Tutoring with some meaty thoughts....

First I must exhale, I just finished midterm 1. Pat on my back for answering 105 MCQ's in 32 min flat (it was one of those you either know it or you don't type tests, no thinking required).

Okay, so I do a little private tutoring on the side for biochemistry. Sure, there are a few concepts that are a little more difficult to grasp. But, most of the real understanding is done with a little bit of elbow grease and organization. We are given pages and pages of handouts, all in paragraph style filled with facts that can be condensed into charts, graphs, and pathways. It just takes discipline and time to sort through everything and pick out the important points. The key point in what I’ve just said is discipline. From my tutoring experiences through the years, it is not conceptual understanding that most people have problems with. It is discipline and direction that most people lack, and I find that when tutoring, I am usually going back to basic skills of how to organize facts and information. (I can hear my mother’s voice going off on a tangent about students these days…..). The questions I receive are all answered in the lecture notes – if you’ve bothered to read them. I get irritated when I get questions concerning – is there anywhere all this is organized for me. (My inner monologue is saying – “no dumb@$$ the organization is part of the learning and understanding process – just do it”). But….if people want to pay me to say – drill multiplication tables into a 14 yr old, because when they were 8-13, too lazy to do the grunt work, or if people want to pay me to be personal laser pointers for their lecture notes, that’s fine too.

Yes I eat meat and yes, if forced to, I would kill and skin the animal myself before eating it. I did not have pets growing up (pets are for outside, and brothers are just as good play things that also teach responsibility). And if the bird flu does reach Grenada, I have no qualms about eating other animals such as lamb, and beef (baby pig is especially nice). Perhaps cave-personish of me, but it is the truth, I was raised on meat, and have been witness to meat in various stages before consumption. We dissected human beings for God sakes, I merely eating bird flesh to sustain my daily protein requirements. Okay, excuse me while I go pound my chest…..

Caffeine Diaries

Okay, I’m really sorry I didn’t have my weekly post of last night, but seriously, my week was uneventful, as uneventful can be – even here on a tropical island. Let’s see……tropical fruit of the week is the pawpaw, although I haven’t actually tried it, because its not ripe yet (not sure how long that will take). Starting next Monday, I have midterms for the following three weeks. Yep, that’s right 3 weeks. It’s also both of my roommates birthdays next week. Birthday’s are always nice (if its yours) but as the roommate, I am the designated cake getter (maker in my case), card signing oversee-er, nice things do-er. Anyways, here is the day by day diary of my caffeine experiment (you can see why I didn’t want to pursue research as a career).

Experiment
To cut coffee and caffeine out the diet for one week and observe behavioural effects.

Hypothesis
The affects of caffeine may be adding to already heightened levels of stress.

Results - Caffeine Diaries of the Subject
Day 1
Wake up time: 4:30am. Oh God, I just want to taste the coffee, it can be decaffeinated, I just love the warm aroma. I made it through the first three hours of the morning. Who am I kidding, I can’t quit caffeine cold turkey, so I had a cup of green tea during class.
Day 2
Wake up time: 5:00am. Coffee would be nice right now. Instead I’ll have half a frozen banana. Had green tea again during class again (its for the antioxidants, I swear).
Day 3
Wake up time: 6:30 am. Dammit, I slept in. No gym today before class. I skipped the green tea.
Day 4
Wake up time: 5:30 am. Damn Grey’s Anatomy I watched 2 episodes (season 2 the the ones with the bomb!) before I went to bed which was not until after midnight. No coffee, no green tea.
Afternoon response: *%$@ it, I’m having a coffee.
Okay, seriously, giving up coffee is not a lifestyle change I am willing to make. I don’t have withdrawl from the caffeine, I enjoy the taste. A rich flavoured bean joins the ranks of food favourites such as cheese and chocolate (hmmmm maybe I just like c-food words – I can think of a few others). You would too if you were brewing Second Cup Chocolate Truffle flavoured beans.
Day 5, 6, and 7 – Subject has abandoned experiment.

Discussion and Conclusions
As observed, the experiment failed miserably due time constraint of 24 hours in one day. The 24 hour limitation did not leave enough time available for total completion of all events (sleeping, lessons, studying with mentation, feeding, exercising). The subject began to disassociate which lead her to caffeine consumption to compensate…. .seriously.
Call person sharing 50% of my genetic information and obtain details of their coffee experimentation. Follow findings.

My inner monologue

This week just flew by, and I’m sort of glad it’s over. I mean, this coming week is actually really jam-packed busy, but I’m ready for a new start on Monday. I think I was a little stressed last week (even though I took a day off on Tuesday), and the best gauge of how stressed I am feeling is not a measure of my emotional well being, but of how much I feel like snacking and sleeping. Not good I know, but true. I am also going to start an experiment on myself and try not to have caffeine at all to see how it affects the snacking/sleeping cravings. I don’t have a lot of caffeine throughout the day, normally just a cup of coffee in the morning, and a tea in the afternoon. Occasionally, I’ll have a diet Coke (I never drink pop at home), which I did on Saturday, and I think that it made me feel very snacky and irritable. Unfortunately, this means that I’ll have to cut out my afternoon green tea, if I’m to examine all caffeine effects. I guess I’ll have to get some more antioxidants elsewhere.

Since I’ve started this blog, I find that I’ve developed an inner monologue that sort of sounds the same way I write. It’s similar to how the lead character on ‘Scrubs’ talks to himself. Sure, maybe a little odd, but most of the time its me thinking about how small, mundane day to day things can be expressed with a little pizzazz. A lot of my inner monologues are sarcastic comments that I can never say out-loud to most people, but make for good blogging. For example, in many instances I find that I field questions in the nature of why some things happen the way that they do. Most of the time these are very valid questions, but in some instances, the details have all been deduced down to the smallest possible building blocks, and all that is possibly left for explanation are the physical properties that make up atoms! In my head, I am thinking – “I’m not sure, but maybe on my next ‘Dear God, it’s me Margaret’ session I’ll remember to ask that question…….geez”. Of course, out loud, it probably wouldn’t sound as amusing as it did in my head…… Anways at least another week has passed when I’ve been able to express the finer details of my life in a few more words than sleep, eat, study, workout, repeat.

Heaven on earth

It was surreal, possibly one of the most stunning places I've been. Words cannot describe how gorgeous this place was. Today was Independence day on the island, so we had a day off from our classes. A group of us decided to go to the La Luna resort for lunch and their beach. This resort was just breath-taking. Apparentely it has been featured in a number of travel magazines, and Sports Illustrated or Victoria's Secret has shot swimsuit spreads at this place. What a decadent day we had. Blue skies, warm water, white sand, and the hot sun melding into a light breeze - the day was perfect. I was not able to take pictures of the resort to justify the magnitude of its divinity, but here is a nice beach shot to make you want to throw your shovels down and jump on the fastest plane to come visit. Anyways if you want to see some pics of the resort, here is the website: www.laluna.com

More Pictures!

This is a pic of Julie (my roomate) and me up on the terrace in the Caribbean House on Campus. The water looks so blue from up here!

This is a picture of part of the library. All the buildings on campus pretty much have this similar type of architecture. I think the library is one of the nicest - from the outside that is, the inside has no study space!)

This is Baxter, he was found whimpering behind a laundry machine in our dorm. He was taken in by some friends. He is a-dor-a-ble! Yes, I know I'm exceedingly white in this picture (let's just say it was taken when I first got back to the island...).

A funny thing happened while taking a nap....

Well, Julie and I just had our first Biochem DES (department of educational services) session last night. It was a closed group session for people in AEP (Academic Enhancement Program). Overall it went well, we split up the material and did some practices questions with them. Me, being the ultimate critic of myself thought I could’ve done a better job with some of the material, but alternatively I’ve got a lot of my own work as well. I’ve got my Genetics final on Monday, so it’s going to be an intense weekend, but I’m up for it.

An odd thing happened to me yesterday; I decided to take a 1/2hr nap, and because there was still a lot of light in my room, for the first time in my life, I put on a sleeping mask. This was possibly the most restless sleep I’ve ever had. I kept having these dreams in which I would be trying to find my friends, or being dropped in a maze, and I was blind! I was drifting in and out of REM voluntarily to get myself out of these dreams. After 40 min. had passed, I still did not feel rested and I had enough. The after-math of my blind dreams left me with a little unsettling anxiety. And I got to thinking about fears and anxieties and came up with my own personal list……I like making lists……everyday I follow a list….
Now, I’m not talking about anxiety to the point where one would get chest tightness, or breathing problems. I’m just referring to a little heightening of the senses to the surroundings (in a negative way of course).

Times when I think a little anxiety/fear is reasonable:

Before I’m about to take a test (but not too much)

Finding gross black hairs on the floor after the cleaning lady has cleaned.

Not getting enough sleep (there’s a fine balance between tired and non-functional)

During the last repetition in a set of squats (I worry that I’ll have to crawl out from under the weights – its not that bad, I’ve done it before, but its kind of embarrassing).

Times when I’d like to think anxiety/fear is NOT reasonable, but I still get them:

Being called upon and not having the right answer (this is why I hated kindergarten).

Feet (I fear them touching me – my mother can attest to this)

Being late for ultimately trivial things (honestly, what’s the worst that could happen).

When it’s late into the night in my house [in Canada], and sometimes I’m still afraid of ghosts (I have some good theories on why this might be).

Chez Dana

I made pizza today in the toaster oven. I woke up at 5:30am to make the dough, then while working out I let it rise. When I got back from class at 11:00am, I assembled the pizza’s, and by noon, my friends and I were having freshly baked pizza, on homemade crust. Damn I’m good. The pizza was phenomenal. I made one all veggie, the next half veggie-half turkey with both mozzarella and gorgonzola, and the third using barbeque sauce. Here is a picture of me with the first two pizza’s.

Medical Ethics

Throughout my time here at St. George’s we have a medical ethics/clinical skills class that run over the course of 6 semesters. So far we’ve learned about ethical reasoning in the context of patient care, disclosure, informed consent, and medical research. We’ve had small discussion groups over topics ranging from patient assisted suicide, abortion, religious practices and beliefs, and intersex babies. The discussions were always very stimulating, and it’s interesting to hear other people’s opinions and assertions on the various topics. There is one thing (okay, well two, but one is a minor complaint) that particularly bothers me about some of the strong religious opinions some of the students have had in my small group. I can honestly say that I do respect everyone’s opinion, but I have a difficult time accepting some of the reasoning (or lack thereof) behind the more extreme religious beliefs. For example, last week, we were discussing our thoughts on patient assisted suicide. There were a couple of students who out right said absolutely not, they do not believe in it, or would they ever even consider a patients request for it, no matter what the situation was. This part was fine, that is their opinion, and I respect that. I don’t think that as a physician I would be able to participate in patient assisted suicide either, BUT, depending on the situation (and law for that matter) I can’t definitively say that I be opposed to it. I would have no problem recommending my patient to somewhere that did endorse patient assisted suicide, and had a criterion in place for the decision. My problem with these very religious opinions is that these people would not even endorse disclosing to their patients other physicians/centers that would support it. In my opinion, I feel that this physician would be forcing their own beliefs and values onto their patients. Alternatively, maybe it’s these same type of people that keep a balance to our society….

On a lighter note, I finally made it out to the beach today and the waves were gigantic! Okay, maybe they were not big enough for surfing, but definitely big enough to dissuade me from going for a swim. I waded in couple of metres, and attempted to keep my balance but I was repeatedly knocked over and sucked under, only to resurface as a walking sand creature. I think I'll be trying to wash out this sand for a few days....

A Side of Cheese

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING POST CONTAINS CHEESE AND OTHER CHEESE ADDITIVES. IF YOU HAVE AN AVERSION TO CHEESE, STOP NOW AND CLOSE THIS BLOG. If glanced at, side effects should not last longer than 1 week, if your condition persists consult your second term med student.

Ode to the toaster oven

The frying pan had lost it shine,
The foreman grill was bland
there’s only so much one can do
with a plain black pan.

And then it came into my life
This miniature little toy
My culinary skills were honed
My tastes were wrought with joy

Chicken tenders, fish fillets,
Stuffed peppers with some thyme
I haven’t tried the chocolate cake
I’ve heard it is sublime.

For those of you all missing out
It heats up like match
If this toaster was a boy
He’d be a fire-ey catch.

And so I must return again -
to study, its so mundane
and if I continue with this rhyme
I’m sure to go insane.

Okay, but seriously, this toaster oven is awesome! I’ve been cooking with it almost everyday the last week, and I get excited thinking about new things I can make in it. I guess this is what happens when you don’t have much outside class and studying…..okay, lets see what else has happened this week in Grenada:

New in exotic fruits this time of the year is the carambola aka starfruit (known for its star-like shape when sliced). It’s definitely a favorite – so much so, that I have chopped and frozen a bag of them. One never knows when something is going to go out of season around here.

Recent advances in the class schedule this week brought on the introduction of immunology, featuring the so-called professor “Wacky Jackie” – I have yet to form an opinion of her. I usually appreciate (rather than complain about) the eccentricities of a charismatic professor.

Women in Medicine organization has started up again this semester, and I’m expecting more events and involvement than last semester (we have a new executive council with a little more time on their hands).

Weather has been partly cloudy with scattered showers, and highs reaching 28 C. I’ll go test out the water temperature this weekend when I get a chance (just in case this was what you were skimming the post for).

Man of the House?

Yes it’s true. When living with roommates I find that you create a microenvironment reminiscent of the family. There’s always the ‘mother-hen’, the ‘father-figure’, and the ‘annoying brother/sister’ (no one has adopted that role yet). Anyways, the other night while studying I was interrupted with a knock on the door to open a jar of pickles. I thought to myself – why wouldn’t you just run the jar under a hot tap, instead of interrupting me (not that I mind being able to display feats of strength). But then I got to thinking about when I lived at home, if my father or brother were around I would just ask them for the same thing.

The other day I tried to remove the thermostat, and put it in a better location at the suggestion of my father (the settings don’t function and the thermostat is sitting right on the AC unit). So I pulled out my multitool (20 tools in 1 – beat that), and began to try to pry it off without any luck, and a lot of trepidation about ripping the wires completely out of the thermostat (you never want to be stuck down here without AC). So I screwed the thing back on, and began putting away my multitool when I heard a roommate incredulously ask – ‘what is that?’ (Reminds me of childhood days, when I would have a little ethnic food in the lunchbox). Okay, so maybe I’m not that useful in my ‘family role’. Another incident occurred in trying to tape up the AC vents which are situated so high along the wall, that even while standing on a chair, I still wasn’t high enough (and I’m the tallest roommate). So with no ladders that we could borrow, moveable tables to fit through our door, or anyone around that had excess growth hormone in their childhood, there was only one thing left to do: squat one of the other roommates while they’re standing on my shoulders so they could reach it (make sure you do your squats, you never know when they may come in handy).
It’s funny though, because if my father, brother, or Raz were here, I would simply leave those problems for them to solve. I guess when you know there is someone there to depend on for certain things; you subconsciously take advantage of it.

Alright, enough of my fluffy reflections. This week was definitely better than the last. I’ve gotten into ‘study mode’, have begun developing somewhat of a routine (I’m addicted to routines wherever I can make them). I am going to be a tutor for the Department of Educational Services, facilitating biochemistry for 1st semester students (I get paid a whopping 5 USD an hour), and I’m getting certified this weekend to be a CPR instructor so I can make a little cash on re-certs in hospitals when I go to the states (this is really annoying because my Canadian certification as an instructor, apparently doesn’t count for anything!). Anyway, I'm off to a physio study group yippee!

Back on the Rock

Well, I’m back. I apologize to those (mostly Nick) who have anxiously been awaiting my next post. In my defense though, we currently do not have internet access in our dorm. This week has possibly been one of the longest weeks ever. Thank God its over! When I arrived back in August for my first semester, there were so many new things to take in, people to meet, beaches to go to……well, this semester I arrived with the ‘been there, done that’ attitude, and the nagging thought of “Oh God, I’m going to be here for 6 months” (perhaps this is what has prolonged my first week). Anyways, to those that are interested here is a run down on the courses I will be taking for the next 4 months:

Neuroscience – supposedly very challenging, has been rumored to fail even the honour students.
Physiology – I was so excited to start this course, until we started the first few lectures and the prof started bringing back some nice physics and chemistry equations from undergrad (I thought I would be done with this stuff!).
Genetics – this course runs for only 4 weeks. Its interesting, but way too general, so in trying to work out the basis of certain concepts, often more information is needed than we have been provided with.
Immunology – this begins a few weeks in, right before genetics ends.
Parasitology – this course is also only 4 weeks long, but is the last 4 weeks of second semester.
Clinical Skills/Professional Development – Not bad, but the department is poorly organized, which leaves the class constantly questioning “what are we supposed to do? Where are we supposed to be? What does that test cover?”

So, on Friday night we went out to celebrate a friends birthday at the Beach House restaurant (excellent food, although a little pricey). This was followed by a party at ‘the White House’, which is just a white coloured house located right outside the campus gates, and is rented out by a number of our friends. I almost did not go out on Friday, but I know from experience, that staying in by myself would make me even more miserable. In retrospect, perhaps it would’ve been a better idea for me to stay in, as I had my first encounter with the effects of excess tequila……and let me say that Saturday, I felt as though I had some sort of stomach virus, complete with chills, sweats, porcelain worship, and bed confinement. So needless to say, I am completely ready to study hard, everything is out of my system – literally.

Torus Palatinus

Two down, two to go. I just finished my biochem final. It covered about 50 lecture hours of material on everything from molecular techniques to keratin synthesis. So when I get home, don’t ask me about some obscure pain you’ve been having wondering what it is. But, if you are interested in talking about what your pee may smell or look like if you have a certain enzyme deficiency, I’ll be more than happy to explain to you which enzyme it is, and what pathway its involved in.
On another interesting note, I’ve learned that I have a minor anatomical anomaly. The professor was showing the class a few pictures of the palate in our last day of anatomy lecture. I thought he was just showing us a normal ‘roof of the mouth’, turns out he was showing us some common abnormalities patients often don’t realize they have until later on in life, and then think its cancer. It’s called a torus palatinus – basically I have a benign slow growing bone running down the centre of the roof of my mouth (geez mom, what were you doing while you were pregnant with me……JUST KIDDING). I’ve taken the liberty of including a picture of what I’m talking about (its not mine or anything……). Oddly enough, when I told Raz about it, he got confused too, and asked what was weird about that. Turns out, he has one too (well I’ll be the judge of that – a lot of my classmates thought they might have one till I showed them mine)! Draw your own inferences about us from it…..

Enjoy shovelling the snow, and scraping your cars. I'll be there to join you in a week or so.

There's no place like home

14 more days, and I’ll be home. It’s so close I can almost taste it! We have one more day of formal lecture left, and then a few review classes. I just want to get the exams over with! I cannot wait to be able to sleep in a room by myself, go to the mall, get my hair cut by a professional, go to the movies…..the list could go on and on. The one thing I am not particularly looking forward to is freezing my *$$ off. Sure, I like a crisp cold day as much as the next person, but once that wind gets going, the only place I want to be is inside next to the fireplace (or in my case, on the beach).
While you guys are suffering from the burning cold winds, that accompany the lovely morning frosts, and snow-slushy rains – just know that I am suffering too. It’s hard to study so much when I look outside and see the sun shining brightly, and the palm trees swaying in the wind. It really gets to be a pain every morning to wake up and put on sunscreen to protect me from the harsh climate. While you all have to bundle up to stay warm, I too must do the same, as the AC is always running in our buildings. Although I am grateful I don’t have to scrape frost off the windshield of a car in the morning, its very taxing to make sure that I wash all the sand off of my shoes so I don’t schlep (is that how its spelled?) it around the dorm.
So ask yourself now, where would you really rather be? For myself, I cannot wait to be back at home. I miss everyone so much - and as it has always been said, it’s not where you are, it’s whom you are with. Give me the snow frosted burning winds of Canada with my family and friends any day over the grating sun-filled warmth of Grenada.
On another note, I made a delicious cabbage soup to remind me of my childhood days when Tata was home to cook (didn’t taste that delicious as a kid, but as the tastes mature, the memories don’t seem so bad). Anyways, I went out to dinner on Friday night, sort of as the last little break I’d receive from studying over the next couple of weeks. I gave in and had a burger made from……BEEF! Omigod it was so good (although I think they just mashed together meat without any seasoning)! The meat was so lean it just fell apart when I bit into it - that, or it wasn’t cooked enough (doesn't matter, prions aren't inactivated by heat anyways). I really haven’t eaten red meat my entire time here – and coming from a European family, this is almost sinful. That reminds me, (as a mental note to myself) I am planning on bringing dried meat back when I return here in January. There’s no place like home…….

Mosquito Musings

WARNING: the following post may contain descriptions of graphic violence. Read at your own discretion.

- On average I kill 4 mosquitoes in the dorm/day
- This is my 15th weekend, which means I have killed ~420 mosquitoes.
- On average I incur 4 mosquito bites/week, this means 14% of the mosquitoes I’ve killed bit me first.
- The most frequent place I’m bitten is on the backs of my calves (the worst was 3 on my face at once).
- I consume approximately 4 bananas/week (I see a connection, don’t you, there’s supposed to be something in bananas mosquitoes are attracted to).

But……perhaps this is my secret weapon to lure them in before I kill them.

Mosquito killing techniques I use:
- the two-handed clap (squashes them without mercy).
- the air snatch (this one took a while to perfect, as I grab them out of the air with one hand).
- the mirror smear (I like to use this one on the particularly fat ones so I can see exactly how much blood they’ve taken).
- the stunner (I slightly cup my hands during the two-handed clap, and stun them without killing them, then after I’ve picked them up by a leg, I rip out the stinger and really hope that they have pain receptors).

Just as the time of Buffy the vampire slayer has ended, there’s a new girl in town: Dana the mosquito masher (kind’ve has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?)

Germans and the Moonlight

I certainly had my fair share of ups and downs this week. We had a quiz in biochem (no problems there), and our final exam for Clinical skills (I can’t even think of sarcastic comment to go with this test – that’s how ridiculous it was). We also seemed to accrue three times the amount of information this week in our courses (which means I am behind, and am playing catch up as fast as I can). We do have a new biochem prof – a German lady (very German looking, think retired 1970’s Olympic swimmer…..) Just to give you a mental picture – our lecture hall is like a movie theatre, as are the projector screens from which they instruct. So, Frau _____ enters in black pants, a red shirt, and red shoes to complement. Then, out comes a long, thin, metal pointer – from which she proceeds to try and point at things on the projection screen (obviously not working). Then, with the pointer, she began to do demonstrations of how certain enzymes function, using it as a prop. Anyways, I had a hard time keeping a straight face during lecture – so many funny images pop into my head……(choose which one you’d like).

Well, since I haven’t done anything that interesting, I’ll talk about one of the geeky little things I like to do. I brought a nice white A-line skirt with me to the island, and every now and then I get a little cleaned up and wear it. And then I put on my big white sunglasses as I walk up to class. As I am complimented on my nice look, I smile politely and reply “why thank you dahhhhhhhhlling”. I call this my 1950’s hollywood glamour style. Well, this time while I was buying my produce, the vendor told me I looked as though I came from - “not a well-to-do family, but a well-bred family” (whatever that means). So I just smiled politely, and paid for my cucumbers, lettuce, and ginger. (Okay, that was my story – I call it a “Raz story”, as often times he will tell me a story which has no ending, and that is the story).

So last night, after an evening of late studying, Julie and I decided to go for a little dip at the black sand beach (don’t worry Mom, there were some people around, and security guards patrol the campus, I was safe). The moonlight was so bright here that the water appeared more lucid than during the day. Anyways, definitely something I’ll have to do more often (plus how many people can say that they wear their bathing suit under their clothes to study!).

These were the high points of my week, maybe if I get some mail this week my blog will be even more interesting.

My Rants

Well, I have found my plan B in case this med school thing doesn’t work out. I gave Megan a haircut this week, and I have to say, I’m pretty pleased with myself. She has thick wavy hair, so there was a lot to cut. But I was able to layer the back, and frame the face – and it looked as good as a professional cut! I always used to say when I was a kid that I was going to work as a doctor during the day and run a hair salon from my house at night……hey it could work….She paid me in a chicken vegetable stew, which was well worth it. I finally made it to the beach this week! Although, while studying in the sun I was intermittently rained on (even with the sun was shining brightly in the sky). It felt good though, definitely put a bounce in my step. We have two tests this upcoming week; biochem (on everything since the midterm), and our Clinical skills class (mostly stuff on medical ethics).
Today we had to attend a presentation on financial planning and budgeting at 9:30 am this morning. I was so irritated by the woman giving the presentation. She was nattering on about how ‘St. George’s is here to make sure that your dreams come true’, and ‘we are going to do everything we can to make sure that happens’. Bull$#@! This school makes a killing off the students. They work hand in hand with an investor company that happily finances many students’ education here (that was probably why this meeting was mandatory). Yes, they do provide us with a great education (our profs and facilities are excellent), but damn, I am going to be paying for this education a long time after I’m done school. Rumor has it that SGU was offered a placement (or something) with the American medical school association providing that they reduced their class size. Guess whose best interest was at heart for that decision – it certainly wasn’t the students and their ‘dreams’.
I am happy to say though, that I am well below the allocated budget they set out for the weekly spending habits of an average student. Basically any money I spend here is on groceries, and there is too much studying for entertainment, so….. Thank you to my parents for a) making sure I can cook, b) teaching thrifty spend habits, and c) teaching me that mouldy food is still edible, you just have to scrape off the mould (okay, that was mostly from my father). Also, I think that my open-mindedness to local foods (not opting for American brand labels as some students do), and a great undergrad education (I saved ~$800 USD on books for next semester because I already own some reference texts) has definitely helped me cut some corners.
Anyways, I have to get back to my books (my class notes and own textbooks I brought with me that is – as I don’t use 8/10 textbooks they MADE us buy for first semester). Alright, you can probably tell I’m only a little peeved (these people are crooks!). Okay I feel better.

One more quicky - I am reading Breakfast of Champions - by Kurt Vonegon - what a weirdo! This guy was definitetly on drugs when he was writing it (highly not recommended).

Okay, I'm done my ranting, till next time.....

There's no daylight savings time here...

Just limited hours of daylight - 6:00 - 18:00, EVERYDAY, 365 DAYS A YEAR.

Seasonal Affective Disorder (redefined) = confusion of what time of the year it is. For some reason I thought it was late spring time, because I was looking to see if Juventus had any exhibition games in July, and I couldn’t find them. I then realized it was only October. This is what can happen to you when your living in a climate that makes you think it’s July all the time.
The cloudy weather hasn’t cleared, so I was forced to make-due with the haziness. I decided to go to blacksand beach, despite the sub-par weather. I have made up my mind, if it is sunny either Monday or Wednesday morning I am going to make it to Grand Anse beach, I have been blasphemous to the sun gods! (Just kidding Tata – I believe in one God the Father Almighty……).
The final countdown is beginning (I wish I could I knew how to put audio clips in here) – 4 weeks till finals, 6 weeks until ‘homecoming’. We have so much more to memorize in the two most difficult courses – anatomy and biochem. There are some non-academic things I would like to do though, before I leave the island this term (I’m sure many of them can be squeezed into the last weekend right after I’ve finished my exams, and before I leave for home). For example, I really want to go snorkeling. Apparently you can rent a catamaran (with a tourguide/driver) that will take you out for a few hours. Some students got scuba certified over their first few weeks on the island, but with the amount of work we have, I’m not sure how much scuba diving they actually get to do.
I have finally got a nice little study group going. Every Sunday night, Megan (my roommate), Julie (my roommate for next semester), and I do a review of what we’ve learned in our classes for the week. It has actually been working out very nicely, as we each assign ourselves what lecture we are going to teach to the other two. We are definitely going to be ready for our exams. Anyways, I have to go prepare for what I’m presenting tonight – fatty acid biosynthesis (I love metabolism!!!).

Stormy Weather

I smell like cadaver, its raining, and I haven’t seen the sun in the last five days. If this continues, I think I might just get seasonal affective disorder! I haven’t been able to go to the beach at all, and this was my weekend to go to the beach (we had Friday off, and today off). Also, every time my hands come remotely close to my head, I smell the bodies – totally gross. Okay, I’m done complaining for today.
On another note, while I was at the gym this morning I saw one of my professors (an older gentleman – maybe early 60s?) lifting freakishly heavy weights – the guy was a force. He had three 45 lbs plates stacked on an entire set of cable weights (like 200 lbs +), and he was doing some sort of lat exercise. It was motivating to see how focused the guy was though, because after one of the sets, I think he started to clap for himself (I was the only other person in there – and I was only mid-set, so it wasn’t for me).
So needless to say, because of all of the crappy weather we’ve been having down here, I guess that means I’ve had more time in doors to study. My housing is arranged for next semester; I will be living in a three bedroom apartment/dorm with a larger kitchen that has a table (I’m excited for the table – I hate eating at my desk all the time). Fortunately/unfortunately it is on campus. The reason I say this is because fortunately it is very convenient being on campus, especially since next semester I’ll have 8 am classes. Unfortunately, I really wanted to get away from campus just because sometimes I feel like I'm in a box, but none of my girl-friends felt the same way. Oh well, maybe for 4th semester I’ll be off campus. I have found a new spot that sometimes I go to before classes. It has a nice view of the sea, and overlooks the rooftops of some of the dorms. It’s great, because I haven’t seen any other students that have been sitting up there.

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One day has passed since I wrote those last paragraphs - and I can't get this cadaver smell off of my hands (the worst part is, we've been dissecting around and in the perineum area - not to gross anyone out too much!). Of course, on the day we have classes, its beautiful, hot, and sunny! Oh, well hopefully this weekend will be nice. I have to say that there are definetely some weird characters in my class, and I truly start to wonder to myself how these people are going to make good doctors. I know that they're smart, but man, the personality is downright scary for a future doctor....
Anyways, hopefully I'll actually do something remotely interesting besides studying between now and the next post, so I can write about something! I leave you with a picture of the view from my 'new spot on campus'.

Sandblast

Well, yesterday was the big Sandblast, and I had a great time! I forgot how beautiful Grand Anse beach was and how amazingly warm the water was there. Although it is supposed to be ‘wet season’ here right now, it has not rained very much at all. So of course, as we were leaving for the beach (even though it hadn’t rained for the past two weeks) a downpour began. Fortunately, with living in the tropics, you never have to worry about it being crappy all day because it won’t rain for any longer than 15 minutes. And so we began our day under a tent in the rain, waiting for the bus. The bus ride over to the beach was an adventure in itself though. We had packed the maximum number of students possible on the bus, and while it was going up the steepest hill on campus, it stalled! And then again halfway to the beach! We made it though without having to kick anyone off of the bus. We were greeted at the entry to Sandblast with drink cups that we would be using for the day that had ribbons on them so we could easily carry them around our necks.

The beach was packed with students from all terms, and there were games and contests going on throughout the day for added entertainment. A few of the professors were there as well, and water-balloons could be purchased to ‘take revenge’ on the professors that were sitting behind a barbed-wire screen. My favourite prof was one of the ones sitting behind the screen getting wet, it was funny seeing some of the students faces as they threw the balloons (seriously, you could see looks of contempt). Anyways, I was able to get a pic with the prof I so idolize. You’ll see in the picture how geeked I look (like one of those fans that have just gotten a picture with their favourite celebrity….).

Down here, my beverage of choice is called a vodka ting – the ting part is a grapefruit flavoured carbonated water. Because the drinks were made by med students, and I have a low concentration of alcohol dehydrogenase in my system it didn’t take much before the party turned from great to even better (all the water and alcohol reminded me of my days as a lifeguard….). So I definitely had some ‘fun in the sun’ yesterday. Well, not to forget about the after-party, I had a nice siesta to regenerate for the night ahead I almost decided that I didn’t want to go (I have a really bad habit enjoying waking up early to the point that I will sometimes skip out on anything that requires staying up really late). I knew I would kick myself later while studying furiously for exams for not going out previously. Plus, I brought a great t-shirt with me for the event (you can read what it says in the pics). I’m glad I decided to go out, because I had a great time hanging out with my fellow Canadians at the party. So enjoy the photos, and its okay if you feel a tinge of jealousy over the weather....

Click on the link to access the photos: http://ca.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/dseslija3/my_photos