up cake. Y.U.M.M.Y... Thank you Ms.JZ!! I wuv it! I'll upload a photo of it when (or if) one of you Gummus decided to send me the photos ok.

That afternoon was even merrier when Ms.Rv and Ms.KG came over and hang out. I missed hanging out with Ms.KG especially, as things weren't what it was like before after a misunderstanding/disagreement between us. I really appreciate the fact that she made an effort to patch things up between us as I am keen on doing it too. Well, we'll see how things go after this shall we.

And then later in the evening, my darling classmates gave me a dinner treat at a very nice eatery just nearby my place. Never knew of the existence of this place before, but the decor was so cozy I loved it. I was so touched that most of them came even though all of us were still pretty exhausted after the exam. We ordered, we ate, and then came the candle-full ice-cream cake. Honestly, I only realized that I am already THAT old when I saw the number of candles that they've managed to squeeze onto it. Gee, thanks for reminding me of my age yet again you guys... ;P

All in all, even though it was just another day in my calendar, it was definitely not just an ordinary day. I had fun, laughter and a blast with my friends and colleagues. They certainly made the day more bearable and something to be remembered back fondly.

And I love the pressies! I'll treasure them always. They're really cool and I especially love the treasure chests. Was just admiring them the other day in the shop while imagining how it would look on my vanity dresser and now I have them! Now that's truly the power of The Secret, teeheehee...

THANKS A MILLION guys!!

Hugs, hugs, hugs and more virtual hugs from me ^_^

n.b.: More piccas will be uploaded at a later date, haven't got the time to transfer them yet :)

I'll Be Back!

Have finally confirmed my flight ticket for July.
I'm going home for the holidays, YAY!

Will have several weddings to attend to; cousins', friends, friend's sister... Hopefully I'll get to go to all of them insyaallah.

Will be flying with TAROM and Emirates this time around. Have never taken Emirates before, wonder what would it be like. Will have transits in Bucharest, Istanbul and Dubai.
Isk, why lah Iasi has to be so far...

But, before the time comes for me to pack, need to go through the exam session first:
Pediatrics surgery, Pediatrics, Ophthalmology, Neurology, Neurosurgery.....

Waduhhh....

Three Graduates and A Bride

Last Sunday was a very busy day. There was a graduation ceremony for the girls and a wedding of a friend. I was practically running around for both occasions, but in the end I'm glad that I did it although my feet were killing me by the end of the day.


The Wedding
Remember when I wrote about my friend, Ms.MCL's proposal during class? Well, they finally have all their papers in order and decided to register their marriage here legally. As she is of Romanian-American parentage and he is an Israelian, there were a lot of paperwork to get sorted out. But after all the hassle and running around, finally they were declared husband and wife on May 31, 2009 at the wedding registration place in town.

It was a really sweet occasion. Because it was all kinda last minute, they decided to forgo the pomp and frills and invited only close friends and family to the ceremony. I was deeply touched and honoured that she would include me in it and plus this would certainly be my first.

The ceremony itself was simple, short and sweet; practically hassle free and it took less than 30 minutes. The bride was really beautiful and glowing; she couldn't stop grinning all through it all, and I am really happy for them. As I said it was my first time in a Romanian-style wedding and was delighted to join in with the newlyweds-walking-under-flower-bouquets and rice-throwing thingy because before this we only got to watch how it was done from afar whenever we passed by this place while there was a wedding there.

It was a really really lovely affair, simple and sweet. No hassle no fuss. No frowns, only smiles all around. I wish I could have joined them after that when they went to Ciric to celebrate but I wanted to run back to the graduation ceremony before it's over. And so after giving her the flowers and gift I left the happy couple to join my friends in CUG.


The Graduation Ceremony
Got up early, got ready, and accompanied the soon-to-be grads to the university (5 minutes walk from our place) for a pre-graduation group photo taking session. After that we straightaway went to the Centrul de Providenta in CUG where the ceremony was to take place (which was very very far, according to Iasi's standard lah) and waited for things to get started. As I had a wedding to attend to at noon I had to leave and later on joined them again after the wedding.

The gummu girls :))

It was nice to see all of them happy and excited and seeing some juniors coming to show their support, but I was quite bummed coz didn't get to watch them actually walk onstage, receiving their scrolls and reciting the Hippocratic Oath. Rugi gila lah, tapi takde rezeki nak wat camno...
Eventhough people keep saying that our turn will only be next year, it's kinda hard for me to believe it coz it really felt like only yesterday that I had set foot in Iasi. Will I be ready to don the robe and cap and be a good physician in the future? Scary thought. Sigh, time flies so fast eh.....

I gave the girls white roses as a token of our (crazy) friendship which I had pre-ordered a day before and had asked the boys to pick 'em up for me and gave it to them because I wasn't sure if I could make it after the wedding. And after that we were just chilling out at the sistas place. Good times indeed, they were my travel buddies and also my partners in crime; I'll surely miss them when they've gone back home for good...

Oh, and I am really glad that I came back to the graduation place. Surprise surprise, I got to meet a friend who was with us for the first 3 years but had transferred to Bucharest in our 4th year. He told me before that he had exams the day before and couldn't come, so imagine my surprise when I saw him there. And apparently most of my classmates were there too, but only managed to meet some of them because they left early.

Wonder how our graduation ceremony is gonna be like? Compared to my first convocation several years ago in UM which was a very formal affair (DYTM Raja Dr. Nazrin Shah yg bagi scroll hari tu) the ceremony here is, I would say, semi-formal. Takde org kenamaan, cuma org2 besar & yg penting drpd uni kitorang je. Which is a good thing I think. Less hoopla, but a bit dragging also lah. Tak kisah la belalang, asal jangan tergolek doq masa kat atas stage tu nanti udah ler. Isy, malu giler tak terkata gamaknya.....

So, to the new bride and the new MD graduates:

CONGRATULATIONS!!

Update: Was asked to stand in line for the bouquet-throwing thingy, but the bouquet flew into the hands of Ms.MCL's bestfren. Fuhhh, nasib baik... :))