Medical school summer break – 4 things I’m thrilled about

It’s been a little over 1 month since my first term ended. So here’s a fun update on some of the things I’ve been up to during my first medical school summer break. And maybe some things you can try out too.

1. Seeing Hasan Minhaj live – The King’s Jester

It’s pretty cool that during my first medical school summer break I’ve been able to see my first live comedy show. I didn’t even realize Hasan Minhaj was coming to Toronto. Only found out a few days prior. Luckily, he opened up extra show times so my brother and I managed to get tickets for one of the Friday night shows. And I’m so glad we went.

It was an incredible one-man show. Both emotional and hilarious. Hasan talked about events that have transpired since his last special, Homecoming King. Including some very personal matters. The script was so cleverly written and Hasan’s story-telling was riveting. Everything just flowed seamlessly.

If you’ve watched the behind the scenes clips from his tour, you’ll know a big part of his show was the projected screen behind him. It was reminiscent of his Netflix show Patriot Act. Essentially, he turned a PowerPoint presentation into a 90 minute long performance. Just brilliant.

He ended his tour in Toronto but he’ll be performing at Just For Laughs in Montreal next month. I’m pretty sure he taped this special so I’m looking forward to watching it again on Netflix.

2. Food adventures

Food adventures are the only adventures I enjoy lol.

Barans Turkish Cuisine

So far, my favourite new restaurant has been Barans Turkish restaurant. All the food is freshly made and tastes amazing, they have great customer service, and I love the ambiance.

The Beyti Sarma and Adana Kebab are delicious, but my favourite is the Chicken Shish Kebab. My mouth is watering now just thinking about it.

Kensington Market

I’ve also been down to Kensington Market on Pedestrian Sunday, where I found a new summer drink. Ironically, it’s the Berries Lemonade at Mango Like Desserts. Yes, a non-mango item at a mango-based shop lol.

For some context, I actually got the mango peach smoothie and my brother got the Berries Lemonade. I’m so glad he did because my smoothie was just alright. I couldn’t taste any of the peach, though. And I think the one I make at home is much more flavourful and tangy because I use fresh peaches. So, well done little brother. This was a great choice.

In terms of food at Kensington Market, I really like the steak sandwich at Top Gun Burgers. And the hummus at Abu Hummus is also good. If I’m able to go again this summer, I want to try Best Istanbul. And, of course, get another berry lemonade.

Taste of Little Italy

The Taste of Little Italy was also fun. It was really crowded by the time we made it so I didn’t enjoy it as much or get to try as many things as I wanted. The Classic-Spicy signature sandwich at PG Clucks was really good. It was quite big so I split it with my husband. I liked that it was filling but not too heavy so we didn’t feel gross afterwards. Would definitely get it again.

3. Updating Anki (my greatest summer break accomplishment)

I can’t even tell you how thrilled I am about finally updating my Anki app and deck. Yes, it’s not the most exciting thing to do. But it’s probably my most satisfying accomplishment of the last 6 weeks lol.

This was one of my to-dos that I had been putting off for ages. Like months.

I’ve been using the AnKing overhaul + Physeo deck but a lot of cards were missing images. I finally emailed them to get help and learned that I need to update to the the latest version with images.

After many technical difficulties, I realized I have to update my Anki app first. Eventually, I figured it out, which gave me a little boost of confidence. (I was just so worried about losing all my history). Then I followed this tutorial from The AnKing and managed to get the AnKing Overhaul V11 update with media. So now I can finally use the image cards that were useless before. Hallelujah.

As I expected, it wasn’t actually that hard to do but it took so much time (mostly because of my own incompetence). I’m just so relieved it’s done. This might even be the highlight of my year lol.

4. Organizing my kitchen and bedroom closets

I had been wanting to organize my kitchen and bedroom closets for a while now. I just didn’t want to make time for it during the semester because I knew it had the potential of getting frustrating and taking more time than expected. So throughout the term, the thought of doing this kept popping into my mind, which was another reason to look forward to my summer break.

Somehow, I did this in the early days after my final exams. I think being in the flow of always working on something during the term carried over and gave me the fuel to get this project started – and done (for now).

For my kitchen, I only did a few areas. Although I got most of the stuff from the Dollar Store, unfortunately nothing is a dollar anymore. I got a few baskets to nicely place things into and I’m surprised at what a difference this has made. I also got containers for the dry foods like sugar, flour, lentils, etc. It’s so much easier to see and access these items now and it’s also opened up a lot of space.

For my closets, I got this shoe rack organizer which I split in half. I used 4 units in the garage to actually organize shoes. I can’t believe how many boxes we were able to throw out and create so much space just because of this organizer.

The other 4 units I stuck at the bottom of my closet to organize the miscellaneous items that I had just thrown in there. For my husband’s closet, I got this organizer with drawers which is perfect. His closet looks so tidy and spacious now.

What are you doing this summer?

So those are some of the things I’ve been up to during my first medical school summer break.

How’s your summer going? If you have recommendations of any restaurants to try or places to visit, please share below!

-M

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