What I Really Learned in Med School

Some more pics of us down by the water... how original. But it is pretty much the only active thing to do for fun here besides hiking. We scheduled a study break for Saturday afternoon and got some sun. The water was (again) too rough to swim, but we frolicked in the waves and got a little tanning in. I love exploring different parts of the island - we've tried to go to a new place each time recently.   Our neighbours upstairs invited my roommates and I over for supper Saturday night and we had the most delicious pasta I've had in a while. We wanted to bring a nice bottle of wine over, so I went down to the grocery store and found the most expensive bottle I could find. It was 18 dollars. We said we would have them over next time so if anyone has any easy recipes to feed 8-10 people... send them over.   I am really missing having the option of Tim's or Subway or any fast food at all. Also my vaccuum-sealed milk is just not cutting it. One treat I've discovere...

First set of block exams are over and block II is in full swing. Figured I would update here before getting around to responding to your e-mails because that may take a little longer.   We went down to the water to swim/snorkel after blocks. It was a little too rough to go out very far at all, but sitting in the shallow water with a few drinks wasn't so bad either. Afterwards, we went to supper at a place called Saba's Treasure and I had a cheeseburger and sweet potato fries which was such a treat... red meat is hard to come by here.   We have a 2 hour break at lunch today so I'm pretty excited to be sitting on the balcony in the sun. It's "82 degrees" here right now which is about 28 degrees Celsius.    School work has been steady... and by that I mean it is non-stop so I don't really do anything else. We have switched up some study habits though in hopes that next blocks will go even better.   PS I check my mailbox every day JUS...

Taking it all in

Quick update while I am on a study break. First set of exams - what we call "block exams" - are Monday and Tuesday so it has been pretty intense for studying lately. I am hoping to take a few hours on Tuesday after the exams to relax, go down to the water to do some snorkeling, and have a glass of wine (or two). We picked a coconut off the tree yesterday and drank the coconut juice out of it. Yum. The novelty of the beautiful weather and scenery has not worn off yet - such a great mood booster. I learned pretty quickly that my love for anatomy greatly exceeds my love (or lack thereof) of histology. I love taking courses that I find interesting and that I feel are relevant to my future career, but of course learning the basics comes with some dry material too. We kept track of who we were meeting and we have someone in our class from each of the 10 Canadian provinces (5 Nova Scotians!) and many US states. It has also been so interesting meeting people who were ...

Grey's Anatomy: Island Edition     Photo and caption credit to Melissa First day of anatomy lab

Survived the first week of classes! The volume of work we have so far is overwhelming (and scary to think of what's ahead), but I`ve been doing my best to keep up with it each night so I`ll be prepared when it`s no longer review of courses I`ve already taken. We started dissection on the cadavers in the lab. I was nervous at first, but it wasn`t as weird/smelly as I thought and it actually turned out to be really fun and informative. My roommates are great - we are officially attached at the hips. Of course I would catch a cold after a week in the caribbean after not being sick for months in the cold canadian weather. Last night was our White Coat Ceremony to welcome the first semesters into the profession. It was followed by a meet and greet with our mentors and a party at a pub afterwards. See pics!   White Coat Ceremony with my roommates :)   Me and Brenda   Adam Me and Brian   Me and Jane   X-ri...

Orientation and Registration went well today. We got an introduction from the deans, submitted all of our immigration forms, got pictures taken, learned about the local laws, registered our laptops for the wireless internet, and did a tour of the island.   All of my roommates arrived so we sat together today and we are getting to know each other.   Classes tomorrow! Just did some pre-reading and looking forward to experiencing the first of my typical days here.     Stopped to take a photo at the entrance to the hike we did the other day     Town of Windwardside   Beautiful   The landing strip our plane came in on   Very rugged coastline   Island in the distance   The airport - I have officially seen one smaller than Sydney   Our group during the island tour       Down by the water near the airport   If you lo...

Hello! Today is the last day of our pre-school work vacation so we have been trying to do as many activities as possible on the island before everyone is in lockdown mode. We have been swimming down at Fort Bay where the ferries to St. Maarten come in. We’ve been doing some snorkeling there and there are so many tropical fish in large schools – very cool. There are a few bars along there so sometimes we stop by for a beer after our swim. The past two times we have asked the bartender to call us a taxi, but instead the locals have offered to drive us back into town in the back of their pick up trucks. (Note to Mom and Dad: I never go alone, I promise).   We hiked up Mt. Scenery the other day which is supposed to be the hardest hike as it is the highest point in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. I would have started with a smaller one myself, but the guys wanted to try this one so I decided to go along. It is 1000+ steps up and some steps are much steeper than others. I was ...