ROAD TO ISTANBUL

Dear diary,

I cry out loud at the beautiful gates of Istanbul
Standing in the gap of my colleagues
Beckoning on their behalf.
When Men Sleeps and Slumber
They watch and study in darkest room 
Searching the deep realms of
pharmacology & pathology. 
Istanbul, a land filled with milk and honey
I pray may they have a taste of you.
May they suck the milk of knowledge
And eat from the honey comb of
retentive memory. 
May their Intelligence never be probed 
May they smile at the end of the tunnel
May Their Joy Be Complete
      Because they are VICTORS.                       
            ~Ik Nwoke-Udeka(SAGE)

What could be the connection between Istanbul and Medicine I wondered when I saw the caption “ROAD TO ISTANBUL” on most of my senior colleagues social media status; because to the best of my knowledge, Istanbul is a major city in Turkey and one of the largest cities in Europe.

So I didn’t really see what the city had to do with the 400 level class of Abia State University Medical Students 🤷‍♀️. Well, being the curious person that I am I just had to get down to it and find out the reason behind the caption, so I decided to ask one of them.

He told me that every year they choose a name, like a ritual before their MBBS exam. Their 2nd mb was picked by one of their course mate as central Milano and they choose Istanbul this year.

Why Istanbul?

You see Istanbul is the city where the UEFA champions league finals will be played. The game will be played at the Atatürk Olympic stadium in Istanbul, Turkey where the winners will eventually earn the right to play against the winners of the UEFA Europa league in the UEFA super cup.

I guess my senior colleagues saw it as an analogy to their 3rd MBBS exams that was coming up and I can’t just help but wonder what my own class will name ours.

If this is the way things are done here, I’m sure clinical school is going to be real fun. I wish all my senior colleagues success; so that they will clear road and then I’ll get to officially be in 400l.