Thus far, 3rd Semester has been pretty cool in terms of weather. Of course, it's usually somewhere in the 90's, but it hasn't been as humid compared to the last two semesters. As long as you can walk in the shade and stay inside the classrooms for the greater part of your day, the heat won't really affect you. Like I've said before, my apartment does have air-conditioning, but, proudly, I haven't even turned it on for the entire time that I have been on the island...for multiple reasons: (1) I barely spend any time in my room unless it's to sleep (2) it's kind of expensive and (3) I only have wooden planks and screens on my windows (I don't have actual glass), so I don't feel much like air-conditioning the outside world. But, for the most part, the fan gets the job done...until it doesn't. And when I say it doesn't...I mean my fan broke...again. It's always a nice surprise when you come home from a long day of studying only to find a palpable warmth in your room that, without a fan, you can't get rid of. I don't know what it is, either the poor quality of fans that they sell down here or some sort of corrosion to the electrical wire caused by the nearby saltwater, but nonetheless, it's an inconvenience. Luckily, I have nice enough friends to borrow me an extra fan until I have time to go to a store to buy another one.
The only other time that I really get overwhelmed by the heat is when we have to dress up for school activities, which is pretty much every Monday and Thursday this semester. This past Monday I had to dress up because I had my first community clinic! Three other classmates and I were assigned to make a visit to St. Joseph's Health Center in a town called St. Joseph's (Duh!!!) about 40 mins from Portsmouth. So basically, we showed up at 7:45 AM at our meeting spot, school officials ushered us into our respective transports, and some random Dominican driver drove us to our destination. When we got to the health center, we were greeted by the friendly nurse who gave is a tour of the facilities and a brief history of the area. Now, when I say "health center"...it's nothing like what we have back in the US. Not in the least bit. It's more like an entrance room (about 20 feet X 10 feet), one office room (about the same size), and one hospital room with two beds. That's it. The nurse told us that it was actually the largest "health center" on the West side of Dominica (not including the hospitals in Portsmouth or Roseau). Regardless of its size, it was functional and clearly sufficient to get the job done. At that time, us students were divided and assigned our own patients to interview. Yada yada yada. After our interviews, we then met with the local medical doctor at St. Joseph's and reviewed each of our cases. It was a really cool experience working with the local MD and seeing her own viewpoints and assessments of the patients that we saw. She also critiqued our interviewing techniques and gave us a lot of helpful advice, so all in all it was a worthwhile experience. After debriefing, we drove back to Portsmouth and went on with our day. Over the course of this semester I will do two community clinics. One down...one to go.
Third semesters now have one week left before our first test, Mini I. So I'm sure it will be a long week of studying and making sure that all of the information that we have learned thus far is cemented into our brains. We will just have to wait and see.
Anyway, that's it for me. I'm glad the Big Bang Theory is back on TV! (Sorry, I didn't mean to rhyme)(Ok maybe I did). Have a good week!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhTSfOZUNLo
Sunday, September 29, 2013
Sunday, September 22, 2013
Bugs & Drugs
If you needed a recap of the entire week that us Third Semesters have just gone through, you can read it in the title. That's really it. Like I have said before, Third & Fourth Semester are all about describing the processes in the body and our ways to adapt when things go wrong. And apparently, as we found out this week, those adaptive processes are initiated by a lot of viruses and bacteria (that we pretty much need to know everything about...size, shape, color, favorite foods, hobbies....ok maybe not all of that). But it is a lot of detail and takes a tremendous amount of memorization and time. On top of all of that, we had a huge list of drugs dropped into our lap this week all dealing with the autonomic nervous system. And since that pretty much involves the entire body, you can imagine how many effects and sides effects those drugs have with their administration. Ok, it's not all that bad! Even though it is a lot of work, it is still very interesting and I am just shocked every single day at how much I am learning.
Besides the schoolwork, nothing too much has changed. The basketball season started on Friday and team "Hoops! I Did It Again" and I won our first game in our 3rd season together. It was a great game for us (not so much for the other team), but just the beginning to our quest to win that ever elusive championship.
Subway is still Subway.
I tried spinach and eggplant pizza the other day. I know a few of you reading this are probably shocked, since I would never have done that in a million years in the US because (1) I'm not that adventurous, (2) they probably don't have it in the US, and (3) US pizza restaurants never run out of EVERYTHING ELSE! All in all, it wasn't too bad. I might even have it again.
Tomorrow is my first community clinic where I will go with a small group of classmates to interview a few patients and maybe watch some procedures at a nearby health facility. It is Ross' way to get us, not only involved with actual patients, but working alongside actual MD's in a real health clinic. It should be really exciting!
Hasta luego
Sunday, September 15, 2013
Food Fight
Living in Dominica, for the lack of better words, has become a little repetitive. Whether I know what is going to happen the following day or not, I can most likely assume that it will include waking up, eating, going to class for four hours, eating, studying till dinner, eating, studying, working out, going home, and finally sleep. There isn't too much variation to that schedule. The only things that do change are the lectures that I attend, the material that I study, and the food that I eat. I know that I've said that I eat Subway for dinner every night, but lately, especially during the beginning of this semester, I've really tried to branch out. It's a little sad, but most people here can't wait to go eat because that means they get to take a break from studying.
Recently, a new/old restaurant opened up in the Picard area. I say new/old because it was an old restaurant called Tomatoes that has changed locations and opened up for this semester in a brand new building. It's actually quite impressive and comparable to something that you might see in the US. I've eaten there twice in the last two weeks and it's been really good food (mushroom & swiss burger; chicken caesar salad). I have also went to a restaurant called Pelligrinos a few times this semester and once again have nothing but good things to say about it. I guess that sometimes it's just nicer to have a real meal instead of plain old Subway.
However, it's not always bad to have Subway in your back pocket for a quick meal. They've really outdone themselves this semester with updating their merchandise. I'm not sure what Subway typically keeps in stock in the US these days, but down here they just upgraded their cookies; they now have "Raspberry Cheesecake" cookies! I never thought that anybody would ever need anything better than a good old fashion chocolate chip cookie. Oh well, surprisingly a lot of people get them.
Besides the new variation of foods and restaurants that I've tried this semester, everything else is same old same old. I feel like I'm becoming a creature of habit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0C3zgYW_FAM
Recently, a new/old restaurant opened up in the Picard area. I say new/old because it was an old restaurant called Tomatoes that has changed locations and opened up for this semester in a brand new building. It's actually quite impressive and comparable to something that you might see in the US. I've eaten there twice in the last two weeks and it's been really good food (mushroom & swiss burger; chicken caesar salad). I have also went to a restaurant called Pelligrinos a few times this semester and once again have nothing but good things to say about it. I guess that sometimes it's just nicer to have a real meal instead of plain old Subway.
However, it's not always bad to have Subway in your back pocket for a quick meal. They've really outdone themselves this semester with updating their merchandise. I'm not sure what Subway typically keeps in stock in the US these days, but down here they just upgraded their cookies; they now have "Raspberry Cheesecake" cookies! I never thought that anybody would ever need anything better than a good old fashion chocolate chip cookie. Oh well, surprisingly a lot of people get them.
Besides the new variation of foods and restaurants that I've tried this semester, everything else is same old same old. I feel like I'm becoming a creature of habit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0C3zgYW_FAM
Sunday, September 8, 2013
M2S1, But Still Making Rookie Mistakes
I may be in the first semester (S1) of my second year of medical school (M2), but every once in a while I still make mistakes like I've never spent a day on this island. Whether it's walking all the way to the grocery store (that closes at 5 PM on Sunday) at 5:15 PM or leaving a box of frosted flakes semi-open, only to find it infested with ants when you return home, the island has the uncanny ability to make even the simplest things...difficult.
The other night, I finished studying early and went home. Perfect. Nothing better than getting more than six and half hours of sleep. But sometimes you're just too darn excited to sleep...at least this was my case. I was woken up by my phone ringing at 7:55 AM. It wasn't my alarm. It was one of my friends calling me to remind me that class started in 5 mins. Great! Just the way I wanted to start the morning after a refreshing night of sleep, by being behind a whole lecture and having to rush. It looks like I was too excited to sleep that I forgot to set my alarm. Stupid. So, instead I took my time to get ready and made it in time for my 9 o'clock class. Luckily, at Ross we have something called Mediasite where we can re-watch all of the lectures any time we want (each lecture is video recorded). I know this doesn't sound like a big deal, but if you know me at all...that stuff just doesn't typically happen. Im usually on top of things.
This week was filled with "firsts". Not only did I oversleep for the first time (which is strange since it seems that I'm always sleep-deprived), but another odd thing happened to me for the first time as well. I was taking a shower and washing my hair the other day. All of the sudden, a big black thing dropped onto the floor of the shower. I saw it out of the corner of my eye and sort of thought that it came out of my hair. But that's strange. My hair is blonde and I would have definitely noticed a big hunk of dark something in my hair. I got closer to look at it when it suddenly moved! It was a baby gecko in my shower! That's never happened before. And so the moral of the story is that I had a baby gecko running rampant around my room for two days until I finally caught it and set it free outside on my porch. Elusive little fellas!
It should be a short upcoming week with no classes on Monday (only a session on learning how to do a General Survey and a second session where I will do a Patient Interview) as well as classes Tuesday-Thursday. No classes Friday! Woohoo! Have a good week!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHhrZgojY1Q
The other night, I finished studying early and went home. Perfect. Nothing better than getting more than six and half hours of sleep. But sometimes you're just too darn excited to sleep...at least this was my case. I was woken up by my phone ringing at 7:55 AM. It wasn't my alarm. It was one of my friends calling me to remind me that class started in 5 mins. Great! Just the way I wanted to start the morning after a refreshing night of sleep, by being behind a whole lecture and having to rush. It looks like I was too excited to sleep that I forgot to set my alarm. Stupid. So, instead I took my time to get ready and made it in time for my 9 o'clock class. Luckily, at Ross we have something called Mediasite where we can re-watch all of the lectures any time we want (each lecture is video recorded). I know this doesn't sound like a big deal, but if you know me at all...that stuff just doesn't typically happen. Im usually on top of things.
This week was filled with "firsts". Not only did I oversleep for the first time (which is strange since it seems that I'm always sleep-deprived), but another odd thing happened to me for the first time as well. I was taking a shower and washing my hair the other day. All of the sudden, a big black thing dropped onto the floor of the shower. I saw it out of the corner of my eye and sort of thought that it came out of my hair. But that's strange. My hair is blonde and I would have definitely noticed a big hunk of dark something in my hair. I got closer to look at it when it suddenly moved! It was a baby gecko in my shower! That's never happened before. And so the moral of the story is that I had a baby gecko running rampant around my room for two days until I finally caught it and set it free outside on my porch. Elusive little fellas!
It should be a short upcoming week with no classes on Monday (only a session on learning how to do a General Survey and a second session where I will do a Patient Interview) as well as classes Tuesday-Thursday. No classes Friday! Woohoo! Have a good week!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHhrZgojY1Q
Sunday, September 1, 2013
Semester Tres
First and foremost, I'd like to welcome all of you back to my blog . As you probably could tell, the end of last semester was very hectic and stressful. After our Mini III, we had our CCSB final exam and then about a week later...our Semester 3 Final. But all of that, thankfully, is behind me and I am looking forward to Semester 3.
However, before I can talk about Semester 3, I get to talk about the two weeks that preceded the beginning of the new semester. Those two weeks consisted of flying back home (with a few bumps along the way), spending a few days helping my parents move to a new home, traveling to the Bahamas for a short period, and then spending the rest of break at home before flying back to Dominica. Flying back and forth from the US to Dominica is always an experience and every time that I have done it, it's been different. The first time flying to Dominica, I had to spend the night in San Juan. Then on the way back, I had to spend the night in Barbados. Flying home for this break, once again, I ran into problems. Typically when you book and pay for a direct flight, you get a direct flight (Dominica to San Juan). But if you book your flight with the notoriously bad Liat Airlines, they sometimes make unscheduled stops in Antigua. After landing in Antigua, our connecting flight from Antigua to San Juan was delayed making the next flight impossible to make. In other words, I had to purchase a new ticket from San Juan to Orlando and I wasn't reimbursed for anything. So mad.
Anyway, after finally making it home (a little later than I had expected), it was so nice just to lay in my own bed in an air-conditioned room. The things I realized on break that I missed the most about the US in comparison to living in Dominica are the following: home-cooked meals, air-conditioning, actual toilet paper (instead of this papier-mâché junk they give us down here), TV, driving, paved sidewalks/roads (I am not joking), and not eating Subway for every meal. Oh...and most importantly...my parents!
Well, the first few days being home were spent helping my parents move into a beautiful new home and move out of their old apartment. Since the last few weeks of Semester 2 were so hectic, I didn't really get much of a chance to workout as much as I had wanted to, but throughout those first few days of break that were spent moving...made up for the time I missed.
After being home for a while, I took a short hiatus down in the Bahamas to an island called Abaco. As you could imagine, the weather was beautiful, especially compared to what we have here in Dominica. For the most part, it was clear blue skies and over 90 degrees every day. Perfect for beach weather.
The pictures below show the playground that I had access to during my four day trip. Swimming, snorkeling, paddle-boarding, you name it.
However, before I can talk about Semester 3, I get to talk about the two weeks that preceded the beginning of the new semester. Those two weeks consisted of flying back home (with a few bumps along the way), spending a few days helping my parents move to a new home, traveling to the Bahamas for a short period, and then spending the rest of break at home before flying back to Dominica. Flying back and forth from the US to Dominica is always an experience and every time that I have done it, it's been different. The first time flying to Dominica, I had to spend the night in San Juan. Then on the way back, I had to spend the night in Barbados. Flying home for this break, once again, I ran into problems. Typically when you book and pay for a direct flight, you get a direct flight (Dominica to San Juan). But if you book your flight with the notoriously bad Liat Airlines, they sometimes make unscheduled stops in Antigua. After landing in Antigua, our connecting flight from Antigua to San Juan was delayed making the next flight impossible to make. In other words, I had to purchase a new ticket from San Juan to Orlando and I wasn't reimbursed for anything. So mad.
Anyway, after finally making it home (a little later than I had expected), it was so nice just to lay in my own bed in an air-conditioned room. The things I realized on break that I missed the most about the US in comparison to living in Dominica are the following: home-cooked meals, air-conditioning, actual toilet paper (instead of this papier-mâché junk they give us down here), TV, driving, paved sidewalks/roads (I am not joking), and not eating Subway for every meal. Oh...and most importantly...my parents!
Well, the first few days being home were spent helping my parents move into a beautiful new home and move out of their old apartment. Since the last few weeks of Semester 2 were so hectic, I didn't really get much of a chance to workout as much as I had wanted to, but throughout those first few days of break that were spent moving...made up for the time I missed.
After being home for a while, I took a short hiatus down in the Bahamas to an island called Abaco. As you could imagine, the weather was beautiful, especially compared to what we have here in Dominica. For the most part, it was clear blue skies and over 90 degrees every day. Perfect for beach weather.
The pictures below show the playground that I had access to during my four day trip. Swimming, snorkeling, paddle-boarding, you name it.
During my time in Abaco, I tried my best to eat as much fresh seafood that I could get my hands on; lobster, grouper, mussels, clams, shrimp...oh and I guess I also had a 14 oz. steak at one point. Delicious.
But after a much too short trip, it was back to Orlando for the rest of break. This time a little more restful and relaxing. I'm not sure if this was because there was less to do...or I got lazy. Probably a combination of both.
So for me, semester break flew by...much shorter than the break after first semester. And now I'm back "on island" after a long travel day (due to the same shenanigans that Liat Airlines always pulls). But I made it back with my luggage and I'm very motivated to start Semester 3 strong.
Now, Semester 3 differs somewhat from the previous two semesters. At this point we have been through the entire human body in situations that we consider "normal". However, the next two semesters will be spent going over the exact same systems of the body, but focusing on situations that are "not normal". Semesters 3 and 4 are more clinically based. So, our first day is tomorrow. Fundamentals block. And...my blog is back.
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