We have been caught!

   In the short time that I have been on the island I have noticed that it is really about who and what you know rather then what you have been told. 
   Internet is a big discussion topic here mainly because you can't access wireless internet on campus unless you do so through your computer, which has been registered with the IT department.  The network you can choose on your laptop is STUDENT, which has enough connections for all the students on campus or a majority of them anyway.  I am not sure how all this crap works but I would appreciate a little more flexability.
   Well, not all of us like to bring our computers to campus because we really don't use them during class and they are heavy and cumbersome.  Students do like to bring lighter versions of internet connection such as, blackberry's, iphones and ipads.  These tools are nice because the majority of students on campus make electronic flash cards through a site called Quizlet and then down load the app on the phone and then flip through the electronic flash cards on breaks. Quizlet is a great program that anyone can use for free at a basic level, when you pay you can do more stuff but I don't find it necessary. Upper classmen save their flash card sets and can pass them on to the next semester, which is SWEEEEEEET. Peers can share note cards and such and not have POUNDS of cards to carry around and study.  Again the traveling light factor. 
   The problem is that the network choice is exclusively GUEST, which has a limited number of connections available. If you are not one of the few or in the right location on campus at the right time you can actually connect; if not then you are S.O.L.  I think, no worries I can just make your way to the campus Learning Resource Center (LRC) where there are around 70 computers for student use during the  semester. 
     Oh, wait...policies are changing and the plans for the LRC are to turn it into the testing facility and have all tests on campus computer based.  Ugh, I am not thrilled with this.  Can you imgine taking the GRE every exam....ugh. Anyway, this transition has been in process the last couple of weeks and slowly students are realizing the change and are not liking it.  Do you know how many exams are given every semester! LOTS, which translates to no campus computers.
   Limited use of the LRC is becoming more and more annoying and so some of us have found a few loop holes in the STUDENT network connection and have been able to connect to the internet with our mobile devices.  Mainly these loop holes are freak occurances that occur in certain locations of campus.  Again, I have no idea how these things work but I find when I am in some buildings I get connection to STUDENT network and others I do not.  Well, it has all caught up to us at the begining of this week and all students recieved this email:

Students,

There is a surge in i-Phones, Blackberries and I-Pods  on campus.  This is causing capacity problems with the “Student” wireless network.  Some students have 3 or 4 wireless devices.  The result is that other students are getting bumped off because there are no available IP addresses.

Our first priority is for every student to have one laptop device registered on the student network.  All phones and PDA’s should use the “Guest” network.  Some of you have slipped through the cracks and have “student” wireless on your smart phones. To make room for student laptops, we have to remove this.

This is a necessary move to make sure that all students have access to e-College during class times. We will be making these changes over the next several days.

Paula Randall

Director of Information Technology

WE HAVE BEEN CAUGHT!! I felt like a mouse caught in the cookie jar after I got this email! Well, I never thought it would last forever but it was nice while it did.  I just want ONE convienence...nope..not going to happen. 

Anyway, but to the NOTES!

The Encounter

Okay the moment you all have waited for, the premier of The Encounter!
Directed and Filmed by: Kat Bellew
Editor: Andres Stowell (Thankyou neighbors!)
Staring: Natasha Novik
Supporting Actor: Bill....Guillermo....Bilbo?

A psychological thriller as a young woman sees the infamous centepede for the first time since she has arrived on the tiny island of St. Kitts. The centepede has been known for battling lizards an inch wide and winning. These ellusive insects can be in your covers when you go to bed, in your car as you drive down the street, on the ceiling ready to parachute into your cereal bowl. All of these tales had been told to the young girl but only personal experience could give the girl confidence on the battle ground. This documentary is the first encounter with the nemesis and she can only hope that who ever is watching will....SEND...MORE.... BOP!

A little note from the director: I absolutely love my roommate especially in times like these where all we can do is lean on eachother and FREAK OUT! As you watch the film please pay close attention to her EYES, and listen closely to her remarks, because as she gets more scared she gets quiet but her comments are too good to be missed. I know I can be loud and whiny behind the camera so try listen both of us struggle to get ready for battle.

Please silence your cell phones, children or animals. Thankyou, and enjoy the film.

Part One



At least I have electricity!

  Over the course of the past month I have had to adjust to big and little things such as: the reality that getting any decent red meat on the island is a fantasy or that the Cable guy drives up in his daily driver wearing street clothes and pops his trunk to install the modem and VOIP service at 5:30-7pm.  I will never get used to the inconsistent Internet service on the island.  After a while I got used to the lulls, at 5pm when ALL 700 students are on the Internet talking to family and checking email, and the highs, at 6am when everyone is getting ready for class and no one but ME is sending a "Good Morning" email to their significant other.  I was able to cope with the inconsistencies of the Internet at home knowing that at least I was a five minute walk from campus and they always (so it seemed) had perfect Internet service and plenty of computers to go around (or you just bring your laptop and hook up wirelessly).
  For those of you that I have Skyped and even talked to recently, you know that my home Internet capabilities have been rough because of the consistent wave of rain storms that have since blown through. 

Well....Then I got this message from the IT department in my Ross email box:

Dear Valued Customer

There is a transmission outage which is impacting the Internet services for all islands (except Jamaica, Cayman & Turks).  This is as a result of a failure on the Global Caribbean Network (GCN) fibre system caused by a submarine cable break on the New York end.  Due to this submarine cable break on a fibre system in New York, you would experience slow Internet browsing.

A subsequent update would be  given as we endeavour to restore service as soon as possible.

We sincerely regret the inconvenience caused.

Sincerely

Lime. Better Business Everyday!

  Okay, so now I know ALL the factors that can are involved with getting Internet to this island and how if any of those fail or are disturbed I am F#@*&^%.  Well, my home Internet service isn't through LIME it is through The Cable (original name) but there are very few routes that are possible to retrieve Internet from a hard line and I am guessing that both services are attached to this "submarine cable break" at some point. 

Moral of the story is...I AM stranded on an island...I am a little better off than Gilligan and his crew...

  For all of you that are jealous of me living on an island and getting a tan let this little (but frequent) Internet experience SQUISH your dreams of EVER living on an island.  Unless the point of you coming to the island is to escape the world (VERY POSSIBLE) then by all means I understand why people vacation here.  It takes a certain kind of person to live here for their lives and I have to admit it is not for me.  Thank goodness for breaks!  

  Because I have to cope to island life to make it through the two and a half years that I am here (minus the breaks) I have to laugh and think that at least I have electricity! 

  It just goes to show how fortunate and unaware I was in the states with prompt customer service and the luxury of a big, juicy, grain fed steak straight from the butcher or just being able to walk on a side walk.  Be thankful friends because like the saying goes you don't know what you had until you have lost it. 

Kittitian Cash Cab

Here are some other Mr. RUSVM videos

Enjoy?!  If you want to see better one you can search YouTube for MR. RUSVM 2011 and there are so great ones! If I can find my favorite skitts I will post the links so you can enjoy too!

In the mean time here is my elementry videotaping!

Mr. RUSVM

This is a competition held the first weekend after the begining of class.  It is unfair to the incoming semester class because the other semesters have a whole semester and break to prepare for the next competition.  As a first semester you find out about Mr. RUSVM competition a couple days into class when you pick your class representative.  Never the less because there was only three days to prepare the class picked William/Guillermo (nicknamed Bilbo) to be our representative.  Well....he actually volunteered himself. What I have heard is that he is very vocal in class and not by asking questions but spouting out answers...and not always the right ones, so some of the professors get annoyed with his constant and unwanted participation.  When it came to picking someone he was the first one to sacrafice.

Here are some video's that I took of the show.  Mind you that some of my favorite ones I didn't record because my camera's battery life wasn't that long and I bet video taping uses a lot of energy! In any case here are some selections of mine to give you a taste.  If I can find my favorite skits then I will post them later.

The categories for the contestents were: Favorite Disney princess, Favorite movie, What you would be doing if you weren't at Ross, Rosswear (an outfit made of anything but clothes), and Talent.

Keys Beach Clean Up

 

This weekend I participated in the Keys Beach Clean up because the Leatherback Turtle breeding season is about to begin and Keys beach is a favorite laying site for the females.  The students have to opportunity to be assistants on the watch team, helping take vitals and various measurements of the turtles while they are laying their eggs.  Don't worry, after the turtle has begun laying the eggs in the nest she is in something of a trance and isn't disturbable.  Lets hope I can be in something like a Turtle trance too when it is my time to give birth! 


Anywho, hopeful the next season (next year) I will be adjusted enough that I will be able to participate.  It is long nights (4:30pm-8am) of monitoring and patrolling the beach and taking records but I bet the experience is exhilarating.  Oh yeah I will be cranky but it will be worth all the photos! If we can take any. 

There are a few other species that nest on the beaches of St. Kitts like the Hawksbill and Green I believe, but anyway, there are a few months of nesting that occur so there are plenty of students that are on the teams to schedule patrols and such.  Then there is hatching! Oh, yeah where you get to monitor the hatchlings and make sure they all get to the ocean!  HOW CUTE!  Oh, yeah a site that I can't wait to experience. 
All in good time but for now here are some more pictures to let you know I am alive!
You...would not be surprised at the vast amount of hidden trash the we found on this beach.  When you scanned the beach it just looked like it had some sea debris and dried seaweed and such everywhere.  When you flipped the piles of blown and bundled dried seaweed you got a plethora of plastic. A lot of bottle caps and toothbrushes.  I am not sure where all of this is coming from (what part of the island) but apparently the sea is the dump for toothbrushes.

Lunch after the clean up at home. Yep, these are my lunches these days.  Simple and small. I love PASTA!

Crater Hike Jan 30 2011

As a reward for all my studying on Friday and Saturday I went on a student led Crater Hike that took ALL DAY!  About 20 students and a few dogs met at school and then carpooled 20mins to the trail head.

Background:  The volcano used to be called Mt. Misery and since the end of the sugar cane industry and the rise of the tourist industry the name changed to Mt. Liamuiga (Fertile Land).  From what I was told by this seventh semester student is that the water for the island comes from dams around the edge of the crater that supply water to the locals...ME!  Since there are not a lot of wild life, especially on the volcano, the dammed water stays fairly clean from contaminants.  We even crossed some of the pipes that carry the water down the volcano.  St. Kitts is unique in that it can supply its own water, though I bet some of the water gets desalinated from the ocean too to meet the demand from visitors.  Mt. Liamuiga hasn't erupted in over 2000 years and we hope not to jinx her.  There is an island near by that has a volcano which hadn't erupted in over 2000 years and I believe just recently(the past year or so) it has erupted and leaves plumes of ash and smoke over the island.  Let's all pray that Mt. Liamuiga doesn't erupt for the next three years at the least, it would make for an AWESOME story!  The volcano is on the opposite side of the island in relation to where I live, no worries, I have some time to get out of here before the air quality and such get really bad!

If you care to know more about the geological data of St. Kitts here is a link, but I warn you unless you are Sara Greene it is dense.
http://www.caribbeanvolcanoes.com/stkitts/geology.htm

Here are some pictures of the hike:

Slowly driving threw a goat herd...this is the first time I have seen goats with a herdsman! 

Approaching our destination, as you can see the roads are graded dirt!  We even crossed railroad tracks. Though I don't believe there is an active commercial or public train.  I believe the "Sugar Train" is run as a tourist sight seeing train only.  We saw one on our way to the volcano, the train cars have been modified into Double Decker train cars.  Yeah, it is pretty funny.

This is where the trail head begins, a bit past this sign and up ahead they are building a driving range.

When we approached the guy was trying to point the donkey up hill but as stubborn as he was he kept turning around and going back down the hill.  Eventually the human won and if you look close he has a machete in his hands and the reins in the other.  There are a good portion of the agrarian locals don't like dogs and carry the machetes

We had an impressive caravan to the trail head, and you can see how beautiful of a day it was for a hike!

The view from the parking area

Welcome to the Jungle...that had no fauna just a crap load of flora

As you will notice the trail is narrow and littered with roots and such, oh yeah more flora

Here are the root steps that were a theme on the hike

There were points where I had to climb on hands an knees to get up the root steps, and as you can see we traveled through what would be a creek or water flow or lava flow...whatever.  There was no seeing over the walls of foliage and rock.  These areas were particularly humid.

I am doing all right!

More walls of dirt, roots, flora, and rock. We climbed out of the crack up head in this photo if you can see.

Strangler vine everywhere

The path I have traveled

I forgot to mention the many logs that we climbed over.  One had a medium drop on the other side that required some spotting before taking the leap.

Palms, for shade. 

Laura, the same one that took us on the Bat Cave hike, was showing us the special characteristics of this trees sap.  The sap is white and like thread, if you get enough fresh sap wrapped around a stick you can ignite it.  It actually acts like a sparkler.  It was a cool factoid, with a caution.  See, most white sap trees you shouldn't touch because the sap is caustic (burns), but this trees sap isn't caustic but ignites. Yeah, I am not going to remember this and get burned one of these days trying to show someone else.

Trail, trail, where is the trail?  I frequently looked behind me so that I could get an idea of what this hike was going to be like going down, and I often was worried about keeping on the trail on the way down.  That's why you travel in groups though, right?!

Yeah, you tell me where the trail is.

Don't be fooled this is not some mangrove tree, it is a tree that has been taken over and most likely strangled by......you guessed it! Strangler vine.  At some point the vines have built around enough of the tree to keep it from the sun light and eventually the tree dies.  The cool part is that when the tree decomposes the vine keeps the tree's shape but has spaces through the different vines.  It makes for great photos.

The crater view!

Mt. Liamuiga crater rim. A little metal rod placed in the rock, I guess it is to pitch a flag or something. 

Yes, proof I made it to the crater of Mt. Liamuiga

Other half of the crater.  There wasn't a lot of room to get very good photos because of all the rock and flora that abounded at the top.  There was a rock climb part that would give you a glimpse of the ponds inside the volcano, but it was windy and I was tired.  I will get those pictures another time.  I was actually getting cold at the top, which was nice until my muscles cooled.

This is Devils Tooth or Saw tooth I can't quite remember now, but this is the rock out crop.

A better picture of the Devils tooth...I am pretty sure now that the name is Devil's tooth.

The climb down was nothing but tiring after climbing to the top and resting.  It was beautiful and worth a another trip to get a better picture of the inside of the volcano. See all the wonderful things there are to see on the island.  Don't you want to come visit and go hiking with me! 

A cool picture of where the Caribbean and Atlantic oceans meet. You see the Atlantic white water on the left and the Caribbean white water(longer line of white water) on the right.

Remember food isn't inside you, it is surrounded by you!

Alright, my teachers...professors...doctors that teach... I haven't decided what the most appropriate title is for them, all of those names don't seem to fit any of them..I will let you with whatever title I feel comfortable giving them...yeah

My courses:

Now, don't be fooled in these Wet Prep courses we are getting all the same information that the 1st semester students are getting except it is at a slower pace, because we only have four classes, no labs, that we really have to study for the other three are for building our skills and experience...and we only have classes scheduled four days a week.  When talking to our 1st semester friends they are pulling their hair out over four courses with labs five days a week because each class goes through about 70-80 slides a meeting. They look at the Vet Prep students from last semester and are pissed because they are relaxed because they know the game and have heard half of the material once already.  SO, needless to say I am glad that I have the LUXURY of time to get my study habits together, learn the different professor teaching styles and how to efficiently use my time so that I can eat and sleep! I can't wait until 1st semester, but I will take it one test at a time!

Medical Math also known as Intro to Pharmacology with Yoda! I mean...

Dr. Ibrahm Shokry
"You understand? (nod) You understand"
Schedule: Tue, Wed, Thur

I have his course three times a week and the first week of class he was non-existent.  The first day none of the coordinators noticed that he wasn't around and it wasn't until Dr. Gyimah came in for Microbiology that we told someone Dr. Shokry wasn't present during his time slot.  We were all too scared to leave in case the rules about the class being canceled if the teacher hasn't arrived 20 minutes into the class period.  We thought about it, dared each other and no one had the balls.
Turns out that a series of delays from the New York delayed a lot of teachers from catching their connections in Miami and American Airlines, being the geniouses they are, over book every flight by 27 seats which didn't allow for any of the stranded to catch a connection.  Dr. Shokry was apart of that mess.  Though it seems to have happened for a reason because he was notified by the powers that be that he had been picked in the lottery to attain his citizenship, so he stayed.  If you are going to miss the first part of the week might as well come back the next week, and he did.  Don't worry we have make up sessions for the time lost, and right before our first test!!! Oh yeaa!

   So this was the first week that we got to experience Dr. Shokry and pharmacology (that photo I povided doesn't do him cute old man justice, he is noticably older now).  First impressions are everything and I am always going to see Dr. Shokry and think YODA!  Oh yeah, you thought Dr. Prasad was Yoda, you havn't seen the little egyptian man Dr. Shokry, no you know what...we can have DUELING YODA'S! Oh yes, they would make a pair.  I needed a good gutteral laugh today and dueling Yoda's accomplished my goal.
   On a serious note, Dr. Shokry has an amazing memory and from what seems out of no where will draw up diagrams and names and generic names and all their derivatives and how they differ and then which are synthetic or not and my eyes just oggle out of my sockets.  None of this we have to know...yet, but on that first day he asked us to name a drug and told us everything there is to know about that compound.  I was impressed but it would have helped to be able to translate his english through his thick Egyptian accent. I am getting better though, I have learned that he likes participation and will talk directly at the people that answer and participate the most in the class.  When he is looking directly in my direction I can read his lips and listen to piece together his lessons.
   It is funny because there are some girls who record during class and when they play it back it sounds like something out of a WWII film real. Yep so much for that idea.
  He handed out a booklet of his notes and practice problems for the semester, and the formatting of the notes is KILLING me.  The information is in outline style with the bulets and dashes but no INDENTS so not only do I have to pay close attention to the lessons in class I have to spend some time interpreting the notes.  I am going to need more highlighters.  I am very visual and have visual memory recall so when I see a diagram and am told information about the diagram the next time I see it I don't have to think to hard to explain or answer questions because I can see it in my head.  Well, I do the same thing with paragraphs of information, I read and then use my color system to identify diffent types of information (definitions, charts, detail, examples..etc.) All of this work helps my brain interpret and remember the info.  So when I opened the packet and saw no visual help I knew this was going to take up some of my luxerous time!  No, worries, Dr. Shokry is a sweet man and all this effort will better prepare me for third semester pharacology!
   I have been told by the prior Vet Prep students that in pharacology Dr. Shokry sends two hours on all the information that he presents in our course, so doing well now will give us an advantage later. 


 Microbiology...just good ol' bacteria to make me feel at home!

 Dr. Joseph Gyimah
Schedule: Tue, Frid

Talking of little men, Dr. Gyimah is also a Yoda like figure but not as frumpy as Dr. Shokry.  He is from Nigeria and studied in the states but has a thick accent also but he talks very clearly and slowly, thinking about how he wants to exactly phrase something.  He too handed out a packet of his notes for us to follow along with and he is going to be another flashcard teacher.  Micro is all facts and definitions with few concepts, so not my favorite style of teaching.  I do enjoy that when he asks questions about famous bacteria and protozoa I seem to always have the answer.  Thanks PAT.  I guess what little time I spent in Micro lab and all the lessons I learned in necropsy stayed with me.  Reading ahead probably helped also, but the information is very familiar and I have to thank Pat, Rob, John, Rich and Prasad for introducing the information to me.  I enjoy this class and can't wait until we get into depth with kinds of bacteria and parasites...well I can wait for the parasites...but I can feel that this will be a course that I take with me through my time at Ross.
   One of my favorite moments so far in this course was  we were talking about the importance of Fimbriae and the difference between them and flagella and Dr. Gyimah put up his hands, said wait a moment, and then left the class.  He came pack with a football looking stuffed toy with two big eyes and all this string hanging down.  The string had two pieces that were much longer than the rest and Dr. Gyimah raised this toy and said it was his E.coli doll and proceeded to describe the two different structures.  I am going to be the DORK that has a bed with bacteria dolls propped up against my pillows.  Oh, and I will make it better by giving them all names that are alliterations of their species such as, Clarise Clamydia, Stacy Staph, Terry Tetinus, and you get the picture.

Physiology...MY FAVORITE!

Dr. Allen Reich
Schedule: Tue-Fri
"I don't know about you but I had a GREAT time today, see you tomorrow"

It is a good thing I like this course because we see him every day for the four days that we have class and twice on one day of the week becuase he takes part in a portion of our Evidence Based Medicine course.  This guy has more energy than I do...I know it is hard to believe that he has more energy than a "Chihuahua on steroids" thanks John, but he does.  It is imperitive to read ahead in this course because he asks questions abotu the material and uses clinical experience to emphasize points that he wants to make.  He bluntly dislikes cats, which is hysterical becuase when ever an animal is going to be eaten or used for an energy source it is a cat.  He too is brilliant but you don't realize it until the class is over, he never used one power point or presentation to convey information and yet you covered a lot of material.  I was very impressed the first day and knew there was no room for writing during that class, all you could do is jot down points and anything that you didn't follow during his examples.  He also thrives on some participation and likes questions. 
   My roommate after the first class (if you remember, he is the teacher that gave everyone a heart attack the first day and then used that to begin his lecture) was big eyed and lost.  You see she is fresh out of University of Minnisota and is used to writing down every word the professor says and well had no idea where to start with Dr. Reich.  She was upset and worried about this class because she is very detailed and is comfortable in the structure of a powerpoint.  If you wrote everything down in the lecture you would loose the point of the lecture because you are too busy analyzing it.  The next few classes with Dr. Reich were funny because there are a few people that do what my roommate, Natasha does, and he finally told them all to put their pens down and listen.  I turned to Natasha and you could see her hands interlocked and by her face so that she wasn't tempeted to pick up her pen and write.  I smiled and have been helping her get "the big picture".  He teaches concepts and then weaves in the details he wants you to know but relates them to the "big picture".  I am keeping up with preparation and feel good about the upcoming exam. 
   We looked at a few of the old exams and he is tricky or requires your full attention.  The questions felt like something out of the GRE or SAT, and sure enough he was part of the ETS committee in his past life. There was a question on a past test that had someting to do with lactose as a compound and then the very next question used lactose as the name of an enzyme and both Natasha and I answered it wrong because loactose is not an enzyme but a carbohydrate! Yeah, that is what I mean when you have to pay attention because he knows where your train of thought will be after one question. He also made it known that he goes straight to his office and writes down a few questions for the exam after every lecture.  He is different but so far is effective.

Evidence Based Medicine
Schedule: Wed

  Well how this course works is all of us were split into two groups and we meets all of us were split into two groups and we meet on different days. We get three cases to work up in four weeks to hopefully come to a diagnosis, but the point of the course is to teach us the steps of coming up to a diagnosis.  We also have objectives after each meeting that we have to research before the next meet so that we can teach the group what we learned. From what we learn and the steps they teach us to help us move along in the case we hope to come ot a diagnosis.  We are graded on participation and preparedness of each meeting.  Over the course of the semester we will work up three cases, on of which being a horse case and all I know about horses is Rhodococcus.  Yep...when all else fails Rhodococcus, I have to thank Toni for that one because that is her motto.  Since I know very little about small animals I am looking forward to learning the ins and outs of the small animal clinician.

Veterinary Terms

Dr. Erin McNally
Schedule: Thr

A relaxed course that is going to teach us how to navigate the language of the veterinarian. It is like an English course, spelling counts, but with veterinary terms.  Did you know the word epithelial breaks down into epi = "above", theli = "Nipple", al = "pertaining to", add that all up to pertaining to the top of the nipple.  Yeah, I wonder who decided that was an appropriate name.  It was probably one of Wendy's long lost descendents making history. 



Study Skills

A course that I am not sure what the point is yet.  Our first meeting was canceled, second was interupted with emergency AVMA accredidation preparation, and then we finally met and spent the whole time talked about ourselves and making "connections" with eachother.  Today's meeting we had a speaker from The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Bradford Goodwin. He talked to us about Lab Animal medicine and what a veterinarian's role in the animal research labs.  He flashed some fancy salary ranges and told us stories of when Hurricane Allison hit Houton the basement floors (where they kept all the lab animals) flooded and the devostation it caused the staff.  A lot of the staff for relationships with some of the animals and even go so far as to name them but they all take their jobs very seriously.  It sounded like something I would like to check out, I don't know how I feel about working with primates, but I like rats and beagles and ARMADILLOS! Not so crazy about naked mole rats or opposums...but I like to hang out with ferrets and then put them back...I don't want to risk smelling like ferret for too long.  I have a cousin, Sarah, in Houston, I believe and I would probably be able to stay with her while I externed at the lab.  That would be an awesome break, I haven't seen her in a couple of years. 

Applications
Schedule: Tue

I have no idea who or what this class is about except that it is suppose to give us hands on experience.  When I know I will tell you all about it.

We have an exam every four mondays, and they are block exams.  On monday exam days we will get a set time to finish all the exams (4).  For example Jan 27 we will have an exam time from 1-3pm.  We will have four tests each 20 questions in length and we get to start and finish them in any order we want but we only get two hours for all four.  Oh yeah, this is sounding like the SAT's or something, but I guess the prior students miss that exam type.  We will see.
Well, now you know about as much as I know about my courses and my experiences thus far.  Let's hope that the school gets accredited by AVMA!  I sure would like to save that money of having to take three exams to practice in California!

Hopefully this weekend I can get the Mr. RUSVM video uploaded so that you guys can experience the roudiness of the male competition!  It was highly entertaining.

KIT
kat

Two days of class

    Alright I am feeling good...maybe this is a little premature but I love physiology.  Dr. Reich is our physiology teacher and he thrives on participation, I understood his style when he slammed his hand on the podium really hard, yelled "Hey" and gave everyone but me a heart attack, because I was watching him.
    After his introduction to the course and his probing questions about what we all heard about his class and him we all ran to the Learning Resource Center and printed tons of notes (available on public servers for us to print off any time we like). I read and answered all the questions in the objectives list he provided and got ready for today, I felt good.  Dr. Reich entered the room, asked how many people reviewed the material, how far we got and then threw a curve ball at everyone but me and a few others. He began asking questions and feeding off our answers and curiosity all the while staying in the realm of the topics we talked about in the notes (Carbohydrate digestion and absorption). Thank you Dr. Blanchard, Adaska, Moeller, Prasad, Chin and all the residents for helping me learn my discussion skills, because I passed with flying colors today in that lecture. I like the game he is playing and I understand why he is doing it and I can thrive. I just have to stay ahead, which means little in the way of anything else (the blog). 
   There are a few of us that like the way he works (time flies when he teaches) and then there is my roommate who was having a mini stroke because she didn't know what to write down.  I reassured her and am going to help her adjust her studying style so she doesn't get wrapped up in fear because of his go with the flow style.  His lecture style is not one where you can write down notes, it is all about paying attention and interacting with him.  At first is seems like your answering a question but at the end of the discussion you realize that you have covered a lot of material that you studied the night before. I am happy.

  I heard from some faculty that there are some faculty stuck in Miami because they missed their connections because their previous flights were delayed.  I guess American Airlines over books their flights by 37 seats for every flight which leaves no empty seats for those that missed connections.  I guess they will make up their lectures later in the semester!

Got to Read!

 I hope you all are having as great a day!

KIT
Kat

The End of Orientation

       I spent a lot of time trying to remember all the most important things and what I would need to survive the first week in a new country, packing only what was necessary.  I meet my classmates and they have two parents checking two of their bags for the and then they still shipped boxes of stuff, so much for packing lite.  I was a little worried that I didn't bring enough but that dissipated when I began to worry about what was going to happen when I got to St. Kitts, who was going to meet me, how was my apartment going to be, my neighbors, my ROOMMATE! 
       Then I was greeted by the largest committee of all four schools holding signs and waiting for students.  Adele (student housing coordinator) gave me a hug and asked how I was doing after our flight delays and layovers and was impressed that I still had a smile on my face.  I couldn't have been welcomed more warmly, and at that point I knew that I was where I needed to be.  I met my orientation leader, Stuart, a nice guy but no leadership abilities, I know his wife wheres the pants in that relationship. I met a few students in my group and over the next few days we few bonded and met other students fresh off the plane and before I knew it we had a full buss of 25 students, some with parents, and all the patience died.
       The problem with students arriving on different days for a few days means that we are all in different stages of our transition and there is only one buss to get all of us to where we need to go.  When a few people need to go to the store the whole bus has to wait for them to be done to get on with the events of the day.  These stops and errands make for VERY long days on a hot bus, so by the time we were at the beach or doing an island tour we were all annoyed, sweaty, and drained from the errands that it was hard to get excited for the event.  A lot of people opted out of going to dinner with the group because it was a HUGE affair getting 25+ people into a restaurant.  Between the large group and island time we wouldn't get home from dinner until midnight.  The whole group activities got old really quick and I am glad to have my significantly smaller group to stumble around town.
        As you can see from the posts the orientation trips were great and I got a quick peak at the main tourist spots of the island along with some interesting history but I would like to spend more time in those areas.
        I have tried a short (very short, because the drivers drive so fast) stint on a bus to the market and back.  I have never waved down a bus before or just told him to stop here and they do. Angie tried to give the driver a heads up on where we wanted to stop and all the driver heard was "bla, bla, bla, bla, STOP" and he did.  We apologized and told him we would like to be dropped off at the campus and we got off apologizing again and he zooooomed off.  The buses are the size of mini vans and smell musky.  All of the vehicles have a nick name or saying on them which gives you an idea of the personality of the driver. I will have to give examples of some later. I would hate to get them wrong because there is so much thought put into them.
      Well, tomorrow is another day in paradise and I need to go to bed.

      It has been a great week and I have many more stories to come!

KIT (keeping in touch) Kat


This week has already flew by which reaffirms that the time I spend here is fleeting.  I admit that my start on this adventure and  a little nerve wracking

Reggae/Cockleshell Beach

Friday the day before the anticipated Catamaran trip everyone wanted some beach time...In retrospect those people that laid out in the sun probably regretted that decision.  I have never seen so many lobster skinned people and most of them were from Europe.  My roommate, her mom and I decided to hang in the shade of the trees where we still got some color.  Students get to have the chairs for free when the beach is slow.

 Walking up and down the beach we found some interesting characters.  Such as the reggae man that had a young female monkey, with a diaper, running between his shoulders as he walked down the beach.  He would randomly pick some cute girls and put the monkey on them and ask if they want a picture, take the picture and demand money.  YEaaa, I would have a problem with someone putting a monkey on my shoulder...especially if it has a diaper on...a stash for projectiles.  Knowing my luck I would piss the poor monkey off and get pooped!  No thank you.  I guess the story is that some locals catch young monkeys some how and raise them, once they get mature they become too aggressive for the handlers and they either get euthanized (some way) or they release them back into the wild.  There is a rumor that people have removed half the brain when the monkey is young and they are calmer at an older age. I haven't gotten a veterinary opinion about this "Calming Method" so I take it with a grain of salt.

 Upon our stroll we also encountered many European peoples may favorites are the men with beer bellies in Speedo's strutting down the beach and the women with small socks hanging in little triangle bikini's.  It is not that their boobs sag as much as it is that they take the straps that tie around the neck and tie them around their back.  When you look at these women or peers there boobs are squeezed in to the little stretched triangle left and it looks REALLY BAD.  Not to mention that you get some peeking of the breast out of the edges of the triangles. There was a woman who didn't have a top on at all...or at least we think...see we didn't see any nipples...so was she really nude?  The beaches on the island are not nude friendly, though what constitutes nude hasn't been defined. 

The tourists are very comfortable....or drunk here that they will talk to random people (students) about anything.  It happened to Natasha and I while we waited in line for the one woman's bathroom on the beach (a very long line) and a woman with bad teeth and saggy boob bathing suit on asked if we were Vet students...yes...where we were from because she was from Scotland... I told her California and she made a big gasp and awed.  Natasha said she was from Minnesota and the Scottish woman lit up and immediately said that she would be spending time in Duluth.  It was her turn to go to the bathroom but before she would leave our conversation she made Natasha promise to find her and her husband on the beach so they can play 20 questions.  We did our business and Natasha informed me that she had never been to Duluth and didn't know what to say but thought it would be interesting to meet her husband.  The woman spoke so fast we could barely understand her when she was excited and her hot pink bikini was unforgettable.  Unfortunately we never found her on the beach, so Natasha never got put in any awkward conversations where she pretends to understand them but it was still entertaining!

 

 It's a beautiful day on the beach to get FRIED!

 Coconut palms are everywhere. I will learn how to cook with them from a local...I hope.

 See I am wearing a hat!  All those years of showing horses and being harped on to put a hat on worked!  Victoria's madness works!!!



 The Boar in this picture is Wilbur, he is at least on thousand pounds and could take me out with a turn of his head.  Okay pig people there is no better treated pig than this one, lounge around all day in the shade of kayaks waiting to see the mistress in the pen around the corner. 

 This is a pen with the best friends a monkey and goat.  There is a sign warning you about the monkey and to stay clear. No, throwing poo is not their concern it is that he will steal your sunglasses! If you look hard you see that he is crouched over looking through something, well it is a pair of prescription sunglasses.  He took off the arms and hols the sides playing peek-a-boo with the rocks fascinated by the difference the glasses make.  I imagine it makes the images blurry but I would be curious to know if the glasses make the images clearer!  In the far left corner of the cage you can see the face of the sow that is Wilbur's partner!

 Along the beach there was a man with a few horses tied to a tree with a donkey ready to be ridden along the beach.  Well I thought these horses looked a little poor but some of the students took them out on the beach and rode around. 

Black sand, evidence that at one point there was a volcanic eruption but there is no record of one on the island.  Let's hope it stays that way.  Actually, Sarah Greene soon to be some other last name...what has your volcanic knowledge told you about us little Caribbean islands?