YOHO Hostel

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The trip to Salzburg from Munich was quite a short ride. In just about two and a half hours, we reached the train station in Salzburg. There was not much to see during the night time as we were walking towards the hostel that we have booked prior to the trip because most of the shops were already closed. The absence of tourists and locals had made the dark streets somewhat eerie and creepy. Nonetheless, we made our way to the hostel safely in one piece.

Day1

Munich Airport


After I was done with my first medical elective in Middlesbrough, I was so stoked to embark on yet another adventure in Europe! This time we were tackling the central region of the Europe. We left Middlesbrough and travelled to London a day earlier just so that we could actually spend some time visiting UK. It was another hectic schedule but we were all excited to discover every unknown territory with a little bit mixture of fear and nervousness along the way.

Then we proceeded to board the Ryan Air straight to Munich. We were very much confused with the weather in European countries as one place might be warmer or colder than the other at the same time. Luckily the temperature was just right in Munich and we checked in at our Airbnb house before went out strolling.

Englischer Garten






Such irony as we just came from the UK and our first stop was actually, you guess it right, the English Garden. Being one of the largest urban parks in the world, the public park was located in the centre of Munich, Bavaria, stretching from the city centre to the northeastern city limits.
The interesting thing about this place was that there were a Greek temple, a Chinese pagoda as well as a Japanese tea house!

So far it had been a wild ride. We had a blast in both Madrid and Barcelona, Spain in general and they were beyond our expectations. Even though we were repeatedly told that the crime rates were high, we were fortunate enough to not experience any of it. We left Spain with heavy hearts yet were excited onto our next destination, Paris! We took separate night flights from Barcelona to Paris via Air France and Ryan Air( they had limited promotions that time, so it was more worth it to take Air France than Ryan Air).

Day 1

Charles De Gaulle Airport



Once we arrived the busy airport, we made our way to the accommodation via the express train known as the RER. Tips: Get a carnet of tickets (10 tickets) for €14.10 at the nearest Metro station as the individual ticket was pricier at €1.90 each and you would use the tickets anyway as Paris was quite a huge city to travel around. Don't freaked out if you came across locals who just jumped over the machine as they wanted to get free rides.

Eiffel Tower





Our first stop was the one and only Eiffel Tower. Knowing the fact that it was a remarkably famous place for its romantic environment and magnificent building amongst the tourists around the world, we left our accommodations super early in the morning at about 7.30 am to avoid insane queues. The admission for stairs access was the cheapest, at €5. The alternative was through the elevator, which was way pricier. The downside of stairs tickets was that we had to buy it on the spot.

Taking the overnight ALSA coach from Madrid to Barcelona was quite an enjoyable ride. The seats were comfortable and there was even mini toilet attached to the bus (Mind you, there are no toilet attached to any of the busses in Malaysia). However, I realised something different about the highways in European countries compared to Malaysia. There were barely any street lights installed along the highway in Europe, making the journey slightly creepy and dark. After some seven hours of journey, we finally made it to the Barcelona's bus station.

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Before I started my elective in the UK during last summer, I have spent two weeks travelling around in the Europe. It was indeed a very exciting adventure for me as this was my first ever trip to the European countries. I first landed in London, UK after flying for 13 hours from Malaysia. It was an enjoyable long haul flight via the Malaysian Airlines which was considerably cheap since I bought the tickets at a last minute that cost me MYR1250 (US$305) one way.

Ryan Air airline

A couple of friends (seven) and I began our Euro Trip by heading to Madrid through one of the European budget airlines, Ryan Air. Prior going for the trip, each of us was given tasks to do research on the country that was assigned to us and I was responsible for Spain's itinerary. Having said that, I had spent considerably huge amount of my leisure time getting to know all the attractions, navigation, cultures, not to mention planning the schedule for the days we spent there.

Honestly speaking, planning for a trip was really exhausting. Apart from making sure that the destinations and meals fitted everyone's preferences, I needed to become familiar with the roads in a country that was entirely new for me. In addition, I also had to learn some simple Spanish as I found out that not everyone in Spain spoke English, let alone Malay or Mandarin.

Day 1

We arrived at the Terminal 1 of Madrid Airport approximately 12 noon after four hours of journey in the plane from London Stansted Airport. The crowd was mental, especially for the foreigners as we went through strict inspection from the officers. It took us a good 30 minutes to pass through the security check. Then, in order to get to the Atocha Railway Station which was our first stop, we picked the most affordable way to get there.

The Atocha Railway Station

We got on to the free bus from Terminal 1 to Terminal 4 and then from Terminal 4 floor 1 we boarded Cercanias Line 1 C1 for 6 stops to the destination. All of that cost us only €2.6. The Atocha Railway Station was the first and largest railway station in Madrid that serves local commuters, intercity and inter-region travelers in Spain. It was located in the district of Prado which is situated near the center of Madrid. Within the station, there was a mini garden that was so mesmerising!

Potato cake and bun!

Lovely florist!

Before we went to the next place, we stopped by at the nearest market which was the Mercado Anton Martin to have a quick lunch. It was a beautiful market that offered a variety of local food and products. There were not many tourists when we were there and the food was sold at a quite affordable price.

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At the moment, I am eagerly waiting for my graduation ceremony day to arrive. Although the result list was released back in mid June, the graduation ceremony for Newcastle University Medicine Malaysia falls on end of October. The timing is somewhat slow, considering that the graduation ceremony in Newcastle University is held in July. While I was scrolling through the ceremony photos on Newcastle University facebook page couple of days ago, I found something odd in the photos particularly the graduates. No matter how I tried, I could not sort it out until I went to my friend's grad ceremony couple of weeks ago. Of course, the mortarboards were missing in the #NCLGRAD photos! Literally none of the graduates were wearing mortarboards/ caps other than the robes. Curiosity got the better of me, hence I went searching for answers to this rather peculiar questions on google. As it turned out, Google did not disappoint me. It had something to do with tradition.

Image Source: www.ncl.ac.uk

So the story goes like this. Once upon a time, Newcastle began as a division which then later turned into a college of Durham University. It taught mainly medical and scientific subjects at that period of time. As the Toon division outpaced the Durham in scientific research, tensions were rising between the two universities. Eventually, Newcastle became as in independent university and called the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1963. In order to celebrate the momentous event, students celebrated the freedom from Durham University by throwing their traditional hats (mortarboards) into the River Tyne. The university later became the University of Newcastle.

There you have it. Thanks to TheTab Newcastle and Newcastle University's official webpage, I got the full story of it. Well, to be honest, I do not really mind with the absence of mortarboards at all because it is kind of a hassle to wear one and the feathery robe itself is cool enough. Some of my friends actually told me that it is way better without the caps as they would mess up your hair big time. Alas, I just want to graduate and attend the grad ceremony. Can't wait. Till then, bye.

Image Source: www.ncl.ac.uk

I have finally come to the last chapter of my undergraduate studies, the gruesome fifth (final year). It was undeniably challenging to an epic scale. During the start of the course, I was literally still in holiday mode after returning to Malaysia from the United Kingdom. Never mind that I was exhausted and suffering from jet-lagged after some 20 hours of journey, I have not touched any of the curriculum materials as I was busy doing medical electives throughout the year (which were not related to my learning objectives to certain extent). Also, the schedules for final year was not really helping at all as they were packed whereby I was in hospital five days a week, each day from as early as seven in the morning until four (sometimes five) in the evening.