2:30 a.m. on the 9th of March was probably the first time I woke up before the birds and not to revise for an exam. The day for the United International Medical Schools (UIMS) annual conference "Doctors of Tomorrow" had finally arrived. I got suited and booted, ready to get into my Batmobile (Cesky Drahy 14007). A journey that early makes you feel like you are in one of those matrix movies, but I was soon brought back to reality once reaching Prague.

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I ran into some colleagues from the faculty of HK and together we made our way to the Physiology building where the conference was to be held. Returning to this venue filled me with nostalgia, having attended the conference only the previous year as a participant. This year being on the other side of the fence, as an organiser, felt like a dream come true - a 180 moment. A stressful dream now that I know how nightmarishly hard it is to organise these things.

Soon others started flocking in, and we were shortly ordered by the monarch (dear old Surangama) to begin our labours. Setting up tables was the easy part, but what almost broke my self-confidence was the review of my handwriting on the whiteboard, that gave directions to the different rooms.

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A hack I discovered was that whenever I was asked about anything, I would simply say "Manas” pointing in his direction when he was in eye view. It worked pretty well, in hindsight it was very genius of me.

 

Things seemed to be going smoothly up until now, but all of us were confidently nervous. The tickets had sold out in a day, people had high expectations and justifiably so. Despite lingering doubts, we had complete confidence in each other. After more than five months of diligent hard work, countless meetings, an ungodly amount of spreadsheet work and over 2000 emails, the conference had finally arrived.

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Registration promptly began at 9 a.m. and people poured in through those horrible automatic doors. The influx of cheerful greetings was overwhelming at first, making me realise the sheer number of wishes the day doorkeeper receives. Still, I found it quite wholesome. We even had a cheeky competition to see which table would register the most number of people. I would like to believe that my charm secured the win for me and Konstantina, although it could have just been that we were the first table people saw, on second thought - definitely my charm!

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We took a family picture just before the opening ceremony, which got its glory on the opening slide. Now that the conference had begun, the UIMS members were running around the building like determined chickens trying to fulfil their appointed tasks. Whilst all this went on, the social team embarked on a side quest to go and collect everyone's meals. Poor Aditi had been running from one store to another in search of cardboard boxes, but sadly, all her efforts were in vain as the restaurant provided them for us. Still, that must have been some good cardio. We packed 157 meals into those boxes and started to pray that none would spill. We probably must have used enough duct tape to stabilise a small house. I'd like to give a shoutout to Gui Lin for their excellent service and soul-nourishing food.

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Deadlifting those boxes into the Uber, we proceeded back to Albertov. Our prayers were answered, and nothing was spilled. Amen. We did, however, leave the Uber smelling like the kitchen of a restaurant.

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On arriving back, we set up the lunch bar and started portraying the roles of professional waiters. I know now if medicine doesn't work out, I would make a very good dinner lady. Whoever asked for chopsticks, apologies retrospectively, we didn't have any at the moment. But 20 minutes later when we started running out of cutlery, I ran to a nearby restaurant and traded 20 chopsticks for 100 CZK, just before I argued with the cashier and the chef for this unusual transaction, whilst both were throwing some beautiful words at me in an unfamiliar language. 

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After lunch, I ran into Surangama, and we were raging at some participants who had thrown unused cutlery on the floor, calling them colourful names and crying about all the money we spent on these just for them to be wasted. Sorry, Dad, I know how you feel about me now.

 

Towards the end of the conference, a participant sadly injured themselves in the suturing workshop. I guess the Physiology building is a pretty good spot to do so, surrounded by more than 100 medical students and all the first aid material needed.

 

I would also like to give a special shoutout to Victoria, our Parturition dummy, who brought the same child into this world 24 times on the same day. That's got to be a world record!

 

All my dumb jokes aside, I loved how we all worked in such a beautiful symphony, even when stealing some banana bread that was meant for the bake sale (the best banana bread I've had in my life). I admire how we all had each other's backs and functioned like a unit. 

 

Lastly, for my Oscar-winning speech, thank you all for the great experience; to the participants for attending (perhaps some of you will be organising next years conference), guest lecturers and everyone who helped make each workshop a success, to the groups who organised the stalls, the team and the rest of the organisers. Lastly, on efficiency, thanks to Mr money himself (aka treasurer Erfan) for sending my 100 bucks faster than it took to negotiate with the cutlery restaurant

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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