My fingers were itching to get this up! Thanks for the reviews guys! I really appreciate it! :) Responses at bottom!
Edinburgh
21st September 1816
First day of medical training went well. When they introduced medical examinations last year I instantly wanted to have a go at it. The opportunity to test the knowledge I've built up over the years was too good to miss.
Many thing's have changed over the years, only medicine seems to be the only thing stagnant in its advance. Many of the theories and knowledge have stayed the same. Except the latest findings by Edward Jenner who realised that people who had Cowpox were immune to Small pox. I'm also going back to training to find out more about these findings. I wonder if there is a new kind of medicine we can make from this. A cure to small pox.
I can only imagine what kind of new developments can be made in the next hundred years. I want to be a part of it. I've made a plan:
Go to university as my 21-year-old self - get a qualification
Continue as a doctor to research new theories - grow old like everyone else - retire
Restart at university at 21 years old again - get a qualification
Continue as doctor... and so on.
This way I can keep up with new developments and keep myself busy. It's a place where I can keep an eye on time passing and be useful. I'm not stirring fate or influencing events. Best of both worlds, you could say.
In theory anyway.
Fitting in is hard. My fellow students at the university keep asking me questions: Where am I from? Which boarding school I go to? What are my preferences in study? How many time's have I seen a dead body?...
Why am I here?
The "how" question startled me. For a second I thought that they must have found out about me. Then I realised that they were referring to the fact that we will have to watch a dissection of a dead body. They were simply curious if I had ever seen a dead body before, to know if I would faint at the sight of one.
The "why" question though... that was the strangest. I'm here for a number of reasons, one I've already said. There are many others however. Like: I want to learn more, I want to save lives. I want to be useful.
Truth is, even if I had lived the first eighteen years of my life on a farm, after spending hundreds of years traveling - I don't want to be a farmer. The cottage is my home but I don't feel ready to settle into that life yet.
Speaking of my cottage, I wonder how John is getting on with its maintainance. When I hired him, I gave him full control of the cottage. To live in, look after and most importantly maintain. I hid my journal's in plain sight. They are all in bookshelf's in one room. Every wall is crammed with them, except one. That one wall has room for at least another three hundred years worth of journals. I put an invisibility enchantment over them. So when John looks into the room, he will only see wall - not my journals.
The medical lecture's today were just like the lesson's I got from Gauis, only with less practical work and more talking. In fact, a lot of talking. Too much actually. How are we suppose to learn like this? Or maybe it's just me, as I have already learnt most of it. The only new things seem to be the use of a microscope and I've heard that Rene Laennec has invented a "stethoscope". I want to know what that is.
Later this week we're going to witness the dissection of a body. I know it is necessary and I won't have any problem with it, since I've seen many thing's worse than that. But I am worried about where they are getting the bodies. It is well-known that bodies are snatched from graves.
But I can't do anything about it. I'm not going to try.
At least... I'll try not to try.
AN: So, I was half-way through writing this and the internet cuts out. I hadn't saved it. I had to start again. *finds pillow and smashes face into it* AAARRRRGGGGGHHH! That's why it's small.
Weird thing is, I actually think second version is better than first! :D
Cat - Thanks! I take pride in my grammar! :D The plot hole's made me angry as well. Series was too rushed *shakes head*. Positive feedback is good but I do like to be criticised. I like the challenge! Seeing your review made me happy though! :)
Alice - The shortness of these chapter's are deliberate. I don't imagine that Merlin would sit and write a 2000 word entry. :) He also jumps from this thought to that easily so I try to put that in. The first chapter is how I like to write - very descriptive and full of info. But it's hard to put that into a journal entry. Who would bother? Your advice on jokes is good! I do try that - like in On the Road, him knocking over all the stalls! But not very good at it! Thanks for your review!
Again, please review!
Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin!