Weekends? What are those?

Lets see... tomorrow is my birthday. Ugh... I dont mind turning a year older, its just that this is the first birthday that I wont be with my family and well "augie friends". My friends here are taking me to the beach though- which should be fun. And they are making me something... a surprise that I cant know about until tomorrow.

Update on school- its freaking hard! I spent i think 13 hours on friday doing just cell biology. I doubt it would be as frustrating if I actually liked it... but alas- I hate it and therefore it sucks! But I now have a 21 page typed document of the learning objectives for her lectures.

I did the same thing today with the anatomy that we have had so far- but that document is only 16 pages long.

Tomorrow is my bio-chem/genetics day which should be a little less stressful, but then on my way home in the taxi, a 5th semester student was like… first mini- biochem. So now I’m thinking oh shit. But the good news is that the course of Biochem here encompasses genetics and maybe embryology- both of which I had a very good teacher for. So hopefully she was good in the sense that the things I learned at Augie will pertain to the things I need to know here.

I also have to find out if Alloy ships to the island because I’m gonna be needing some new shorts/pants eventually. Not in the immediate future- but I will have to go find a belt. he shorts that I did bring were once pants that I chopped the bottom off- and they were on clearance to they are already a size to big which is leading to shorts that I do not have to unbutton to take off… which is interesting.

I went through my music on windows media player today- cleaned off 600 songs that I couldn’t access for some reason (well my computer did) and I was having a good time listening to the random stuff that was on there… Like a Tenacious D album and South Park songs… sadly its easy Mkay was not on there L. Then I listened to the entire At Worlds End CD while typing anatomy origins and insertions, innervations and actions. Monday comes the Brachial Plexus (which apparently dominates the first mini).

I blasted my apartment with spray stuff today and at least currently it smells better. Which is nice. The bathroom now has a weird funk to it though… which makes no sense because I hardly ever use it. (and I think of it more like the camper bathroom- only #1 unless you’re really desperate). Im never in my apartment during the day so its easy to use other buildings toilet paper.

On to week 2

Well its now Wednesday of week 2 and I'm still alive. I'm working on my anxiety issues and trying to get into a good groove for me that involves all the things that need to happen- study, eat, sleep, and me time. All I seem to do is study and yet I still worry all the time about what if its not enough. Hopefully after the first test- which is in 3 weeks, well 2 and a half now, I'll either feel a lot better or way worse- I'm shooting for feeling a lot better.

On the menu for today is 2 Gross anatomy lectures, then a Histology lecture, a DPS lecture and then anatomy lab. And thats just the class part- which will last until about 5- then I need to find time to eat and study and throw in some exercise as well.

My apartment is still smelly, but since basically all I do there is shower and sleep, it doesnt bother me too much.

I went river tubing this weekend, which was really fun. We each had individual intertubes and had to don lifejacket (of course) but also helmets, because there were sections of some pretty sweet rapids. I laughed a whole lot and would definitely do it again.

I think that I found the place where I'll be studying for the majority of this first semester- a building called the Annex- which is where all of the first semesters have class. Its a huge building that is a whole lot less populated as the library for studying so its quieter, which I like.

Well its time for class and I need to get organized. I dont know how often my posts will come, but I'll try to stay fairly up to date.

Things that eat your soul

Right now I am fairly certain that Gross Anatomy is eating my soul... Perhaps its because of the sheer amount that we are expected to know already (day 3) or the fact that we have had different sections of the body each of those 3 days to memorize/learn. I never thought I'd see the day where I would want to attend a biochemistry lecture more than an anatomy lecture but its here.

Good news is that tomorrow we are scheduled for two lectures in two new subjects- Histology and Physiology. I can only hope that my optimism that having two new subjects to learn upon the massive amount of things to learn from 3 days will last into said lectures.

Other than the soul eating properties of Gross Anatomy, things have been going pretty well here. It still rains alot- and when it does its always random and of course it cant just sprinkle- it has to pour for a minute and then its done. All the while its still sunny while its raining.... it leads to lots of rainbows.

I bought some used anatomy flash cards today in the shacks (where we eat... chicken or tuna) and they are certainly nice to have. Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to find a Clinically Oriented Anatomy book at the Islandthrift table. It will cost significantly more than the used books at the bookstore... but all of those books are gone and I need one ASAP. So whatever. 200EC, I'll just have to pay it. BTW $1 US = $2.67 EC. Which leads to jars of nutella that have a price tag of $58 EC... nutella is apparently a delicacy in the Caribbean.

I must also admit that in this short 3 day period I have studied for what seems like half the time I would have spent studying for a final at Augustana (in one subject). Today alone I studied for 5.5 hours which is in addition to the 4 hours that I spent in lecture. Thats 9.5 hours of studying in one day and yesterday I think I put in a 10-11 hour day of studying. Its absolutely draining. I just hope that I am able to retain what I do try to study. Theres nothing like feeling like a Jack of All trades and master of none on DAY3!!!!!

Food here seems to change prices daily. I got a chicken wrap for 8ec one day and then today the same chicken wrap at the same vendor was 15ec... They seem to make up prices on the fly. I have been trying to explore the different booths but mostly like Nelson's chicken because it is the best. Unfortunately everyone else also likes Nelson's chicken which leads to long lines. At least I'm used to eating a diet that consists of mostly chicken anyhow ;-). (<3 u mom... and your chicken).

I keep trying to put pictures up here- or anywhere on the internet but my computer keeps disagreeing with me. It will be all but done and then give me an Upload failed notice... stupid internet. But I will keep trying. The school isnt really anything spectacular to look at but if you take the bus to the surrounding areas its really quite majestic.

More stuff to work out

So apparently I never sent my official official transcript from Augie to here... the one with my English credits on it. So now I need to work that out, which sucks. I'll have have them fax it over, but I dont think that Augie is even back in session quite yet so I'm not at all sure. hmmmm. I stood in line for another hour today to "check in" apparently thats the only way they have of knowing if you are for sure on the island. Whatever. But good news is that I got my check from student loans- which have rates of 6.8% and 8.5% interest. So I need to figure out how much money I will actually need to live and then funnel all of the rest back. There is no point of paying interest on money I'm not really using.

My new adventure is finding shoes... going to see if Amazon ships for free here- otherwise USPS is the only type of box that I can actually get to arrive on campus and not have to pay a taxi driver to go and get for me.

My school address is
Kristen Krakovec
Ross University School of Medicine
P.O. Box 266
Roseau
Commonwealth of Dominica
West Indies

A mouthful I know. The weird thing is that the school is actually in Picard, so that is why I would have to pay someone to retrieve it if it is sent through UPS or whatnot.

Thats all for now

I'm ALIVE!!!!!!

Just letting you all know that I am alive and well. After a terrible layover in Antigua, and a journey to find a hotel while lugging around two 70 pound bags, I have made it to Dominica.

It really is beautiful. And very different. On the "taxi" drive in, which entailed an hour long drive through winding roads and mountains, I saw 12 cows, 4 dogs, a goat and a sheep.... All of which were just chillin on the side of the road. Some tied up, others not.

My apartment is livable, but SMELLS!!! and its not a good smell either. Its a mix of what has been dubbed "foot and old people.... or foot and incontinence" ugh... but for 425 a month... i cant really complain. I have friends that are paying 700 dollars for the same type of space. (less smelly of course) :-)

The campus is nice... from the outside it looks like well large tin barns- but on the inside... quite honestly is is more technologically savvy then Augustana was. There is so much technology there its unbelievable.

And they use the tuition money to better the campus... (not like some campuses I know. wink wink). They just built a new three story building that houses the campus Gym, Student Group center, and then the SGA floor.

My apartment is about 10 minutes from the main campus, but what I didnt know was that all of the 1st semester classes are held in a building that they call the Annex, which is only about 4 minutes from my house.

The locals are all mostly really nice. I've only met one shady character in my time here. He was a "taxi driver" that wasnt driving the stereotypical taxi and I was waiting for friends to arrive and he gave me his number in case I needed a ride. When my friends arrived in their taxi the driver for them told me to delete that number immediately and he preys on 1st semester female students. In his words- to me and my friend Jesse- "he is like the spider and waits for the fly to get stuck in his web." Creeeeepy!

All of my stuff arrived in tact. Which is really nice. And it all arrived with me :-). Some of my friends had to wait DAYS for their luggage, and I got both on the same day. And I do believe that I thoroughly over packed. But I'd much rather have the problem of over packing, than having not brought enough... because stuff here is EXPENSIVE!!! But it makes sense... it takes a lot of effort to get stuff here. I bought some Air Wick to try and mask the foot smell for 3.50 today. But i certainly needed it.

More to come later, but thats all for tonight.

I'll also put pictures up here eventually.