Long day is over

The last couple weeks have been trying. We made it through 10 exams in 14 day and I apologize that I haven't written sooner. Our last exam had two pages from the wrong test on it; however, nothing is being done to help any of us. We won't know our final grades until at last the end of the week. It is always nerve-wracking. I'm passing everything, but there is still a lot up in the air so I'm always nervous until the final grades come out.

I've been sleeping, eating and reading novels by the beach for fun since our last exam. However, today wasn't so fun. Farley and I had to do surveys about the semester, register with the state department for our trip to Argentina and complete loose ends for the trip. We leave in about 12 hours and I haven't packed yet. I'm getting SO excited. For one, I have a million mosquito bites and I'll be glad to be in a cooler climate, where hopefully there will be less blood sucking insects. We are going to drink great wine, eat great food, maybe see an opera and enjoy the culture and wonder of Buenos Aires!!

I'm not sure why, but I think half of the first semester class for September is already here, even though they don't need to be here for at least another week. They were all over during finals and they are just about the only people here now. I overhead a couple parents saying that the insects and were disgusting and I thought, if they only knew! I'm glad that the parent wasn't starting medical school because I suspect that she wouldn't have been able to handle our little island. Let's be frank: it is beautiful but it is known as the nature island and not the resort island for a reason!

Well I better go pack!! I'll be writing soon...

Some times there is too much of a good thing.....

We are nearing the end of the semester and I am so sick of sitting and reading books! Who ever decided that having ten exams in fourteen days, six of which are comprehensive over the last two semesters, would be a GREAT idea obviously did not have to take all of these exams. I guess it will be good practice for the stress and sleepiness to come, although it won't compare to actually having peoples' lives in our hands. Anyway, I should get back to studying, even though it is the last thing I want to do. I'd rather watch the Olympics and practice my Spanish, as it is only a little over a week until I'm doing the tango!

A few lopsided pictures:

Long Time, No Blog

It's been a crazy few days. We had three lab exams last week. I did very well on two of them and okay on the third. I should be celebrating my triumph over head and neck anatomy, but I have another exam on Friday--my chocolate cake and dinner date with Farley will have to wait.

We also started the shelf exams this week. They are standarized subject exams written by the National Board of Medical Examiners for medical students. They are not involved in licensing, but are a measure of your knowledge (and the school's instruction) for each subject. Thus far, I think they have been okay. However, it is difficult to gage as the exam covers things, such as pathology, that we (and I think basically all) medical students don't learn until the second year. Obviously, we have learned about some diseases and some pharmaceuticals, but that isn't the main focus until the second year. More than anything, the exams are reasoning exams. There are a few questions that you either know or you don't know but many questions I'm sure I could figure out IF I had more time to ponder the question. Also, we ended classes last Thursday (had three tests between Thursday and Friday) and had our first shelf on Tuesday. As the shelves cover the last two semesters, that doesn't leave much time to review. The best part of the shelves is that the questions are so well written. Some of the questions ask you to take the information and answer a question that requires you to make several steps. I think Grandpa Vic would have loved them--he always loved those reasoning, brain-twister games!

I should go study the histology of the eye and ear. After we finish the shelf exams, we have the exam the last third of the semester. There are some tricky question writers in the group of professors who taught us, which means I've just got to know this stuff inside and out so that they don't trick me!

ARRRR, It's about time, Matie!

On Thursday, it finally happened: we discussed pirates in class. That's right this medical school in the Caribbean, where the "Pirates of the Caribbean" was filmed, finally did the inevitable and mentioned pirates in class! It was so exciting that I thought Farley was going to jump out of his seat, but he managed to control himself--barely. Not only do they have one of the three pirate movies playing on t.v. at all times (or every time I turn on the t.v., which isn't very often) sometimes there is even a pirate ship in the bay. If we didn't discuss the priates, we would obviously be disrespecting them. Note: the above picture is of the fruit man from St. Luica. I know I have a picture of a pirate ship either form here or St. Lucia, but I can't find it so I just had to make due with this great ship!

Dr. Ernst, of our neuroscience department, was the rock star of a professor who was creative enough to intergrate priates into a lecture! (I usually don't mention names of professors but he, as well as the rest of the neuroscience department, are excellent and I don't really have any complants, except that the subject is difficult but that is the nature of neuroscience). At any rate, we were reviewing the eye and the accomidation when going from light to dark or vice versa. It can take approximately 20-30 minutes for the eye to completely adjust to the dark. Apparently a few semesters ago student asked if this might be why pirates wear an eye patch. Obviously, Dr. Ernst needed to reflect on this important questions. He said that yes, if you wear an eye patch, you would have one eye that is ready to go when you have to go below the deck for important pirate matters. Moreover, you would be able to hop right back up top (it doens't take as long to adjust to from dark to light as it does from light to dark).

On another note, Nordstrom called my parent's house on Saturday. Mom and Dad got the message right after Grandma's funeral that Nordstom misses me and wants to know if everything was okay since I haven't been by in a while. They also wanted me to know about the upcoming sale. I guess this wasn't the first time they've called and it always gives Mom and Dad a good laugh. I always knew Nordies loved me as much as I loved them!!! I'll have to pay them a visit in December!!!

Mudslide

It's been a while since I've posted. I've been meaning to post since our exam, but I just haven't gotten around to it. Anyway, our exam last Monday was a doozy! I'm just glad that it's over and I'm passing everything! :) After the exams, Farley and I always go to the gym; however, I was so tired I took a two hour nap while he went to the gym. We were going to go to the beach, but it rained all day-I really mean all day. I was awoken by the rain at 5:000am and I don't' think there was a rain break until about 6:00, but it promptly started raining again throughout the evening (not heavy rain all day, but raining nonetheless).

We decided to try a new restaurant, Sweet Refuge Cafe. Apparently, they don't make anything well except for cheeseburgers. I've never been a huge burger fan; however, we don't get variety in our diets and this was a pretty good burger. In fact, I was shocked how good the burger and fries were. Midway through dinner the power went out (I think due to the rain) and this restaurant don't have a generator so they brought out candles for us to finish dinner. We had also heard that the deserts were good; however, we decided just to come back later since the power was out. On our way home, we thought it might be fun to stop by the restaurant/bar at our hotel (apartment). We had desert there and enjoyed the company of some friends. It was a lot of fun. After that, we headed home and watched a documentary on HBO. I know, you are jealous, we watched a documentary. It's as if we don't have enough academics in our lives and we choose to watch a documentary. Anyway, it was about the one child law in China and people selling and buying children. It was incredibly disturbing, but it was also so interesting. It was hard for me to believe what happens to people--very well done documentary.

I was having a hard time focusing before the exam, which is unusual for me. However, after the exam, I turned back into a lean, mean studying machine (even without coffee!). I think having a day to do nothing but relax put me back on tract. On the Thursday after the exam, Farley and I were at the study space. I was minding my own business and I was being attacked by moths. I guess by now it shouldn't be a surprise that I was attacked by insects. I'm their favorite target. I decided to go home and spray down with bug spray; this is how I got the new nickname: Mudslide.

I was minding my own business walking across the parking lot behind the study space. There is about a ten foot stretch of grass and some dirt from the parking lot to the paved walkway near the pool, which leads to our apartment complex. This stretch of grass is going down a slight decline. I can't stretch how slight this decline is--perhaps a foot or two over this ten foot stretch. As usual, it had been raining earlier in the day and the grass/mud mix was slippery. Well, I managed to fly in the air land on my lateral right hip/buttock, fly back in the air then land on my left lateral hip and buttock then I rotated more medially onto my buttock and slide down the "hill" at which point I managed to get mud all the way up shoes and up my calves (did I mention I was wearing pants). A first semester girl ran right over to see if I was okay (I'm sure she will make a good doctor because she was so concerned, caring and didn't make me feel too much like an idiot). Luckily, I was fine except for my ego, which is still greatly bruised. You now know why Farley gave me the nickname Mudslide.

Since the last exam, we have been covering tons of interesting topics--perhaps too many interesting topics! We are doing head and neck in anatomy, which is a bear cat. There is just so much information in so many little structures in such a small space. It is NOT easy, but it is interesting. We covered learning and memory in neuroscience. We are having the ear and hearing all day today, which is SO complicated yet so interesting. Think of the excitement: Farley and I are learning how and why we got sea sick on the way to St. Lucia due to the balance mechanism in the ear. However, best of all we are starting an introduction to the immune system, which is one of my FAVORITE things in medicine (or should I say things in medicine that I've encountered). I LOVE it!! It is complicated, but interesting. I think it is a million, billion times better than anatomy (Farley would debate that with me until we were both blue in the face). Immunology makes studying fun again--it is my treat after completing my anatomy assignment for the day. We are starting to study more clinical things, which is so exciting. The next two semesters we will cover immunology/microbiology, pathology, pharmacology, introduction to clinical medicine and behavior sciences--I'm salivating like one of Pavlov's dogs just thinking about it!

Farley and I took a study break on Sunday to walk on the beach. Here are some pictures:

Below: Picture at sunset. Farley and I think that all of the pictures of sunsets in the Christian book stores were taken in Dominica.

Below: A tree that is just a few feet from the ocean on the beach. We think they are orchids. This tree is about a five minute walk from our apartment and right below the deck on campus.

Below: Another picture of the sunset. I love sunsets!

No rest for the weary

We have another exam on Monday. I can't believe that this semester will be over in about 5 weeks and I will be a second year medical student. When we started down here, I knew that we'd only have two or three weeks off between semesters for the first 20 months or so. I did not realize how tiring it would be. I knew it would be exhausting, but when you only get two weeks off and you spend the first week waiting for grades, you really don't get a break.

The mosquitoes are horrible right now. Apparently, I attract mosquitoes like a teeny-bobber pop-star attracts high school girls. I have an anti-itch liquid, "AfterBite: The Itch Erase" but it just perplexes me: why does ammonia make the itching stop? It does make the itching stop, only after making it sting. But it isn't on the exam, so I don't have the time to care right now!

I should get back to the books. If I keep taking a break, I'll try to jump in the ocean--it's a beautiful day!

Sleepy...

I am so tired; however, everyone I've talked to in the last few weeks is complaining of being tired. I guess that is part of being in medical school. I usually have not problem falling asleep, but I had trouble the last couple nights and I think it is just because there is so much going on in my head that it is hard just to turn it off and go to sleep. However, about 2:00pm I get really tired and could fall asleep if given half the chance. But at least I'm not the only one with this weird sleep pattern. I suspect it is because we have a HUGE exam next Monday; perhaps that is why no one is sleeping well.


Farley and I were at the study space last night, but decided to leave a couple minutes early for dinner to catch the sunset. Here are a few pictures:

Picture 1: The boat that sits about 200 feet off the shore near my apartment. Picture taken at the end of the hall way from which I enter my apartment.

Picture 2: Again taken from the end of the hall way. Note the tops of the palm trees and the dock to the left.


Picture 3: This is a picture of the ocean from my balcony. My view is probably the BEST part of living in the Caribbean.

Happy 4th of July!

It might not be a very happy 4th of July in Dominica. See, we have an anatomy practical exam in three hours. These ex-patriots are killing me! I can handle class, but an exam....covering the entire abdomen and pelvis. I guess I am studying abroad and should expect exams on the 4th of July. I just hope in November when Dominica has it's 30th anniversary of their independence, we get a day off to eat BBQ or maybe a mango since we are in the Caribbean.

After the fun, exciting anatomy practical, we get to go to our usual T.A./reivew sessions. Oh yes, three hours of biochemistry, physiology and neuroscience. In all seriousness, I'm glad we have opportunities to get help from upper clansman who did very well in all of these classes. I suspect there won't be much relaxing until we are in Argentina.

It is a beautiful day in Dominica, I just wish I was at the beach rather than looking at the beach from my room. Here is the view:

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.

Image courtsey of: www.americaspropiedades.com.ar/index-en.html

I think I'm really becoming a doctor

Last night I did a 115 question "practice exam." Our exams are always 110-120 questions (multiple choice) and you have about 60 seconds (or a little less) per question. I do much better on exams if I sit down and do practice exams. It is similar to an athlete training: if you are going to run in a marathon, you should start running before the race. I am going to take an exam, not read notes, write summaries or answer essay questions; therefore, I need to practice recalling information as I am going to be required to do on the exam: multiple choice. Anyway, I was doing some anatomy questions last night on the abdominal cavity and viscera (organs). These questions were long and detailed about patients presenting with problems. I wrote one in the style of the questions for you to have a taste of the fun:

A 16 year old boy is driving down a highway at 45 miles per hour. It is dark, snowing and his car slides on a patch of black ice which broadsides his vechicle into a tree. Thirty minutes later presents into the ER. His blood pressure dropped in the ambulance and he is having extreme pain on the left side of this back, his left abdomen and his left shoulder. He was wearing a seat belt, but hit his head. However, all imaging shows that he does not have a skull fracture. What could he have injured?

It was his spleen (or I was trying to write a question in which he injured his spleen). Isn't that fun? Do you feel like a doctor? Don't you feel like the medical investigators on Discovery Health? My question isn't a long as the question stems that we are given, but you get the idea. Although we are still deep in the midst of the basic sciences, I am starting to see the light (clinicals) at the end of the tunnel. Thank Goodness!!!

A day in the life of a Medical Student

Monday, June 9, 2008

• 6:45: get up, dressed and start breakfast; Turn on CNN
• 7:00:Farley comes over to man the pancake flipping while I put on make up and we discuss the news
• 7:20: eat yummy breakfast
• 7:35: finish getting ready and be out the door by 7:45
• 8:00 -9:50: Physiology lecture on GI secretions. Take notes like a crazy person. Make sure you pay attention to all the details
• 10:00-10:50: Anatomy lecture on the ischioanal fossa (yes, the anal fossa)
• 11:00-11:50: Biochemistry lecture on the digestion of lipids
• 12:00-1:00: Lunch, that is if you want to eat after taking about the anal fossa and digestion all morning. Okay, I'm in medical school it is going to take a lot more than the anal fossa to curve my appetite
• 1:00-1:50: Anatomy lecture on the Posterior Abdominal wall, diaphragm and kidneys (this professor is too smart for MY good!)
• 1:50-2:00: Change quickly and run across to the anatomy lab
• 2:00-4:00: Anatomy lab--We GET to dissect out the posterior abdominal wall. We specifically got to dissect out the nerves on the posterior abdominal wall. It was an easy lab and we were actually done in an hour. Another guy and I stayed in the lab and reviewed the GI tract (which has been removed from the cadaver) with a professor. Yup, almost one hour of individual instruction. You can't ask for anything more.
• 4:00-5:00: Demo the anatomy dissection to other students (one third of the class dissect at t time, so the other two thrids come into see what we've done). Got another professor at our table and had another 35 minutes of instruction and he quizzed us. The best day in the anatomy lab EVER!
• 5:00-5:30: Farley and I had to go to the grocery store and to the fruit stand
• 5:30-5:45: Quickly hop in the shower as to not smell like death anymore
• 5:45-6:10: Make dinner. We had a tomato and Italian cheese pasta side with chicken and spices. I also made carrots with a brown sugar sauce.
• 6:10-6:30: Eat the yummy dinner then get packed to go to the study area
• 6:30-8:00: Arrive at the study area and study GI physio from today and review the last two lectures
• 8:00-9:00: Review the biochemistry from today's lecture (Farley typed our notes and they were beautiful)
• 9:00-10:00: Study anatomy. The chair of the anatomy department wrote a 90 page "study note" document. Review this along with Netter's (the most beautiful anatomy drawings ever) and Rohan (the most beautiful disections ever).
• 10:00-11:00: Pre-read for the physiology lectures (digestions and absorption and GI disordered), Biochemistry (lipids and lipoproteins) and Neuro (Intro to Motor systems).
• 11:00: get home. talk to Mom, clean up, shower, and pack bag for the morning
• 12:00: FINALLY get to bed.

Yup, that was yesterday. I had to get up and do it all again today. Our first exam of the semester is next Monday, so there won't be a break until at least Monday the 16th, but probably not until the 21 as classes continue as normal on Tuesday.

Upper Respiratory Infection!

We get TWO three day weekends this semester (all within the first month) and I was sick all through the second one. Farley has taken good care of me: getting my medication, helping me carrying things since I'm having trouble breathing, checking up on me, looked in my ears and he even made me chicken noodle soup--from the can! I think the combination of one sick medical student, two medical students and basic medical equipment could be deadly. We decided (okay I decided) to listen to my lungs and obviously Farley had to listen too. We noticed that I had wheezing in the LOWER lungs, but maybe we just missed the wheezing in the upper lungs. We also had to look down my throat, then down his throat to see if we had irritation. Yup, we are at that dangerous stage of just knowing enough to get ourselves in trouble. Good thing I saw the doctor today, who confirmed our suspected diagnosis of an upper respiratory infection and put me on the medication that Farley and I, the arm chair doctors that we are, thought would be appropriate. Jokingly, I like to refer to us as F.M.D.s= Future Medical Doctors and observing REAL doctors is just part of our training. In all seriousness, I really liked the doctor who I saw today and she took impeccable care of me. I hope that I am just as caring and smart as many of the doctors that I have been luckily enough to spend time around.

I guess it is a blessing that I'm not behind since we had the extra day, but I wish I could have been more useful this weekend. I wanted to use this extra time to get ahead as our first set of exams will be here before we know it. To my delight, despite my impaired breathing, I got a 90% on a renal physiology quiz. For those of you who don't know, the kidneys are the vain of many a medical student's existence: vital, complicated, and down right irritating! I was so proud that I did well on that quiz that I would yell it from the roof tops, IF I didn't have to study histology, anatomy, neuroscience, and biochemistry. Speaking of studying, I should get back to it...

I maybe in medical school, but at this point, I'm not doctorly enough.

I'm getting a cold--I'm in medical school so I realize that it is a virus and there isn't really anything I can do but wait it out. Yesterday afternoon about 5:00pm I got a sore throat and ear ache; however, I was hopeful it was just allergies . Approximately 7:30 pm, I had a swollen right cervical lymph node--it isn't allergies! Now that I've started medical school, I have a constant desire for knowledge; it is so frustrating that I don't take pharmacology until next semester. That seems a bit silly as it is JUST a cold and there isn't anything that I can take to make it go away any faster, but I wanted to know which would work better: NyQuil or Tylenol Night Time Cold. I've heard that people who go to medical school decide that they have EVERY disease presented in class so I guess my response fairly normal for a medical student. It is kinda funny that here I am a medical student and I can't even treat a cold--then again, if I found a cure for the common cold, I'd probably be the smartest medical student on the island. One of our professors told us this week that taking MEGA doses of vitamin C may help shorten the length of the common cold, but won't prevent it. I guess it pays to listen to "Dr. Mom," who always suggested chicken soup, orange juice and rest.

Funky Semester

Okay, this semester isn't going to be fun; however, Farley and I are trying our best. We have started downloading 70s R&B, Rock, Soul and Funk--this is our escape. The course load this semester is heavy and we don't have much time for fun (not that we had much time last semester). We must utilize our time even better than before while keeping our sanity; thus, we dance when cooking or hanging out to increase our fun level. Farley has decided that "our song" should be Issac Hayes: Theme from "Shaft." I'm not so sure about that, but it sure is catchy. I've been joking for months it should be a Reggie inspired Caribbean hit, "She's Royal," which is an ode to a lovely women who is the singers' "queen." Somehow he isn't receptive, haha! I don't' really blame him for rejecting my (joking) suggestion and I guess this means that our debate will continue.

I'd post a picture of us dancing around our apartments (I feel sorry for the people who live in the apartments beneath us), but I don't have any. It's time to get back to the books so we can dance to Barry White's "Can't Get Enough of Your Love" later tonight.

You know things are getting ugly when you down load some Barry....

I've had "Copacabaca" stuck in my head for days. I was staring pictures of gross (whole) sections of brains trying to learn the arteries and anatomy of the brain when I couldn't take it anymore. I was charging my iPod and listening to some classical when I took the bate, I bought Barry Manilow's "Copacabaca." I never realized how funny the song is since I've never really listened to the lyrics before. People probably think I'm nuts as I chuckle and quiz myself using Rohen's atlas (the most amazing anatomy atlas ever). While I was downloading songs, I picked up some Barry White and Duffy. I hope that my ONE Barry song doesn't make me a "Fanilow!"

I think school is going pretty well this semester. I feel a bit overwhelmed with Neuroscience and the amount of time it takes, but they are starting to move a bit more slowly. They introduced so much in the lectures, but they have started reviewing some of the information and going into more depth about certain areas. I'm glad that we are going to see these things again and are not expected to become experts just based upon the first few lectures (which is what many of us thought)!

Our first exam is four weeks away, and 40% of our physiology grade is on that exam (CRAZY!). That is so strange to me since we had more neuroscience lectures and neuroscience is only worth 18% on the first exam. I guess I know what I have to study: Physiology!!

I think my break is over, back to the abdominal organs!

Neuroscience, postponed publication dates and a birthday

"The most obvious feature of the brain is that it is not homogeneous, but composed of different regions. There are no intrinsic moving parts, no obvious way of knowing where to start to understand what is actually happening, or what functions are taking place."

---Susan Greenfield (from How Might the Brain Generate Consciousness, in From Brains to Consciousness? Essays on the New Sciences of the Mind, edited by S. Rose, Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 1998).

This semester we are diving into Neuroscience and I think it will be fun, WHEN I learn the anatomy of the brain better. It is hard to jump into neuroscience, for example right now we are doing the the tracts of the spinal cord, when you don't know where all of the areas of the brain are located (over simplified, tracts are the bundles of nerves which send sensory information to the brain and the motor information to the muscles). We had a guest lecturer on Thursday and I felt bad for him. He was "auditioning" for a job and he was so nervous his hands were shaking for the hour and a half he lectured (he had two hours, but was so nervous he spoke like a sprinter running the 100 meters in the Olympics). The also gave him a conceptually difficult lecture, especially to teach to students who are new to neuroscience: spinal tracts. I think he could do a good job (you become MD, PhD by embodying academic excellence and a LOT of hard work), but he needs more practice lecturing. Also, English isn't his first language, which MUST make giving a lecture in front of over 300 people, while trying to get a job, more difficult.

Today we had another Neuroscience lecture by Dr. "really good neuroscience professor", who is amazing. She taught at Ross University School of Medicine right after completing her PhD in anatomy and neuroanatomy for a year or two. Then she left to go teach in the U.S., but as she told us Ross got her back. I suspect Ross offered her a deal she couldn't refuse, as they should, since she is SUCH a wonderful lecturer. Ross has offices in New Jersey and New York and she works there and comes down to Dominica for a few weeks a semester. I am so glad Ross got her back because after she lectured, I felt a million times better about neuroscience. I just wish we had her more often. Actually, the full time faculty for neuroscience at Ross is very good. Considering how difficult of a subject that neuroscience is, I'm extra impressed with the quality of teaching. It could be so much more difficult than it is because our professors are such great lectures. However, I don't want to give a full review of the professors yet because some professors don't test what they focus on and teach, which irrates me. I don't think these great lectures will do that, but I just don't know yet.

Oh, this is funny: I fell in love with a histology review book at the end of last semester (and my grades loved it too). I wanted to buy it rather than rent it from the library, but our bookstore doesn't carry it. I pre-ordered the NEW edition, which was suppose to be released on May 15, 2008 and I was suppose to get it 3-5 days after the release. On the 16th, I got an email saying that the release date was delayed and I needed to approve the late delivery or cancel the order. Well, the new release date is JANUARY 10, 2010! I will have taken the first boards and (obviously) have finished my Medical Histology course. I just can't get over the release date changing so much. Needless to say, I cancelled my order and proceeded to order the older edition.

This semester has been a million times more interesting than last semester, but it is more difficult and we are moving through things more quickly than last. However, unlike last semester, I have a lot more fun studying and don't really want to quit--I just get tired.

My birthday was on Saturday and it was a nice day. I had to study (and had no focus, which is in direct contradiction to my above statement). I went to yoga, Farley and I went swimming in the sea at sunset and then Farley took me to dinner with some friends. Here is a picture:

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).