A night at Bay House!

On Friday night my friends and I decided we deserved a much needed break/reward for passing all our exams!  So, a lovely evening at Bay House at Dickenson's Bay was arranged.  Words couldn't explain how beautiful and how much fun my friends and I had while celebrating!  Plus it was an amazing excuse for my girlfriends and I to dress up and to look " all cute and sexy" as one of our Utopia guy friends said!  HaHa got to love the flattery!!!  Although it was dark the restaurant was beautiful and so was the view.  Bay House Restaurant is located on a massive hill overlooking Dickenson's Bay ( most people know it as the beach at Sandals Resort).  Below is a pic that a friend took when he went for brunch at Bay House at the beginning of the semester.  Very neat see......Look close Mom and Dad!

 The appetizers and main dishes that were ordered were delicious!  I know now where I want to take Mom and Dad when they visit me in October.  It may have been the most expensive meal I have ever had but, it was probably the most fun.  I had an amazing pumpkin soup, mango smoothie, and a cheese burger.   It was a quite evening there at Bay House and it even rained while we talked on the patio.  Pretty bad ass and beautiful if you ask me!!!  I cant wait to do it again in a few weeks.  In a few days I will post some pictures that  friend took of our evening out on the town!  In the mean time I will show you pictures from their facebook page.








After we got back from Bay House we spent some time at other Utopians apartment's celebrating the end of the week and the completion of mini 1.  I just feel fortunate to have an amazing group of friends and people to share my med school experience with.  It is really neat to get to know people from all over the world that have been brought together for one man cause - to become physicians!  To be honest all I seem to think about lately is how all of us have come from different states, countries, and socioeconomic backgrounds yet we all get along well, and strangely have a close bond.  Having as many friends as I do here in Antigua is something that I don't take lightly, nor for granted.  I appreciate the sense of feeling protected and cared about that comes with having such an amazing group.  It is also neat on evenings such as the one at Bay House, when you get to reflect on things that we all have done together and all the things that we all wish to do.  These future plans can be something fun like, wanting to go hiking on the island, snorkeling or something as serious as classes or residencies........makes life seem pretty surreal for this small town farm girl that never thought her dream of going to medical school would ever come true.....nothing short of amazing as far as I am concerned. I just hope that I can make it through and make my family proud.  That is all that I want at this point in my small life.  This path may be rough, tough, and grueling but it is also beautiful and a privilege. 

Mini one!!!!

Hello Everyone!!!  Sorry for the delay in updating the blog but I have been super busy preparing for my first exam.  It has been an exhausting last 2 weeks and I am ready to see places other than campus and my apartment.  Hopefully this weekend my friends and I are going to the beach and partake in some shopping in St. John to celebrate completing and passing our exams!  I think I need a new dress!!!!  The exams here on campus were crazy and nothing short of wild!!!  On Friday we got to complete our first wet lab exam composed of 10 questions.  These questions covered everything and everything related to the cardiovascular system.  The stations included preserved hearts, plasticized hearts, full cadavers, and preserved limbs.  Even had a question or two pertaining to ECG and ECG leads (thought that would only be on the written HSF exam)!!!!  Each station was 30 seconds long and that included your traveling time between stations!!!  Needless to say if you didn't know your stuff you didnt have time to try to figure it out!  It was the quickest 5 minutes of my life!!!!!  It was fun and exciting despite being a test.  I was really surprised to see the large amount of students pacing the pretesting holding area and near break downs!!  Made me kind of scared!

Monday marked the first day of my actually med school exams!  The exams started at 1:30 in the afternoon and went to nearly 7 p.m. that evening.  It is like reliving the mcat over again!!!!  That test must be related to Satan!!!  For each of the 4 sections we got moved to different classrooms and had various assigned seating.  The funny part was that for 3 of the 4 sections I got seated next to some of my closes friends on campus!  So much for that AUA!  There was no time to do anything but book it through each of the sections.  The HSF (human structure and function) section was an hour and a half and 70 questions!  The rest of the sections were shorter but you still just as intense!  After the exams I was so exhausted that I didn't even know how to function!!!!  It felt incredible to be done. I thought it was amazing that my best friend had bought a bottle of champagne at the beginning of the semester to celebrate when we completed our first exam!  It was great to stand out in the parking lot of our apartment and pop the cork and all share out of it to celebrate.  It was delicious!

Our celebration was short lived I went to bed and I had class again the next morning.....back to the grind!  It wasnt too bad though considering I didnt have morning classes and I only had one lecture that afternoon.  Even after class I studied my notes and read the material just to make sure that I dont get behind.  Although I study every night this time I didnt have to cram the night before an exam.  It was a slow progression of learning! 

This past week we didnt have our usual Sunday night dinner! It was sad but I know that we will more than make up for it this uncoming weekend. Last week we had cheese stuffed shells, bread, cookies, and dip! It was amazing and delcious! One of my friend even came up with games for all of us to play. It was nothing short of hysterical! These are some of the picture from the previous weeks dinner....

 

 

 

 

I will do my best to add more to the blog over the next week upcoming days. I need to reflect back on some of the adventure of my friends and I and see what I have missed.....and need to share.  Until next time........

One month down!

As of today I have been in Antigua for a complete 4 weeks and it has been amazing!!!  I love every bit of my short time here in Antigua.  It has been amazing making friends and living an independent life as a medical student.  This past week has been one of monumental events!!!  On Friday for the first time I got to hold a real preserved human heart in my hands!!  It was amazing to see how such a tiny intricate organ can work non stop someones entire life!!!  I find it to be completely mind blowing and in the very least thought provoking.  It made me feel very small.  The whole lab experience was very enjoyable and I had a wonderful time getting to see specimens and full cadavers.  Since the first exam is only a week away, this week was my first experience attending small groups studying and tutoring sessions.  In one regard it was really helpful and was slightly humbling in others.  I felt very prepared in some areas and not so prepared in others....physiology is for sure going to give me a run for my money.  I have been told that class can be very difficult if you don't keep up on the material.  I will emphasize this again and again.....med school is like trying to drink a lake dry.....it feels just about impossible to feel 100% comfortable with such a large volume of information.  I also felt very proud that I went an entire week without taking an evening off!!!  When Friday arrived I was so exhausted I needed to take the evening off!!!  During our 4 hour lecture on Friday I could hardly focus and I knew that I needed some extra sleep!!!  I also knew that since I was out of pants and socks I also needed to do some laundry!!!  So, while other individuals spend the night camped out in the library studying or going out partying I was going to spend the evening in taking naps revolving around when my laundry was coming out of the washer or dryer....I was an amazing night as far as I was concerned and much appreciated!!!!

Today my girlfriends and I spend the morning and early afternoon on campus attending our own personal biochemistry tutoring session and eating lunch at the campus shacks!!  Yummy!!!  I felt like I learned so much and I am looking forward to the other study session my friends signed me up for tomorrow!!!!!   Today my friends and I also made a trip to the Epicurean and purchased food and good for our weekly Sunday dinner!!!!  I am excited to make ricotta cheese shells and chocolate chip cookies!!!!  Looking forward to tomorrow!

On Wednesday I had FCM and needless to say it was intense and very interesting.  We got to critique other students as they took vital signs and social histories.....I am not looking forward to the day where I have to be the one critiqued!!!!  My day will be coming soon I am sure!  We also got to spend several minutes taking each others blood pressure....I still need to work on that.

Keeping Busy on the Island

It has been a while since my last post but trying to prepare for my first exam has taken top priority.  Med 1's first exam is in two weeks and I am feeling the weight of the material starting to bare down on my shoulders. However, I am slowly catching up and I am sure that by tomorrow morning I will be completely caught up with reviewing and feeling comfortable with my notes....then on to the next set of lecture topics.  However, it isn't all work and no fun.  This past Sunday my friends and I held our first weekly pot luck dinner and it was amazingly yummy.  We all seemed to gorge ourselves since this is the first decent meal we all have had since we have arrived on the island.  Chicken, Salad, potatoes, and even fried plantains!!!!  It was my first time having plantains and it is now officially my favorite food ever!!!!  My roommate did a great job.  One of the boys even purchased a cheesecake!  Oh, how us Americans missed Sara Lee.  So much for those 15 lbs I have lost since I arrived on the island 3 weeks ago.



I also thought I should also state how much I love my apartment!!  A very neglected topic!  Coming from a small 4x10 bedroom and a shared bathroom at home to my current apartment has been quite enjoyable!!!!  I now had a queen size bed, my own bathroom and a giant dresser!  I have so much space I don't even know what to do with myself!!!! I will be sure to post more pictures later on of my actually bedroom just for you mom!!!!  It is amazing!!!

However, sadly there are some individuals that don't really like their apartments and find it beneath them to live there....I would love to see where they were living before.  No, it isn't the most glamorous but I really do love it here and all the people that call Utopia home.  If you do live in one of the outside facing apartments you will have an issue with ants.....but Antigua is a big giant ant farm as far as I am concerned.  They are at the school (inside and out)....on all the sidewalks....in most apartments, and they have our pool at our apartment surrounded and held hostage!!!!  Be careful to not set your book bag down on the ground anywhere on the island otherwise you will have a bag with ants running all over it and I am sure you will end up bringing several of them back to your apartment.  These ants also bite!  My legs the first two weeks I lived here were covered in red spots that resembled chicken poxs.  Itchy!!!  I found this article to prove my point! http://www.antiguaobserver.com/?p=59625.


This past week was the first full legitimate week of classes and lab. The required labs for med 1 students are foundations of clinical medicine (FCM), anatomical small group session, and cadaver lab.  During FCM we have being taking each others blood pressure, and practicing taking patient histories. It may seem simply but it is strangely intimidating to get in front of a group of your peers and perform these task.  Plus you don't want to loose points for forgetting steps to the interview process.  The purpose of anatomical group is to review what was learned in human structure and function that week and apply it to actual cases. We are expected to participate, answer questions and debate the validity of our answers.  It is very helpful and is by far my favorite class on campus.  It truly adds another layer to the learning process and helps to clarify gaps you might have in regard to the material.  This past week in cadaver lab we studied the basics of the cardiovascular system and were presented with two cadavers and several individual hearts to study.  Again very fun and breathtaking!!!!  Getting to see the actual valves for the first time was nothing short of amazing.  God is truly great for making something so beautiful and perfect inside our bodies.

Surviving my first week

Surviving this past week of classes was monumental for me and all my friends.  Some classes were amazing and quite entertaining while others I couldn't even understand the professors because of their thick accents.  One professor that teaches human structure and function lectures finds it necessary to tease and humiliate all of us on a daily basis.  For the most part none of us mind because to be honest the man is very funny. He likes to talk about how he "Swears to God-No I swear to the cell!  It brought you in this world it will take you out!"and several other crazy things! Plus if you decide to use the bathroom while in his lecture he will be sure to ask you how it went when you come back into the lecture hall.....there are 150 of us in this hall....I will pee on the floor first before I leave.  He also likes to talk about epithelial cells, cancer cells or any other example he can find and attach it to the anus or vagina.  I am seriously not kidding.  Amongst all my friends our favorite quote is "Sure, I'll give you a white coat and a stethoscope, but you still won't know jack shit!" Amazing I tell you just amazing! 

Also on Friday I got to attend my first cadaver lab and it was nothing short of amazing.  I felt very privileged to be learning because of the individuals that made the ultimate sacrifice to donate their bodies for me to learn.  Only getting to see and utilize plastic models during undergraduate, I was amazed to actually get to see important landmarks on preserved specimens and actual cadavers. The lab was well kept and even had cameras and large screens for you to learn from during dissections.  

Well for every ones information Isaac was nothing but a big giant disappointment.  Nothing amazing occurred and it only gently rained.  Because of the drought in the Midwest it has been months since I have seen it actually rain. I really do love seeing all the green grass across the island and it really makes me sad for home.  Only a farm girl would be appreciate that concept.  However, I hear that Isaac is going to make landfall on Florida and Cuba today and I think it will be far more intense than it was for Antigua.  Being so far down on the island chain the storms don't have as much time to develop which decreases the threat.  This is a picture taken by a friend of mine of the our experience.




Although I never had much of an social life it seems like the new normal will spending Friday and Saturday nights studying and taking each others bloodpressure. We all had fun and it was interesting to see how accuate (or in my case NOT SO ACCURATE) we all were.  Amongst my friends one of them is an EMT and we look at him as the gold standard to how we are doing in regard to our bloodpressure taking skills.  It was intresting, entertaining, and very fun.  We also know that there is a hypertensive person in the group....you know who you are!

On a more exciting note it seems like at home several of my A.I. babies have been born!  There should be roughly about 20 babies to be expected and I am looking forward to more pictures!  Below is a picture of a "Big Money" calf out of a Sim/Angus cow. 






My "babies daddy"!!!!!  Isnt he handsome!!!

First week of medical school and my friend Isaac

Hey Everyone!  Sorry for not having a post the past few days but the first few days of class have been very busy.  In the mornings my friends and I usually take the early bus and make it to campus at least a few hours before classes start.  Morning classes are 4 days a week and consist of various small group sessions where we discuss anything from Anatomy, to how to meet with patients and take blood pressure.  Lunch breaks are usually pretty minimal at half an hour and then the rest of the day proceeds with large group lectures.  Small groups usually have about 15 people and large group lectures have about 250 people (our class divided into two separate schedules).  You have to be careful and not get lost in the crowd and be accountable for making yourself pay attention in the large classes.  However, that really isn't really that hard since the professors like to call out students in the lecture hall for texting, nodding off, using facebook, or just to simply humiliate them for their own enjoyment.  But it is medical school.....you should be able to put your phone away for a few hours and listen to what your paying for!!!

Today was my first day of small group lecture/study and it made me really nervous!!!  It has been a few years since I had been in the classroom and having a professor run me through the ringer for a few hours on a more personal basis made me very uncomfortable!  But it wasn't too terribly bad and we even got to go down to the simulator lab and play with Harvey!!!!  He is the cardiology dummy that allows you to listen to various heart and lung sounds.  The neat thing about Harvey is that one student can be doing the actually listening and then the rest of the students have head gear to hear what that student is hearing while applying the stethoscope to the dummy patient.  Pretty amazing right?!?!  I think so anyway.  Below is a pictures of a "Harvey" I found on Wikipedia....so it isn't AUA's Harvey but pretty much the same thing.  Beautiful wig aye?



After small classes and lectures sometime we go to the gym and other times we head to the library and study for several hours.  Because we are in student housing and use the bus we have to make sure that we follow the bus schedule so we can make it back to the housing complex.  When we do arrive back at the complex we are usually reading and studying until 11 pm or so.  It is a long day for sure.  Being sick during my first week of medical school wasn't a great experience either.  But I have been studying and reading for about 4 days straight and tonight I have kind of took the evening off for a few hours to get a small nap in and to update my lovely blog.  But I am sure that I will have an hour or two of reading to do before I decide to go to bed for the night.

Onto a non academic matter at this vary moment tropical storm Isaac is making its way to Antigua!  Ya!!!! Today campus got shut down early which destroyed my workout and study time I had anticipated on campus in order to prepare for the storm.  I have received several emails in regards to the storm and things to NOT do while in a tropical storm.....silly things like don't go swimming!  Seriously?!?!??!  WOW!!!  In regard to tomorrow campus is opening at 10 am and the buses are not leaving until later in the morning. So we will see how hard the island gets hit by mister Isaac!  I was told to expect power outages and tons of wind! 

Hello Missouri and beyond!!!!  Sorry I had to have a super cheesy moment.  It has been an extremely amazing and fun weekend here in Antigua.  Friday I had an fantastic second day at orientation and really liked several of my professors although one of them seems to be like a drill Sargent.  Several of the med 2 and 3 students said to watch out for him and gave us tips for succeeding in his class.  I felt so privileged to be listening to some of these amazing people and to have the opportunity to become a doctor here at AUA....I just hope that it becomes a reality.  The hard work already begun and I am ready for the challenge.  Even purchased a USMLE study book and Bates guide to Physical examination.....sounds exciting aye?!?!?  Again I feel privileged to be here and to be able to work this hard.

 I had the opportunity to go to my first med 1 party/mixer and meet tons of fellow classmate while dancing the evening away.  However, it wasn't just the party itself that made the evening a blast but the location, the people and even something as simple as the cab ride.  The whole evening blew my mind!  Most of the individuals that lived in my building (Utopia) went to the mixer and we even had time for pre-party photos!





Like I said above the location was beautiful! Being located right on the beach and having an open air atmosphere was nothing short of mind blowing.  There was probably several hundred medical students in one location and even a  professor or two. My close girlfriend and new friend from around the hall had a great time dancing to the DJ and sweating!!!  Yes the Carribean is still flaming hot at 10:30 pm!  WOW!  Below are some pictures that I stole....I mean borrowed from the Lobster Shack Facebook page for your viewing experience.






It was a blast getting to see everyone get crazy and dance....especially Utopia's own resident Rolando or as he is know here at AUA "Rolly".  Give that New Yorker some drinks and he will literally roll/glide all over the dance floor.  Needless to say him and my gal pal were the best dancers out there for sure.  AMAZING and FUN!!!!  Even the cab ride was hysterical.  My friends and I use one cab driver exclusively because he is nice, dependable, and gives cheap rides....yes mom I said that last part just for you.  However, since we have use him practically every day this week we have all developed quite a close relationship with the Antiguan.  Since we all have this established relationship, things seem to get funner and conversations seem to get crazier.  On top of shoving 8 people into a mini van a few were intoxicated and then the evening got really interesting. My close girlfriend gutsly asked the driver if she could drive and he proceeded to pull over and get out of the car......she tried to get behind the wheel with no luck.  The driver also mentioned that he regularly cheated on his girlfriend and that in Antigua it was ok......and very NATURAL!  Several other questionable things were said and all of us were left with an impressionable evening that will last a lifetime!






After an amazing evening we had an even better following day at Dickenson Bay AKA Sandals.  Utopians swam, laid out, and jet skied.  Quite obviously no one had a bad evening until we ate dinner at a local tourist attraction on the bay called Peppers and Limes.  The service was awful, the waiters/waitresses were rude, and the manager or owner proceed to tell us that she hated having us "student" screwing her over.......all of us paid and did when we visited the restaurant earlier that week.  Needless to say I am not spending my money with that winch ever again.  However, who can stay mad when you get to share dinner with 17 other med students and watch the sun set over the ocean....again can I say this word enough amazing!!!  I think more than anything all of us were very thankful for one last adventure before school started and didn't want to think about Monday.




Sunday I woke up early with what seems to be a nasty cold and spent the whole day reading and reading with some of my friends.....the later wasn't too successful.  We ended up watching YouTube videos and ordering pizza.  However, over the last two day I have personally read over 100 pages of tiny print and have prepared well despite all the fun we have be having.  Thanks to a friend I now, have even more videos, text books, and student documents on my external drive.  Having these resources makes me one happy girl. One of the guys made us an appointment to look at a house for the following semester, tomorrow evening.  This should be cheaper and closer to school than our current student housing.  Hopefully all 5 of us can share.  

There are several things I have learned during my short time in Antigua.....everything takes extra time here on the island, everything in regard to my class schedule seems to be temporal, and now since it is Sunday night the adventure is over....... at least until after mini 1.