Another week another exam....

We had our first exam last Monday and I'm happy to say that overall it went very well. I wish I would have done better in Neuroscience; however, I've never taken it before and it was the first exam. Nonetheless, I'm proud that I had a strong start to the semester! Of course, Farley did wonderful...he is so smart! Most people go out and party after the exam or hang out on the beach. On the other hand, Farley and I were so tired from having spent at least 12 hours a day studying for most of the week before the exam that it took all the energy we had just to watch t.v. Then we went to yet another study group for the Neuroscience practical on Friday.

The first exam of the semester is always the worst because of the bulk of information and having new professors, since you don't know how write questions. Our semesters are 13 weeks long, with the last week being finals week (thus, 12 weeks of classes). The first exam is always the Monday of 6th week (we are tested on information presented up until the Friday before the exam); the second exam is usually the Monday of the 10th week. The end of the semester changes depending on the semester that you are in. This semester we have to take shelf exams (national exams that will test both last and this semester) along with a third local exam but we do not have a final exam. I believe that we have 10 exams in 12 days at the end of the semester. I thought it was bad last semester having 4 exams in 8 days, but it too shall pass.

Farley and I have a great motivator to study our tails off for the rest of the semester: Buneos Aires!! We had decided to come home, but didn't book the tickets. I was getting frustrated with him because I just wanted it done, but I guess I should be glad we didn't book because we found a steal and decided to go, since it is basically the same price to go to Buneos Aires for a week and spend two days in Puerto Rico (to get supplies at Costco to ship back to Dominica). Hola, Buneos Aires! We only get about 2.5 weeks off school before the fall semester, but we get about 4 weeks off in December. It is strange to say since we just got to Dominica in January, but this maybe our last chance to travel while we are down here. Obviously we are both going home in December and in April we should be back in Miami, unless we decided to do another semester in Dominica--which I strongly doubt. I thought that there might be enough time to island hop a bit on the weekends, but the academics just move too quickly and I'm not comfortable taking a full day off studying let alone a weekend (even though I'd like to). Moreover, once we are back in the U.S. we will be taking our first set of Boards (USMLE Step 1) then we will be in our clinical rotations, then the second set of broads (USMLE Step 2), then we will be doctors and starting our residencies. I think it is time to seize the opportunity...we shall tango, eat beef and drink great Argentina wines.

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