Air Balls and Banana Bread

So when I wrote on here last time, I left you all in suspense with the upcoming terror that was Mini 1 Part 1 that I took last Monday. I will admit that the idea of learning all of the information from the first two weeks of school scared me, but that fear was multiplied (probably just inside of my own and other student's heads) considering the pre-test processes we had to go through. First of all, you couldn't bring anything to the test. A number 2 pencil (old-fashioned), not mechanical, and your ID. That's it. Nothing else was allowed in the building. Now, you must consider that I typically carry my backpack with two water bottles, an umbrella, laptop/charger, cellphone, wallet, headphones, and notes/study guides with me pretty much all of the time. So to tell me that I can only bring a pencil and my ID is like stripping me of everything that I know and (this may sound weird) but made me feel...naked. And it's not like I have an overabundant supply of wood pencils laying around either...I have one. One flimsy splinter of a stick that could break at any moment. One impossible question that may lead me to snap that twig in half. In reality, I was actually worried that I might break the lead during the test and who knows what would happen from there (I was not the only one in this situation and that felt this way, so don't judge!). Secondly, we were basically patted down before we could enter the building to take the test in order to make sure none of us had any type of electronic devices on us. If you snuck something in and got caught, you wound up with a 0 on your first test. And let me tell you, when the exam prompter tells you to check your pockets for cellphones for the final time before we start the test, you do it anyways even though you know it's tucked away back at your apartment. You can't be too careful!

So despite all of my neurotic behaviors, I was very impressed by the exam. Each test booklet had our individual names on them with our school ID numbers (I would have never expected that). It was pretty legit and wasn't to be taken lightly. After all, Mini 1 Part 1 was the most important test that each of us students have ever taken in our lives up to this point. And I am glad to say, that after receiving my grade two days later, I started off my medical school education on the right foot. As a reward, I took the rest of the day off and got burnt at the beach!!! It's funny, I live ten feet from the beach/ocean, yet I never have time to ever go there or even see it during the daytime.

After all of the hype settled down from taking our test and receiving our first grades as medical students, it again was back to reality. Four straight days of lectures (4 hours each day), one 4 hour lab (breast and pectoral region), and a small group learning session on Friday. Now, I'll be the first to admit that it was a little hard to concentrate and dedicate myself 100% after my test on Monday, but if you don't learn to readjust quickly...you will fall far behind.

During my short time here at Ross, I have become involved in two things here on campus: intramural basketball and the Ross Student Catholic Association (RSCA). I'll start with basketball first. I played point guard in high school. I played shooting guard in college. I now play center in medical school. Now, you can read this several different ways. "Wow, he must have grown!" No, no I haven't. "Wow, he must not be able to shoot anymore." You're getting warmer (considering I haven't played basketball in over a year, I AM a little rusty). "Wow, there must not be that many tall, athletic guys at Ross that play basketball." Bingo! I also have to share that playing intramural basketball in Dominica is not the same thing as playing intramural basketball at Gustavus. At Ross, we play outdoors, we play at night under dim lights, we play in the rain (it rains about every hour here), and we also play in the wind. All factors that can both equalize the greatest and worst players, and make fools of us all no matter the skill level. All it takes is the first air ball (and you always blame it on the wind, of course) or the first pass to hit you square in the face (because of the lights, I think) to realize, "Yea...I probably won't be as good as I used to be in college."

The first actual organization that I joined here at Ross was RSCA. It is a close-knit group of Ross Catholic students who get together every Sunday for mass and participate in other activities together as well. On Sunday, we provided our first health clinic of the semester for a town about twenty minutes south of Portsmouth called Dublanc. First, we attended mass (wearing our scrubs and RSCA shirts) with the local townspeople. Sidenote: Masses down here are so much more engaging than masses that I am used to back home in the U.S. It is amazing to witness a group of people living in such poverty be so soulful and joyful about their religion and belief in God. You know how sometimes your eyelids may get a little heavy during mass, well that doesn't happen here when you have parishioners yelling out "Alleluiah!" and "Amen" all of the time. It's not typically what I am used to, but it was refreshing. Right after mass, we started our clinic where we provided stations for: HPI (Health of Present Illness), blood glucose, blood pressure/pulse, vision test, height, weight (body mass index), and a few others along with providing the folks with juice and banana bread. I was able to share a piece of bread with a young girl who had never even had a piece of banana bread before. She was adorable and I really enjoyed that moment. Overall, we had anywhere between 250-300 people that we tended to and left feeling pretty pleased with ourselves. We provided a service to a group of people who won't receive any other medical attention besides what we did today. Even though there is a medical school right nearby, there isn't an abundance of doctors here to provide care for these people living in the rural towns of Dominica. I guess it's nice to feel fulfilled by participating in an event like that, but it always leaves you with a thirst for wanting to do more. Today was a good day. Exhausting, but good.

After some days down here where you can spend 3 hours memorizing the details of one lecture slide, not even realizing how it relates to you becoming a better doctor, you feel like giving undergraduate pre-med students this kind of advice about their desire to go to medical school:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKTN5NHfwlQ

But then, after days like today, where you really made a difference in somebody's health, life, and, quite possibly, future...it makes all of the hard work worthwhile.

I Wish It Was Christmas Eve

But instead, it's the eve of my first test here at Ross. So for that reason, I am going to keep things short and sweet. Mini 1 Part 1 is tomorrow and covers all the material that we learned throughout the first two weeks of school (25 lectures and 4 gross anatomy labs all wrapped into a 64 question delight of a test), plus anything else the administrators want to throw at us! You never know. But the preparation for this test hasn't been too bad and I am going into it pretty confidently.

If you are at all familiar with John Grisham novels, he always talks about how associates right out of law school join big law firms and that their primary focus is to bill clients for the hours they worked (down to every four minutes). That's sort of how I feel. You try to clock as many hours as you can with the lecture and lab material with the hope that as soon as the test comes up, you are ready for it. And after a couple double digit hour study days in a row, I am ready.

For everyone's information, if you ever want to get a hold of me, you can call me on Facetime or Skype (or email, but not snail mail...nobody uses that anymore). Since I don't want to post my personal information all over the internet, I'll trust that you can get a hold of sources that DO have that information. And with that, I'm out of here.

First Week Recap

Wow, what a week! It's hard to say whether the week flew by really fast at this point or went extremely slow considering all of the studying I had to do. One thing that I was introduced to this week, something that I have already found myself doing: complaining about how much studying I have done (I am actually doing this as I write right now!). Apparently, medical students are notorious for complaining about all of the the hours they spend with lecture material and anatomy labs, so this is something you readers will have to get used to. But there is one secret us medical students don't share...we actually like it! And this has definitely held true for the first week.

So a typical day as a Ross student (assuming I am typical?) starts at 6:45 AM in order to shower, get dressed, eat breakfast, get everything ready for class, and leave the apartment by 7:30 AM for an 8:00 AM class. We typically have anywhere from two to four lectures spanning the hours of 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM. After that, the day is yours! Whipppeeeee! Not! That means you basically spend the rest of the day in "your" study spot (yes, we compete for good ones) reviewing all of the material that you covered that day in class. And if you don't get through it, you will struggle because the material will just build up on you. We each have our own ways of taking breaks and mine have routinely been eating lunch at The Shacks, working out before dinner, and then heading to Subway right after for dinner.

One of the smaller classrooms at Ross where I study.

My busiest day, yet most interesting, day so far started out just like the rest with class till 12:00 PM. For the next hour I ate at The Shacks, but at 1:00 PM I started my first four hour anatomy lab. Now, this is my first time taking human anatomy, but even more specifically, this is my first anatomy lab dissecting a human cadaver. Despite all of the warnings of the overwhelming smell of formaldehyde and the graphic nature of the dissection, it went surprisingly well. We dissected the superficial and deep muscles of the back. I will tell you that it finally felt great to put those green scrubs on and get dirty (and not have to use the "fainting couch"). Also, learning anatomy is so much easier when you have the specimen right in front of you in comparison to studying from pictures. After lab, I was able to grab a quick bite to eat and then head straight to my study spot till 11:00 PM. Believe me when I say that I fell asleep pretty quickly that night.

Another highlight from this week was the White Coat Ceremony that was held on Friday. Now, if you don't know what a White Coat Ceremony is, it's basically a symbolic event that welcomes medical students to the exclusive club of becoming physicians. Most medical schools around the world have one for first-year students. To be clear, just because we were given the white coats doesn't mean we are physicians, it means that from this point forward we are to have the mindset of physicians and to carry out our lives/medical education in a professional manner. We had an array of speakers from local Dominican politicians, the Dean of Students, other faculty, and from a successful alum. For me, the ceremony was representative of how far I have come. I like to think that everything in my past has led me to this point and after being given a white coat....it gave me a glimpse of what my future will hold. And a little motivation as well. 

Since my days here have become a little busier (not complaining!), I just want to let you all know that I will be trying my best to update my blog every Sunday. I thought I would tell you so you won't be checking for updates every single day (like I know you guys are). Below I added some random pictures from my stay in Dominica so far. Hope you enjoy them...

Fancy housing near campus

Some classrooms/lockers where we keep our anatomy lab gear with a horrendous view of the mountains behind

Scene from my Indian River trip where parts of the Pirates of the Caribbean II were filmed. 

You have to buy electricity?

Hi everyone! Orientation week is over with and it was filled with a lot of valuable information on what it will be like to live in Dominica, study at Ross, and prepare ourselves for our future as physicians. My favorite presentations throughout the week were those from alumni and current students. They seem to give things to you straight, which can either scare you to death or provide that extra motivation to help you achieve your dream of becoming a physician. One important thing that I learned: there will be at least one point where each of us will want to give up, quit, and move back home during our medical education here in Dominica. Every upper-level student has had it. It's just a matter of time till it happens. And I have been warned the sooner the better. But mostly everyone gets through it and that is a testament to the great student, faculty, and staff support system here at Ross. Everyone has been incredibly friendly and helpful. For example, you know when you are approaching someone walking on a sidewalk back in the U.S., and you both avert your eyes and don't say anything to each other...that never happens here. It's strange, but everyone really wants to talk to you and say hello, even the locals. Although it's a small thing, that's all it really takes for someone to feel more comfortable in their surroundings and ultimately enjoy this experience more.

 I thought I would share with you guys a little about how shopping is different here. First of all, Dominica uses the Eastern Caribbean dollar, which is approximately 2.7 U.S. dollars. It takes some time to get used to and keeps you on your toes with how much you are spending. It really freaks you out the first time you spend $30 on a meal, but then realize the $30 is in EC! Second, they don't have the stores we have back in the United States. Back home, we have Walmarts and Walgreens on every block. Here, we have one James Store. It really is the Walmart of the island. If you need something, they've most likely got it. But it's not set up like a U.S. store. James Store was made up out of a pre-existing house or apartment complex that has about ten different rooms stacked ceiling-high with merchandise. It's an experience just going in there and looking around. This is where I bought my fan for my apartment.

Next, they don't use the banks that we have at home. The two main banks here are: the National Bank of Dominica and ScotiaBank. ScotiaBank is the one in the picture to the right. This is where I opened up an account, so that I can use EC instead of U.S. dollars. One thing to keep in mind is that the city of Portsmouth keeps on evolving and developing as Ross University does. About a year ago, you had to travel an hour away to Roseau just to get deli meat. Now, we have an IGA grocery store in town that has a lot of American and local brands at reasonable prices. It's amazing how much Ross University and Portsmouth thrive off one another. It would be really interesting to come back in ten years to see the progress. By the way, shout out to Malt-O Meal in Minnesota. Your Honey Nut Scooters are getting me through the mornings! Delicious!

Another aspect of life that is different down here in comparison with the U.S. is that you need to be very mindful of your electricity use. Electricity is very expensive and, in fact, you need to shop for electricity before you use it. Each apartment/house comes with a meter that tracks your electricity use and warns you when you are running low. You can buy electricity at both the IGA grocery store and Ross University Housing. It's just another one of those things that always needs to be in the back of your mind. 

The shacks, in the picture to the right, are a place 

that I will be spending a lot of my time, especially since I am not planning on cooking too much. Ross University does not have a cafeteria, so local vendors sell food and meals out of these buildings right near campus. During orientation week the Shacks were not open, but when the semester begins on January 7th, they will be in full swing. On campus, there are a few other restaurants/vendors. My favorite already: SUBWAY! Yep, they have Subway here and it's located conveniently on the Subway Deck on campus. And yes, it's just like an American subway. I am going to eat there a lot! How else would I get my daily quota of cookies? Anyway, these were just a few places that I thought would be interesting to share and just to remind everyone back home that you CAN get by with very little. 

Portsmouth Beach Hotel

Happy New Years everyone back home! I hope you all had as good of a time as I did. A large group of Ross students went to a bar called DeChamps that overlooks the whole city of Portsmouth that was all lit up and looked absolutely amazing (quite difficult to describe in words actually). But even though we celebrated New Years at least one hour earlier than most of you from the U.S., we were able to watch the ball drop in Times Square on the television. Pretty exciting.

Well, I've mentioned in previous posts that I am staying at the Portsmouth Beach Hotel. I thought I would give you guys the grand tour and let you see a little bit of where I am living. PBH is a gated property that contains three different sections: the three story building which I live in, Le Flambeau Restaurant and Beach Bar (which I have dined at many times already), and the Picard Beach Cottages.

So my room is pretty much set up like most U.S. hotel rooms. Through the door there is a bathroom on the right, closet on the left. As you continue through the hall, the room contains a bed, nightstand, table, 2 chairs, microwave, fridge, television and a deck (with a table and chairs). I don't have glass windows, instead I have screens and wooden shutters to keep the bugs out. And surprisingly they are doing a great job. It is quite simple, but it will definitely get the job done. I have maid service every Friday where my room is cleaned. Since I am responsible for all of my towels and linens, I will need to use a laundry service that picks up your clothes and other miscellaneous items, and returns them (folded!) within 24 hours. It seems weird, but that is how many people make their income in Portsmouth. They don't have laundromats where you can do your own laundry for that very same reason. Behind my building is a paved sidewalk shortcut that leads to the Ross campus, making my grueling trek to school approximately 3 minutes. Spoiled, I know. Here are some pictures of the room and areas surrounding the PBH compound.

  

I feel like this could be a postcard.

Le Flambeau is the building to the left of the dock and the Picard Beach Cottages are to the right.

Picard Beach Cottages. This is where Jerry Bruckheimer (film director) stayed during the filming of Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and 3. Not too shabby.

You think this may be a joke, but it definitely is not! They have this on campus near the mango trees, where the iguanas compete for fallen fruit.

Soon after, I ran into this little guy outside my building. Iguanas are an endangered species in Dominica.

The Amazing Race: Dominica

Wow! Have you ever seen the Amazing Race? I feel like I've been on that show for the last three days. It feels like an eternity since I left Florida for Dominica since everything is so different and new, but I guess I'll digress and start at the beginning. I woke up on Friday at 5 AM in order to make a 7:30 AM flight from Orlando to Miami. It sounds early...I agree, but to me it actually seemed late since I didn't sleep at all the night before (a lot of things on my mind, especially when you have to pack your whole life up into three bags). But the flight to Miami and the second flight to San Juan went perfect, and I thought it was going to be smooth sailing from there on out...wrong! Just as a little background: the flights to the island of Dominica are very limited and often get cancelled due to weather, being too dark out, etc. I have heard quite a few horror stories about students traveling to Dominica and being stuck in shady cities and hotels. So around 4 PM, after several delays, our group of Ross students and other travelers were informed that our 2:30 PM flight had indeed been cancelled due to maintenance issues. This meant that we would be spending the night in San Juan. Of course at this time our Ross group (some by themselves and some with family) had made a few introductions to each other and struck up some light conversation, but once we were told about the flight cancellation by the airline workers, our minds began to wander about what the night would have in store for us. And we would have to get through it together. After some time the airline, American Eagle, set each passenger up with a dinner voucher, breakfast voucher, two taxi vouchers, and a one night stay at the Gran Melia of Puerto Rico. I immediately thought it was going to be a dump, but...in the end we were all pleasantly surprised. Gran Melia is a golf resort about 40 minutes from the San Juan airport designed and owned by none other than Donald Trump himself. Let me tell you, the guy may not know how to make the thing on top of his head look good, but he does know how to design a luxurious hotel. Here's the link if you want to check it out:

http://www.melia.com/hotels/puerto-rico/coco-beach/gran-melia-puerto-rico-golf-resort/index.html

But first we needed to take a cab ride there and it was an interesting experience. On the way, with six of us Ross students packed into a van, a cop pulled up behind us with their lights on as we were on the highway. All of us immediately told the driver that she was being picked up for speeding, but she kept on driving and even speeded up insisting that she needed to change lanes. Because of traffic, about a minute later she finally did and the cop sped on by. Then she proceeded to tell us that all cops in Puerto Rico must drive with their lights flashing according to law. She said that there was a guy in Puerto Rico who was arrested for committing a robbery. He was taken to trial and argued that he wouldn't have committed the robbery had he known that there was a cop in a parked vehicle close by. Believe it or not, he won and the law was made. Unbelievable. 

Side note about the taxi ride: they love Taylor Swift in Puerto Rico.

Room at the Gran Melia. Priced over $200 per night

We finally made it to the hotel around 8 PM in absolute awe after seeing the place. I made a goal for myself right then and there that some day when I am a doctor, I am going to stay at the Gran Melia on my own time and money (and actually get to see it in the daytime!). We grabbed a lengthy bite to eat at a seaside grill and weren't able to get to bed until after 11 PM. That doesn't sound that bad at first, but considering we had to wake up at 3:45 AM the following morning to make it to the airport in time for a 7:00 AM flight and after barely sleeping the night before, I was exhausted. It was sort of tease staying there because we had the whole resort experience at the airline's expense, yet we didn't have time to do anything. Oh well, it could have been much worse.

We arrived at the airport the next day around 5:30 AM; right when the airport was opening up (security wasn't even operating yet). However, we were at the gate at 6:20 AM. By 7 AM we were on the plane ready to take off. It was a pretty small plane with 64 seats and I'm lucky that my legs weren't any longer because my knees were crunched against the seat in front of me. Even luckier, there was nobody to sit next to me, so I could sit sideways and finally get some of that ever elusive sleep. This was my first time flying to the Caribbean and I'll tell you what: I have never seen bluer water or greener land than during that flight. It was amazing and the scenery was beautiful since it was clear blue skies the whole flight. Now, there are two ways you can land at Melville Airport in Dominica: coming from over the water or from over the mountains depending on the wind (there is only one landing strip so wind direction is kind of an important thing). We chose the latter. I wasn't able to get any pictures of our descent, but if you want an idea of what it looked like and what song was playing in the back of my mind as we were landing, take a look at this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiLQh0memLY

Jurassic Park!!! Obviously we were in a plane and not a helicopter, but you get the gist. It was pretty much the same thing, minus the dinosaurs of course. You could imagine the round of applause all of us passengers gave the pilots once we touched ground. Descending over millions of dark green trees covering mountainsides was an amazing experience and I'll never forget it. We had reached Dominica, but the trip was not over. 

After going through immigration and customs at the airport (literally a "hall"; approximately 100 ft X 100 ft room), we collected our bags and were herded into a Ross transport bus for our 45 minute drive to Portsmouth (where Ross University is located). Let me preface this by saying, our driver honked at least 500 times. Reasons for honking: (1) You honk to tell the vehicle in front of you that you want to pass, (2) You honk back to let them know that's its ok that they can pass, (3) Pedestrians wave at you, and most importantly (4) To warn approaching vehicles around the hundreds of sharp turns that you are indeed coming around those hundreds of sharp turns! We were told to take dramamine before the drive and told to tell the driver if we needed to throw up so he could pull over. Lucky for us, nobody did. After miles of varying terrain (mountains, seasides, jungles) and weaving through small towns around the north side of Dominica, we finally pulled into Portsmouth and made our way to Jenner Hall for our Welcome to Ross University School of Medicine. The Amazing Race was over, and even though I was extremely tired...I sort of got a second burst of energy when I took a minute and realized where I was. Med school. Dominica. The view. Perfect. 

View outside the door of my room. Looking at Portsmouth where the two cruise ships are docked. The two mountain peaks make up a national park. The buildings on the left mountain are remains from a British colony.

Two Week Countdown

The days are beginning to go faster and faster, and today is officially two weeks until I fly to Dominica on December 28th. I will leave around 7:30 AM from Orlando International Airport and arrive at Melville Hall Airport in Dominica around 4:30 PM by way of Miami, Florida, and San Juan, Puerto Rico. Unlike most flights that I have taken where I would pack for a certain occasion or with vacation supplies in mind, this time I need to pack all the essential gear one would need for spending 16 months as a medical student in Dominica. Impossible. And if that isn't tough enough, I am limited to two check-in bags with a combined weight of 70 lbs and a carry-on that can weigh 40 lbs. So I guess that means I won't be bringing my own bowling ball...ba-dum-TSH! Bad joke, sorry. But I was interested to find out there are three different types of things you cannot bring to Dominica: #1. Illegal Drugs. Understandable. #2. Weapons. Ok, but do Swiss Army knives count? #3. Anything camo. What?! Well, there goes half of my wardrobe.

With all kidding aside, it will be difficult to pack my life up into three small bags, but also liberating knowing that once I am packed, there is nothing I can do about it. I've heard through both students and faculty that you want to refrain from shipping things to Dominica because it is a difficult process and your goods are taxed at a high rate once they get there. Dominica does not have all of the amenities that are back here in the United States, but then again you don't need them there. It will be a nice change to live more simply. So what I bring on the plane is all that I'll have; among them are light clothing (cotton t-shirts and shorts), swimsuits, shoes, dress clothes for working in the hospital, laptop, medical supplies (stethoscope, blood pressure cuff, otoscope/ophthalmoscope, dissection kit, scrubs, etc.), electrical converters, flashlight, bug spray, and filtered water bottles.

Hopefully these things, along with a high-powered fan (apparently air-conditioning as well as electricity is pretty expensive in Dominica), will make my room at the Portsmouth Beach Hotel feel somewhat like home. It can't be too different than Siesta Key, right?...or maybe it can! Only time will tell. I will post pictures of where I will be staying once I get there, but if you are curious and want to check it out now, take a look at:

http://www.portsmouthbeachhotel.dm 

Not much has happened since the last time I posted, besides figuring out housing and checking things off my list of what to bring. One thing that I have done since then is registered for classes. I know this may look like gibberish to some of you, but my class schedule for my first semester will look like:

Fundamentals of Biomedical Science I

Musculo Heme and Lymphatic Systems I

Cardio and Respiratory Systems I

Clinical and Competencies Skills I

As of this moment, I am incredibly excited to start this new adventure and the next stage of my life! I am thankful that I will be able to spend Christmas with my family in Orlando before I head to Dominica three days later. So...the next time you will hear from me, I will have landed safely in Dominica and will be able to share some "actual" experiences during my week-long orientation period before school starts on January 7th.

Merry Christmas and have a fantastic New Year!