Chinese New Year Holiday!!!!

Me in the Snow

Zhejiang University Campus

The Administration Building in Zhejiang University

And the brand new university sports stadium!

"Can you tell what it is yet???" Zhejiang University Campus

More of the campus

An artistic shot

Hangzhou bicycle bin trucks

Shanghai Train Station!!! Looks more like an airport!

The new highspeed train from Hangzhou to Shanghai, but it only goes 350 odd km/h and takes nearly an hour to get there, so they are building a faster one. Seriously! And this one only just opened.

My new flat after moving out of university accommodation. Uni accommodation is ok, but my rent here is just over 100 GBP a month for a brand new 20th floor apartment with simming pool and badmington courts. You can't say fairer than that! Thanks landlord.

And my sofa, which I bought for 30 quid, yes 30 pounds!!!

I haven't written for a long time because I've been so busy studying and also working part time. I do a bit of English teaching here to subsidise the living and tuition fees. It is easy finding well paid work in Hangzhou, because most TEFL teachers go to Shanghai or Beijing.

The first term went well but was quite hectic. Getting back into studying after not doing any for 10 years was quite a challenge. I graduated from the University of Manchester with a gentleman's degree (a Desmond TuTu) in Aerospace Engineering in 2001. It was tough, but learning again is so rewarding and coming to study medicine in China is definitely the best decision I have ever made in my life.

For the winter term we studied Systemic Anatomy, Histology, Biochemistry and of course Chinese. We need to learn Chinese in order to communicate with patients in the internship in the hospitals in the fifth year. If our Chinese is not good enough by then there is always the option of doing the internship in an English speaking country instead, but I am really keen to do it here because it would be great to come out with a medical degree and fluent Chinese at the end of the five and a half years. We also had a guest professor from Holland come over to do a brain dissection, which was very interesting. Next term we will study Physiology, Medical Genetics, Regional Anatomy and some more Chinese. We will also begin dissection. Students at Zhejiang get eight bodies to dissect over the time that we are here.

The exams at the end of the semester were quite tough, but we were taught well for them and I have heard from quite a few students on the course that have previously studied in English medium medical programmes in other countries in the world that ours is far superior.

Talent Show

I have not posted anything on here for a while because I have been so busy with studies. There is so much Biochemistry, Anatomy and Histology to learn. I did, however, find time to enter a talent competition - talent being the operative word!

Have a look. I apologise in advance for the terrible Oasis rendition, but it gets better after. I promise.

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMjE1MTM3ODA4.html

Video of the halls of residence at Zhejiang University Study MBBS China Study Medicine in China

Arrived in Hangzhou

I have arrived in Hangzhou now and am already two weeks into the studies. I would have written before, but this website seems to be banned, along with a few others. The university is excellent, the teachers are great and it is marvallous to be finally studying medicine. I have had Anatomy, Histology and Biochemistry lectures so far. The facilities here are first rate. I stayed in the shared dormitory for 2 weeks, which is very cheap and not too bad. I will post a video of this in a second. I have now moved to a brand new 20th floor apartment with a simming pool. The rent for this is about a hundred pounds a month! I will make a video of this and the campus and put that up as well.

Leaving Taiwan 離開台灣！

After living in Taiwan for nearly 6 years, I have just left. I have taught English, amongst other things like being in adverts and films and doing editing work, for five and a half years in order to save up enough money to put myself through medical school. I have also had some of the best times of my life in there and it will always be one of my homes. Here are some photos of when I drove round Taiwan last Chinese new year and some of the days just before I left.

In addition to studying medicine next year, I have decided to try and get other students to study in China. I have set up this website, which gives all the details of how to apply:

www.studymedicineinchina.co.uk

The sound of somebody trying to get fired???

"Also Dawson. He is not young but he is back. Also we have Agbonlahor and Zamora. Another player I hope will be fit is Hargreaves."

Fabio Crapello, June 2010 after being advised to pick a younger team

MBBS

Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery

Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery, or in Latin Medicinae Baccalaureus, Baccalaureus Chirurgiae (abbreviated in various ways, viz. "BMBS", MB BChir, BM BCh, MB BCh, MB ChB, MBBS, BM, BMed, M.B.B.S. etc.), are the two first professional degrees awarded upon graduation from medical school in medicine and surgery by universities in various countries that follow the tradition of the United Kingdom. The naming suggests that they are two separate degrees; however, in practice, they are usually treated as one and awarded together. Usually, students graduated with a "Bachelor of Medicine" degree may also practice surgery, because it is equivalent to the "Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery" degree.

History and nature

The degrees of Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery are currently awarded in various forms in institutions in Australia, Bangladesh,Barbados, the Republic of China, Egypt, Fiji, Ghana, Guyana, Hong Kong, India, Iraq, the Republic of Ireland, Jamaica, Jordan, Kenya,Kuwait, Libya, Malawi, Philippines, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mexico, Myanmar, Nepal, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea,Samoa, Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, Zambia and Zimbabwe.^[1]

Historically, Bachelor of Medicine was also the primary medical degree conferred by institutions in the United States and Canada, such asUniversity of Pennsylvania, Harvard, University of Toronto, University of Maryland, and Columbia. Several early North American medical schools were (for the most part) founded by physicians and surgeons who had trained in England and Scotland. University medical education in England culminated with the Bachelor of Medicine qualification, and in Scotland the Doctor of Medicine, until from the mid-19th century when the public bodies that regulated medical practice at the time required practitioners in Scotland as well as England to hold the dual Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery degrees. Throughout the 1800s, North American medical schools switched to the tradition of the Ancient universities of Scotland and began conferring Doctor of Medicine rather than Bachelor of Medicine, the first institution to make such a switch being King's College (now Columbia University) in New York.^[2]

In the countries that award bachelors' degrees in medicine, however, Doctor of Medicine denotes a holder of a higher doctorate and is reserved for medical practitioners who undertake research and submit a thesis in the field of medicine. Nevertheless, those holding Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery are usually referred to by the courtesy title of "Doctor" and use the prefix "Dr".

Despite their styling as two degrees, Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery are usually conferred together. At some institutions, such as Oxford and Cambridge, it was possible in the past to be awarded the two degrees in different years.

In many countries, the degrees are awarded after an undergraduate course lasting five or six years. In some cases, a graduate in another discipline may subsequently enter a special graduate-entry medical course, reduced in duration to account for relevant material covered or learning skills acquired during the first degree. In some cases the old first year courses (for six year degrees) in the basic sciences of physics, chemistry and biology have been abolished, and that standard has to be reached by means of school examinations before entry. However, in most countries a newly-graduated Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery must spend a specified period in internship before they can obtain full qualification as a medical practitioner.

People's Republic of China

In the People's Republic of China, medical graduates are traditionally awarded a Bachelor of Medicine (BMed) for a course of study lasting five or six years. However, as of 2010, 34 universities, including its frequently top-ranked medical schools, have been authorized by the government to award the MB BS degree as an equivalent to the BMed^[5]. These universities are:
Fudan University
Capital Medical University
Tianjin Medical University
Dalian Medical University
China Medical University
Jilin University
Harbin Medical University
Southeast University
Nanjing Medical University
Suzhou University
Zhejiang University
Wenzhou Medical University
Shandong University
Qingdao University
Zhengzhou University
Wuhan University
Huazhong University of Science and Technology
Central South University
Southern Medical University
Guangxi Medical University
Sichuan University
Chongqing Medical University
Xian Jiaotong University
Xinjiang Medical University
Nantong University
Fujian Medical University
Anhui Medical University
Hebei Medical University
Shantou University
Guangzhou Medical College
Ningxia Medical University
Nanchang University
Beihua University
Jiamusi University