1 Block down, 4 more to go

So this past Tuesday, I had my first set of exams. It was very stressful but as usual, I made it through:) I did okay but I would have liked to do better. Considering that more than half of my class failed the histology exam, I should be happy with my grade but as most of you know, I'm not really like that. I have never studied this much in my life. I learned very quickly that Med School (even med school in the Caribbean) is not a joke and is nothing like undergrad. A typical day for me includes at least 6 hours of class and at least 6 hours of studying (it is worse or better depending on how close the exam day is).

I have met a lot of nice people - some of which I now call my friends. My roommate, Jamie, especially. It is nice that we clicked so quickly and that I feel quite comfortable with her already. We have decided to live with each other next semester and are now looking for a place. We want to move out of the Bottom(the village where the school & dorm is) because it is hotter here and there isn't much around. The Windwardside is a lot cooler and there are little shops and restaurants up there. It is kind of far but there is a school bus that picks you up and drops you off - since I'm not really a library studier, it shouldn't be a problem to spend only class time at the school.

It is absolutely beautiful here and I can't express how helpful that is with all the stress. It is so relieving to take a few moments to breath and take it all in. The view outside of my dorm is gorgeous and I try not to miss any sunsets. I also love how there are animals everywhere. I hear students complain about it all the time, but I like it. I see at least one goat, one bunny, and one rooster every day (and of course I hear the roosters and lambs all day). I took a video of the goats last weekend, you can watch it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlbHhzuADpc

I could probably write a lot more but I don't want you guys to have to read a book so if there is anything you're curious about, just post a comment and I'll be sure to include it in the next post (hopefully it will be written a lot sooner than 3 weeks from now).


This is one of the many sunsets (the picture was taken from my balcony)


This is my roommate, Jamie, on our orientation day. This is the testing center where we all sit at computers for our exams...the computerized testing will take some getting used to:)


After our intense morning of exams on Tuesday, Jamie and our friend Yasaman and I went to the Queen's Gardens Resort to hang out by the pool with some drinks. It was a beautiful day and this was the view! An absolutely perfect way to relax after exams.


These are my new friends. Beside me is Yasaman (Yaz), and beside Jamie is Bonnie. We all went to "The Swinging Doors" for a big BBQ ribs feast after our lazy pool afternoon.


Yesterday after 6 hours of draining lecture, I went snorkeling at the beach with a group of guys. I swam quite far, saw some sea turtles, some purple and green fish, a couple sea urchins(sp?), and swam through a cave. This is the picture afterwards.

Vacation before Hard Work

A lot has happened in the last couple of days so I'm just going to outline it day by day.

April 29th
Nad, Des, and I left our hotel room in Buffalo, NY at 4:30 in the morning and headed for the airport. We got into Sint Maarten at 2:30pm and it was sunny and 83/30 degrees out. We took a cab to the ferry, dropped off our luggage and went to hang out on the beach and watch part of the carnival parade (the parade was for Queen's day, the Dutch Queen's birthday). It was crazy and loud and like nothing I've ever seen. Our ferry left for Saba at 7:00 and it was pretty much dark by then. The ride was rocky but none of us got seasick and we all enjoyed standing on the outdoor deck and getting our faces sprayed with ocean water. We finally got to Saba at 9:00 after pretty much traveling for 17 hours. Almost everything on the island was shut down by then, so the taxi driver dropped me off at my dorms and took the girls to their hotel in another town (10 minute drive). I was exhausted but excited so I unpacked everything at once and then crashed.

April 30th
I woke up around 7:30 because it gets light here at about 5:00 in the morning. I set out to walk/hike to Des and Nad's hotel. It was quite the hike. It was probably only 3 miles but it was mostly uphill/upmountain. I could've hitchhiked but I just wanted to prove to myself that I could do it. Also, every single car that passed me either honked or waved to me. Everyone is so friendly here, I love it! When I got to the hotel, we hung out by the pool then walked around the town, had lunch, and then had dinner. We had dinner at the hotel restaurant and sat outside on this balcony that has an amazing view of the ocean. It is so beautiful here! I took the taxi home at night.

May 1st
Nad and Des walked over to my dorm but only got about 10 minutes of walking (downhill) in before someone stopped and asked them if they wanted a ride. I showed them around my place and then we went for a hike up the Crispeen Trakk. It was a little trail with stone steps that weaved through the rainforest up the mountain. At the end of the trail it opened up into this pasture that gave a great view of the surrounding mountains and the ocean. We walked a little bit further on another trail and then Nadya saw a snake and freaked out so we turned around and went down. Halfway down the trial we saw a bench that overlooked the water so we sat for a bit and took it all in. When we got back, we changed and went out for lunch with two of my co-students. The one girl is very outgoing and it was funny to hear her stories of being in Sint Maarten alone. Then we just waited around for the little grocery store to open (it's been a holiday ever since we got here so nothing is open except restaurants which are very expensive to eat at, the store opened specially for students). We bought some groceries and were surprised by how many choices we had for food. We bought so much that we qualified for the free delivery which was really nice because the hill you have to climb to get from the grocery store the my dorm is incredibly steep and would've been terrible for carrying all of that stuff. Then we took the taxi back to the girls' hotel, had sandwiches, went to the bar for some beers (beer here is pretty much the same price if not cheaper than water) and went to bed. We were planning to get up at 6:00 to hike up Mount Scenery.

May 2nd
We woke up at 6:00 but there was a downpour of rain. Considering the steep slippery steps, we decided to go hiking up the mountain another day when it would be safer. Nadya and I signed up for scuba diving and Des is going to pay to come on the boat and videotape us:) Now we're just relaxing by the pool. We'll hike down to the tide pools later and I'm really excited.

On a sidenote, water conservation is huge here and so everyone goes by the rule "When it's yellow, let it mellow, when it's brown flush it down" and you can't flush toilet paper down the toilet! Overall, I just can't believe that I am now residing here! I love you all, and miss you.