Another year older...

Well, another birthday has come and gone (I can't believe I'm 24) and I woke up the other day feeling a little melancholy, especially after I opened a slide show sent to me by Raz of old pictures of us together, and pictures of my family. Plus, since midterms are really close, everyone is really busy studying all the time (our tans our fading). Anyways, the other night while I was studying there was a knock on the door and in came my friends with a birthday cake and candles singing “Happy Birthday”. I was so touched, my roommate had bought a cinnamon coffee cake that morning, and everyone had signed a card (which read you’re 12 x 2!) it was so cute! Megan had also got me a magazine and some French vanilla coffee (it almost tasted like Tims french vanilla cappuccino). So my first b-day away from family and friends definitely was a good one (the first time anyone has surprised me on my b-day), thanks to the efforts of my great roommate.
And of course what is a birthday without documentation of candle blowing ability....

Health Fair

Yesterday I volunteered to help with a health fair put on by AMSA out in the community. Wow, this experience certainly put some perspective on things in life. The community we were in was on the north end of the island (it took about 50 min. to drive there). Along the way, I got to see a good amount of the green and mountainous countryside while we drove on narrow winding roads. There were houses in place with their foundations built into the sides of cliffs. Looking around you could only see lush green forest, or the sea (and a few chickens here and there). The area we were in looked poor, and remnants of the hurricane disaster from last year were still prevalent around certain areas of the island we saw. There were about 15 St. George’s med students that had volunteered, and a few local doctors. Once we arrived and set up ‘camp’ at a local grade school, it looked like the entire community had lined up to be checked. It was a great hands-on experience in that I learned how to test blood glucose, take patient histories, and do breast exams (no pun intended).
Well, midterms begin a week from tomorrow, and we’re still covering a ton of material for biochemistry. In terms of course material this definitely seems like the most intensive class. In comparing it to my undergrad courses, this class is covers three courses in one…only we take it in one semester. As promised, here are some pics from yesterday’s health fair. Enjoy.

Food for thought

I’m sorry that I haven’t posted for a week or so, its just that nothing eventful has happened. I finally got my bankcard, after about waiting a month! After doing so I really stocked up the pantry with plenty of food for the next couple of weeks. In case any of you are wondering what the food is like here, its pretty much the same as at home. Some people try to only buy name brand American labels, but you really limit yourself with what you can eat, never mind that they’re more expensive. I find that I’m eating a lot of salad here because you can put basically anything in it (providing you can get the lettuce). My favourite mix is lettuce with corn, chick peas, kidney beans, raisons, onion, avocado, and sometimes some feta cheese. I haven’t eaten any pork or beef since I’ve been here (I’m not sure exactly where the beef is from), so I can’t wait to get home and go to the Keg for a big juicy medium rare steak! An exotic fruit that I usually eat almost daily are golden apples. Their texture is a cross between a mango and a pear. I can’t begin to describe their flavour, but the core of the fruit is this round spiky pit. They actually look a little like small mangos, but you can eat the skin.

So like I said, nothing is really new. Midterms are two weeks from tomorrow, so its study time all the time – only with the intensity ramped up. I was selected as one of the ‘peer group leaders’ for my biochemistry class – I think we get paid a little bit too. I definitely know what that money will be going towards…..vegetable rotis. I could seriously eat them for every meal three times a day. There is an Indian food stand at the top of the hill outside of our class everyday that sells an assortment of samosas, rotis, these chick pea things, coconut balls…..everything is so flavourful. Okay since I’ve just rambled on about food for my entire blog, I think I will make some lunch. . . .

P.S. I promise to post some new pics next time.

It's Official

Well I am officially a med student, we just had our first test yesterday for all of our subjects. It was sufficiently challenging, but I was sufficiently prepared. I do feel that I have a better understanding of how to learn the material. While I was studying I didn’t really participate in any of the casual group studies my friends had put together (I had really bad group experiences all throughout high school and some in university which has always put me off from studying with a lot of people – I’m more of an individual learner) – so I was worried that perhaps I had missed out by not doing so. I don’t think I did. So, last night after our test a group of us went out to dinner at the True Blue Resort. The food was a little pricey for a student’s budget, so I had some veggie tacos which were quite tasty (although I really wanted to try the catch of the day). It felt so good to relax at dinner, but today I had a full day of lab and classes, and one definitely does not want to fall the slightest bit behind…
Okay, enough shop talk – I have a new favourite pastime here: running. If someone had told me six weeks ago that I would be running 3 – 4 times a week I would’ve laughed at them. Put me on a basketball court and I’ll do suicides ‘till I vomit, but don’t make me jog distances. It was mostly a mental block for me, but now I love running here! The area I jog in is surrounded by water on both sides, really nice houses, and devoid of traffic. The hills are great, but I’m still waiting for the incessant pain in my hams to go away (could be from the deadlifts too). So if any of you come to visit, bring your running shoes - just make sure we don’t run at 2:00 in the afternoon (I did once and though I was going to spontaneously burst into flames afterwards)!

Crunch time

Can you believe it, this is my fifth weekend here in Grenada. Time is flying! We have our first big ‘Unified Quiz” this Monday, so it’s definitely crunch time. The weekend is really the only time we have to actually memorize things, because it’s hard enough during the weekend just to keep up with the readings! What I find most different about med-school courses is that, what you learn for an entire semester in undergrad, is done in about two weeks time or less. No parties this weekend for me! But on Monday night, after our test there is a big “Monday Night Football” party at a bar down the road. Sheesh, one would think you could get away from all the American sports by moving down here – apparently not. I have to say though; the one source of televised entertainment that I would love to be able to watch is Desperate Housewives. There is a television in the student centre...when do the fall season shows begin? Well, sorry to cut things short, but I have to go memorize the developmental process of the fetus….its too bad we all can’t have this much fun on the weekends…..Cheers

I love the '80's!

Last night there was an 80’s theme party at a restaurant/bar called Aquarium. Everyone was dressed in their best ‘80’s garb. The music was fabulous, and there’s nothing quite like the ‘Electric Slide’ today. I did my best with the clothes that I brought with me. The ol’ sports bra showing under a mismatched coloured tank did the trick. I started to wonder why I had that scarf I am wearing in the picture with me in Grenada anyways. Some people’s outfits were so outrageous that it was funny to think they just improvised with clothes they had already brought with them! There were lots of head bands, mesh, high socks and sneakers, mini-skirts and tights, and of course – overly teased hair. This pic is of Megan and me doing our best sexy 80’s girls impression. I knew I brought purple eye shadow with me for a reason….

Stew anyone?

Mmmm I just made lamb stew. Although, I have to say there was a little too much hot sauce. That's okay, I love spicy food and my mom and brother aren’t around to eat it! I'm really enjoying cooking here - it's kind of like my down-time. I find after sitting in class for four hours, I like to come back to the dorm and cook to unwind. On Monday's and Wednesday's there is a produce stand that comes up to campus. If you get there early enough, there’s always a menagerie of vegetables (even though sometimes they don’t have lettuce…). This week I bought some ochre to try and cook with. What and interesting veggie – definitely an ingredient I’ll stick with, especially in stew. If anyone knows of another way to cook it, leave me a comment, I’m interested to try new things.
Well I have to say that I’m very happy with how things are going with my roommate. We’re both early risers and like to work out in the mornings (if only Raz would do the same….just joking hon…). Even more importantly though, we’re both very clean – thank God! She’s also very personable and friendly, no weird quirks (at least nothing yet), although I’m sure I may be a little quirky to her – being from “Canadia” and all. Anyways, I leave you all with a picture taken from a boat trip around part of the island – you can see how picturesque to it. I still cannot get over how warm the water is here, I guess when you’re only 12 degrees away from the equator its impossible for it not to be. Its okay, you can be jealous….

More School Stuff

I'm so glad its the weekend! During the week my schedule involves some sort of lab in the morning followed by class in the afternoons. Then some evenings there are review sessions for our classes. So I look forward to having large blocks of study time on the weekends. The weeks are going by rather quickly, which is both good and bad. The good is that first semester will fly by, and I'll be done with these boring fundamentals. The bad is that we are just starting to get into the nitty-gritty details of everything. I have to say that SGU has some really great professors - even though I may not enjoy the material they are covering, they are all very easy to listen to, and are very reinforcing in their teaching methods. Maybe its just the science department at Windsor that makes them look so good. I've noticed that people are very very friendly around here in Grenada. Whenever I go for jogs in the morning, all of the locals usually nod or say hello. Even walking around on campus, the security guards are very chatty, in addition to many of the other labourers. Who knows, it could be a white girl thing....
Sorry I have no pictures today, I had a bit of a computer crisis the other night and had to unistall a number of the components (that I still have yet to re-install). I'll take some pics this weekend (Raz said he wanted some of the anatomy lab - we'll see about that).