Sunday Transitions

As I sit on my flight to Melbourne, New Zealand bound by the end of the day, I thought it was an opportune time to reflect on my last five weeks in Adelaide. Five weeks ago, when I stepped foot in the Women’s and Children’s Hospital for the first time, and my supervisor asked me why I chose Paediatric Surgery for my placement, and what I wanted to get out of my five weeks, my answer was simply that I loved working with children but that I’d had merely a half day in Paediatric surgery through my previous medical education. Did I have any aspirations to be a surgeon? Not really. (but of course I didn’t tell them that, to them my “options were still open”). So I began this journey in Paediatric Surgery, enjoying standing in theatre watching these tiny humans, watching the baby with a congenital duodenal atresia have its intestinal tract restored, or an umbilical hernia be repaired. I got to see the compassionate and highly skilled way the anaesthetists interacted with childre...

One of the great things here in Adelaide has been the low-key relaxed environment of the operating theatre. In New Zealand theatres, you’d occasionally hear the soft murmuring of a radio station playing as you work, and its typical for light hearted conversation to occur, but here in Adelaide, every theatre is equipped with iPhone speaker docks to enable every surgeon’s personalized choice of music to reverberate through the theatre. One of the consultants didn’t provide his own music, but it was well expected of any registrar, resident or medical student to not enter his theatre without the music that he liked. What was that music you ask? Beyoncé. When we were in theatre with him one morning, he asked for some music, and we had limited Beyoncé between us. I started playing the limited Beyoncé I had, and “We Run This World” started playing. “Who is this?” The surgeon asked shocked. Informed that it was in fact Beyoncé, and he was again s...

I thought today I would write a little bit about differences . For the non-medical among you, I apologise if there are words or concepts that don’t mean anything to you – skip over it and we’ll be back to your regular scheduled programming next (or read on, and as I heard so delightfully from Lily – you might learn a new word or phrase!!) Coming to a new country, with a different medical system there are bound to be differences in the way medicine is practiced and the procedures and systems in place. Even Australia, in all its similarities to New Zealand is bound to have a few differences. In amongst the chaos of finishing exams, packing up and moving somewhere new however, I somehow managed to forget this simple fact. It was probably my second day of ward rounds when I was reminded of this. We were seeing yet another patient with appendicitis who was scheduled for surgery. “…And he’s got IV Tazocin going?” the consultant asked, as a final remark. “TAZOCIN?!?!?!?!” I excla...

Tonight marks the end of my first week as a Trainee Intern, and my first week on elective at the Adelaide Women's and Children's hospital. Lets start with the Academia. This week I've attended 17 surgeries, including some that I'd never have the opportunity to see in Wellington. I've found making a list of procedures helps to remind me just how much I'm still learning, and helps me to remember that I am here for some purpose with the sudden lack of objectives to sign off in my book. I've also remembered how difficult basic things like learning people's names are, learning my way around a new hospital, or even just learning the route to and from the hospital can be. Thank goodness for smart phones (and especially to those handy little battery packs for when my iPhone dies on me halfway through the day!) I was almost relieved when the Consultant addressed me as "Georgina" the other morning during ward rounds, I wasn't the only person to for...

Normally, my sundays are filled with study (or more accurately, a little study filled in with a lot of procrastination!) So since I had a weekend free for a change, being on winter break, A friend and I took a walk to the local wind turbine. On the walk up Although a cold winters day, on a north facing hill in a northerly wasn't the nicest of weathers to be walking in, the view from the top certainly helped! And where would we be without a little bit of posing at the top? Wellington is so pretty I also took my camera, hoping to finish off the last few photos on the film - I've been shooting on this one film for the last 18 months, and I absolutely love the mystery of not knowing what I've taken photos of until I get the film developed! Photoception The windmill is pretty terrifying up close! This was a lovely couple of hours to spend with a friend, and although I couldn't feel my fingers when I got home, a nice drink, and a seat ...

Once upon a time during the month of March 2014, we decided to utilize our first few weeks back at university by partaking in the #30DaysOfFashion challenge. It was indeed a challenge, but being budding fashionistas completed it with sass and style. We compiled a list of 30 diverse themes, one for each day: Incorporate an item you bought in 2013 Fashion's Past - find an old photo from high school and recreate the outfit, but better!! Taylor Swift Inspired outfit Anything but Black! Gossip Girl inspired outfit Wear something you haven't worn in 6 months Wear an outfit combo you haven't tried yet Outfit that reminds us of the other Lazy Day Outfit Dress like a music video Your go-to "uniform" outfit Inspired by your style icon Incorporate an item you bought in 2014 Choose a picture from your tumblr likes and re-create it Favourite Print Am I Little Mix yet? Classic White Shirt Your favourite piece of clothing Neutrals ROCK! Inspired by your f...

Hello and welcome to Sunday Transitions! Most of you will have arrived at this page wondering what a Sunday Transition involves. No, we are not churchgoing werewolves, we are just two semi-boring 20 something year-olds undergoing the semi-awkward transition between academic life and professional life. Most of us young women in our early 20s tend to be thrown in worrying situations involving fashion crises, cringe-worthy interactions with the opposite sex and late night dancing alone in front of your mirror in your underwear. Sound familiar? Then this blog may just be your cuppa tea. No, we don't know where our lives are going either, but wherever it is, it's bound to be a laugh! So if ever you need something to giggle at on a bad day, or inspiration for your outfits/room deco/dinner parties, we might just be able to help! See ya round! Nurul and Georgia