Duty call ~ Appel au service

Happy Sunday and happy labor day! (French system, every May 1st).

I salute all the hard working people in all fields. Tomorrow is another big step into a new chapter of my career. I am ready for my challenges, which at one point only seemed like a dream! God is amazingly awesome.

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Bon Dimanche et bonne fête de travail!

Je salue tous les grands bosseurs dans toutes les filières. Demain est un autre grand pas dans un nouveau chapitre de ma carrière. Je suis prête pour mes défis, qui a un moment, n’etaient qu’un rêve! Dieu est incroyablement impressionnant <3.

Almost a Doctor ~ Presqu’un médecin

My petite white coat waiting to go places 🙂

I can stare at this all day lol

(Veuillez trouver la version française plus bas)

 

Hello everyone, my personalized white coat is here!

Please pardon me while I dry my eyes and cool down from the heat of joy…

Sigh…it’s been a long road my friends! Moving on to yet another new chapter of my life. No I’m not a doctor yet and they actually made a mistake with the print. All the students at this stage have to get their white coats personalized with their identifiers. The tailor who made my coat already calls me Doctor so when I placed my order, he somehow added the title without realizing it. Honest mistake. We had a good laugh as to how God is revealing my future to me (lol) & to him, I am already a doctor. After blessing my day, he’s making me a new pocket and I asked him to use broidery for the new print. I will have it in time for classes & my internship. Hospital rookie, reporting soon for duty!

To tie all of this together, my father made an addition to my little library. He gave me this featured National Medical Boards practice book. It has questions/answers, illustrations and concise lectures. My dad was a professor before becoming an economist at the African Development Bank (ADB), so he’s big on books which to me make absolutely perfect gifts. It’s not bad to get a head start in the race. I test myself on my free time & really enjoying my moments with this book. It’s opening up my world little by little and that’s exactly the speed I need for now.

Thank you Daddy! We’ll soon enjoy the confusion of which Dr Massissou they’re asking for lol

 

Excellent weekend to all and may your dreams come true. Muah ❤

 

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Coucou à tous, ma blouse personnalisée est là!

Veuillez m’excusez pendant que je sèche mes yeux et refroidir cette chaleur de joie…

(Soupir)…ça été un long chemin mes amis! Je passe à un autre nouveau chapitre de ma vie. Non, je ne suis pas encore Docteur et ils ont effectivement fait une erreur au niveau de l’impression. Voyez, tous les étudiants à ce stade doivent avoir leurs blouses personnalisées avec leurs identificateurs. Le tailleur qui a cousu la mienne m’appelle déjà Docteur, alors quand j’ai placé ma commande, il a ajouté le titre sans s’en rendre compte. Erreur involontaire. Nous avons beau rigolé à ce sujet, comme quoi Dieu est en train de me révéler mon avenir (lol) et selon lui, je suis déjà médecin. Après avoir béni ma journée, il me fera une nouvelle poche et je lui ai demandé d’utiliser la broderie pour la nouvelle écriture. Je vais la récupérer à temps pour les cours et mon stage. Débutante de l’hôpital, bientôt face à mon devoir!

Pour lier tout cela ensemble, mon père a fait un ajout à ma petite bibliothèque. Il m’a donné ce livre d’exercices intitulé National Medical Boards. Le livre contient des questions / réponses, illustrations et résumés des cours. Mon père était un professeur avant de devenir un économiste à la Banque Africaine de Développement (BAD), alors il est un accro des livres qui, à mon avis font des cadeaux parfaits. Il n’est pas mal de prendre de l’avance dans la course. Je me teste déjà pendant mon temps libre et j’aime vraiment mes moments avec ce livre. Il m’ouvre le monde petit à petit et c’est exactement la vitesse qu’il me faut pour l’instant.

Excellent weekend à tous et que vos rêves se réalisent. Muah < 3

I am back!

I am back! I finished my exams and things look promising. For the past 10 days, I have been taking my yearly exam which, if favorable, will put me into the next level. It all makes sense until I break it down. Here are the unusual criteria:

There are 10 subjects divided among 2 semesters. The first semester with 6 courses and the second with 4 courses. These subjects are taught simultaneously and if you remember from a previous article, I mentioned that there are no breaks in between the semesters. Also, we are scheduled Mondays through Sundays 7:30 – 6pm…with 1 hour break in the day! So we sit for 6 hours, get a one-hour break, then sit for 4 more hours. The routine alone is exhausting! The studying time period is basically all the time that’s left because everyday we learn so many new things; and  anytime we’re not in school, we study. If you are interested in knowing the 10 subjects, it is at the end of this article.

The admissions criteria:

There are 4000 students of various nationalities in the program this year but only 320 seats will be awarded altogether for the next level. 10 of which will be granted to international students. So with nearly 300 international students present in the program, you see the reduced probability of being accepted. However, that is far from my concern. I told myself from day 1 that even if they were to accept 1 person, I will be that person. This is not arrogance, nor delusion, it is how high I set my goal and been working with it. There were days I got sick, looked beaten but never did I ever think of quitting.

The exam phase:

Only 1 exam is given at the end of the school year, regrouping everything learned from the first day of the first semester up to the last day of the last semester. So woe to the one who dares to sleeps!

There are anywhere from 20 to 70 questions per test. Each of the 10 subjects must be successfully passed. The test consists of true or false questions each mostly worth 1 point. There is a portion of multiple choice with the points equal to the number of correct choices. Wait, there are penalties! If you choose the wrong answer for the true or false, you get minus 1 points (-1). If you don’t answer, you get zero points (0). If you answer correctly, you get plus 1 point (+1). Here’s a scenario: there are 20 true or false questions. You think you know 15 of them and decided to answer those. In the process you made mistakes and got 6 wrong out of the 15. Because you made 6 wrong choices, you now have minus 6 points (- 6). But, you got 9 correctly so that’s plus 9 points (+ 9). Now your final grade is the sum of your plusses and minuses which is your + 9 – 6 = 3. Your final grade is 3 over 20! There is no tolerance for mistakes. Either you know it or you don’t, there is no in between.

For the multiple choice: Let’s say there are also 20 questions. You think you know half of them. Let’s arbitrary assign question number 1 with six propositions in the sequence A, B, C, D,  E and F. Say the correct answers are ABD at a value of 3 points total for that question. Instead you answer ACE. Because you got A correct you have +1 point; but C and E are not part of the correct answer so you got yourself -2 points. Do the math for your +1 – 2 = -1 so you now have a -1 to go into your final score. If you attempted but chose anything other than the three corrects answers (for instance CEF), you get – 3 points waiting again to go into your final grade. If you only even picked 2 propositions and they are wrong, you get -2 points hanging. The trick is really just limiting the risk of getting negative scores. If you skip what you don’t know, you get zero zero for that question which is way better than a negative score.

Throughout this, I got to know myself on a deeper level and greatly increased my confidence. I did my very best and now that I am done with my part, I leave the rest to God. I always say He knows why He led me here and He won’t leave me. His favor was upon me from day 1 of this journey, and I am thankful for the health & strength He gave me to carry through every day. My family is the most amazing support system ever. My new friends outside of school, my fellow future doctors, and my very patient blog followers :).

P.S. The photos attached were sent to me by my friends overseas to encourage me during my preparation and exam phase lol. Have a laugh with me!

Here’s a toast to success…Little by little, birds build their nests and as I love to say, the future is in session.

 

Thanks Maria for this!

Again, thanks Maria!

 

 

 

The Courses:

First semester

• Botanics/organography

• Physics ( Mechanical, Dynamics, Electricity, Optic)

• Biophysics ( The Heart-Electrocardiogram, Vision, Hearing)

• Mathematics (Analysis, Statistics)

• General Chemistry ( Atomistic, Aqueous Solutions)

• Organic Chemistry ( Alkane, Alkene, Alkyne, Alcohol, Halogen Derivatives)

 

Second Semester

• Physiology ( Renal/Micturation, Muscular Contraction, Bioenergetics, Pancreatic Secretion, Salivary Excretion, Biliary Excretion, Digestion)

• Anatomy ( Every Bone, Every Muscle, Every Nerve, Every Vessel of the Head & Neck, Upper Limbs, and Lower Limbs)

• Biochemistry ( Proteins, Lipids, Carbohydrates)

• Biology ( Cellular Biology, Embryology, Histology)

Not always about hair

On this date of October 2^nd, one year ago, I voluntarily left the United States of America for a better life. No don’t raise your eyebrows yet, keep on reading.

Grand Bassam beach

I usually write about my hair journey but today is such an important date that I felt like briefly sharing. Perhaps, someday I’ll have a separate blog for my public journal :p.

So we grow up with childhood friends, we relocate for college, we move on from broken relationships, we discover ourselves on this continuous quest for happiness; and through the changes of life, we act with hope for a better future.

Looking at the number of times I traveled, the world is my bedroom and for the past 13 years I have lived in the U.S. on and off. The U.S. became home to me in some sense but somehow it never felt like home. Today, one year ago, I decided to leave everything behind and start a new life somewhere fresher, somewhere better. Of course no one could comprehend such decision. Many called me nuts for leaving the “land of opportunity”, the “country of freedom”. How could it be that while many people can only dream to enter, I wish to exit? How could I just pick up and leave after so long?

Well, everyone has a vision and I simply couldn’t see it in the US. I had a great chance to remain but after serious evaluation, I knew my destiny wasn’t there and what I wanted to accomplish would be compromised had I not left.

I packed everything and left with my vision. A journey with family, medical school, new perspectives, new friends, new opportunities, new challenges, new story, in the beautiful country of Ivory Coast! As normal, I had my challenges at the beginning trying to adapt but now I kick butt with directions, their Cuisine, dialects etc. The main language is French – which is my first language too so that is settled from day one.

Now things are colorful and I am happier than I have ever been in my adult life. I live in the most privileged neighborhood in the city, less than 30 minutes from the touristic beach, I meet a lot of interesting international people everyday, I eat all natural foods, I get my hair done for less money lol. I don’t want to say it too soon but this could be my final destination.

Will I go back to the US again? Sure I will. I have been receiving generous invitations to revisit and I will soon have some visits here as well. I just had to break the incessantly stressful life that seemed to have tied my hands while in the US. Maybe after I am done building my castle, I could move back again for a while.

The homework room – after class.

I mostly thank God for his grace and mercy. He guided my steps to this land and never failed me once since then. Everything that happened in between was to be, and rather strengthened me. He has already cleared the road and nothing will stop me. This is a fraction of my story and only the beginning. Next year, I will be mostly on-call at the hospital so I am thinking of opening a rubric for that life on his blog. Walk you through the joy and stress of my happy life. Thank you for reading my off-topic articles.

God bless you, always!

House sweet home

PS. These photos were taken with my phone so please forgive the quality 🙂

Medical school & hair equilibrium ~ L’équilibre entre études médicales & mes cheveux

Veuillez trouver la version francaise plus bas

Hello ladies and gentlemen,

I foremost want to say thank you for your continued support to this blog. Ever since I announced that I started medical school and no longer had much time to post, I also figured I’d lose a some of you as there are no obligation ties. I logged back in and to my surprise, all of you were still here; silently supportive. What a joyous moment that was! I am happy to know that in such circumstances, I still have your full support. Thank you for your loyalty. On that note, I also want to apologize for letting some people down; those who have written to me expressing that you are now natural because my articles “awakened” you. Please continue to understand that I have a personal life to build and I can only be a better help to you if that other part of my life is also a success.

This photo is not of good quality but here’s why I love it and I am sharing it: The second semester begun without a break, not even a single day in between; but I took off one full day and went to the beach to free my spirit. The tide was strong, and the breeze was heavenly. I wasn’t prepared for pictures but I am happy with what my Samsung phone captured.

Since I don’t have much time, I developed a new routine which consists of applying my treatment and then I go off to study until I can wash it off and speed to my next activity. I am always on the run but this new life is working out after all.

Current hair status:

–       Well behaved, treated with fresh coconut (recipe coming)

–       Maximum hydration noted

–         Mostly twisted style – quick braids

–         Growth improved

–         Routine validity: 6 months renewable

Excellent day to all!

<Muah>

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Bonjour Mesdames et Messieurs,

Je veux avant tout vous dire merci pour votre soutien continu à ce blog. Depuis que je vous ai annoncé que j’ai commencé mes études en médecine et que je n’aurai plus assez de temps pour écrire mes articles, j’ai aussi pensé que je perdrais certains d’entre vous. Voilà que je me suis connectée et à ma grande surprise, vous étiez tous encore là; silencieusement encourageants. Quel joyeux moment! Je suis heureuse de savoir que dans des telles circonstances, vous m’accordez toujours votre plein appui. Je vous remercie de votre fidélité. Sur cette note, je tiens également à présenter des excuses pour avoir deçu certaines personnes; celles qui m’ont écrit pour me faire savoir qu’elles sont désormais au naturel parceque mes rédactions ont “réveillé” leurs esprits. S’il vous plait, continuez de comprendre que je dois me construire une vie personnelle et je ne peux mieux vous servir que si l’autre partie de ma vie est elle aussi un succès.

Cette photo n’est pas de bonne qualité, mais voici pourquoi je l’aime et je la partage: Le second semestre vient de commencer sans une pause, même pas un seul jour de congé entre ce dernier et le précédent; mais j’ai pris un jour entier et je me suis rendue à la plage pour libérer mon esprit. La marée était forte, et la brise était céleste. Je m’étais pas préparée pour faire des photos, mais je suis contente de ce que mon téléphone Samsung a capté.

Comme je n’ai pas assez de temps libre, j’ai développé une nouvelle routine en fonction de mon temps qui consiste à appliquer mon traitement, puis je m’en vais étudier jusqu’à ce que je peux laver mes cheveux et accélerer à la prochaine activité. J’ai toujours tant des choses à faire, mais cette nouvelle vie me va pas mal après tout.

L’état actuel de mes cheveux:

–    Bien portant, traités avec la noix de coco fraîche (recette à venir)

–    Hydratation maximale notée

–    Style principal: torsadés – tresses rapides

–    Croissance améliorée

–    Validité de routine: 6 mois rénouvelables

Excellente journée à tous!

<Muah>

Absence justification ~ Justification d’absence

 

(Veuillez trouver la version française plus bas)

Hello everyone!

I certainly owe you a few publications but I am caught up in the other part of my life and time is really failing me. I started medical school and have been going hard for the past 3 weeks. This is a phase I have been waiting for and it is here; but along with the excitement, comes a great load of work. I have classes Mondays through Saturdays (5 to 10 hours per day) and a couple of Sundays per month! These are just class schedules and outside of that, lay the homework, research studies etc.  I barely have time to rest let alone write one of my long hair articles :). I have considered the possibility of switching to making videos but that is still a debate. Even with videos, I still have to make separate French and English versions or pick one of the languages mentioned and add subtitles in the other language.  All of which are time consuming, considering the situation at hand. I hope this gives you a little understanding on why I did not post for a few weeks. Since all of this is new, I still need to establish a working schedule and I sure will continue documenting this hair journey.  I apologize for the interruption and I ask for your indulgence as I am making efforts to keep you updated. Excellent Friday to you all. God bless you!

 

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Bonjour à tous!

Je vous dois certainement quelques publications mais je suis prise dans l’autre partie de ma vie et le temps me manque énormement. J’ai commencé les cours en médecine et je m’y suis profondement plongée les 3 dernières semaines. C’est une phase si attendue et voilà qu’elle est là; mais malgré l’excitation, j’accueille aussi un grand volume de travail. J’ai cours du Lundi au Samedi (entre 5 et 10 heures par jours) et deux Dimanches par mois! Ce ne sont que les horaires de cours et à l’extérieur des salles, il ya les etudes, les devoirs de recherche etc. J’ai à peine le temps de me reposer et encore moins écrire l’un de mes longs articles au sujet de mes cheveux :). J’ai examiné la possibilité de passer à la réalisation des vidéos, mais ceci reste un débat. Même avec les vidéos, j’aurai encore à faire deux versions distinctes donc  française et anglaise ou choisir l’une des langues mentionnées et ajouter des sous-titres pour  l’autre langue. Comme tout ceci est nouveau, il me reste à établir un plan de travail et je continuerai de documenter ce parcours capillaire. Je m’excuse pour l’interruption et je sollicite votre indulgence pendant que je ferai des éfforts pour vous tenir informé(e)s. Excellent Vendredi à vous tous. Dieu vous bénisse!