Birthday

Happy Birthday to me! I got to celebrate with 4 exams......and lots of drinks and dinner afterwards!  (Thanks again Chris for making my chicken parmigiana! It was delicious!)  I also got to Skype my parents to open some gifts.....yes they had gifts that they opened for me.  Very fun even though I might have been a little drunk....

                                        Classmates that celebrated with me

I had a very rough morning getting up on Tuesday.....oops too much wine!  So I skipped the gym, and barely made it through my 10am class.  I took a nap before the afternoon classes and did much better.  I treated myself to a massage as a birthday present and little relaxer after all the exams.  I didn't end up doing as well on the exams as I wanted to or as well as last time (C in Micro, C in Math (stupid multiple choice...not even the math part!), B in Physio, and A in Vet Terms), but fortunately/unfortunately these grades don't count toward my GPA yet.
Lent started this week and I think this has been the only Ash Wednesday that I haven't gotten ashes and I feel bad about it.  I don't even know if the churches here do ashes or what times or anything, so I'm sure God will understand.  I do have to figure out what I'm giving up though and try to remember no meat on Fridays!
Thursday consisted of a Caribbean cooking class that I signed up for at Nirvana restaurant.  This place has beautiful gardens that you are able to come pick fruit from at anytime. We learned how to cook pickled green banana salad, jerk pork, creole sauce, rice and peas, and banana bread pudding!

Friday I went to the post office for two more packages!  (Thanks Chrissy and Mom!)  Tonight we are planning on going out to Rock Lobster for some pitchers of Sangeria!  Then Saturday includes a trip to the mechanic for hopefully my new car, some much overdue beach time, and a birthday cruise aka booze cruise for personal trainer Wayne and me!

As a side note, I found out there is going to be a Zoe Jakes workshop in Charlotte in May on the day I leave to come back to St. Kitts!  I'm so upset...mom please change my flight! lol

Apartment Found!

My baby sister turned 21 on Monday!  I wish I could have been there to celebrate with her, but at least we were able to Skype so I could see her open her gifts.  Hope you enjoy mine J (even though I know you can't "play" with it until you get home!
Alex's (my future roommate) parents came into town so we were able to run some errands and look at apartments!  The housing list came out last Friday, so we spent the weekend discussing what we were looking for.  Originally there were going to be three of us, but unfortunately it didn't work out, so it's just Alex and me.  We ended up looking at three different places total (two of the places we looked at two apartments).  The first one we were definitely against; it was too far away from the school, didn't have the best furniture and we weren't thrilled with the location in general, so that one was completely off the list.  We had contacted several people to look at places, but only heard back from three, so we talked to off-campus housing and they assured us that we will find one out of those that contacted us. So on Monday, we were torn between two places and had to sleep on it.  The first place was newer, cheaper, included utilities and generally nicer, but it didn't have a generator, wasn't the most secure, and the dryer was on the outside of the building.  The second place we looked at was bigger, had a generator, is extremely secure, has a large Ross community, a washer and dryer in the individual apartment, but doesn't allow pets, didn't include all utilities, and it much more expensive.  In the end, as much as we tried to justify living at the newer nicer place, the second apartment just made more sense.  We are thrilled that we don't have to worry about an apartment though and we are still happy with the results (well maybe not the no pet part, but I was told we can talk to the landlord if we end up wanting one).  There are currently people living here, so here are some pictures and I will post more when we actually move in:

Tuesday was a busy day.  We were suppose to have a wrap up for our Evidence Based Medicine class, but the teachers got confused with the schedule, so it had to be rescheduled.  We were however given new groups and luckily I am on the same day with my class, so I still have Friday mornings free.  We then had Applications where we worked with the horse, sheep, and dogs again to make sure we understand what we went over last class.  After classes that day, a bunch of us all went out to see The Vow.  The theater was incredibly full and it's almost like you are paying for two shows.  One being the actual movie and the second being people watching.  The locals get very into the movies here and will shout their opinions of the movie and certain characters.  Needless to say, I didn't study at all this day....oops.
Wednesday was another long day where I was on campus from 10:30am until 9pm.  We had a VBMA speaker from 5:30-9 (it was suppose to last until 8:30).  It was a good topic, but just long.  Thursday was uneventful, but there was another VBMA speaker at lunch....only 4 more hours until my certification!
This weekend will consist of nothing but studying and review sessions....Fun!

In honor of tests coming up, I thought everyone might enjoy this because it's so true:

Slow Week

Slow week this week, so not much going on other than starting to study for tests in two weeks.
People have started calling me the "early bird" since I get up so early for the gym.    I started getting up early to get into the habit for next semesters' 8am classes and now it definitely is a habit because I'm up early on the weekends even when I don't have to be. They started joking saying that 8am on a weekend isn't early enough for me.  It's funny because anyone who knows me, knows I am more of a late person, than early, but since I've been getting up so early, I usually end up getting tired around 10pm here.  It will be interesting when I go home on break....
More packages from family and friends this week!  Thank you! Thank you!  I love that you are thinking of me, so keep them coming....only if they aren't too expensive.  :)
Monday was spent at the Marriott to celebrate two birthdays with some much needed sun, sand, and sushi! Delicious!

We all felt like we were on a mini vacation all weekend, but then it was back to school on Tuesday.  Our math teacher is out all this week, so in place of math, we get micro....great.  We were suppose to have it for two hours on Tuesday, but our teacher ended up falling out of a tree and is on crutches, so he was only able to make it for the last hour.  The rest of the week was pretty uneventful.
The self defense group is going out to dinner together tonight (Friday night) and there is a date auction at Bamboo on Saturday.  On Saturday there is also the second PAWS adoption event, but I will be staying away from there for fear that I won't be able to turn away some little one that needs a home.  I have started looking at cars and talking to some sellers.  Driving on the other side of the road?  No problem!   Hopefully I will find something and that will be one less thing to worry about. The housing list comes out this week as well, so the girls I'm thinking about living with and I need to start looking!  We are probably going to look around this weekend as well.

One Month Down, Only 43 To Go

I cannot believe I have already been on the island one month! Even with all of my down time and the days going so slow, the month has flew by (if that makes sense).  For the month of January, there were 10 power outages....4 of which happened in the same day.  There have already been 8 this month and it's only the first week of February!  They only last a minute or two since the school is on a generation, but I can't wait to move off campus though, where I will probably be studying via headlamp.....
Monday was our first set of tests, where we had 4 to take in 2 hours (about 30 mins each)! We don't have tests in Study Skills, Evidence Based Medicine, or Applications.  I was worried about all of them especially with everything I've been dealing with and I not being able to focus, but I ended up pulling off a B in Physio, A in Math, B in Micro and an A in Vet Terms.  That night there was a pizza social for the vetpreps and 1st semesters and of course a few of us celebrated with drinks as well.  On Tuesday, we had our second applications class since this class is every other week.  We actually got to work with a horse, sheep, and dogs.  Yay for hands-on and finally being able to touch an animal!  That night, since there wasn't much to study,  a group of us went to the movies to see Mission Impossible 4.  Believe it or not the small popcorn is actually small!  It's seriously about 7inches compared to the US 12 inches....crazy.  We had our first VOICE meeting on Wednesday.  It's basically a club to teach you to become more culturally aware and they will set up "classes" to teach you medical Spanish.  I;m hoping it will be very beneficial.  Two of our classes were canceled on Thursday, because we had a new dean coming. All of the semesters were to gather out front in our semester colors to welcome her.  White = vetprep, Orange = 1st, Red = 2nd, Purple = 3rd, Green = 4th, Black = 5th, Pink = 6th, and Blue = 7th.  The colors move up with you, so that's why vetprep will be blue next semester because the 7ths will be gone.

We also has our last class of self-defense today.  I'm glad I took the classes because if you mess with me,  I have learned to kick some serious ass and break a few things along the way. :)  Friday our physio class was canceled because Dr. Reich forgot about it....not a bad thing on a Friday! There is also a party at Club 1, the dance club here with beer pong, flip cup, and some other games that we will all probably check out.  Then this weekend, there is a closing BBQ for Elvis' place and all the money goes to support his family.  They are having raffles and t-shirts you can by there.  On Monday, we have two birthdays and the girls want to go to the Marriott for some sushi and drinks at the swim up bar!

Also, this month, in lieu of having free time, my birthday month, and an idea I got from Pinterest, I have decided to have a little fun and follow the February photo challenge.  I will post the pictures on Facebook under the album February Photo Challenge 2012.  So let me know what you think!