book review: paper swans by jessica thompson

I recently joined Bookbridgr after seeing Katie talk about them over on her blog and being a big reader (thank you, Kindle!), I thought I'd join up to see what the fuss was about. Let's just say I'm so far impressed with the whole concept - reading books and then reviewing them is fair trade to me! 

Let me introduce you to the first book I received through Bookbridgr: Paper Swans by Jessica Thompson. I received this book towards the end of August and I finished it in a week. Pretty good going considering for half of that time, it was term-time (hello, nine to five days where I leave the house at half seven in the morning and don't return til half six in the evening...).

Anyway, Paper Swans is a love story intertwined with mental illness. Without giving too much of the plot away, the book follows Ben's journey through the skeletons in his closet that arose from one unfortunate incident earlier in his life. It's all a bit cliche to begin with - a guy who seems arrogant and irresponsible and a girl who has no bad bone in her body. However, the fact that I read the book in seven days says it all - the plot, though nothing really that special, kept me interested enough to want to know what would happen next.

What I loved about this book was the sensitive way Jessica Thompson tackles the subject of mental illness. Though some parts were a bit unrealistic (in my opinion), the majority of it was relatable to the average Joe. We all go through periods of anxiety but for some of us, it can be more severe and chronic that for others and I think this book highlights this point very well.

Although the book is a bit of a slow starter, I would still recommend it. So far this year, I've read a lot of Lucy Diamond books and other chicklit books and if you have similar taste in books to me, I think you'll enjoy this book.

Overall, I give Paper Swans 7/10 (which is pretty decent as books rarely make it passed 7/10 when I rate them!).

my week #125

My second week back and it has been a busy one! I'm still trying to find a balance between study, work and my social life and I think I'm getting there. 

My aim this weekend is to sort out my room and Expedit bookshelf - thanks to some very helpful comments, I think I have some ideas about what to do. Thank you to all of the helpful suggestions :)

I redeemed a free Graze box two weeks ago and my second one arrived (with some money off) this week. Although I love the concept of receiving 'healthier' snacks through the post, I don't think it is something I can afford to fork out for on a regular basis so this will be my last.

How has your week been?

balancing university and 'life': my own experience

It's really easy to let university take over your life and in fact, I think I was guilty of this in my first year at medschool. In this post, I will cover work and play (or at least, try to!) so I'll begin with work.

Firstly, I try and work whenever possible. Sometimes, I'm really not in the mood for study so I'll take that evening off or a few hours off and that's okay with me. I do feel a bit stressed and guilty for not doing work but then I think about how important it is to have a balance and I don't feel quite so bad. Occasionally, I get into a mood where I feel super productive and it's during these times that I take advantage and get a lot of study in (but with study breaks every hour!).

As my commute is an hour and a half each way, I try and make use of this time. I'll spend half of my journey relaxing and the other half going over things with flashcards. Flashcards are something that I count as an essential when it comes to studying and that's particularly true for me when I could potentially end up wasting 15 hours a week doing nothing whilst on the bus.

During particularly stressful times, I will light a candle a few hours' before I am due to go to bed. I leave the candle on my bedside table and when I tuck myself under my duvet, I get a faint smell of vanilla which aids relaxation. I think the tea lights shown above were only £1.50 (for the whole pack!) and although the aroma isn't the strongest, it does the job.

Make time to wind down and relax with friends... Once every few weeks, my friends and I will get together and do something that doesn't involve work. One of my favourite things to do is laugh and make other people laugh so it's safe to say that one thing that keeps me balanced are my friends.

Do more of what you love. For me, I love cooking and baking so once in a while, I'll spend a afternoon in the kitchen cooking and baking. Although I love hanging out with friends, I do love being in my own company too and this 'hobby' (if you can call it that...!) allows me to do just that.

Finally, the most important thing you can learn to do is to say 'no'. I know it's hard when a friend decides to arrange a night out as it might feel like you're missing out but on a few occasions, I've declined invitations as I'm aware of my own limits. Burning out is not fun and it's not worth risking it for 'fear of missing out'. 

Overall, I think it is quite easy to get caught up in studying 24/7 and not allowing yourself to let go for fear of guilty or anxious feelings. I appreciate this - I've been in that boat earlier this year - but each time I felt guilty or anxious, I'd remind myself that by having these breaks or times where I just focus on play instead of work, I'm allowing myself to stay sane. And I think that's the most important thing to remember: that by having this balance, I'm keeping my sanity and balance as an all-rounded human being. There's more to me than just studying and letting it define my personality is not how I want others to see me.

how I re-wrote my lecture notes in year one, term three

Lectures play a role in the most university courses and on my course, it makes up a significant portion of the teaching. The majority of exam content is based on what we are taught in lectures (with the rest based on self-directed learning) and so I have tweaked the way I re-write notes so that they are more useful when it comes to revision time. 

The first thing to note is that I try and write in bullet points - this breaks down the information and makes it easier to take in. I also try and only write down things I think are relevant because the lectures are often padded out with statistics that don't need to be learnt and sometimes, it is quite obvious what the lecturer wants us to know at this stage and I take every hint I can get during the lectures themselves. 

In terms of colour, I try not to overload the paper with too many colours as I find that it can be distracting. It's nice to have beautiful lecture notes but the main thing is function here so minimalism is key.

Medicine isn't just all about words - anatomy is very visual and it's all very well writing notes on an organ/the Circle of Willis (a network of arterial circulation in the brain)/the GI system but without being able to visualise things, it makes learning everything that bit harder. This is why I draw out as much as I can and then annotate to my heart's content. Drawing things out by hand is another way to help things sink into my brain - there's a reason why there are 'draw it to know it' anatomy books out there on the market!

Occasionally, I integrate hand-drawn diagrams with lecture notes. In the next picture, I transferred the lecture material into a diagram I came up with myself. Doing this allowed me to compartmentalise the massive amount of information provided to us in the lecture and make it easier to learn.

This is essentially how I wrote out my revision notes and I hope to carry as much of this on as I can this year. However, I will try and put it all into one A5 notebook so that it is easier to lug around with me on a daily basis and because I really want to use my Leuchtturm 1917 notebooks!