I don’t know how to start writing this post. I’ve been wanting to write it since the beginning of this year, but it seemed that whenever I tried I felt like something was squeezing my heart out. I’ve always hated goodbyes, and maybe the thought of writing down all that had happened during the last six years did mean a good bye. Six years, wow! such a long time. They carried a lot of tears, a lot of hopes, a lot of happiness, a lot of disappointments and a lot of people that had came and went. Six years made me learn a lot, made me grow up, made know that life isn’t just black & white and that many many many shades of grey existed in-between. Those six years taught me how to stand up to myself, how to have my own opinion & not follow the herd. In those six years I made a lot of friends.

1st year ( the 1st time )..
I didn’t want to be there, I hated every single thing we did there. I rebelled. but ended up hurting only myself. & I failed.. Failed for first time in my life.. and I cried.. cried because I wanted out.. but everyone said this is what you’ll do, there is no out for you. And I redid the year all over again.. but this time I was determined to make it right.

1st year ( the 2nd time )..
I sat in the front seat, had the neatest notes just like high school. Played along with the Chemistry experiments and had fun doing the Physics tests. Biology was fun, specially the day we dissected that poor rabbit. It was the only college year I ever had a day off, It was Tuesday.
Star Academy was the hit show back then, and me & Eman my friend had the biggest crush on the winner Hisham. lol after he won we made a bet that I’ll meet him in person very soon as I know how ironic fate is with me. And three months later we were on Hajj vacation and we were at the beach & they announced that Hisham “the star” was there, and IRONICALLY his “milk aunt”** was sitting with us and invited him over so that all the girl could meet him in person. LOL. I called Eman the moment he left & she just hung up on me! loool.

** milk aunt: her sister breast fed him when he was an infant, so by the rules of islam he is considered her son. ( I made up the name milk-aunt) :P

2nd year..
That was when things became interesting. I liked Biochemistry the most, though most of the girls hated it. Made me think that maybe my taste we weird in subjects lol. Histology was the worst, those dreadful pink & blue slides that all looked alike made me go mad! And the fact that they treated us as “dental” students that didn’t need to know everything made it a lot worse. You don’t give me half the info & demand I understand that the hell you’re talking about!. Embryology was a bit interesting, but the Prof used to use the overhead projector to explain the lectures & oh god she had the worst hand writing I have ever seen in my life! It was literary UNREADABLE! and she knew it so she used to apologize for it. Me being the girl who with the “neat notes OCD” rewrote all her lectures with my own handwriting & copied the pictures from the books & made myself my own study reference. And after the 1st quiz one of the girls saw my papers and asked to copy them, then suddenly the whole class wanted my notes! lol what was funny is that after we finished our finals the Prof asked that I go to her office for an urgent matter. I thought she must’ve felt offended that the girls started studying from my notes not hers :\ but when I got there she said: ” I heard that you made nice notes for my lectures?” I replayed cautiously: ” Yes I did.” She smiled and said: “Can I have copy of them?” I was shocked! she laughed at my expression and said: “don’t worry I’ll be using them next year instead of mine.” I think I never felt so proud in my life! and some of girls came up to me the next year and said thank you “farou7a” for your notes. :D
Physiology was funny, the day we learned how to measure the blood pressure & I how happy I was when I heard the beats in the stethoscope ! and when we found out what blood type we had, mine was A+ which was kind of funny since I was the only positive blood type between all my friends lol.
Then was the almighty Anatomy & “the dead people” aka the cadavers. Our dreadful schedule had us beginning our week with a 2-hour dissection session! Imagine waking up on a Saturday morning to meet dead people! lol. The 1st time I ever touched the corpse was when were studying the arteriovenous & nerve supply of the arms, I was standing on the opposite side of the table that held the body, and the Prof was trying to locate the nerve on her side but couldn’t find it for some reason so she pointed at the other arm without looking up and asked to be handed it. lol all the girls took a step back & the Prof looked up. She laughed at the look on our faces and said: “it won’t wake up if you touch it.” We all laughed but no one moved an inch. and me being the brave one lol reached out to the arm.. I might’ve said the words “Bismillah” almost twenty times then touched it.. It didn’t move.. good.. and I handed the arm to the Prof. lol. After that day, I was always the one to get the “good parts” so we’d learn on them and I was the one who touched, moved and turned the “dead people” lol.
In that same year we took out first dental subject called Dental Anatomy, when we carved blocks of wax into human size teeth. lol I remember when I was done with my first carved tooth and went to the doctor to evaluate my work, he said: ” I sure hope that’s not a human’s tooth! It’s so big!” lol & true when I look at it now it really is huge! more like a donkey’s tooth lol!

3rd year..
Now that was a YEAR. We were the lost people, not treated as full dental students, nor considered med students! and our schedule was a nightmare ! almost everyday we’d sit for 4 lectures in a raw from 8-12 noon! too much information in very little time! Pathology was ugly! I hated it the most because in most lectures I couldn’t understand where they were going to with all that talk.. it made no sense to me.. and to top that their exams were pure UFOs (unidentified objects) that we mostly couldn’t solve. Microbiology was funny, with all those latin long names we had to memorize. I remember we were having quiz two on it & on the weekend before my family had planned to go to Bahrain. The original quiz was scheduled on Tuesday, which meant I had time to study when I came back from Bahrain. Then on Wednesday just before the break, the class leader announced that the quiz was moved to earlier to Sunday, which consequently meant I was screwed if I didn’t study on my weekend, which I knew I won’t be able to since we’re traveling. So I cried. I literary left the class room and cried! for the FIRST time in my WHOLE STUDENT LIFE, I cried on an upcoming exam not after it!
Then came Pharmacology which was a game of how to find the weirdest match in the letters of the drug’s name to memorize it. Just like the antibiotic Metronidazole went: The zole needs a metro to move. lol
And we finally got to play dentists in the phantom lab, drilling holes in plastic teeth in dummy heads. That seemed like the hardest task ever, and how we practiced and practiced and never got the perfect dimensions lol. We also got to make our own dentures, setting the teeth in the wax in the correct forms and angulation, then put it in this hot tub of water to become a plastic denture. lol I remember we were at the end of the year and we had a deadline to submit our dentures, the tub in the lab was full & my turn would come after the due date of the denture! So I took the waxed denture home, got me a big air proof pot, filled  it with hot water & cooked the denture on the stove till it was nice & ready! lol
In that year I also started going to the university gym, tried out for the basketball team & started playing in the in-schools league.  I also played pool aka billiards, it was what calmed me down when things went bad. It made me realize that when I was stressed out or frustrated I needed to make my hands busy with something that required the least amount of concentration. It was a very stressful year, so I played a lot, till the coach came up to me one day & said why don’t I play in the mini-tournament they were having. I said that would be fun and I played and won the 1st place. lol I remember on one of my games I was to play against a girl a didn’t know, when I showed up she was all nervous, I was all it’s just a game we’re playing. then one of my friends said: ” Your reputation is well known by almost all the girls who play here, they are afraid to play with you.” I remember I laughed so hard & told her: “Amani please tell that to one of my brothers so they’d believe me, cause I really suck with them” lol. but I loved to play and I loved being the best in it.
Also during that year, our college was preparing for the graduation ceremony for the interns, and they wanted some girls to do a short scene on stage or sing a song (2onshoda) for the crowd as an entertainment. I was bored, so I volunteered to be with the girls. I said I won’t go on stage or sing, I’ll just direct & make up the story & they all agreed. the next day I showed up with the script & the song they were supposed to sing, which was 6ayir min alfar7a by Rashid Al-Majid. We rehearsed the scene for a whole week, every single day. Then the day of the ceremony came and we were back stage, we were rehearsing the scene for the last time when I discovered the girls didn’t memorized the lyrics!!!! We were screwed for sure! then one of the girls said: “You sing it! you know the lyrics very well, so you sing it!” I refused at first but then the doctor who was responsible for our “entertainment” scene said: “You shall sing and get us over with it!”. And the scene began, and when the song was supposed to start I went on stage and sang.. actually SANG with my dreadful voice! LOL I don’t know where I got the courage from or why the crowd started clapping and the vice-dean sitting two steps infront of me motioning me to raise my voice, but I stood there and sang the damn song! LOL. That was by far the most outrageous thing I have ever done in my life and will certainly never do ever again! hahahaha!

lol this post is becoming too long so.. To be Continued..