It’s hard to have a social life when you’re a medical student —

 

It’s hard to have a social life when you’re a medical student — Uduakobong Luke.

Uduakobong Luke is a 300 level student of Medicine and Surgery at the University of Uyo, a business girl, and a fashion enthusiast . On this edition of the Sensor’s Youths and Trends program, she sits down with Dianabasi Nyah to talk about what it’s like to be a medical student and how she is able to succeed in her studies

EXCERPT

Hello, Uduakobong, thank you very much for agreeing to be a part of this week’s Sensor Youth and Trends. Could you please tell us a little bit about yourself before we begin our discussion today?

Thank you. I’m very pleased to be featured here as well. My name is Uduakobong Nicholas Luke, I’m a 300 level student of Medicine and Surgery at the University of Uyo, Nigeria. I love to read novels or journals and if I’m not reading then I’m dancing. I. also love to play ‘dress up’ and I love fashion too.

I know studying medicine can be quite challenging, how are you able to cope with that?

Well studying medicine isn’t quite challenging, it’s actually very challenging. I don’t really have any magic tips to share because I think it’s grace and discipline that has gotten me this far. In fact, I always say this, as a medical student you must discipline yourself and take the challenge head on if you want to succeed. Medicine as a course requires a lot of work and without discipline you won’t be able to put in the work or time required to succeed. So for me, every single day no matter how stressed out I am, I try my best to get at least 3 hours of study. This habit has helped me thus far. Plus, I have a vision of what I want to accomplish and I have to put in the work. Lastly, if discipline doesn’t win, the fear of failure will push me to keep going.

What’s the hardest part about being a medical student that nobody really talks about?

I think the hardest part of being a medical student is that if you’re not careful you’ll actually lose every aspect of your social life i.e relationships, friendship, religious life,etc. This happens not because you want to intentionally shut people out or not take this part of your life seriously but because medicine is very draining and it takes a lot of energy. It’s not a joke, it is tedious but then you just have to try. So for me, I think that most people don’t talk enough. about how being a medical student puts a strain on one’s social life.

How do you feel about the current strike which has obviously caused a break in your academic activities?

I’m actually really sad about it because it’s delaying my school progress and since I’m doing a course that already takes a long time, it’s just annoying that I’ll have to spend longer than necessary in school. However, I plan to make good use of the free time to learn new skills and. perfect some other skills that I’m currently learning.

What are some of the other skills you are learning now that you’re home?

Alright, so I own a business. It’s actually an online thrift store though I also sell offline. It is called Yhudee’s. Closet and I sell pre-loved clothes ie. fairly used clothes mainly imported from foreign countries. I decided to venture into this business because like I said I love to play dress up. So cloth selling isn’t just a business for me, it’s something I also do for fun. Starting the business was actually a very spontaneous decision. It just happened that I went to the market one day and I stumbled on this cloth supplier who sold clothes at a ridiculously cheap price and I was surprised because those were clothes I used to buy at a very high price elsewhere. So when I got back to school I was like you know what, I’m going to start reselling these clothes in my school. So that’s how I started and now I’m channeling my energy into learning how to grow and boost my business.

What lessons have you learnt in the course of this business?

Since starting I’ve learnt a whole lot of stuff. When I first started I did the business only in my school and for just my colleagues. However, as time went on, I discovered that it was actually taking so much of my time because I had to move from room to room ,so I decided to try taking the business online and that was when my struggle actually began. (Laughs)

I didn’t know anything about running a business online and I had no idea. that I would need a whole lot of things like props, ring lights, backgrounds, learn how to open an Instagram page, get followers, grow the page etc. So, I started learning. I had to go on YouTube to learn how to take pictures, I took courses, researched and studied other peoples pages. I tried, failed and kept trying but thank God that everything is moving now. It’s because of the business that I actually started learning more about marketing and copywriting skills because I discovered that selling online isn’t easy and you have to consciously learn how to sell online and right now, I’m still in the learning process.

One last question and thank you so much for your time. If you were to choose another course to study in Uni, which would you choose and why?

If I was to choose another course to study in uni I think I’d have chosen maths. I know it sounds really weird but back then in secondary school, I really loved Maths and Further maths and they were so easy for me. I think that Maths is one of the easiest subjects. All I need to do is get the formulas in my head and with that I can solve any mathematical problem. I just loved the drill, the fun the whole mental effort, struggling with your brain. So, if I was to do something else I would’ve chosen Mathematics.