Med School is tough...and some other random discoveries

It's about a week and a half into the start of school now. Classes have picked up in speed quickly and things are already quite busy so I will have to keep this pretty quick and to the point, but wanted to give everybody an update about how things have been going since I haven't really been able to talk to many people with all of the studying I have been doing! The thing I'm about to talk about may seem random and all over the place, but here goes!

• School has been totally great so far. It's awesome being around so many other students with similar interests and goals. The upper year students around the school are very helpful, always willing to answer questions and give advice about what to study, how to study, what professors are like, and what to do around the island, and just about anything you might need to know. They will approach you often and ask how things are going, which is so nice!
• Classes are TOUGH...and tiring. We have eight hours of classes from Monday - Friday. We catch the bus at 7am and usually get home around 5:30pm unless we stay at the school late for something. Histology is especially tough for me because I have barely any background in the subject (such as cell biology/molecular biology/organic chemistry). I have to do a lot of extra studying for this. There is also an extra review group a few times a week at lunch that I am going to go to for extra practice so hopefully I will do OK. We already have a test this week, three next week, and five exams at the end of the month.

I talked earlier about a crazy big spider that Lisa and I saw when she was here visiting. I am pretty sure it was actually a tarantula! There have been lots of crazy spider sightings around the island - here are a couple of pictures (props to the students brave enough to take pics of them when they have been spotted -- Lisa and I certainly weren't brave enough!!)  

• Did anyone ever play that South Park nintendo game about 15 years ago where you had to run around and kill as many chickens as possible? Those chickens made a really annoying noise. That noise can be heard about 20/24 hours a day around here. There are chickens everywhere - and they are as loud as you could possible imagine!
• I discovered a Mango tree right in our yard with awesome, juicy Mangos. Nice! (ooh, and Free :)
• I (almost) adopted a dog. There was an old, limpy dog that was spending a whole lot of time on my front porch in the shade. He was very timid at first but later started letting me pet him and wouldn't run away as we approached him. I started feeling bad, wondering "whatever will he do when we leave in a year and a half?". I even named him, "Bruno". A couple days ago I found out he actually belongs to the neighbour (our busdriver) and just likes our company, and his name is Toro! Don't feel so bad now :)
• We had a lizard in our classroom the other day. Some mean medical student crushed it and threw it in the garbage. Yuck. Anyone ever heard of catch and release?
• Yesterday we had our first day of Anatomy lab. We are dissecting human cadavers this semester. The first day was pretty easy - we started skinning the back of the body. We didn't really get to see any internal structures, other than the different layers of skin and a little bit of muscles. It was a good day for students to get accustomed to the bodies and the different dissection tools. Starting the dissection really did not bother me at all. The nurse in me, however, did find myself thinking about this person before they died - about them making the decision to donate their body for medical research, and about their family going over the procedure follow their death with whichever agency organized it. I have had patients that have adamantly wanting to donate organs and body parts to research and it is a very noble decision.

 

My Roommate Rachel and I on are first day of Anatomy Labs 

Well..it's time for Embryology class now :) Xoxox