First Day In IMR

I woke up 6 a.m. this morning, get prepared and headed for work at 7 a.m.. There was a little jam but nothing massive. I reached IMR, my working place at 7.25 a.m.. I called Sian Siu to meet up with her but she was only on her way. She thought we were supposed to register at 9 a.m. instead of 8 a.m.. I lingered around until about 7.45 a.m. and decided that I should just register alone. When I went up to the Biotechnology Unit (it was located on the second floor), I saw Victor :)

One of the blocks in IMR. They all look alike and I was lost ><

So anyway, it was written on the letter that registration is at 8 a.m.. Sian Siu rushed and managed to arrive at 8 a.m. sharp but as soon as we get there (I went down to lead Sian Siu to the office), Victor said that the officer-in-charge will only come in at 8.30 a.m.. Great. So, the 3 of us, along with another 5 Biomed students from UTAR waited and waited.. and waited.. Until 9 a.m., an Indian lady walked in and told us to wait for another 3 students from other university, then she will send us to our respective divisions then we can go home and only return at 2.30 p.m..

Not long after that, the 3 aforementioned students (from INTI, I think) came and then as said, we were sent to our divisions. There were variety of divisions such as Immunology, Virulogy, Bacterialogy, Entomology and etc.. Sian Siu were went to Center for Herbs Research and Victor to Bioassay. Guess which division I was sent to... guess, guess ^^

HEAMATOLOGY!!

Not familiar? Okay, in Bahasa Melayu, it's called Hematologi.

LOL!! Okay, okay. It's a study on blood. In other words, I'm in the blood research centre.

Blood = Bone Marrow

So when I got there, the officer in charged, Dr. Chin, went to attend a workshop or she went to give a workshop or something. I'm not very sure. All I'm sure of is that I was asked to wait again. And so, I did. For another 2 hours! I then decided to go home and only return after lunch at 2.30p.m.. I even got the permission to do so. As I exit the room, Dr. Chin came in. She told me she wasn't free today and sent me to the Molecular Genetics Lab II (I was initially in Genetics Lab I).

The initial lab I was sent to focuses on a type of white blood cell disease, leukemia. The second lab I was sent to focuses on a red blood cell dysfunction, alpha thalassemia. Basically what I did there was just reading through some journals and articles on this disease because Kak Edayat (my so-called mentor) said that I at least need some basic knowledge on this topic of focus. She handed me 2 thick files- one on the disease and another on the work procedure. She even asked me to go home and do some online research to further understand.

I haven't finish reading them ><

Lunch was from 1p.m. to 2p.m.. During lunch, all of us, the interns, met up and each and eveyone of us were complaining about what we did. One of the Biomed student (don't really remember her name ^^;), complained that how come she was sent to entomology (study on insects) when she's major in HUMAN Biomed? Lol. Nevertheless, the people in IMR are all very nice and helpful.

They talk on their latest research concerning leukemia.

After lunch, I was sent to a talk on MEC by 2 highly professional doctors from overseas. It was a 2 hours long talk and to be honest, I understand nothing and was trying so so hard (but failed) to no fall asleep in that auditorium hall. After the talk, I went back to the lab and read for another 30 minutes and to my joy, it's time to go back! :D

Yes, I only work from 8.30 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. unlike my other fellow friends who work an additonal 1 hour.

Tomorrow is another day at work. I hope things get more interesting. I don't want to lose interest in my course of study ><

Those who went for training as well, how's yours?