Tuesday, May 31, 2005

Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (+EXAM1)


Our Lady's Visitation to Elizabeth

Today the Church celebrates : The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 1,39-56.

During those days Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.
When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, "Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled."

And Mary said:
"My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;
my spirit rejoices in God my savior.
For he has looked upon his handmaid's lowliness; behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed.
The Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name.
His mercy is from age to age to those who fear him.
He has shown might with his arm, dispersed the arrogant of mind and heart.
He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones but lifted up the lowly.
The hungry he has filled with good things; the rich he has sent away empty.
He has helped Israel his servant, remembering his mercy,
according to his promise to our fathers, to Abraham and to his descendants forever."
Mary remained with her about three months and then returned to her home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mary, Mother of the Living God, pray for us who have recourse to thee. And pray especially for those who don't have recourse to thee.

~~

Update: my first exam is this afternoon in exactly 4hours and 58 mins!

a soppy post for May 30th

Earlier today while day-dreaming...errr..revising, I suddenly realised....OH WOW!! IT'S THE 30th OF MAY!!!


and we allll know what that means?!


A&C (one of our first pics together with a digital camera)



So I emailed Chris & said...

Me: Chris!! Today's a special day....

Chris: Yes, it's Monday.

Me: Yes, but a SPECIAL Monday....

*nudge*nudge*

Chris: um..

Me: May 30th....30th of the month....30th....think...think...

(he eventually got it)

woohoo! Chris & I have been together 2 years and 6 months today!!!!

wow! 2 WHOLE YEARS and 6 VERY HAPPY MONTHS!

Okay, it may not seem THAT long in the grand scheme of things, but it was waaay back in 2002 when I met him, I was only 19 (he was 20) and I've only spent 5 weeks at University without knowing him...so it seems like a very long time to me!!


Chrissy sweet-heart; thanks for EVERYTHING! I don't know what I'd do without you!
I thank God every day for having allowed us to meet and you know I love you SO SO much!

You are my soul-mate and I am happier with you than I could ever describe!

*says a prayer of thanks*

may God protect us always my sweet darling!



oooh! matching....!! My aunt got us them! hehe!

ahh so many good times!! :o)

Monday, May 30, 2005

Sunday evening...in an attempt to cheer myself up...(now with photos!)

...I will look to my future post-exams...


After a day of revision I just feel more inadequate for my exams than before.

aaaargh! I want them to be over but I don't want to actually have to do them!


This *might* cheer me up...


~~Antonia's After-Exams Plan~~


Friday 3rd

afternoon - shopping with friend (post-exam tradition!)
evening - dinner with friends

-----

Saturday 4th

morning - sleeeeeeeeep
afternoon - mass & lunch at the Catholic Chaplaincy
afternoon - group photo with friends to go in our really funky engraved photo frames we bought as a good-bye present



my medic friends (i'm the blonde one!)


------

Sunday 5th

mass
pub-lunch

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Monday 6th


afternoon - tennis & enjoying the sun

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Tuesday 7th

all day - down to London with friends (to be confirmed) apparently there is a 1pound return bus-ticket available! woohoo!

-----

Wed 8th

morning & afternoon - revise for oral exam
evening - A tridentine mass at the student Chaplaincy to pray for vocations, plus free drinks & nibbles afterwards

-----

Thursday 9th

afternoon - 55mins Oral Exam


NOW I HAVE PROPERLY FINISHED MY EXAMS!!!!!!!!!!!!! YEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-----

Friday or/Saturday my friend Chris H. needs to show me some lamas that apparently reside round these parts....should be fun!!


Chris H. & I

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Sunday 12th

morning - My dad gets back from Saudi!!! YEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!
afternoon - leave for 3 day retreat with Catholic Uni friends to a nunnery in Kent

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Monday 13th

*on retreat*

St. Anthony's Day!! My patron Saint so I will have to celebrate!!

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Tuesday 14th

get back from retreat

evening - dinner with Chaplaincy friends going to World Youth Day, Germany this summer

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Wednesday 15th

evening - get together with Chaplaincy friends to watch three hours of 'The Monastery show that was on TV recently. Pop-corn and wine as demanded by Chris H!!!

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Thursday 16th

evening & early morning - Mega posh (& expensive) Chaplaincy Annual Dinner!

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Friday 17th

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Saturday 18th

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Sunday 19th

morning after mass & afternoon - BBQ

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Monday 20th

afternoon - Chapliancy Garden Party!

evening & over-night - MAY BALL!


before the ball 2003


2004

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Tuesday 21st


morning - MAY BALL

afternoon - sleep

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Wednesday 22nd --> Friday 24th will be spent with friends, probably punting, playing tennis, watching movies, eating and enjoying our last few days living together before we all leave never to see each other again...*sniffs* *wipes a tear from eye*

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Saturday 25

A Wedding

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JULY 2rd

*****MY BA GRADUATION*****


woohooo! I will have a Bachelor of Arts!! even though I do medicine! CRAZEEEE!!

(well, as long as I pass my upcoming exams...*gulps*)

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JULY 3rd


LEAVE FOR AMERICA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

(in an excited kinda way!!)

-----


wow!! That DID cheer me up!

hehe!! I CAN get through the next 5 days!! ...or at any rate I will drag myself through just so I can enjoy the month after wards!!

yey! There is nothing better than being at Uni after exams! NO WORK, NO PRESSURES! Just fun fun fun!!

wooohooo!


d'oh! Better get to bed now at tis almost 10pm and I still need to say all my prayers!


5 more days...5 more days...5 more days...

Sunday, May 29, 2005

A Swaroski Crystal Dragon...

...what does it have in common with a long hard day spent revising the pathogenesis of the HIV virus...?


Swaroski crystal dragon

answer....NOTHING!

One reminds me of a lazy summer day sent galavanting in the sun, the other is of a painful summers day spent worrying about deep vein thrombosis cos I havent moved from my desk in 10 hours.


siiigh

For info...Chris & I went to the Swaroski Crystal museum in Innsbruck last summer and I made him take out the camera in the middle of the shop and take a picture of this amazing dragon (worth several million euros too!)



Just 2 more days (including today) till my first exam.
It'll be okay once the exams have started because my schedule will be
revise for exam 1- exam1 - revise for exam 2 - exam2 - revise for exam3 - exam 3 - revise for exam 4 - exam4 - PARTY!

So this week should go by quite quickly( albeit painfully!)

Last year I had 8 days of exams, and 6 of those days were CONSECUTIVE! How harsh is that?! 1.5 - 3 hours of exams per day on 6 consecutive days!
ouch!
Apparently though 2nd year medicine at my Uni is in the Guinness book of records as being the year where students have to learn the most volume of work. It may just be a rumour, but personally, I think it's true!

My exams this year are each 3 hours long and, to be honest, don't really count for much in the grand scheme of my life. This year is my BA year where I basically do a sciencey rather than a mediciney degree in order to complete my BA. As I have no intention of becoming a researcher or anything requiring a BA, I don't really need it. It's just an extra degree. Which is nice. and snobby, but hey, I worked hard (-ish) for it!

This upcoming week my exams are:

Tuesday 31st

1:30pm - 4:30pm


Wednesday 1st

1:30pm - 4:30pm


Thursday 2nd

1:30pm - 4:30pm


Friday 3rd

9am - noon


I intend on getting up at 7am each day, going to mass at 7:30am, and then revising till 1pm (except on the Friday of course!)


Technically speaking, I haven't quite finished on that Friday.....on Thursday 9th June I do have 2 oral exams as well; one on my dissertation and the other on 'skills' (whatever that means!).

Then I have a crazy 2 weeks of dinners, retreats, balls and fun till graduation...and then the good ol' USofA !!!!!!!! YEY!!!I have been looking of pictures of where I'll be staying, maybe I'll post them tonight!

Maybe tonight I'll also post a list of all the fun stuff I have scheduled for after my exams to cheer myself up!

Just to end off, a final conundrum for you...

what does a Swaroski crystal dragon and the flowers Chris bought me yesterday have in common...?


flower + Chris & I

answer.....they both remind me of a time when I was going out with a very very lovely sweet, kind & generous boy who loves me very much!



ah, it's almost 9am, better go start the day's revision....waaaaaaa!!

flowers up close

Friday, May 27, 2005

FOOD


oranges


lemon mirangue cake


frozen yogurt (frogurt?)


A BIG cake


one piece of cake with a lot of candles sticking out!



dates from Saudi Arabia

Thursday, May 26, 2005

Intensive revision

I am on day 3 of my intensive read-absolutly-every-single-published-paper schedule.

So far I'm doing okay. I have been spending an average of 10-12 hours in the library, so I'm happy (and also extremely tired!).

I have decided to update my blog with random pictures.

Today's theme is GREEN!


xxxx

All things greeeeeeeeeeeeen (summer 2004)


green grapes



green beans



insect


shiny bug


massive grasshopper


grasshopper surveying his land

Wednesday, May 25, 2005

My Yearbook entry

Although, I am studying medicine, which is a 6 year course, as this is my 3rd year I will be graduating from pre-clinical medicine with a BA, before I enter into Clinical medicine this September to complete my medicine degree.

So, because I am graduating this year my college is making a yearbook, and below is my yearbook entry!

enjoy!

-----------------------

Yearbook 2002-2005


Name: Antonia

Also known as: Brittney, Tiger, Antonine, ajd

Subject: Medicine


Famous sayings:
“that’s very amusing”
“aaw, little Ambi!”
“mama mia!”
“yes but…”
*giggle*


Most likely to:
- become a photographer if medicine fails
- wear a hat
- lose/break a bike lock
- befriend cleaners, waiter, lecturers
- forget to turn on the oven switch
- eat pasta


Least likely to:
- go to the gym
- hand in a form on time
- sit anywhere but the front row


In three words:
blonde, girlie, Catholic


Memorable moments:
Ambi- calling me ‘mommy!’ in public
Rebecca- buying fudge & having a snowball fight! Fuelling your chocolate-pillow addiction. You being totally sickened by my dissection folder!
Kirsty- buying me a new dissection folder! All our physiology practicals failing!
Mehrun – your army gear!
Vanessa – Constantly being terrified with your reckless cycling!
Helen – coping with Pete and his sexist jokes at Fisher House!
Soph – Meeting you everyday leaving college, just as I was getting back in!Imogen – GILB!
YQ – our daily window waving as I cycled past (& then calling for help as I had forgotten my swipe card!)
XJ – sooo many memories & laughs…the most special is definitely our hugs after our tears..!

Thanks for a great 3 years!! Here’s to the next 50…! –x-


Special interests/achievements:
- wee kiddies
- never using the college's washing machine!


What next?

- pro-life activist work

oh, and medicine!

Tuesday, May 24, 2005

exam term...my exciting life..

seeing as I have a few moments spare this evening, I thought I'd update my blog with all the exciting things that have been going on in my life recently.....failing that, I might make some stuff up to make my life seem exciting!


I have started rowing this term. Rowing is a massive sport at my university and I have decided, after 3 years, that I should probably try it!
We had an outing last Saturday and guess what!? It was the ONLY afternoon of the whole term so far where it poured like crazy all day! I got absolutely soaking wet, I looked like I had just been in the shower with my clothes on. And because I could hardly see due to the rain I kept doing stupid things like getting my oar stuck in the water so the person behind me would hit me in the back with their oar! ouch! And our boat ('Winston') weighs about a gazillion tons and totally crippled me as we carried it in & out of the Boat House, so I could barely move all of yesterday!

Yesterday was quite a nice day I suppose. Nothing exciting happened, but last Sunday Chris & I had ostrich burgers at the market after mass! (I'm not making this one up!) I've never had ostrich before but apparently it's a very good healthy meat! It was pretty yummy! I can now add ostrich to horse, donkey, rabbit, deer & quail on my list of interesting meats I've eaten (including unknown amalgamation of meats in a BigMac/Chinese food).

Today I spent almost the whole day revising. The high-light of my afternoon was when I accidentally spilt a glass of milk on my floor, and then decided to clean my fridge cos I was bored.
In the evening I went to mass at this little chapel by my room. It was nice, but during the consecration, everyone in the congregation (there were only a handful of us) walked up to the altar and stood directly in front of it facing the priest and didn't kneel at all. That was a little weird.... I knelt down at the standard times as instructed by the GIRM (General Instruction of the Roman Missal) but I'm not quite sure why the other 2 people didn't...

anywayz, Chris just came over brought me donoughts and a Pope Benedict badge that he bought from one of his friends.


purchased from the Pope Benedict Fan Club website! (formerly Cardinal Ratzinger fanclub!)


I better go to bed as I need to be up early tomorrow. My exams start a week tomorrow. what fun and joy!

actually, as they are only worth 40% of my grade I'm not too fretted (...hmm...possibly not a good thing..?!)

From tomorrow I plan on spending 3 FULL days in the library reading papers. Then I have 3 full days to practice essays & tie up lose ends.
and one day to cram everything else I don't know.

what fun.

g'nite

Friday, May 20, 2005

Artistic-yes. Sane-NO!!

From a purely artistic perspective, these 3 photos are quite nice. Nice juxtaposition of colours, nice movement and flow.

But when you consider that the photographer KNEW that there was a massive pot-hole in the ground, and then LAY IN WAIT for some poor cyclist to photograph, it's disgusting! How could someone not warn people of the danger ahead, but rather wait for them to crash down and get seriously hurt so that they can take some artistic photos?! it is just horrendous!

Sometimes I wonder what is wrong with people.

Respect for human life is going down the drain.

Thursday, May 19, 2005


bike1

bike2

bike3

Time wasting

pah!! And they say being a 3rd year medical student is a lot of work!

pffff!

Piglet out with 'a friend'

Piglet chilling in his hammock

piglet standing up in his hammock

aww! Little Richard came to say hi!!

oh no!! he slipped!!

Piglet clinging for dear life!

Heeeelllppp!!

Tuesday, May 17, 2005

When you actually think about it..

God created mankind out of love.

Out of justice He condemned mankind for their sins and disobedience.

Out of mercy God HIMSELF chose to suffer and be killed for mankind's sake.


and at every mass we recieve this very same God truely present; His body, His blood, His soul and His Divinity.

GOD HIMSELF.



wow

Sunday, May 15, 2005

Back after 2 weeks

I know, I know....2 weeks of no blogging is kinda unacceptable in BlogLand! What can I say? I have started writing about 3 blog entries, but then got distracted and so never got round to finishing them. Also, have pity on me, it's exam term so I have been doing "lots" of "revision".

My exam 2 weeks ago went well, despite my worrying that I wouldn't be able to focus for 3.5hours I actually did! My next exam is on May 31st, so I still have just over 2 weeks (and will need every day of it!)

In other news...I'm going to America this summer!! I didn't mention this before because I wasn't sure whether I had been accepted or not, but now I am sure! I'm going to work at a Catholic Teen Summer Camp in Georgia from July 3rd - August 3rd. I've never been to the USA before so I am really looking forward to it! I'm very very lucky to have found it and to be able to go (all thanks to St. Joseph's intercession!!), as most summer camps are 9-12weeks long, but I can go on this one for only 4 weeks which is totally perfect!

When I get back I will fly to Italy and spend a week there, before flying to Germany for World Youth Day for a week, and then back to Italy for another 2-3weeks, before returning here to England ready to start my Clinicals in the hospital by September 19th...!!
So tis a very busy summer for me!!


Hmmm...this sounds very sad but I dont think I have much else to report despite my 2 week absence! Well, I do, but everything else would take too long to tell for the punch-line, so I will leave it at that!

I'll add some pictures to my blog, that is bound to cheer up any adoring fans I have out there who've missed me!

tata for now!

Chris, boyfriend of 2 years, 5 months, 1 week, 6 days...as a cartoon!

My friend made us all cookies with out names on! (note how *someone* already took a bite out of mine!!)

My boatie boy-friend out rowing. (he is stroke, i.e. in position number 1)

Monday, May 02, 2005

May 1st 2005...May Day May Day!

Ah Sunday night. Normally on Sunday evenings I have the 'ugh-I-cant-believe-I-have-lectures-AGAIN-tomorrow-morning...' feeling but not any more! Nope, no more lectures for me till September! whoohoo! But unfortunately I have an exam THIS Friday which means I got loads of yucky revision to do tomorrow instead. booo!

Today was a very unproductive day in terms of revision. I was out from about 1:30pm til 8pm. First of all I helped out a someone's good-bye garden party with my friend Chris H. We were the waiters, serving drinks and nibbles to the 40-odd guests ( I dunno how we got roped into it!) I learned how to make pimms, which I have never done before, so that was kinda exciting. Then I went to the evening mass at our Chaplaincy which was good, but a bit quiet cos there is no singing or anything ( I normally go to the earlier mass on Sunday but decided not to today so I could work before all my stuff in the afternoon) (unfortunately I didn't get much work done).
Then I met a friend of mine who came round for the day from Oxford, that was quite cool.

Then Chris wanted to go to McDonalds, but the mere thought made me ill...
There used to be a time when going to McD's was a super fun treat! I've never been more often than once every 3 months or so, but I cant stand it any more! All those stomach cramps that I get after eating a BigMac meal have put me off totally and the transient pleasure that you may get from eating it just aint worth the physical repercussions! My digestive system seriously does not like BigMacs! Plus, because I find them so dry I always put on loads of ketchup, but am getting a bit paranoid that one of these days they may discover that a certain artificial chemical in the ketchup is cancer-causing...which would be very worrying given the volumes I consume when at McDs!
So instead we got a take-away from some semi-dodgy Greek place. I tried not to look as the cook's bare hands touched absolutely every single food-item that went into my kebab...and then answered the phone...punched numbers in the till..handled money...put food in his mouths...touched the counter-top.....*shudders*

There are few things that really really bug me! Honestly, I'm not weird! But people touching the food I am about to consume with their unclean hands that have been touching everything else in the local vicinity is one thing that really makes me icky! It always has done though, even when i was younger. Like I remember when I was about 8 or something, my friends and I always used to get ice-lollies after going swimming in the pool in Saudi, everyone would want to try everyone else's ice-cream or lolly and I just used to be so grossed out about it!!

I also really hate it when people handle communal food, LICK THEIR FINGERS, and then go back to touching the communal food!! ewwww!! When that happens I always avoid the bits of the food that were touched by the licked fingers! bleeeugh!

anyway, not sure why I am so ranty this evening...

tomorrow I have nothing much to look forward to except more of the same revision!
We are having a massive Catholic Chaplaincy mass in hour of our patron saint, St. John Fisher. There will also be a free lunch afterwards. I will go...but I know it will end up wasting my entire afternoon and I wont get any work done!

ugh, the joys of revision...

I actually wish this Sunday night that I WOULD have lectures tomorrow...anything is better than being 4 days away from an exam!