Things I Miss...

Here are the things I miss...

1. Legit fast food. We have a KFC but that's about it. I miss USDA processed beef. McDonald's, Burger King, even Arby's. A Chinese food joint. Yes, we have a few, but they all suck. They all taste like they've been made out of chicken that's been fried seven times and sat in the fridge for a week.

2. 24-hour coffee/food/store. The entire island shuts down at around 8pm. Grocery stores close at 9pm, food joints close earlier, and the only "coffee" place on campus closes at 11pm. Say you're sitting around at the library at 2am, and want some food or coffee. Tough cookies.

3. Fast customer service. The island's customer service doesn't compare to the states. You think you had a rude cashier/server? HAH! At least you can complain to the manager or something. The average perspective here on servers/cashiers is that the customers OWE something to the servers/cashiers. It's a little bizarre. If you ask for something, they often roll their eyes or scoff, etc. Chances are, if you go to a restaurant and order something to eat, be prepared to wait a while. Some restaurants are better than others, but overall, it's bad. I've waited anywhere from 5 - 10 minutes to 3.5 hours. Yes. 3.5 hours...for a chicken breast.

4. Reliable utilities. Our internet has been shoddy lately...when we get it, it's almost dial-up speed. The internet is somewhat of a luxury (not to med students) but overall, fine, it's doable. Water...we're going through somewhat of a drought right now, so water's pretty valuable. I was told that we only have roughly 3 weeks of water left on the island, so conservation is crucial. There are times throughout the day where we have no water, but again, it's doable.

5. My car. The bus schedule sucks. Nuff said.

Two more months

Midterms are over. I am still alive. Was it difficult? Yes. Could it have been worse? Absolutely.

I pulled out alright. I didn't do as well as I thought I would, nor did I do as well as everyone here THINKS I did (I'm looking at you, Mendoza), but I did ok.

We pretty much partied all weekend...stayed in, did nothing, laid in bed all day, etc. Now, it's back to the beginning...

This semester, I figured that I'd actually put in the time daily (or at least once every two days) to study and catch up on classes so that I don't have to pull multiple all nighters. Yes. This I will do.

It's time to go study some, call some people back home, possibly clean my desk drawers as it's filled with randomness.

Cabin Fever

Yesterday, I made the ultimate mistake of studying for 11 hours straight (few breaks in between) on one subject: anatomy. Learning the muscles, their innervations, and their functions made me start losing it around 11pm. I couldn't retain any information even though I had just read it 20 seconds ago...and when I lifted my hand, I realized that it was trembling. Blech.

Thankfully, my buddies (@#$!nuts and Mendoza) dragged me out to Owl's (local watering hole) and...let's just say that my inability to sleep lately is gone methinks.

Today is Physiology Day. Tomorrow is Physiology Day. Saturday/Sunday is Biochemistry Day.

Wish me luck everyone.

5 Days Remaining...

Until midterm week begins.

I never knew what "studying" meant until now. It feels like I'm hanging my head outside and beating it with a whiffle ball bat constantly until it's reduced to a bloody pulp.

I must say, I have a newfound respect for the human brain and its ability to retain so much information. I also have a newfound respect for the human body and its ability to stay awake for such long periods of time.

Studying the human body makes me question one thing: God. Why...did he make the human body so darn convoluted/complex? Couldn't he make us like...gumby? He can walk, talk, etc...and I'm pretty sure he has no circulatory systems, nerve fibers, etc. I'm just sayin.

I have my anatomy midterm Monday afternoon, then Biochem + Ab Psych Thursday, then Physio Friday.

I'm fairly comfortable with Ab psych, seeing as I am a sociopath/psychopath (thanks to Mendoza, Babycakes, and Jersey for pointing that out). Apparently, I have psychopathic tendencies, which explains my inabilities to be "human" and have "human emotions." Whatevs.

Biochem is scaring the living daylights out of me, but no time to worry about that right now. More on anatomy than anything. Other than the multitude of things I have to know, I also have to know multiple skeletal components, as well as 68 muscles, their functions (trust me, they suck), and the nerves that innervate them. I've spent the past 3 days on this, and have yet to get anywhere close of finishing. I hope to finish by tonight, so I can at least sleep a little, so I can be lucid enough to start studying for physio/biochem in the remaining few days.

Few people have emailed asking for pictures, and I wanted to keep this somewhat anonymous, but I guess it's a little difficult with pics...and seeing as most of you guys know who I am...here you are:

Waiting for muscle lab:

After suture lab:

Suture Lab...I kicked ass on that sponge

Before we headed out. notice the black/blue theme

Third Week

Heyoooo

The third week of classes have begun, and quizzes/exams are right around the corner.

Studying has definitely beefed up quite a bit, as many students are constantly at Taylor Hall (think of it as a giant icebox with cubicles and angry med students), the library, and the dorm study halls. We have our first exam next Thursday, but it's on the typically easiest class we have, Abnormal Psychology, so I don't think many people are stressing too much over it. The classes that will whomp us seem to be Anatomy as well as Biochemistry, as we have a new professor (a Hopkins graduate), and no one knows his testing styles.

Last weekend, we went on a trip to Seven Sisters, which is a trail with a series of waterfalls. It is about a 30 - 45 minute drive away from campus and about a 30 minute hike into the mountains. It was good, we jumped off the small waterfall many a times, but we couldn't jump off the ginormous one due to the dry season and the pool only being 12 feet deep. There are plenty of pictures that were taken, but I don't have any of them, so I shall post them later.

The Weekend

This weekend approached quickly, and we are now officially done with our first week of classes.

Review of our classes:

Biochem - supposedly the hardest class...yet I am unimpressed. We have a new professor, who got his PhD at Hopkins, so in translation, it means we're all screwed to the tilt. Regardless, I am excited. Not much substance to learn so far, pretty much most of it is undergrad review, but we shall see.

Anatomy - It was easygoing until we hit Embryology. Holy crap I hate babies even more so after this. Our guest lecturer began to spit hot fire to the point she finished a supposedly 1 hr 15 min lecture in 30 minutes.

Physio - again, not much substance. Stokes (emory) revved me up for this, so I'm ready.

Learning Strat - by far, the most "why am I taking this class" deserving class ever. We do busy work. It is supposed to teach us how to "better study"...honestly, I'd study better if I didn't have to waste 1 hr 15 minutes a week on this class.

Friday night, we hustled over to a club called Karma, arguably the best club here. It reviewed as being comparable to a south beach miami club...and the review held, if that south beach miami club existed in the ghetto of the bronx. Perhaps I'm being too judgmental. It was a decent club, we had a good time...minus a few snafus due to overaggressive locals hitting on the women of our group, cab mix-ups, etc. Overall, a good time.

Next week, we'll be hitting up a waterfall called Seven Sisters. I'll try to post up mid-week.

First Class

I know, I know, I'm a little bit behind. Let me try to catch up.

We recently lost a new student, Ms. Maria, so Wednesday and Thursday, I took her around the island to get her some culture.

Wednesday, we went to the city of St. George's, where we hiked around, saw the sights, did a little shopping, and ate some local food.

Friday, we went to the city of Gouyave, where every Friday, they hold an event called Fish Friday, where all the local vendors come out and cook different varieties of fish in different ways. There's music, liquor, and it's just an overall cool experience. We crammed into a "reggae bus," which is virtually just a big van that goes VERY fast on curves and blasts loud soca (soul calypso) music.

Then, we hit up Fish Friday:

Overall, we had a good time. Good food and good laughs.

Monday, we had our first set of classes...it was the best time ever.

Today, another set of classes.

Tonight, one of the girls in our dorms is having her birthday, so we'll be going out to dinner for her and possibly be going to Banana's for their 2-for-1 night.