wake me up when september ends

Today was the last day for me to go to Derby. Alhamdulillah, I've been in Derby since January 2013. Imagine how long that has been! I have to say that Derby is definitely one of the best places to gain clinical knowledge. I still remember the time when I reached Derby for the first time..

I'm not sure why I put up this pic but it's one of the dishes which I had in Feb in Derby

It was snowing & the weather was cold. The windows of the hopper bus seemed translucent due to the low temperature & the person sitting next to me wiped the materialized droplets of water which obscured us from seeing the legendary Royal Derby Hospital (RDH) as we arrived into the main entrance for the first time. As I could see the buildings clearly, I said to myself, "Wow, I'm going to be here for a long time". It was a bittersweet feeling at that moment; I was excited to spend my time at a new hospital (I am most probably the last Malaysian medic from my year to reach Derby) but it was also a few weeks after I found out I failed 3 exams. Yeah, remember November last year? The results were out in January and it was my biggest challenge to date. 

I realized that I had to go to Derby pretty much on a daily basis (so that's 2-2.5 hours knocked out of my routine just for commuting between the 2 cities) and I hate it..because I can't enjoy Derby as much as I would because I had to worry about May.

And alhamdulillah, with Allah's help, I survived May and made it to Final Year and earned the right to spend 16 weeks in Derby right from June till today! 

I think I'm going to miss Derby. There's the pak cik who always drives the hopper bus and always gives a smile to his passengers (but the pak cik is no longer around since last week so it's easier for me to move on now, lol). I'm going to miss the halal chicken served at its rooftop restaurant. I'm going to miss the shortcuts that I've learnt, the swimming pool that I went to for my Special Study Module, the friendly doctors/staff, the unplanned trips to Westfield to get a Cookieshake after a long/tiring/happy/sad/stressed day at RDH, the early morning chat with Syakir on the hopper bus.

Going to miss the halal chicken dishes

Probably I'm going to miss Derby because it's the place where I departed from before I said goodbye to Faiz Khalid, Aiman Ismail and Akmal Aliff. Oh my God! I just realized I left my padlock on the locker back in RDH! Seriously, I just thought about this as I'm writing this post. Okay, I'm making a mental note to myself to give the key to Syakir (since he's in Derby for the next attachment) so he can get my padlock for me. Tolong ek Syakir. Now back to my original train of thought - So yeah, the locker. I stuffed my Crumpler bag with my EOS 550D, my bags with clothes when I arrived in the morning and took them out later when I'm done for the day to get to Liverpool and London to say goodbye. I think I'm going to miss the locker now. So many memories.

People have to move on. This includes me. The people that I've said goodbye to; they shall become the reason for me to be stronger. And Derby, thanks for the memories. It's time to get serious...