7 Weeks Down, 7 To Go

Weekend - Friday Island Idol...friend was amazing.  Saturday I just relaxed and didn't open a book all day which was a very nice change.  Sunday was the catamaran trip which was a great time.  We had lunch on Nevis and I took a nice nap on the beach.

 That night was the paint party which was fun even though we were so tired from the sun all day.

Monday I did catch up on some work and made food for the week.  I made Chinese chicken and broccoli from scratch.  It was actually really good!  I ended up counting over 60 mosquito bites from the weekend...I swear even when I use bug spray it does not stop them.
Just a lot of studying all week long, with a very long day on Thursday.  During my break, I had to run into town to go to the bank and the pharmacy.  Apparently the last time I went to the pharmacy I was undercharged, so I was not expecting to pay so much this time.   We had an optional vitamin and mineral lecture by Dr. Reich from 4-6pm that I went to which was pretty interesting.
On Friday, I might be spending some time in the lab to review everything before next week's exam.  On Saturday, I am going to shadow the current Feline Foster Intake Coordinator for PAWS during the adoption day to see if I'm still interested in taking over the position.  Other than that, this weekend will be spent studying for the Physio exam next Wednesday and the Anatomy exam next Friday.  Next week starts the second round of our exams, so I will have an exam every week again until finals. :/
7 weeks left...

Mid-semester break

This past weekend, I volunteered to help count the coins raised during the Josh project fundraiser.  I wish I got a picture of what our hands looked like afterwards, they were so black!  7th semester ended up winning, so Dr. St. Jean will be dressing up as Zorro.  1st semester raised $431.29, so we ended up coming in 3rd.  The total raised for the fundraiser was $4,263.13 EC.
Monday was our anatomy palpation quiz and micro test.  I will admit I was very overwhelmed with all the information, but I don't think I could have studied anymore I than I did.  We haven't gotten our anatomy grade back yet, but I'm pretty sure I did well and I also did well on the micro test.
Tuesday was pretty uneventful, although we did go see What To Expect When You're Expecting at the theater.  I'm pretty sure Joe Manganiello is what made the movie. ;)
On Wednesday, our class had their first bake sale of build your own nachos to raise money for our 7th semester banquet.  We raised $1235 EC.
I found out that I didn't get the orientation leader position on Thursday.  None of the first semester's that applied did.  I'm still debating if I will be going home over the break though.  I'm considering staying on the island and traveling.  Anyone up for coming to visit me and traveling!?  So only in vet school would you still have class when the power goes out....The power went out in our last class and we ended up having the rest of the class in the dark (projectors, computers, and wireless are on a generator), but then the generator went out as well.  Needless to say, I was not about to workout in the dark, so it was a workout day at home for me.
Finally Friday!  I felt like this weekend would never come!  Tonight there is island idol at Bamboo bar that we might go to.
This weekend is a long weekend because it's mid-semester break, which mean there are no classes Monday!  Saturday we will probably go to the beach, since we are getting white over here from lack of beach time!  On Sunday, I'm going on a catamaran trip which includes an open bar, snorkeling, and lunch on Nevis. (That waterproof camera would be great right now) Then, Sunday night there is a glow-in-the-dark paint party!  Then on Monday I might do some studying  ;)

Fun website about vet school:
http://ourlifeinvetschool.tumblr.com/

Fun picture that we like:

First round of exams over

I had a very relaxing weekend, including some studying and lots of cooking on Sunday!  I cooked ravioli for lunch/dinner, chicken for the week, and my own peanut butter protein bars (Thanks Pinterest....yum!)

On Monday, the Josh Project Coin project began.  Each semester will pick a teacher to dress up and if they have the most coins collected at the end of the week, then that semester's teacher dresses up.  Here's the list:

1st semester - Dr. Spencer as Britney Spears
2nd - Dr. Kibbel and Dr. Adams as the main characters from Up
3rd - Dr. Wang, Dr. Soto, Dr. Gyimah, Dr. Arauz, Dr. Bogdanovic (so far) as The Avengers
4th- Dr. Castillo as Princess Lelia
5th - Dr. Walker and Dr. Shokry as Batman and Robin
6th - Dr. Pope as Inspector Gadget
7th - Dr. St. Jean as Zorro
(The underlined are the teachers I know and have had in classes)

Our micro class was canceled on Tuesday, due to a flood in the men's bathroom near the classroom.  We will have to make that class up late on Thursday though.  There was a speaker that I went to that night that talked about infectious diseases of wildlife which was pretty interesting.
Nutrition exam was on Wednesday.  In in the typically Reich fashion, no matter how much you know the material, it's still a really hard test.  I ended up skipping a wildlife speaker that I really wanted to go to in order to get a few more minutes of studying in.  I am definitely still liking the block exams better than our schedule now.  I don't like having to wait until the usual class time to have the exam and then having class after the exam; it's hard to concentrate.  We finally got our grades back for Anatomy and let's just say there was a lot of drama from everyone about that.  I did really well, but sadly the class average was very low. 
Thursday was a VERY long day.  Instead of my usual break from 10-12pm, I had nutrition lab where we looked at body conditioning scoring the kennel dogs.  The same speaker from Tuesday spoke at lunch about motivating your health care team.  I was able to use her as points toward my VBMA certificate.  We then had our makeup micro class from 3-5pm.  I was exhausted, so I didn't end up going to the gym, but instead went home to studying.  It's probably a good thing I skipped the gym because I ended up pushing myself too hard on Monday and my knee has been bothering me since.
TGIF Ever'body!  Today at lunch that same speaker (Dr. Karen Shenoy) is talking about nutrition.  I volunteered to help count the coins for the Josh project tonight since I'm a member of the Ross chapter.  Cross your fingers that the firsties win!
This weekend, I plan on studying for the Micro test and Anatomy palpation quiz both of which are on Monday.  I feel the tests have been nonstop, but after Monday we will finally get a small break before they all start up again.
I know I haven't been good about keeping in touch, but bare with me! I will be able to talk once I figure out my phone situation and all these tests are over with and I get a small break!  I do have skype though, so feel free to message me there!

I can't believe I've already been on this island for 6 months. That means there have been 28 blog posts!  This experience is just flying by and I'm glad you are experiencing it with me! :)

It Doesn't Stop

Well June 1st started the first day of hurricane season, and of course it couldn't go by unnoticed!  So, we experienced our first power outage at the apartment!  The generator kicked on after less than a minute, so I barely even had time to try to find my flashlight.  However, the generator was extremely loud and apparently right outside our window.  The electricity was only out for an hour, and with the internet being out as well, it was pretty much forced study time.  I spent most of my weekend in the anatomy lab, with a dinner break of sushi on Saturday and a small beach break on Sunday.
I found out that I have a new pet as well....an American Kestral!

OK well not really a pet, but there are two of them in our little neighborhood that hang out in our trees killing morning doves. LOL  They are the first set of raptors/falcons that I have actually seen down here.  I was told there are hummingbirds here too, but I have yet to see any.
Monday was the start of what I can feel will be a very long week.  I had an anatomy tutor session at lunch, then went to lab after class, and then physio review at 6pm. I also received an email about Bayer (the drug company) looking for a representative since the rep right now will be leaving, so I put my application in to replace him.  Wish me luck!  I also am putting in my application to be an orientation leader for the fall semester....wish me luck on that as well!  So much I want to do and so little time!
On Tuesday, we had a ethics lecture and a history taking lab for Intro to Vet Med until 4pm.  We saw some very disturbing videos in the ethics lecture that actually made me sick to my stomach......not eating meat for a while, just saying.
Wednesday I found out that Ross is starting a Wildlife Rehab donation and a Plover Monitoring Program that I really want to be a part of, so there was a meeting about it at lunch that I went to.  We then had our Physio exam (I did well, higher than the average) and to celebrate it being over, I studied for Anatomy....
Thursday:  We had a review day instead of Anatomy lab this morning and I didn't have micro lab today, so technically I didn't have to on campus until 1pm, but I was there at 8am, like always, to study, study, study-----to the point of delirium!

(You can't tell from the picture, but we are holding the bones completely wrong...upside down and not in the right spot (yes purposely)....and yes we are in the doorway to get a better breeze....like I said delirium.)

Friday was the first Anatomy exam!   Tonight I plan on heading the the pool with a margarita in my hand!  This weekend I'm going to the beach and again not opening any books until maybe Sunday when I will starting to study for Nutrition.

1st exam

So studying for the exam this weekend, this basically explains the information that I needed to learn: 1st year vet student.  The exam on Monday was very tough, but I still did well! Yay!  So that only means that, margaritas were in order that night with a break from studying.  A few of us then grabbed some pizza at the Marriott as well.
Tuesday was a long day day and I was back to studying Anatomy and a little bit of Physio.  In our Intro to Vet Med class, we had a teamwork lab for the last two hours of class.....fun....
 I started getting the feeling of being overwhelmed on Wednesday.  It wasn't just because of classes (they did decide to add another section of material on our upcoming Anatomy test), but all the little things outside of school that I need to get done.  On top of all that, my car decided not to start on my way home, so I had to get Ross Security to jump me.  Welcome to being a island car owner.....
Thursday was a long day.  I had errands to run during my break, and we had a mock exam for anatomy.  If I needed a drink after the mock exam, I don't even want to know what the real exam will be like.  It just showed me how much I all of my hard work of studying until this point has done nothing.  Ugh, time to hit the books even harder!
On Friday and for the rest of the weekend, I will pretty much be studying for the Physio and Anatomy exams that we have next week.  Hopefully I will be able to make it to the beach at some point as well; I'm getting a little pale over here!  :)