Kym Le

I passed second year! Finding out my results last week meant that I could finally enjoy my break. And I couldn’t be happier, for it was more challenging than first year.

12-hour university days, finishing at 8, 9 or sometimes 10 p.m. half the time were energy-draining. Laboratory and clinical work meant that we virtually lived in the hospital. There was and will continue to be more self-directed learning.

Of course, it was enjoyable. True, I often felt pushed to the limit, with little time to appreciate the beauty of the theory compared to last year. But my determination and ability to cope helped me pull through.

I’ve just returned from a weekend-long camp, and it’s left me deep in thought. The people I befriended had meaningful views on helping each other and the world around us. It was tiring. But our team won thanks to the sacrifice of someone who unknowingly drank fermented shrimp paste for the team.

And on the topic of food, living alone means I’m free to pursue food adventures. For example, last year I had a fetish for game meat. This year I’ve switched to ethnic cuisine. I’ve added to my growing repertoire: Burmese, Greek, Latvian, Moroccan, Nepalese, Russian, Spanish and Sri Lankan. Who knows what I’ll be eating next year?

I’ll be spending Christmas and New Year’s in Melbourne visiting relatives. Then I’ll be flying to Adelaide in late January for third year! I’ll be starting earlier than in my previous years.

We went to the Australian Dental Students Association convention, with morning lectures at the University of Sydney. Although most of the content was beyond our current scope (in particular the specialist lectures), it was good food for thought. with a 40-odd student presence this year to support our bid, next year the convention will be held in Adelaide.

I begin with some (possibly bad) news. Judging by a recent OPG radiograph, it appears my permanent (adult) tooth is not budging. ‘It may be ankylosed,’ explained my dentist. I am therefore presented with a number of options:

1. Continue with the orthdontic treatment for an unspecified amount of time and monitor for any promising signs.
2. Have the tooth surgically removed and get a canine implant.
3. Have the tooth surgically removed, alter orthodontic treatment to move the first premolar into the empty space of the canine then get an implant placed between the two premolars. This was reasoned to be better than option 2.

For the meantime I have chosen option 1. I am doing my research to decide on whether option 2 or 3 should be my plan B.

Being back home, the break was very relaxing. Due to a recent harvest of the sugar bananas from our backyard, we tried our best to finish the three tiers. I have had it with Weet-Bix every morning, banana bread, baked banana bread pudding and banana ice cream during the break. We are left with persimmons to finish off. And Mum baked a fresh batch of cassava cake!

Semester two starts tomorrow for me. It will be very challenging: learning anatomy, treating patients who aren’t dental students for the first time and the list goes on…

This marks the end of being a teenager! My grandparents lovingly wished me in Vietnamese, “Another year, more wise and mature.” And that is certainly what one has to be, studying away from home.

Today was filled with plenty of birthday wishes. For my birthday I received an iPad and Japanese doll card from my parents, an iPad holder from my close friends, a notebook, bookmarks, card and hand-written message from my housemates. As you can tell, I may be a little older but I still adore cute things.

As an aside, isn’t this a feast for the eyes? Last week we had a get-together for a friend’s belated birthday and it was an awesome night. We walked across half the city for dessert afterwards!

On the weekend, my housemates and I had a great night out with hot pot. The spicy soup was just what we needed in this chilly autumn weather. Then we went for dessert — it was so pretty, we didn’t dare to eat. But we did.