An Island Thanksgiving

This is a quick post for anyone who was worried about me not getting an authentic Thanksgiving meal, because I know you all were worrying about me!

The Marriott Resort had a Thanksgiving buffet with ALL of the fixings! A group of us went, most of these are the guys I play flag football with. The food was delicious! Turkey and honey ham carved right in front of us, tons of desserts, mash potatoes, stuffing, veggies, fruit, salads, and wine made for a great combo! It was nice to take our mind off school for an hour and get in a good meal. This has been my only break this week from studying because we have two exams coming up on Monday. I wake up at 6 every morning, stay in the library until eleven every night and then wake up and do it all over again. It's CRUNCH TIME BABY!

My parents were nice enough to change my flight so that I can come home four days earlier, yay!!! With time already limited that I can spend at home, every day is a gift. I cannot wait to see everyone back home and see snow! Back to cell biology, just wanted to say a quick hello and let you know of my "island" Thanksgiving.

19 days until I am back on sweet sweet US soil!!

A Visitor!

Hello all!

I had my first ever visitor from back home, Tom! It was so refreshing to see him and just what I needed going into this last stretch of exams. I have 27 days until I go home for Christmas so I had to repeat that mantra in my head as I said a tearful good bye to Tom at the airport. It's hard at times to stay strong when your under so much stress and pressure in school and lack the support system you are so used to having. Don't get me wrong Skype is a god send, but sometimes you just need a hug and Skype has yet to solve that problem.

I received many goodies from home (Thank you Diedricks, Mom, Shannon, and Tom!) and so I at least have delicious things to snack on while studying for exams. We have two exams this coming Monday so it's going to be a loooooong week. In the next 27 days we have 2 more sets of exams for each class which comprise 50% of our final grade. Not sure exactly how the math works out on that one but conclusion is it's crunch time! Power out this last month so that I can feel good when I come home.

I feel completely unprepared for Christmas because I have nothing to ease me into the holiday spirit. No snow, christmas movies and music, or Moms delicious cooking. I promised myself that I wouldn't become a wuss to cold weather when I came back home but I'm going to be a huge wuss, I can tell already. All this warm weather makes you soft!

Our flag football team had its last game yesterday. Royal on our team messed up his knee pretty bad. Poor guy can't bear weight on it, its swollen like a watermelon, and very sore. The nurse gave him a pair of crutches to use but he clearly needs a MRI and of course there isn't an MRI machine on this island! He may have to go to an island a ways away to get treatment. Seeing as we just covered the lower limb in anatomy I offered to do an anterior drawer test to see if his ACL was torn...apparently he wanted more confirmation than that. 3 months of medical school isn't enough?? This island is NOT a place you want to get hurt.

I'm hanging in there. Seeing Tom was great and much MUCH needed. It was so nice to have somebody from home be here with me. It is the first time since I have moved to this island that I felt 100% okay. He knows just the way to cheer me up and I miss his company more than I can tell you. I cannot wait to see everyone back home. I miss you guys so so much!

Countdown!

It's time for yet another exam here on the beautiful island of St. Kitts. Included this photo of our whole class from the white coat ceremony, thought it was a great picture.

Anatomy exam on Monday. This is exam is upper and lower limbs and we've only had 2.5 weeks to learn this section. The musculature and neurovasculature supply to the limbs is a lot of information to learn in this amount of time. Needless to say I have spent most of my days and evenings hunched over a cadaver in the Anatomy lab. Beginning to feel like formaldehyde is my new perfume. Hoping it will all pay off and I can keep my good grade going in this class. Have thought about possibly being a TA next semester.

Tom will be here in 4 DAYS!!! I'm not sure how to explain how badly I am in need of someone from home. Two and a half months is a long time to go without seeing any of your family and friends, especially when going through the most difficult and stressful experience of my life. Tom will be here Wednesday through Sunday and is bringing me lots of goodies from my family and the Diedrick family. Yay! After Tom leaves I only have to grind out one more month here and then I'll be home for Christmas. The end is near!! (Temporary end that is)

Regardless, I cannot believe how fast the time is flying by here. Leisa and I are looking at a new apartment on Monday. Hopefully it will be nice and we'll have a new, more cockroach-free home, for when we come back in January. Lots of other students are signing leases there and I would stay in Frigate Bay where I live now. Keep your fingers crossed!

My parents are saying many people back home have been following my blog and checking in on how I'm doing. Thank you so much! It's easy sometimes to feel really cut off from life back home and just hearing little things like that make my day. Back to Anatomy but I love and miss everyone and I'll be back in the states in 36 days!!! (but who's counting right...)

Block 2 is over!

We have officially survived Block 2 of exams! Everyone has been posting pictures of their Halloween online so I decided it was only fair for me to do the same. I wanted to give you the whole experience. Ya see sometimes I like to study inside at my rickety table, for those of you keen observers you'll notice the stacks of notecards I have under one of the table legs to keep it from rocking. But sometimes, when it's a nice evening (which is most evenings) I move my stuff out to the balcony and enjoy the fresh air. Just wanted to let people know that my fun beach pictures, unfortunately, only make up about 5% of my island life.

So while people were enjoying the splendiferous holiday that is Halloween we were here cramming for our exams. This round felt much more stressful than the first because there seemed to be much more material and the difficulty level is increasing exponentially. The friends I have made here are beginning to feel like a second family; we study together, eat together, stress together, and on several occasions have cried together. There is no "going home" for the weekend to be with your family or escape school life. As fantastic as living in the Caribbean sounds, it isn't what you see in the travel brochures! This experience teaches me new lessons everyday, about life and about myself. We have all been pushed out, or better yet shoved, out of our comfort zone and it's only going to make us stronger people for it.

Enough of that talk. Now for the real story. I want everyone to brace themselves, sit down if you happen to be standing. Swallow whatever you are drinking or eating, I don't want anyone choking on my account. Sunday night I was at the brink of mental exhaustion. I had stayed up all weekend studying for the exams and was struggling to keep my eyes open while I tried to get a little more reading in. I finally allowed myself to shut my eyes around 2 am. I woke up at 6, feeling miserable and looking even worse. I stumbled into the bathroom and splashed some water on my face, put my hair in a pony and attempted to make coffee. As I am standing near my bed putting my books together I see a GIANT COCKROACH ON MY BED. If your mouth hasn't dropped open in horror maybe you didn't hear me. I said a GIANT COCKROACH IN MY BED. It had the longest feelers ever and they were wiggling around feeling my sheets and blankets. It took my mind a second to process and then I did the only logical thing I could think of. I screamed at the top of my lungs. He stopped and we stared at each other for about 10 seconds. I threw a book at him, missed by a foot, and watched him scurry under my blankets. I was mortified. Any other morning this would have been disgusting but I probably could have handled it. But not this morning, not in the mental state I was in. I called Tom in hysterics and scared him because it was 6 am and I'm pretty sure he thought I was being attacked. He was so good and calmed me down, "deep breaths," and "bigger things to worry about" were about all I remember from that convo. Next I called my mother, scaring her half to death as well. Then I just left the cockroach in my bed and got on the bus. So thats my story. I raised hell at the front desk and am getting my room fumigated tomorrow. Washed all my sheets, took a nap, and have regained whatever sanity I have left at this point.

Hope all is well and bug free back in the states. We'll see once my grades come back but I think I have mentioned previously, ya know what they say about cockroaches....they bring good luck...or disease...can't seem to remember which...