23 days till rooster, goat, and cadaver free!

The countdown is officially on until I will be home for Christmas break --- only 23 more days and I get to spend two whole weeks back in Ontario. I must say, the homesickness has really kicked in the past couple of weeks. I must say…I think that is one of the most challenging things about this experience - being away from my family for so long. I find myself fantasizing multiple times a day now about what it's going to be like to see my sister for the first time after so long and give her a HUGE hug. I miss them all so much. Two weeks definitely isn't going to feel like enough time, that is one thing I know for sure.

I've been here for 3 months now, written 18 exams, taken 12 smaller tests, dissected the human body from the neck down (we still have to dissect the neck and the head this block). The amount of information we are expected to learn is absolutely unbelievable. It's amazing and interesting and overwhelming all at the same time. It's kind of like trying to drink out of a fireman's hose…you just can't possibly drink that much no matter how thirsty you are.

I would definitely say I have adapted to things here, gotten into more of a routine, and have learned how I need to study. I've accepted that there's a ton of stress. It comes in intervals. Exams are once a month - you spend two weeks of the month going crazy with stress, you get through it, then it gets a little better. You find ways to cope with that. I've made good friends that are supportive, talk to people at home that remind me why this is all so important, get exercise, and take time for myself. These things all get me through. My focus is better - I guess this comes with practice. Things are going well. This is an endurance race it's important to keep things slow and steady and keep your head in the game.

I've done lots of awesome things since my last post. Right after the last set of block exams a big group of us went over and spent the night in St. Martin for a mini-vacation. One of the hotels there offer a "local price" which is a great deal. We celebrated one of our classmate's birthdays, did some shopping, and had a fun night out.

Here are some photos from our night out in St. Martin. I learned how to eat with chopsticks (sort of). I am still practicing!

I participated in the Breast Cancer Walk of Hope, which was a five mile walk/run through Anguilla to raise awareness about breast cancer screening and prevention with some of my classmates.

This was a group of students that participated in the Breast Cancer Walk. There were hundreds of community members that participated as well. It took place right after writing a couple of exams so it was a great way to blow off some steam.

As part of the SGA, we organized an "Olympiad", which was sort of like a student appreciation day. There were a bunch of organized games in which students competed against students in other classes in various events, and we provided lunch and drinks. I'm proud to say our MD1 class beat out the other classes that day :D

This is most of the MD1 group of students that participated in the Olympics (THE CHAMPIONS!)

Classes were cancelled today due to a huge power outage on the island (half of the island lost power for about 8 hours). We considered this our equivalent of a "snow day" - and a bunch of us hit the beach for the day. It was really nice that this happened right after exams because we could kind of take it easy and relax rather than spend the day studying. Here are a couple nice island shots:

 

My Roomie Mike and I at the beach today on our "snow day"

So, as you can probably tell, life's been busy but I've still been able to find time to have a life outside of school. The upcoming few weeks before the break will also be hectic. There is another round of exams right before break, we have a group presentation to do, a paper to write, and a bunch of tests in between. American Thanksgiving is tomorrow, so we are throwing a huge MD1 family potluck at our place tomorrow night (TURKEY and all!), and there is another Red Cross event next weekend. This should help the time until Christmas vacation pass quickly :)

XOXOXOXO

The Best Things in Life are Free

     Exams are over and we are a week into our next block. The last couple of weeks have really been a blur, so I guess I should probably have lots to write about! I am finding it really tough to do the little, relaxing things that I like to do -- like writing in my blog, doing my yoga, going for walks…the simple stuff that keeps me sane.  I have only been to the beach once in the past three weeks! It feels like a constant balancing act here, just trying to stay afloat of everything. The phrase "there aren't enough hours in a day" has never been more true! Don't get me wrong, I am really enjoying what I am doing here. I love being in such a challenging environment, being around so many ambitious and intelligent people, and being ridiculously busy. I am learning so much, so quickly. I find myself wishing sometimes that I had more time to spend learning about the things I am finding interesting. Really though, it's learn what you need to know and move on at this point, because there just isn't the time if you don't want to end up miles behind the race.

      So, one piece of news that I don't think has made it to the blog yet is that I have joined the Student Government Association (SGA) as school Historian. It is a really exciting role -- along with the other Historian, we will be creating a student SGA website, which will have all of the school's calendar of events, apartments for rent and cars for sale of upper year students that are leaving, meeting minutes, info about the different student clubs, etc. (There isn't an SGA site yet so this will all be new). It also involves taking photos at events, monitoring and updating the Facebook and twitter accounts and recording attendance of students at events and things like that. I the website will help create a continuum of what is and has been going on at the school, and will be helpful to the students, and also to new students that will be coming in. Prospective students will also be able to check it out to get a feel for what goes on at the school as well. This won't happen overnight as we are all busy studying but we hope to get it up and running soon!

      So, like I said, exams were last week. We had two exams on Friday and then four the following Monday. It was stressful, and exhausting, but it turned out well. I am glad that is over! It's hard to believe I will have to go through that once a month for the next (almost) year and a half. Friday night there was a post-exam party at Elvis' Beach Bar, which is an outdoor bar right on the water. It was really nice and was also a fundraising event for the MD4's white coat ceremony. There was a good turnout. There was a big screen projector playing American sports so the men were all happy.

     Yesterday morning there was a Red Cross event held at one of the big grocery stores (Best Buy) for the community. A lot of the people here don't get regular health care or checkups, so it was a very basic health screening. People had a stress test, blood sugar test, BMI check, blood pressure check, and  eyesight check done. It was amazing how receptive the community was to this service and how many of them hung on to any word that we had to share. It was also an eye opener to see how little insight they had into some of these basic health identifiers, such as not even knowing when the last time they had their blood pressure checked, or what it meant if their blood pressure was high. This was also such a great experience for the students -- to start getting used to talking to patients, teaching patients, doing simple things like taking blood pressures, and blood sugars. These kinds of things are what it's all about and it was nice to see so many people take advantage of such a wonderful volunteer opportunity.

                               

I've received several comments/facebook messages from prospective and upcoming students that have come across my blog - and just wanted to say that if you have any questions at all about anything, PLEASE feel free to contact me… drnicolefox@gmail.com I am more than happy to help out! I know how crazy of a process this is and how many questions pop up.

XOXO Lots of Love

Nik

Block Exams...Round One

I'm writing a quick update because I have had several people ask why I haven't written a blog entry in a while. In our program, on top of our regular assignments, quizzes, etc, we have block exams - which are exams that happen at the end of every month. They happen over the course of two days and we have an exam in each of our courses. This semester, since we have five courses, we have five exams in the two days, plus our anatomy practical, in which they basically stick a bunch of pins in the cadavers and we have to identify the structures that the pins are sticking in to, as well as answer whatever other questions they ask pertaining to those structures (for example, which nerve innervates the muscle they are pointing to, or which blood vessel supplies it, or which function it performs).

Our first round of block exams start Friday - so we have exams Friday and Monday. Studying for these exams is pretty crazy -- the exams are worth 70-100% of our "block" mark, depending on the course, so they are quite obviously really important. In the past three days, I have been at the school for over 45 hours, studying my tail off. I'll admit, it's been pretty stressful. I've got a pretty awesome study group - we work really well together and it's been really helpful working through things them. We've been using the study rooms in the library, then catching the bus home at 10pm. By the time I get home (around 1030), I'm exhausted, and have just enough energy to have a shower and wash the sweat, tears, and cadaver juice from the day off, and jump in to bed. Just to do it all over again. I do have LOTS to write home about, but it will have to wait until these exams are over. I assure you all, I am alive and well!

More to come soon! 

XOXO

It's a sweet sweet life, livin' by the salty sea

So another week has passed and it was an exciting one! It's hard to believe we have finished two weeks of classes already (although by the amount of material we've covered in classes you'd think it was four). 

We had our first test of the year on Friday (in histology...shoot me now) but it went pretty well considering its the scariest subject for me. We have three more tests this week so the studying and cramming feels never ending. 

The island is generally noisy which is a little frustrating for studying. At any given time you are guaranteed to hear one or more of the following: dogs barking, noisy beaten up cars with post factory stereos driving by, the famous orchestra of chickens, loud people...fighting, partying, or laughing, drum band practice which happens almost nightly up the street, ice cream truck that plays the super Mario theme song and tends to hang around the area for at least one hour intervals. The list goes on. Second biggest frustration: lack of vehicle. The bus for the school takes us there, leaves at 3, 5(when our classes typically end) and then not again until 10pm. So, if you need to stay after school is over to buy groceries, meet with a study group or work on a group project or anything like that...you're pretty much stuck till 10 at night. This makes for a very long day seeing as we get to school at 7am. I will stop complaining, life here is generally pretty sweet and I wouldn't give up what I'm doing for anything. 

The cadaver lab continues to be pretty sweet. On our second day in there we dissected the upper back muscles, opened the spine, and went into the spinal cord to see the different layers. 

I joined AMSA (the American Medical Students association) which is a nation wide club for medical students. We have a division of this at our school which will provide us with different learning workshops for free and hook us up with different volunteer opportunities and whatnot in the community. 

Friday night there was a welcome party on a tiny island just offshore of Anguilla called Scilly Cay. It functions as a small restaurant/bar and there is a large fishing community in that area so there are always a lot of fishing boats parked around it. A lot of the students went and a few locals as well. It was a great time and nice to get to know some of the other students outside of the classroom and have a break from studying. 

That's about all my news for now:) xoxo