Exams and St. Lucia

I don't get to go home for the semester break. I miss home, family, good food and wine, my comfy bed, and of course consistent hot water. It is so expensive to get from the beautiful island; thus, I don't get to go home. In fact, it is so expensive that I can go to St. Lucia for a week at an all inclusive resort for hundreds cheaper than it cost to fly back to Miami; so, goodbye Dominica, hello St. Lucia! I'm pretty excited about this trip. Farley and I both get sea sick, but that isn't going to hold us back. We are planning on taking the ferry. We will GET to stop in Martinique ( I think in the little Paris), then on to St. Lucia. We might stay the night in Martinique and have wonderful French pastries, wine and I'm sure wonderful coffee. We would go to Martinique for the whole vacation, but it is on the Euro, which is makes it very expensive (they are French). Anyway, I'm excited for our vacation. I can't wait to sit on a white sand beach and having a nice Caribbean drink while reading a book (that isn't titled, "Human Anatomy" or "Pulmonary Physiology: The Essentials"). This trip is giving me the energy to keep studying hard, even when I'm tired.

Since we can't go to St. Lucia for the whole three week vacation, I intend on spending my time on my local black sand beach. You know, the one that is about 50 feet from my apartment (see the above picture from the west side of my building that puts me right on the beach). I think I'll go hiking on the Carbrits (the two "mountains" in many of my pictures). I might even see if I can talk Farley into taking a boat ride up the Indian River to see the amazing parrots of Dominica. There are also islands tours at the beginning of the semester, which we can participate in. It will be great!

But before, I get to enjoy the wonders of the Caribbean, I have to attack the upcoming exams. I've been having trouble concentrating the last few days. Farley and I decided to take a nice walk in the ocean (see below picture--I can't seem to post to my blog without including a sunset picture), went to dinner at Subway then headed to the anatomy lab. I think the mental break (I did get some work done, just not as much as usual), is exactly what I needed as I feel like myself again. I'm ready to attack pulmonary physiology.

Before, I can attack pulmonary physiology, I have my last anatomy lab of the semester: posterior mediastinum. I just love the mediastinum: it is where the magic happens. The mediastinum is the space between your lungs and there are SO many things located in this little space: your heart, great vessels, thymus, lymph nodes, and many other exciting visceral structures. It is just jam packed with important structures. I'm ready to be done with anatomy lab for the semester, but I'm excited about the information we've been covering in anatomy. Learning the muscles organ, insertion, blood supply, nerve innervation and function is just a lot of memorization and isn't the most interesting thing to me. However, looking at the heart, lungs and other important structures is so much more interesting. Our semester is finally starting to intertwine, for example, pulmonary in physiology, anatomy, doctor patient and society and histology. SO much better!

I never post pictures of the mountains, so here is one. I've never lived anywhere as green (literally, this place is a giant rain forest).