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Procrastinating before finals - Cambridge University medical student VLOG #19

2017-12-23 · Vlog or day in the life · Ali · recording, 5:06 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Medicine and his doctor years (also: Relationships and personal life) · mode: Demonstration and walkthrough · tags: Family

In the three days before his Cambridge medical finals Ali does little revision: he sings bass at the clinical school carol service in Trinity College chapel, celebrates friends' birthdays in Cambridge and London, relaxes at home in St Albans, and sets off back to Cambridge through the snow; he says the last days of revision would have made no difference.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Why little work before finals was fine, and the clinical school carol service at Trinity College

  • ★★★ Looking back, Ali thinks doing little work in the days before his finals was fine: after three-plus years of preparing in clinical school, working flat out for the last two or three days would not have made any difference. — 00:00:21 · University of Cambridge
  • ★★ About three days before his finals, on a Friday, Ali sings bass in the choir at the annual clinical school carol service in the chapel of Trinity College, Cambridge. — 00:00:21 · Cambridge
  • ★ Each year students organise the clinical school carol service themselves, recruit singers on a Facebook group, and the singers learn their parts a few hours before the service. — 00:00:21

00:01:28 — Muhammad's birthday: the Islamic Society prayer room and the Selwyn College MCR

  • ★★ On the Saturday, for his friend Muhammad's birthday, Ali and friends relax in the Islamic Society's prayer room, order GBK, and then play Articulate in the Selwyn College MCR. — 00:01:28
  • ★ At Cambridge, undergraduates have access to their college's JCR for the first three years; graduates and clinical medical students get access to the MCR. — 00:01:58 · University of Cambridge, Cambridge
  • ★★ Ali calls their takeaway in the MCR classic pre-exam procrastination and says that, although people say Cambridge is all about work, it is really more about having fun and fitting the work around it. — 00:02:27 · University of Cambridge, Cambridge

00:02:48 — A game of Articulate and a friend's birthday dinner in London

  • ★ Ali and friends then drive down to London for another friend's birthday dinner at a restaurant in West London. — 00:02:48 · London

00:03:16 — At home in St Albans with Muhammad and his brother, with Pakola

  • ★★ Continuing the pre-finals procrastination, Ali relaxes at home in St Albans with Muhammad, filmed by his brother Taimur, eating a Sudanese dessert. — 00:03:16 · St Albans, Taimur Abdaal
  • ★★ Ali calls Pakola amazing: a drink like cream soda and a staple in Pakistan, which his mum bought from a local Asian shop. — 00:03:43 · Ali Abdaal's mother

00:04:16 — Snow on the Sunday before finals and getting back to Cambridge

  • ★★ On the Sunday before his first finals paper, with St Albans covered in snow, Ali's only aim is to get back to Cambridge in time, by train if they run or by car. — 00:04:16 · St Albans, Cambridge

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Ali Abdaal's mother · Cambridge · London · Pakola · Selwyn College · St Albans · Taimur Abdaal · Trinity College

Only in the description or credits: University of Cambridge

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