Fighting to stay above water

OK, so that test was hard... whatever I've said about any test before this one- forget it. This test wins for the hardest test I have ever taken, and well, I bombed it. Bad. So, here to fore, I now need A's on all the rest of the tests to get to the next semester, so no more even little breaks for this girl... only books. Books morning noon and night. And then when I'm sick of studying I'll study some more.

Good news is that I got one last hoorah before the devastation of grades came out: which was a halloween party hosted by one of the campus charity groups. Bela, Kim (one of my other friends), and I went as trailer trash. Oh yeah. I was pregnant trailer trash to boot. Anyways, we ended up winning best group. :) And I'll have you all know that I coordinated this dressing so at least I'm good at something. haha. Whats awesome though- is that we one a 2 night stay at the Picard Beach Cottages, which are at the beach practically right on campus and they are where some of the actors/other people involved in filming Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean stayed while they were here filming.

I probably wont be posting very often till I get home due to me having to study my arse off... but if something interesting happens I'll let ya'll know. Sad news was now I cant do powderpuff: no time to practice... but they need girls on the line so bad they said I could just come for the game and play- so rock on!

~Kristen
38 days

TEST TOMORROW

So I've been studying like a mad woman for the 8 weeks I've been here for this semester and still feel like I know pretty much nothing... SHIT! Test is tomorrow and I feel not so hot about it- so if you read this before Monday- send me some happy thoughts (but make sure they are intelligent ones too)

I miss home :( but just think- when I get to come back it will already be Christmas Time!!!! wow. Anyways, much love
~Kristen

45 days

Canyoning

So Canyoning was definitely worth it. So here's what happened. There was a group of 10 students that went (which was the maximum number allowed to go with the company- Extreme Dominica). We took the school transport to Roseau, the capital of Dominica, and from there were picked up by Extreme Dominica. They operate out of a beautiful little place called Cocoa Cottages- such a beautiful view- smack dab in the middle of the rainforest.

Once there, it was time to put on our wet suits and harnesses. We then got our helmets and lifejackets and then proceeded to go up the mountain near by to practice how exactly to repel before we would be doing it for real. (Apparently I was a natural :-D ) Once we had all got the technique down we drove to Titou Gorge and began the trek down to the river.

The course just followed the river and included 7 repels and I think 3 jumps. The company had already drilled into the rock before (they have been doing this a long time) so all they had to do was tether us into safety and we were off. Unfortunately there was only one guy that had a waterproof digital camera, and in the gorge there wasnt much direct sunlight so many of his pics were too dark to make anything out.

It was wonderful- jumping off rocks into natural pools and repelling down waterfalls. At one point, I took a nap in a pool in the middle of the rainforest... now how many people can say they've done THAT! (its because I went first down one of the big repels, and with 10 other people that need to go- it took about 30 minutes to get them all through- plenty of time for a nap)

Overall the trip was crazy awesome, but I had to come back to reality seeing as I have my next test in less than 2 weeks.... damn.

Off to study I go :)
~Kristen

Pic 1- the group... I'm 3rd from the left.










Pics 2 and 3- Follow the yellow helmet.

Stuff

Just a quick little update.

Snorkeling was a blast! Champagne Bay was overrated... I think the only bubbles I saw were from fish- so NOT as cool as I was expecting- BUT- Scotts head was way cool. It was just like snorkeling in Finding Nemo. By that I mean that there were tons of tropical fish and corals etc. (no anemones) but then as you went out from the shore, there was, just like in Nemo, "the drop." Seriously, I wish I had an underwater camera to show you how it went. You would be swimming along and then, out of nowhere, the bottom just DROPS OFF. So cool. I did some free dives to the bottom of the shallow part, that was at least 20ft down- in of course crystal clear waters.

Oddly enough, the only part of myself that I managed to sunburn was my knees... how you ask? No idea. I'm going with reflection up from the bottom, because clearly- you snorkel face (and knees) down.

Lets see, yesterday I did my first solo patient interview. This woman was a bit, um, weird... and to my disadvantage had all sorts of stuff wrong with her and I only get 2000 words to do a chart and then differential diagnoses and explanations of the diseases she has... so I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to get it all in.

Canyoning on Saturday!!! My friends that went last Saturday said it was very very awesome. We repel down 2 different waterfalls apparently. I dont really know the exact details. I will when I have experience it first hand this weekend.

Until then- adios muchachos.

~Kristen

Moving on

OK, so since my last post let me think what has happened..... not much really.

Mini one was Monday, and I came out feeling pretty good about it except for one subject so I was all pumped. THEN we figured out grades and my pumped-ness totally disappeared. :-( My personal worst test here. I didnt fail anything, but I sure didnt excel at anything either. I think my problem is that I have a problem being average. I hate C's. Ugh.

Moving on from that, its only going to get worse, so I need to up my studying somehow. (The "how" part is the part I'm still working on). I do know that I still am going to take some me time which should be awesome. For example- Sunday I'm going to Champagne Bay and Scott's head to go snorkeling. I'm going with Bela (of course) through Wellness club. The whole trip cost 10ec which is less than 4US. THEN next Saturday we are going "Canyoning". It should be super duper awesome. It involves dawning a wet suit and harness and repelling off Mountains, through waterfalls into lakes etc. Woot Woot!

Really, I need to cheer up and get going, but its hard when all your going is just more studying- hence the bit of fun that I am determined to mix in in the next 2 weekends.

HOME IN 68 DAYS!!!!

~Kristen

Mini on monday

So its that time again... Mini time. This is looking to be the hardest test that I have had to take here, simply because the subject material is so intense. I suppose in any case I have about 5 days to reinforce all that I can.

Otherwise, life is pretty boring and repetitive as normal- except today I had a killer headache (so bad that I had to go home to get pills to make it bearable). I am also going to try out a new tutor session tonight by a girl doing 5th semester here, so we shall see how that pans out.

I guess, everybody start your praying, and I'll keep on studying. :-)

<3 Kristen

Its the little things

So after hitting what can only be described as a major slump, today I felt much better. No bouts of overwhelming sadness while studying is a nice thing. And I thought I would put in here something that made my night.

After taking an unexpectedly long study break and talking about how we are going to be in debt until we are 45, we were still outside as the sun set and darkness fell. Then a few things went right... for me at least.

First- a friend had gone down to Rituals (a coffee shop- a crappy Panera) to get himself a burger for dinner, because this place is one of the only places thats close that sells beef that you would want to eat. He came back and gave it to us because he forgot to ask for it without condiments and he cant eat them so he had to order another plain, and we got to eat a fantastic Omaha burger (with condiments) at his expense. mmmmmmmmmm.

THEN- I'm looking off towards the main campus and see a lightning bug and exclaim "Is that a lightning bug!?!" I can not describe how excited I was to see it... I may as well been a 4 year old that just got a pony from Santa. My friends that are standing with me go... "yeah, you didnt know that they were here? There are like hundreds of them behind that shed at night." I suppose I dont get out much at night seeing as I'm always studying, but those stupid little bugs (and a fantastic burger) really made my night.

~Kristen