There's a Brain in My Hands!

Kylie Toh

On Thursday morning, March 2^nd, the students from the Anatomy and Physiology class gathered on Upper Field in anticipation for their trip to AIMST University in Sungai Petani. They were bursting with excitement and enthusiasm as they had been looking forward to this trip since August, when the course began.

The students finally stepped onto the university campus after a one and a half hour van ride. “This place is so nice! It looks so new and legit!” said Joseph Hsu (12), as he looked around the entrance of the building.

The girls brought their phones out for pictures, happy that today’s Snapchat streaks were no longer their boring lunches but rather pictures of the beautiful campus.

After a career talk from the university officials, the students hurried to the anatomy museum where many different body parts were kept in different containers. The students explored the museum; what caught their attention the most was the section where fetus and infant bodies were kept. “It’s heart aching to see such a young human being here, knowing that it never had the chance to actually live,” said Yeorin Yun (12).

When the students were handed rubber gloves, they became excited for what they came here for—to see a real-life human cadaver. They stepped into the cool, gloomy anatomy lab and found a partly dissected body lying on one of the tables. As they listened to the doctor’s lecture about the body’s functions, curious students reached out and touched various body parts, including organs. Grace Lim (12), with her hands rubbing around the cadaver's intestinal wall, said, “The inside of the organ cavities are so smooth and cool! I never thought that the inside of a body felt like this!”

The class divided in half and took turns to go into the embalming room. A pungent, sharp, chemical smell shot at their noses right when they stepped into the room. In this room, the students saw many bodies crammed together in a large container filled up with a formaldehyde solution, which accounted for the strong chemical smell. Darian Yeap (12) said, “Seeing bodies and organs in plastic or metal boxes grouped together sets a disturbing mood.”

After the practical experience of touching the real-life human cadavers, the professor brought the students around the different parts of the medical school and taught them about what medical students learn. After a good lunch, each student traveled back with the same thought in mind—it was the best field trip they ever had.