London is a city rich in culture and is filled with interesting museums and theatre venues. 12 medical students from Singapore embarked on an exciting exchange to London on the AMSEP program in January. The week in UK was well packed with visits to prestigious medical colleges such as King's College, Imperial College and University College London and numerous museum visits. We gained new insights and made new friends from UK and Singapore. It was also a good chance for students from NUS and NTU, who will be future colleagues, to mingle together and learn from one another.
It was our pleasure to sit in lectures at the different medical colleges and experience the life of a medical student studying in UK. As we interacted with the UK students, we learnt more about UK's national healthcare system and different teaching methods of the various colleges. For instance, the research scene in UK is extensive and the research culture is promoted early in medical school.
A memorable first time experience for most of us would be the dissection at King's College. Professor Hunter from King's College gladly taught us a simple technique and gave us the chance to perform dissections on a cadaver. As Singapore is facing a shortage of cadaveric donors, medical students rely on prosected or plastinated specimens to learn anatomy. I am sure that the dissection at King's College was an eye-opening experience for most of us.
Visiting museums in London is a must-have in the itinerary for tourists visiting UK. Away from the hustle and bustle, one of the many museums we visited was Victoria and Albert museum. It showcased countless paintings, sculptures and jewellery, just to name a few. An interesting exhibition which caught our eyes while we were there was "Shoes: Pleasure and Pain" featuring over 200 pairs of shoes around the world. It was definitely an afternoon well spent, appreciating the unique artworks.
Victoria and Albert Museum
There is so much to see in every museum we visited and more to be discovered in London, especially its rich culture and history.
We are grateful to the UK students who hosted us for the week. Amid their busy schedules, they put in great efforts to bring us around London. Special thanks to Boon and Adrian from King's College who planned and made arrangements for our accommodation, transport, meals, lectures, anatomy class and sight-seeing. We truly enjoyed our trip to London and we look forward to hosting our UK friends when they come to Singapore in August!
Judith Goh
Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Class of 2019