A D U A A

THE MED ME

Hi y’all!

Hope the day has started well for you too! Netherlands is treating us with a rare sight of blue sky and sunshine until now, and because of the national holiday yesterday, we’re having a free day. This doesn’t mean I wouldn’t have tons of tasks to do and cases to study for university and emails to send for work, but I got to sleep in without an alarm and have breakfast while reading (currently reading: A fruit of the Lemon by Andrea Levy) so I truly can not complain.

In general I’ve been feeling a lot better lately, and while I certainly have a lot to work on still, I’ve also been able to focus a bit more on what’s really important to me. One of those things (while obviously not the only one) is obviously studying medicine. I’m also interested in just about everything else, but being a medicine student is a huge part of my life as it takes a great chunk of my time and as it is the one thing that is bringing me towards my dream. As I keep mentioning, I truly love my studies. And it’s always nice to focus on the positive, right? So that’s what I’ll be doing. I’ll finally start telling you guys a bit more about my life as a medicine student! So, to start with, this is me! A girl with messy hair, a coffee mug in my hand (very important), big smile on (most of the time), a bruise from basket ball (I have never played that sport before trying it out with my friends last week) and studying in the weirdest of places.

I will definitely keep writing about all these other random topics and I will definitely still keep my texts very honest, and that’s actually what I want to THE ME in my medicine studies-related posts as well: I’ve failed exams, I’ve struggled with assignments, I’ve needed to stay silent in class because I didn’t prepare well enough, I’ve over exhausted myself and I’ve done silly mistakes. While obviously these are not things I’m proud of, they are normal things and things that especially medicine students often don’t talk about. We live in a world where everyone is supposed to be an over achiever, and social media makes it look very easy. I’m an over achiever by heart and I can tell you it’s not easy.

So, from now on you will be hearing and seeing more about my study life, my struggles with my studies and how being a medicine student doesn’t mean that one wouldn’t have anything else in their lives (I refuse to stop being generally interested in everything, it all just comes down to prioritising). A medicine student can have and should have a social life, does not need to and should not be constantly over achieving, and also requires rest and other things in their lives to balance the demanding studies (also by the way a full disclosure – I’m very much aware that medicine is not at all the only demanding study line, just being a student in itself is demanding). So I’ll still keep thinking about random topics, still talk about mental health care, still go on my little trips (when corona allows), still share my favourite recipes and my favourite pictures, but just with a little more med student content. If that’s your cup of tea, nice, stay tuned! If you’re not interested, just skip the topics (you can actually choose a category you want to read on my blog on the side bar) you can’t bother to read.

As I keep repeating, I really like blogging as it’s one of my favourite outlets, so I’m quite excited! However, I will not be promising a certain amount of posts in a certain time, as that’s just not how I roll. But hopefully you’ll be hearing from me soon!

Have an absolutely lovely day, hugs from the Netherlands! x

Love, Anna

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perjantai, toukokuu 14, 2021 by Anna Saarinen

How are you really doing?

Hey you!

I hope you’re doing well! But you know, even if you’re not, that’s okay. I haven’t been doing very well myself. Today’s a good day, but they’ve been quite rare lately. As those of you who know me for longer know, there’s no reason to worry, I do have help with my troubles and I’m working on them. I have a lot going on that I don’t feel like discussing with everyone, so I like to keep the image of me happy & polished – as most of us do. I don’t do it because I’d be ashamed of not being okay, but just because just like I try in real life as much as I can, on my social media I want to focus on the positive (my blog is the realest exception haha) to cheer myself up.

It’s been a long year of pandemic related troubles. It’s been a long year of living in a society where we’re always told to achieve more, do better, and make it look easier. It’s been a long year of living in a world where we’re constantly over-stimulated by signals from social media, constantly reachable and constantly subconsciously comparing our lives with those of the others. It’s been a long year of studying or working or what ever you’re doing, even if it’s just occasionally getting out of bed. Damn that sounds exhausting.

On top of that exhaustion, some of us also have health problems, may they be physical or mental, visible or invisible. On top of that some of us have traumas to overcome, troubles with their loved ones or any other type of problem that we don’t have any idea of. Gosh we’re so strong for being able to carry on.

A friend of mine, who knows about some of my troubles, asked me a while ago: How are you really doing? I love that friend and I love that she specified her supposedly small talk-related question – she knew that I put on a brave face even when I may have dried my tears just a half a minute ago. So, I’m now here to ask you all – how are you really doing?

If you’re really doing good, I’m so glad for you. If you’re really not doing so good, please know that you’re not alone. When you look outside you only see the outside; people putting on their best clothes, their best set of makeup, their best pictures and their best fake smile. I’m not telling you to start questioning everything and everyone, but I’m telling you to remember that you don’t see everything on the outside. I can not repeat it enough – Everyone has a story to tell. Be kind. Always. And the same goes for you – be kind to yourself!

Whether you’re doing good or less good, please do something nice just for yourself. And stop thinking that everyone else has it better than you! Or on the contrary – stop thinking that you can’t feel sad because people have it worse than you. Every problem matters, and problems can not be compared. What matters is that you try and work on your problems, and that you don’t let them affect how you treat others.

I keep hearing from so many people how they’re really not doing good, and yet if you wouldn’t really talk with them you’d never know. People, you’re so strong and I admire you so much just for getting out of bed every morning! I think we should start a club of supporting each other – we all struggle sometimes, it’s okay to struggle and it’s okay to talk about it (if you want to). Let’s just all remember that we’re not alone in this, even if a pandemic sometimes makes us feel like that. Every cloud has a silver lining, and the sun will come out even if it won’t do it today.

Sending you a big hug and lots of cheek kisses x

Love,

Anna

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maanantai, maaliskuu 22, 2021 by Anna Saarinen

21 things I’ll be doing in ’21

Hey you, and happy New Year! I hope you’ve started it off great.

New Year tends to be the time for resolutions, right? Well I say there are enough commitments for us to cause pressure already so every year (for the past years) I promise to not promise myself anything as a resolution and I make a list of things I want to do during the next year instead. And that list is not a pressure list, it’s just a list of things that make me happy, and it guides me to do more of those things without any kind of blame even if I don’t succeed. From my last year’s list I only had 2/20 that I didn’t complete, which, if we were counting, was pretty good I think. One of those two I’ll be postponing for this year and the other I frankly don’t see as important anymore, so that can stay with all the other horros from last year. Some I liked so much that I’ll keep from last year for this, but some are new. Without further ado, here’s my 21 in ’21 – list:

Learn another conversation in Hawaiian
Continue reading often
Learn to play chess
Dance more
Go to at least one new place
Have occasional self care evenings
Play more board games
Play more tennis
Keep buying flowers to myself and others
Keep sending post cards
Learn Eminem’s Godzilla’s 3rd verse
Spend a little more time outside
Learn to make cocktails
Avoid piling up of unanswered messages
Send Holiday cards again
Stretch more
Make encebollado
Spend more time by the sea
Meditate more
Use my camera more
Listen to medicine podcasts

I hope this new year will be better regarding politics, economy, global health and overall just about everything. What ever you’ve got on your list, hope you have a year full of enjoyment ahead!

Love, Anna

P.S. I’d love to hear what you have on your list!

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keskiviikko, tammikuu 13, 2021 by Anna Saarinen

Homemade Pumpkin Spice Latte

Howdy! As promised, here’s a recipe for a homemade pumpkin spice latte. I used some other recipes as a guideline and formed my own based on them, feel free to do the same! Everything is with ’abouts’, because I prefer cooking based on feeling rather than numbers haha but these should take you to the right result – you can always add more spices if you’d like, just be careful not to put too much for your own liking!

What you need: (for about 20 PSLs – all the amount are estimations tho so I recommend tasting the pumpkin mix while you’re making it and adding up to double the same spices if you’d like)

Espresso / dark roast coffee
100g muscat pumpkin (fruit or cubes or canned or purée, I used pumpkin cubes since I was not feeling like carving and chopping)
1dl milk (I used coconut milk but I’m planning to try replacing it with oat milk as I like the taste better, I can’t see why it wouldn’t work just as well!)
milk for the foam (I’d use about 0,5dl for this latte but this depends on your taste)
a dash of milk for the purée if you’re using fruit
1tsp Cinnamon
1tsp Nutmeg
dash of Cardamom
0,25dl sugar

milk frother for making the foam (yes you will also survive without)
blender / smth to mix the pumpkin with if you’re using the fruit instead of a ready made purée

What you need to do:

Chop and blend the pumpkin if you’re using fruit – the smoother the better as little pumps in the mixture will make the coffee feel a bit funny. Add a dash of milk when doing the purée to make it smoother – I assume you could do it with water as well if you prefer!
Boil the blended pumpkin, milk and the spices until warm. Mix well.
On the meanwhile put some milk in the frother to get your foam – if you don’t have the machine just skip this step and pour some milk at the end in your coffee, it won’t be the same but surely also tasty!
Put 1tbsp of the pumpkin mix in the coffee cup, pour espresso/coffee on it and and top it with some milk (foam). Sprinkle some cinnamon on top of it and add some sugar if you’d like et voilá – enjoy your autumn in a mug!

Hopefully you’ll like it as much as I did! As said, the amounts are all quite vague cause I don’t remember how much exactly I used all the ingredients, but life’s always more fun with a little bit of surprise isn’t it!

Love, Anna

P.S. Pumpkin is pompoen in Dutch! Just so you know what an adorable word there is!

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sunnuntai, lokakuu 25, 2020 by Anna Saarinen

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