Merry Christmas

It is already Christmas, can't believe our winter break is going by so quickly. We are moved into our new place, and we had a great time with D's parents.

Here we are at campus

We gave them the tour and some of the building were open, so we got to show them our lecture hall. It was so nice to have family here, especially since we are not going home.

Sunset from the catamaran

 We had some great sunsets, and really enjoyed the catamaran trip. We miss everyone back home, but we are studying and trying to make the most out of our break. Merry Christmas!

goodbye term 2

Physio final done, and so is term 2!! We have our year 1 test tomorrow, but it is really just to tell us how we are doing so far (grade doesn't count!). Can't believe we are finally done, I have been waiting for this day for a while, and we will find out our grades tomorrow. Year 1 of medical school, you have been hard, but I can't believe how much I have learned. I am going to sleep so much this weekend!

ospe is over but finals have just begun

We took our OSPE II (the practical test) this morning. So one down, 3 to go! I hate finals week, it is exhausting and humbling. I am so ready for finals to be over! For some reason when studying for the test midterms/finals, it feels like, what the heck have I been learning this whole time. It just seems like so much material, it is overwhelming, but I have felt like this before all my test, so I am kinda getting used to it. This weekend the colts play the cowboys, really that game has to be scheduled for the weekend BEFORE finals?? What was the NFL thinking? I will be studying so good luck colts, see you on the other side of finals.

 I did have a great birthday, despite study for a big part of it. I had lunch with some friends, who are very nice and surprised me with a birthday cake! Which was awesome.

 

 

 

 

 

Birthday lunch with friends

Other than no fun studying, there have been lots of Christmas decorating here, well you know in Grenada, not at my house, hello? finals! Anyway the lights and music make me homesick, but at least it is kinda like Christmas. Well, I have a date with physio tonight so later.

finally, we got our immuno grades!

We finally got our grades back, and well, they sucked! What can I say, the test was horrible. Very frustrating, as we studied so hard, and we really knew our stuff, I thought? At least it is over, and we passed, which is most important, but no A's. At least it was only two credits. We did go to the beach afterwards, as our minds were more tired than our bodies.

Also we had a sand fight.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, we missed everyone, and also the cowboys lost, so D was angry. I was only angry because I had no turkey, and no, I did not cook! Are you kidding, we have finals coming up. Speaking of, Friday Dec. 3rd is our OSPE, which is a practical test, where we test our real skills on fake patients. FUN! (but graded) Then on Dec 7th is our Neuroscience final, Dec 9th is our physiology final, and finally Dec10 is the BSCE, which is a comprehensive test for term 1 and 2! Are you kidding? I am supposed to remember all that stuff from term 1 also?!?

Rainbow at the beach

It is getting close, but I am excited because I am really ready for the break, and happy that our first year is almost over. So we will be studying like crazy (or really like normal) for the next few weeks, and hopefully things will go better than stupid immunology!

Sunday/Immunology day

This weekend is flying by, as they typically do when you need to get lots of things done. Immunology is taking over my life, as these cytokines keep multiplying. Went to dinner last night for a friends birthday at this new place called Umbrellas, it was soo good. I had the Umbrella burger which was really close to a Toots burger, I mean, not as good, but by far the best hamburger I have eaten on this island. Because we are really cool and everything, were home by 8:00! One of our friends, who's wife has had their baby since being here, literally had it in Grenada, brought her. She was such a cutie. It is strange how seeing a little baby reminds you of home so much, just because we are mostly surrounded by students and most do not have children, or they never really bring them to the library. We were talking about how different it was to raise a baby here vs the states, and she was telling me that she made all of the baby food and used cloth diapers; mostly due to the cost but also due to the availability, or lack there of.

Also, I was downloading some Christmas music, because for some reason the 80 degrees weather doesn't have me in the holiday spirit, so I ask D what his favorite Christmas song is, he responds "hmm.. Mr. Hanky the Christmas Poo"- from south park.


Thanks, but I will not be downloading that! Back to the cytokines.

I am gonna need another coke!

These last two weeks have been so busy, we have really had a lot of material in class. I do have to say that even though those kidney are small, they are quite impressive! Any way, we had a great time at the unity ball, the place that we had it was really nice. It had air-conditioning and everything!

Rona did a great job on my clothes and face! I am really surprised how she used my makeup and came up with this. I mean, really, I never look like this.

Ready to leave

out on the dance floor

We had fun, but not too much to mess up our full day of studying Sunday. It wasn't like there was a Cowboy game on or anything! Just kidding Wade Phillips. It seems like we just had midterms, but we are now looking forward to our Immunology final which is Nov 22. We have had several students come by to look at our apartment to rent for next semester, and so finally someone has signed the lease. Our apt has been cleaned a lot this week. We are definitely going to miss our landlords, they are like our family here, but they have been great about us leaving! At the same time we are excited about the new place, even though it will be a while before we move. A little bit more immuno tonight, and I am calling it quits. OK, maybe one more coke, my kidneys can handle it.

                  

A new place

Tonight is the unity ball, and since we didn't go last semester, and I will not plan anything for term 4, we are going tonight. It starts at 10, and my landlady, R is coming down in a little while because she is doing my makeup. Should be fun! Last Saturday, we escaped tropical storm Tomas, which was suppose to be headed right for us, but thankfully it turned north and we escaped with just a little wind and rain. We did go to a birthday party and really had a good time.

It was at this place called the owl, and of course right on the beach. Studying is going well, and tomorrow is going to be a big study day. Also, we have found a new place to live, so after the term, we are going to move. Us move?? I know! Anyway, we are excited because the place has a huge fenced in yard, and the owners have a beautiful Doberman, who Shiloh met and they played very well together. The place is a little smaller but the yard much larger and it gets a great breeze. I am so jealous of all the cool temperature I hear about. Well, I am going to finish getting ready, later!

Happy Thanksgiving

We are on Thanksgiving break, as tomorrow is Thanksgiving when Grenada celebrates the end of the war in which the American soldiers rescued Grenada. Oct 25,1983. We watched Heartbreak Ridge last night in honor of the war, but really on like the last 20 minutes were about Grenada, but everyone loves Clint Eastwood.  So we have had a great weekend. We went hashing yesterday, which is a hiking group that gets together every other Saturday and have hiking trail set up at different parts of the island. Shiloh got to go, and she had a blast.

The hash was great and had some beautiful scenery as part of it was on the beach.

Two friends who joined us.

We did sandblast last weekend, so it has been a lot of fun since midterms, but a lot of studying as well. In physiology, we are doing the pulmonary section and honestly I had no idea how complicated breathing is. It is crazy, I am really glad it is subconscious!

Sandblast

 

 

 

 

So, things are getting back to normal here, I can't believe it is the end of October, I miss fall. There are no changing leaves here or cool nights. But we do have sunshine, and rain so it is fine.

hashing

 This was an awesome rock wall that we climbed around to get to this beach. Shiloh couldn't make it by herself, but she has a great dad who carried her through the hard parts. She does not look very trusting there.

cool view of the wall

Hope everyone is having a great fall, happy Halloween!

Midterms are OVER

I am so sleepy! Midterms are finally over we have 2 of our 3 grades back, and they are the best so far. Very excited, but too sleepy. Sandblast is tomorrow so we will be getting to bed early, after we catch up on survivor!

MIDTERMS

This has been the craziest/worst week on this island. I have already told you about Shiloh's lobster allergy. So after that, our good friend M gets dengue.

wiki dengue

 This is a really serous virus transmitted my mosquitoes.  Yes we use lots of bug spray! We of course insist that he stay with us, you really don't want to be put in the hospital here. Normally our life here is pretty boring, we just study, cook, and do dishes.

Sunset from campus

However, now that we have a very sick guest, all hell breaks loose. We have a quite impressive storm which D and I watch the lighting for a while then went to bed. Well M had his mattress on the floor because it really is more comfortable. We always sleep with our mattress on the floor because the platform part of the bed is random 2by4s that suck. Also he has a fever of over 102 and dengue fever is often called bone break fever. Not comfortable. Anyway at 2 that morning he is knocking at the door, because the back room, where he is sleeping is flooded.Really about 1/2 in to 1 in of water covered the floor. He woke up because it had soaked though the mattress and gotten him wet. This water is not leaking, but actually coming up though the tiles in the floor. This was Monday morning (the 4th).

Yes, this means I am at school way too late.

We get everything out of that room and decide that we will deal with it in the morning. M was supposed to have midterms but because he was so sick, he had already made arrangement to retake them. Our landlord came home from work when we called her, and cleaned up the floor. The water was in the back room, hall and bathroom by morning. We are still getting small amounts of water coming through the tiles in the bathroom! We keep a towel there. And just because this is not enough to deal with when lets not forget midterms are coming up. We have been having a termite problem since we came back in July. We have been spraying bug spray, but we all know you have to get an exterminator. I mean really, termites in a concrete house?? They are after the cabinets.

D is teaching M's dog, Indy to sit. Fruit loops are good treats. Shiloh says, but I am sitting!

So our landlord finally gets a guy to come spray Wed. We have to clear everything out of the kitchen, and have Shiloh some where else for 3 hours. Clearing the kitchen look about an hour. That night we put everything back, about another hour. Which I am thinking (while I mop up water for the 4th time that day), it will be worth it for the termites to be gone. Well yesterday, guess what I see. The termites are rebuilding there little mud tunnels. It has been a freaking 3 whole days. So frustrating. D and I have decided we will just deal with this stuff after midterms.

Shiloh has enjoyed having Indy around to play with.

Speaking of, Physiology is the 11th, Immunology is the 13th and Neuroscience is the 15th. M is still with us and he is feeling much better, I feel so bad that he has been so ill, and all of this crap happens while he is here! It is normally not like this. We have survived this week, and hopefully are grades will not suffer do to this stressful turn of events. Now I have got to study, I woke up before D so decided that I would blog while I drank my coffee. He is still sleeping, but I have got to get to studying.

Shiloh loves lobster, lobster hates Shiloh!

So this has been a crazy couple of days. We have midterms coming up so we don't really have time for crazy, but it comes non the less. Soo. One of our neighbors is a fisherman, nice guy. He ask us if we are interested in any lobster, now that lobster season is in. We say "of course!!!!"

Wednesday afternoon, he comes to the house and says that he has caught some lobster do we still want them. He is selling them for $10/lb. Now that is eastern Caribbean dollars so it is like $3.75/lb American dollars! I am so excited, how nice to have lobster to look forward to. So D goes gets like 6 lbs.

We are eating said lobster last night, and I give Shiloh some of the little legs that are too hard to get the meat out of. She is just crunching away, happy as can be, and I didn't think a thing about it.

About 2 hours later, her face is so swollen! She can barely open her eyes and her nose is like double the normal size. Also her upper lips just hang over her mouth. I was freaking out. So apparently she is allergic to lobster. We gave her Benadryl, but her face looked so bad. D was so worried about her, he stayed up most of the night checking on her (he is such a good daddy). He is taking a nap right now! We were really afraid she might stop breathing or something. Her face was still swollen this morning, she is so pitiful. We skipped our last class today, because we didn't want to leave her here for very long by herself. She is doing better this afternoon, but she is not back to normal. I feel so bad, I can't believe she is freaking allergic to lobster! This weekend has not started off well, hopefully it gets better. I told Shiloh she was not named after Angelina Jolie's kid, so she doesn't have to have big lips!

EKGs

The days are turning into weeks, and I am starting to here that familiar murmur of people and their "2 weeks till midterms" talk. I do not know what possesses people to go around trying to send panic into the hearts of their fellow classmates! Yes, I know when midterms start, but NO I did not realize that Oct 11th is happening in 2 WEEKS! 2 weeks and a couple of days, but still.

Shiloh and Indy

We are learning EKGs in physio, and it is very exciting. I feel like we are finally starting to get to the part that we will really be using when we are doctors. We are staying on campus all day to help us study, from 8-5. Long day, but Shiloh is staying at our friends house during the day. He has a puppy and a fenced in yard, so it is working out really well. They get to play and we get to study. Then we get to come home and study more! Who knows how to live up? Back to EKG's!

Lunch with friends

CPM grades

We finally received our CPM grades. A's all around! D and I killed it. Immunology started Tuesday, so we are now on our final 3 courses. Midterms are from Oct 11-15. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Then Sandblast is the 16th! Sandblast is the HUGE party the school throws for the students after midterms.
Survivor starts tonight, otherwise football kinda sucked last weekend. I know, the longhorns won. Shiloh still thinks a dog mascot is way better than a cow. She likes frogs too, but mostly to chase them.

Taken at Westerhall Rum Distillery

Also taken at Westerhall Rum Distillery

It is so hot here, if it cools down a little, Shiloh is getting a hair cut and a bath. This is like tourture the dog day. She is just sleeping in the floor all peaceful and has no idea we are plotting such things against her. Fine, I will get the camera and show you.

Peacefully sleeping

Back to the books, later

CPM final

We have our community preventive medicine final in the morning at 8 am. YEA! The nice thing is that we don't have class tomorrow!

Shiloh and I ready for the TN game!

D has his input!

Although our immunology class starts Tuesday, so not exactly a long break. Studying is going well, but it is a bit harder now that football season has started. Although it certainly does not feel like football time when it is 86 degrees outside.Our labs have started this week, we have a lab two afternoons a week, which takes some time, but nothing like anatomy last semester.

D and our friend M at the beach last Friday

The "new" beach that we discovered is called "two jobs" by the locals, it has no official name. We went last Friday for a couple of hours and we had a blast! We took our Frequente BBQ with us, and of course Shiloh had a blast. Her two favorite things, the beach and BBQ!!

Some kicking waves!

Oh, I have been going to a hip/hop dance class on Thursdays. I have only been to two, D went with me the first time, but he said he did not really enjoy it, so he did not participate this last time. It is fun, and aerobic, also dancing has been proven to improve one's memory.Those are my excuses!

Action shot

D was behind the post

Well back to studying, I do have a final in the morning.

Peanut butter jar = hours of fun

September is here

Just so everyone knows, college football starts this week. D and I are working out a schedule, because we obviously do not have time to watch all the good games, so we are picking a few of the "great" games to make time for.

Shiloh got to lick the brownie bowl. Brownies = Good Study Food

 We are moving right along in our classes, and I have to say our physiology professors are outstanding. So far this is the first class that I do know precisely how many minutes are left in lecture. First we have neuroscience, which is fine, but right now it is memorizing different structures of the brain. We then have a 10 minute break between neuro and physio. Our physio professors play music during this break. I know that doesn't sound like much, but it is. We are not talking about classical music but great rock hits from the last 3 decades. This seems to just give the professors personality and relax the atmosphere. Also they are quite funny. Of course they have to present the material, but they have fun with it, and give relevant examples that are easy to understand. One key thing about examples is that it should help you understand the concept not confuse you. These professors get it.

A starfish, I love my waterproof camera!

 I say this because in general medical school teachers are really bad, and that is because they are doctors, not teachers. They do not have a degree in teaching, but in medicine. As of right now, D and I are really feeling good about our classes, and our studying schedule. In our community preventative medicine class, we learned to do death certificates. I know, sounds delightful. No one was really staying for that class because it is supposed to be an easy A, so the professor had us turn in 7 death certificates today as "homework" and we (the people who actually stay for class) got an extra 2 point for our exam. Hey, I say get all the point you can, besides they were pretty easy. Well my break is over, must go study more.

Thanks mom for my awesome dress

Goodbye genetics and parasitology

We are done with our first two classes. In parasitology, we both made A's and D has a B in genetics and I have an A. We are very excited because 2nd term seems to be starting out much better than 1st term. Not really that the material is easier, but our studying methods have really improved.

D on the beach

 So when it finally quit raining on Tuesday after the exam, D and I took Shiloh to a new beach. Well I am sure the beach has been there for a long time, but we had never been there, so new. We had the best time. It is a really small beach and kinda out of the way, which means there was no one there.

This is my favorite photo, she is a Baywatch dog

I don't hate people, but is was so nice to let Shiloh run around free without worrying about her barking at people, or anything. She had the best time. She swam and dug for crabs. There are these little sand crabs, and I am not sure if she can hear them or smell them, but she goes to digging like crazy.

She has caught a few, but they pinch her and she does not care for that. It is really funny, like a show down. Dog vs little sand crab, little sand crab wins! The sand on this beach was amazing. My feet just sunk into it, and it was really soft, and black. I thought black volcanic sand would be rough, but this was the softest sand I have ever felt. Around this little beach were these huge rock walls and the rough waves just crash on them spectacularly.

Feet in the sand

So, we are two classes down and only four more to go. We have three right now, neuroscience, pathology, and community health. Community health is a short course and will end in a month, and after that test then immunology will start. So we will have only three classes at a time for the rest of the semester. Speaking of classes, I had better get back to studying. Here is a short video I took at the beach.

The first two weeks

Today was the last lectures in Parasitology and Genetics. Of course now comes the fun filled weekend of studying! It is quite horrible how much can be packed into 2 weeks. We are still very much enjoying our car, we had lunch with some friends today, and they also loved it.

And the pizza was fantastic. My nephew's birthday was the 17th, so really, 5 already! Even though lectures are over, we have a review, optional of course, tomorrow in parasitology. It is from 8-10, so great, we will not be sleeping in even a little. I planted some tomato plants when we got back here in July. We transplanted the plants yesterday.

Mom, me, and John at BBC beach

We brought one of the Topsy upside down growers, so we will see how this goes. I also planted a few plants in normal pots. I didn't plan on having 7 tomato plant, because I only planted 8 seeds, which I figured I might get 2-3 plants. So if all these plants live and produce tomatoes, we will be eating a heck of a lot of tomatoes. Maybe I will start selling them. What is bad, is how much fun D and I have had with our plants. Maybe we should have been farmers. Calling it quits, goodnight.

Puffer fish