Semester 3, Week 13--More Holidays and Staring Down the Barrel...

So much has happened in the last few weeks, and I have been insanely busy as a result (yeah, no surprise there).

Thanksgiving fell shortly after my last post--and while I didn't spend it with Steven and Nicholine, I did spend it with a good group of friends down here--Robert, Kari, Karim, Bonnie, Avi, Trent, Mia, and Amber.  There was SO MUCH FOOD!  I even learned how to make mulled/spiced hot apple cider, candied yams, and gravy; and I made my broccoli & cheese casserole.  The others brought the turkey, stuffing, rolls, pumpkin cake and pie, and so much else that I don't remember it all.

The AAFP Trivia Night was a bit of bust this time (but we still had a decent showing), mostly because it was the day after Thanksgiving, I'm sure.  The club officers pitched in to make a turkey and the rest brought the sides--even MORE FOOD.  We were going through leftovers for the last week and a half!  TurningPoint (the clicker system that we use to track the points) wasn't as glitchy as it was last semester, but it doesn't like when nobody gets the last question right--it wouldn't give us the MVP or the fastest responder for the game.  :(  It was still fun, of course... and I was smart and prepared most of the questions before the semester hit full-swing.  I'm definitely doing that one again!

That same weekend was the 7th semester's banquet, and Nicholine brought me along as her +1.  It was down at the Spice Mill (an expensive, but really good restaurant) and they had a buffet-style dinner and an open bar for us, which was incredibly worth it.  (Sadly, I was starting to get sick with a lovely chest cold, so I only had a glass of wine and then had to switch to Sprite for the soothing feeling of the carbonation on my sore throat.)  The class nominates each student with a superlative.  So, for example, Ashley got "most likely to decorate her office with Pokemon" and Nicholine got "most likely to decorate her office with Hello Kitty."  Some of those were pretty damn funny.  Then, they showed a photo slide show with baby pictures of the class and then pictures from their time spent down here during the course of the degree.  I won't lie.  I got choked up at the end when it congratulated the orange class for making it--I've got some amazing friends in 7th right now, and know that they'll all do great in clinics, but it's sad to see them go.  The night wrapped up with some fireworks and dancing until the rain hit.  I'm worried about how I'm going to do with the tears at the Transition Ceremony this week... so maybe I'll go by myself and hide in the back.  :P

The brainstorming session that we held for the RCGC (Ross Community for a Greener Campus) was a success--we had at least 30 people show up to help lend ideas.  Over the break, we project managers are going to draft up a proposal for the school and see what we can do to get a reducing/reusing/recycling plan in place for the school!

The Unknown didn't win a single volleyball game this semester (even in the first round of the tournament), but I have to say it was the most fun semester we played in... so I'm glad we've expanded our group and we'll be able to play again next semester.  It was sad to see Heather and Nancy go, but we've acquired Robert and Emily into the group and will have Lexi back next semester as well.

The last Nerd's Anonymous gaming night was on Friday--small group (Kristi, Kevin, Bill, Robert, Jackie, Avi, Bonnie, and I), but it was fun and we got in a few rounds of Settlers, Twilight Struggle, and Puerto Rico in... while listening to Christmas music and drinking hot cocoa.  Avi told us that he's not coming back next semester and that it was his last gaming night with us.  Sad.  :(

Robert, Avi, Bonnie, Mia, and I went to the Marriott for breakfast yesterday before going to the 7th semester sales.  We made out like bandits--I mean, where else can you get bottles of sunblock for $1 EC!  (For you Americans, that's 33 cents!)  I took Reese and Liamuiga to visit "Santa" (a.k.a. Trent) yesterday.  :)  Both of them were REALLY good and we got a good photo first-try!  I'm so glad Robert and I didn't have to chase a cat down the hill at Timothy Point.

And with that, here goes nothing--one last week before finals... one last week to squish as much information about pathology, virology, bacteriology, and pharmacology into my brain as is physically possible.  Good luck to any Greenies out there that read this (or anyone else in other semesters, for that matter).  We've got this, and then we're off to the good ol' USA.  And for anyone back in the US, you might want to buy stock in Red Bull or 5-Hour-Energy--we'll be buying a ton of it!

Semester 3, Week 11--Thanksgiving in Our Sights!

I find it very hard to believe that it has been about a month since I last updated this thing, but I guess it makes sense with how busy this semester has kept me.

Where to start catching up on updates?  Halloween?  I guess that's as good a start as any.  As usual, Halloween isn't a very big to-do on this rock... but we students make it as "normal" as we can.  The Geeks Anonymous group had a Halloween-themed gaming night, complete with us all wearing costumes and bringing decorations and snacks and listening to "Halloween-ey" music and videos in the background.  VIDA (a group that does free spay/neuter clinics and provides veterinary care to those unable to afford it) hosted a haunted house, which was more funny than scary for me, but it definitely helped to keep the feel of the season.  Even the prep school kids come through the classrooms for trick-or-treating (which drove me out the opposite door to go get coffee and enjoy at 10-15 minute break of my own).

The last P.A.W.S. adoption day was last weekend... and it was my last one as an officer as well.  In a sense, it was kind of sad, but such a relief at the same time.  I have time to do other things rather than having 10 emails a week to sort through and do updates to the website.  Kristi's fiance took over, so I have the utmost confidence that he'll do a good job with it.  I still plan on volunteering, but at least I don't have to devote 3+ hours a week to keep up with the changes.  Unfortunately, it wasn't a very good semester for us--only 19 adoptions in total (compared to the 35ish we saw last term).  The group's made some decent progress since I first started working with them, and I know they'll continue to do more and more for the community as time goes on.

Last week, we had Fabien Cousteau come down to lecture about ocean conservation.  It's been a wonderful semester for me with the guest lecturers--Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald at first and then Fabien.  Listening to his lectures almost made me miss being in marine biology!  I was so jealous of the research projects he's participated in... but then I remembered why I'm here in the first place.  ;)  He's a wonderful speaker, so if you ever get a chance to listen to him, I highly recommend you do.  He also does a lot of work with schools and is trying to promote his conservation group:  PlantAFish.org.  Check it out--it's a great idea.

Other than that, there really isn't much to tell--I go to school, go home, let the dog out, shower, and then go back to school (sometimes) to study with Jen and Jobeth.  It's an uneventful life!  At least I'm passing all my classes still, too.  :)

So, I guess I leave you with my thoughts as to what I'm thankful for this season.  I'm glad to still be allowed to continue in the program down here despite all the setbacks in the last year and a half.  I'm thankful for the support of all my friends and family, both island and back on the mainland.  Without you guys always being there for me, I couldn't have done this.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Semester 3, Week 7.5--BIRTHDAY and the WIVC

So, my predictions were right--I did, in fact, get a B on the virology exam.  :)  I'm just waiting on the pathology grade (the exam was Monday, so we should be getting it soon) and then it's the home stretch of studying until final exams.

The school is too kind to me for my birthday--it seems to always fall during the weekend of Midsemester Break, so we get Monday off.  :)  This left the weekend for a lot of events--I had dinner at PJ's (which will sadly be closing soon) with my closest friends down here--Steven, Nicholine, Kristi, Trent (and his wife who's visiting this week, Jamie), Katy (and her husband, Joel) and Robert.  It was nice--I definitely prefer more laid-back events.  Nicholine and Steven brought me a pineapple upside-down cake... and Robert tried to trick me with the trick candles I got him with on his birthday.  I know the difference, though.  ;)

On my actual birthday, I opted to spend the morning at the Marriott--they have the best breakfast buffet I've had in aaaaaaaaaages.  The West Indies Veterinary Conference (WIVC) was over the course of this week--and they brought down Dr. Kevin Fitzgerald to lecture on rabbits, ferrets, and venomous/toxic bites.  Yes, that is the same Dr. Fitzgerald as the one from "Emergency Vets" from Animal Planet.  He's a bit scatterbrained with his lectures, but he's clearly very intelligent and absolutely hilarious.  (I tried to record a lecture of his, but my microphone on my laptop is absolutely horrible.)  I just may consider an internship with Alameda East--it's not in Texas like I originally thought... it's in Colorado.  Despite all the car troubles, Kristi (my friend in the picture here) was more than kind to get the both of us to the Marriott over the weekend for his talks.

Oh yeah... as for the car situation... well, we planned on going back to the Marriott for sushi and to play bingo (which we quickly found out that it was cancelled because of the conference).  I made it up the hill to pick up Kristi and tried to coast down it in neutral (like usual), but towards the bottom of the hill, I found out that the car wasn't shifting right.  It got stuck in reverse and despite being able to move the shifter, the car thought it was in reverse... so I couldn't even get it to start.  Amber (my upstairs neighbor) had been working with a new mechanic who really seemed to know his stuff, so I let him fix it.  I had it back within a day and it's running soooooooooo smoothly again.  :)

Other than that, the birthday was very low-key and I spent it with many of my closest friends down here.

On Monday, Steven came to my room at 6:00 in the morning (after I had stayed up to 3:00am studying for the Pathology I midterm) to tell me to check on my cat.  She had gotten into the cabinet above the microwave and into his stash of powdered milk.  We don't quite know how much she ate, but there were three piles of vomit throughout the kitchen interspersed between the piles of the powdered milk packets she shredded.  In a panicked moment, I had Steven and Nicholine bring her up to the clinic (I know it's not toxic, but I was worried about her ingesting plastic/wrapping of the packets and dehydration).  Fluids, Cerenia, and famotidine later, she was discharged at noon after the midterm exam.  By the end of the evening, she was back to her normal ravenous self, luckily!

I spent a lot of money, but at least everything's okay now.  :)  So, until this weekend!

Semester 3, Week 6--Midterm Hell Week

Wow... yeah, sorry about that (again... I'm really bad at updating this sometimes...).  Midterm Hell Week is just about over finally.  I'd been doing nothing but studying in preparation... although my confidence level doesn't necessarily reflect the grades that I got so far.

We had our Bacteriology midterm on Friday (I got a C... pretty solid, and we have a lab grade that should help to pull that up too)... Pharmacology I on Monday (I got a B... WOO!)... and Virology today (we haven't gotten grades back, but if I get anything less than a B, I'd honestly be surprised... my tutor is AWESOME!).

So, sadly... there is nothing interesting to report as a result.  :(  OH!  I made it onto the "kill count board" by rescuing a millipede... yeah, life's been boring...

I'll let you know how the birthday weekend goes, though.  :P

Semester 3, Week 3--IT NEVER ENDS!

Whoever says that third semester isn't a busy one lies!  For a four-day week, I feel like I haven't accomplished much of anything.

Virology is the bane of my existence--I can't wait to never take a Giymah class again.  Luckily, my tutor is really good at coming up with easy ways to remember the material and tells us stories of Polyoma trying to reach the Hepadna Hospital but running into the three-legged ParvoDog along the way (all virus families) and the details on each are important features of the families themselves. 

My pathology group had our necropsy on Friday--and they had two groups in the necropsy lab at the same time.  We first watched the other group's necropsy--a hypothyroid 8-year-old dog.  Our case was a 5-month old anemic kitten.  It's amazing how much we've already learned, as we were describing and identifying post-mortem changes versus what had happened while the kitten was still alive.  Poor little thing was LOADED with worms--tapeworms, whipworms, and hookworms--and had some sort of pneumonia.  No wonder he was anemic!  At least we have an interesting case to present to the class.

P.A.W.S. had an adoption day on Saturday--sadly, it was one of the worst adoption days I'd seen yet--only 5 adopted.  :(  I hope it picks up... if we don't adopt them out, we can't save more.

Well, that's about it for the week... just gotta get back to studying, I suppose.  Blah!

Semester 3, Week 2--The Beginning of Semester Events

So, as I last mentioned, the end of week 2 brought a very busy weekend for us (thank goodness we didn't have classes on Monday--St. Kitts Independence Day, the ONLY holiday we get off).  I'm plain exhausted... I don't think I'll have much energy to study despite all the time in the world.  :P

Friday night was the Mr. RUSVM pageant.  The categories weren't too great this time--Favorite Veterinary Disease, Best Kittitian Fix-it, Talent, and the Worst Fashion Trends.  I was helping with my class's skits this time, and despite the crappy categories, I think it was one of the best ones I've gone to (for the most part).  The contestants were evenly matched (except for that poor firstie... they never know what they're getting into), and despite a few inappropriate acts (as there always are), it was enjoyable for everyone.  Russell came back to perform a song (he was the one that broke his leg at the last one).  I have a link to the video here.  Sadly, my class didn't even place, but we did well, if you ask me.  Even our "Party Rock" routine was decent (although some of us kept complaining that our timings were off). 

The next morning was Beachfest--and there isn't really much to report on that one.  My thrown-together volleyball team got wiped during the first game of the tournament... I had Lia get some beach time and she made some new friends... and I got some reading in (and it was enjoyable reading at that--none of this pathology, bacteriology, virology, or pharmacology stuff!).

Then, we had the September RUSVM Geeks Anonymous gaming session in the Union.  I got to try out this game called Munchkin, which took a bit of a learning curve, but it was fun.  It's essentially a dungeon-crawl where you open a door and then face what's behind it (via a card), whether a monster, a trap, or a helpful item.  Then, you can recruit the help of a friend to face things or backstab people with your own cards and whatnot.  It's hard to explain, but it was fun.  Aaron DOMINATED the game of Settlers of Catan, with a decent monopoly on like... 2 of the resources.  Then, who knew there were so many people down here that played Magic: The Gathering?!  We had 3 rounds of that go rather quickly.  As always, it was fun--and the next one is probably going to be a good one as it's an October one.  :)  Anyone who knows me knows how much I like Halloween and October.  :P

Well, I probably should try to work on that studying thing... so, until next time!

Semester 3, Week 1.5--I'm Baaaaaaaaaaack!

Lia and Brutus lounging in the living room.

Well, what a break (and I really really really apologize for being so lacking in the updates)… full of running around and business despite nobody being on-island.  Although, I suppose that’s exactly why I was the busy one.  At my peak of pet-sitting, I had 5 dogs (Liamuiga, Gus, Daphney, Ottley, and Brutus) and 3 cats in the house (Reese, Gibbs, and Willow) and watched 2 other cats and 2 guinea pigs at my friend’s place.  A week into it, I had a decent routine worked out though and could take care of everyone within an hour and a half, including the drive up Mattingley to get to Kristi’s place. 

Gus, Ottley, and Daphney distracted by treats.

The campus clinic was quite busy as well—with Boaz in every day (a very mushy Rottweiler that had a large tumor removed off his side and ended up with a superbug bacterial infection), two cases of foreign body ingestion, and a hit-by-car that had a fractured pelvis and femur.  I had a ton of time to read, prepare a D&D campaign (kinda), and review notes from first and second semester.

Oh, I suppose you want to know how I did this time around, huh?  Well, I passed… not great, but I passed and made it into third, keeping me amongst the “greenies.”

Immunology – C (I know I ACED that final… but didn’t do so well the rest of the term… but I PASSED!)

Physiology II – C (we had a HUGE scale at the end… nearly 25 points!)

Anatomy II – B (I jumped from just passing to a B)

Parasitology – B (went from a C+ to a B)

So, this now gives me an overall GPA of 2.33, which isn’t great, but I surely will be able to bring that up.  Unfortunately, with the grades being posted, that means I had to say goodbye to my friends that didn’t make it through, and console the friends that are repeating.  It’s rough seeing that happen to others, but at the same time, you are SO relieved it isn’t you.  With regards to the repeating, they also changed the policy, so you don’t have to repeat the entire term to get the financial aid—just enough credits to give you part-time status.  My repeater friends are lucky with that… I spent a LOT of time this term worrying about passing physiology again.  Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Reich as an instructor, but his exams make you second-guess everything you know. 

Third semester brings us into classes that are a LOT more interesting—bacteriology, virology (which is unfortunately with Giymah again), Pathology I, and Pharmacology I.  And, the schedule is much more laid back—when we don’t have labs, we’re usually done by 11:00am or noon.  Don’t let the thought of having “free time” fool you, though… we have a lot of material to learn and only a single midterm and a final exam.

Our new kitchen board. :P

Last week, we got hit by the tail-end of Tropical Storm Maria, which made them cancel part of the semester olympics and the Mr. RUSVM Pageant.  (You may find this surprising, but I went to support the class in soccer and kickball… but when we got knocked out of the running, I went over to support the purple class since Robert was playing.)  Mr. RUSVM got bumped to tomorrow actually (so I’ll probably post a shorter post this weekend just about that and the other multitude of events that happen), and I’m going to be in the show this time.  ;)  Let’s just say it got me back into hip-hop style dancing… and another class requested the presence of the “Corset Crew.”  The class has been practicing a lot for this, so I hope the Greenies stand a chance this time!

So, here’s to a new semester!

Finals Week - Semester 2, Round 2

My apologies for the lacking posts this term--it's been a busy one...

I'll get back to ya after finals week!

Monday - Anatomy II (4:00-6:00pm)
Tuesday - Parasitology (12:00-2:00pm)
Wednesday - Physiology II (8:00-10:00am)
Thursday - Immunology (8:00-10:00am)

Evil Broccoli!  Or... celery...?

Weeks 5-8 of Semester 2, Round 2--Catching Up... with Lots of Photos!

My apologies—I had a really busy last few weeks (and was actually sick for the last one as well).  It’s been… what?  3 weeks?  4 weeks? 

Well, not much has been going on with the leatherback project—I’ve tagged, measured, and drawn blood on the females and helped to excavate a nest from the North Friar’s beach with Dr. Stewart.  It’s very frustrating being on nest excavations on that beach—you find where the nest could potentially be and start digging down about 3 feet… only to shift your weight to get deeper into the pit and cause it all to cave back in.  It took us almost 2 hours to get one nest excavated and get the eggs counted.  We found 4 hatchlings along the way, but it’s almost a very disheartening job.  I once heard that only 20% of the eggs laid actually hatch, and of those that don’t, they develop about halfway.  However, releasing the 4 that we found was rewarding enough that it gave us motivation to keep going for the night.  I really hope our efforts will make a difference for this species—they’re amazing animals to work with.

Robert, one of my firsties (that’s what we call the newbies down here) had a birthday mid-June, so we planned a surprise birthday party for him at Rock Lobster.  The way I figure it, you really can’t plan “surprise” birthday parties beyond the first one of new semester—they all expect it beyond that point.  ;)  We went all out—party hats, leis, a birthday crown for him, etc.  I tried a new cake decorating technique using stencils and buttercream icing—it came out mostly alright… I’ll be working on it, but it makes for something more personal on the cakes.  Bonnie got him toilet paper as a gift in the meantime, but we all pitched in on a video game gift for him.  Delicious food, free sangria, cake, and laughs at the restaurant, and then we went on to the casino at the Marriott.  Karim was the only one that won anything, but it was a good night overall.

Midsemester break weekend!  One day off meant I got to go home for a long weekend.  You don’t realize how much you miss things like Wendy’s or Target until you go back into them after 6 months.  I went out to dinner with my family at a sushi buffet and had some of my dad’s French toast for breakfast the next morning…  got some shopping in (I needed new sneakers and jeans BADLY) and went to Rachel’s wedding.  She made a beautiful bride and she and Jon looked so happy together.  It was really nice to see them again and to spend a weekend with my friends and family back home.  Wasn’t too long that I got sick of everything, but wasn’t long enough just yet either.  Just gotta make it through to December now!

I think I got sick while in transit back down here—so I spent most of a week going to class and then sleeping.  I literally did NOTHING but sleep.  It was pretty bad.  Luckily, it was just a cold, so I’m pretty much over it by now.  (Hooray for amazing immune systems that you develop while working with children!)

P.A.W.S. had another adoption day—brings our total to 25 for the semester so far.  Woo!  I also had the volunteer feeder for the campus tortoises visit me at the adoption day with 4 hatchling red-footed tortoises.  They’re currently under the care of Dr. Stewart, but they’re SO adorable.

Volleyball has been going REALLY well this semester so far.  We're 4 wins/2 losses as of right now.  :)  I think our new team shirts brought us some luck.  I'll have to get some team pictures this week.

Some of us got some fireworks and we had a little impromptu firework show last night in celebration of the Fourth.  Wasn’t perfect, but it was fun—especially watching Trent run out to stamp out anything that caught fire in the meantime.  (Don’t worry—we did it all properly.  We had a security escort and the proper permits and everything.)  It’s nice to see so many of us students uniting to celebrate holidays to make things feel less like we’re isolated on this rock in the middle of the ocean.

Academically, this is still a tough semester.  I may be repeating the term, but it doesn’t make immunology any easier.  Dr. Gyimah is SO detail-oriented that it’s impossible to predict what will be on his exams.  I’m still not doing so well, but I’ve gotten better grades than I did last term at least!  There’s so much information that you don’t get the first time around that makes a lot more sense the second time.  It’s pretty overwhelming at times.  Not to mention, walking dogs during a week you have 2 exams is NOT a very helpful thing either--you wake up at 6:00am, go and walk 3-4 dogs (which takes about an hour), go to class, do it again in the afternoon, go home, shower/eat/take care of your own pets, and sleep.  Then you do it all over again.  You have virtually no energy to study.  :(

And one last picture for you guys:  Dr. Walker dressed up as Captain Jack Sparrow for the pink class' win of the most money raised for the Josh Project.  ;)

Well, I think that should be enough of an update to satisfy you faithful readers.  :P  Until next time!

Week 4 of Semester 2, Round 2--NERDFEST 2!

Another week down—been a month now in the semester.  Feels like it’s been so much longer, though.  I must admit, repeating second semester is much worse than repeating first simply because of the material.  On the plus side, I’m getting A’s and B’s so far—we’ve had a physiology exam and an anatomy quiz previously, and a parasitology exam next week on cat and dog parasites (my strongest portion of the course).

It’s been a relatively quiet week comparatively.  The leatherback patrols this week were pretty dull—no turtles wanted to come out.  But then again, with 30+ people (yes, a rather large eco-tour group joined us this time), I can’t blame them.  They got discouraged around 1:00am, and Dr. Stewart let us off early at 2:30.  Hooray for sleep!  Granted, that only gave me about 4 hours of sleep that night because I had to go to the mechanic… but let me share that headache with you.

My car was in the shop for most of the week (hooray for blown ignition coils), but the day I got it back, I started having the same issues.  I managed to get back to the mechanic on Saturday morning, only to find out that there’s a loose wire somewhere in the vicinity of the ignition coils, which explains why the part blew and why the issue is intermittent.  Back in the shop next week for her!

Saturday evening was one I had been looking forward to for aaaaaaaaaaaaaaages—RUSVM Geeks Anonymous Gaming Night, Round 2.  (Wow… that’s a mouthful actually.)  I had a bunch of ‘em over to make pizza and play games.  We had some interesting pizza combinations—like, Lolly made bologna/sour cream and onion chips/scallions… I made pepperoni/pineapple/goat cheese/broccoli.  With the first group that came by, we played a round of Apples to Apples, but as soon as the rest of the crowd came by, we split off and had 3 games all going at a time—Lunch Money, You Don’t Know Jack, Outland, Cranium—it was just pure chaos.  The last remaining group played something called Loaded Questions… and boy did we learn some interesting things about others with that one.  When it’s your turn, you read a question off the card and everyone writes their answers down and hand them off to someone to read them.  Then, you have to guess who wrote each answer.  You get points for each right one.  It was fun, though.  I’m glad we did a round 2, and that they’re gaining a following.  Let’s see how (and when) a round 3 goes.  

"You Don't Know Jack"--Steven had to decide if it was a motivational poster or a brand of adult diapers. 4 out of 7... not bad!

"Lunch Money"--Avi is stuffing his face while Lolly gets dragged under the bed by the monsters I keep there.

"Apples to Apples"--Emily looks awfully interested in that bag of chips...

"Loaded Questions"--Yes, I was the slowpoke of the group... I was thinking very carefully of my answers.

Well, I should go get some sleep—class tomorrow morning… and I’m STILL tired despite sleeping until noon.  See you guys next week.

Week 3 of Semester 2, Round 2--Murder and Mayhem

Wow… weekends are almost more work than the weekdays now—it takes a while to catch up on sleep after Fridays/Saturdays.

We had our first Anatomy II quiz on reproductive and avian anatomy on Monday.  Lucky for those of us repeating, the quiz was INCREDIBLY similar to the one from last semester.  (I got an A on it, actually.  Booyah!  :P) 

Tuesday was the first sign language class over lunch.  We learned the alphabet and counting to 10.  Then, after running through the alphabet a few times, we practiced spelling words to each other and the teacher then showed us the sign for each word we spelled.  It’s a bit tough for me, but it’s going to be an incredibly marketable skill if I can communicate with basic skill in a clinic.

The rest of the week was relatively quiet—got my car fixed (again!) but luckily it was a cheap fix this time.  The check engine light was on, but it was only an ignition coil… and it runs a LOT better after that was addressed.  I missed volleyball this week due to picking up the car and just simply running out of time, but we didn’t win from what I was told.  I’ve won the responsibility of ordering the team’s shirts… so we’re going to be like a “real team,” as some of them are saying. 

Sea turtle patrol on Friday was pretty interesting—ended up patrolling the South end (the longer of the two) twice rather than getting to go to the North end at all.  We were going to end up calling it quits, but as I woke up from that break, a large female came up to nest.  She was one of the largest ones that our team lead had seen—her carapace was 160cm (almost 5 ½ feet in length).  I got to attempt to draw blood from her hind flipper, but it was pretty difficult (due to her thick skin and the depth of the vessels) and neither Jeremy nor I were able to get a decent sample.  It definitely made staying out till 4:00am worth it, though!

Saturday was another demanding one—the P.A.W.S. adoption day was one of the hectic ones that I’ve seen since I’ve been involved with the group.  We had 13 adoptions at the day itself and have already hit 19 this semester in total!  I didn’t even get to update the website until today, because I was so busy helping Kristi get her paperwork in order and keep adoptions rolling. We saw a pretty cool waterspout as well. 

Got a bit of a nap in and then was off to a Murder Mystery Dinner—it was a BLAST!  It took me a little bit of time to settle into the role I was assigned, but once I did, it was so much fun.  The basic premise was:

It is an era where the power of the aristocracy is waning. Industrialization and the newfangled gadgets that come with it have created a new class of "aristocracy" based largely upon money. The old gentry find themselves with land but no money to support it, and they are increasingly forced to marry their blue-blooded sons and daughters to the new money in order to regain some of the money and power they have lost.

The world is rapidly changing, but in a small Barony near Shufflemore Woods, out of the way of the bustling cities, the changes have been slower. Feudalism still lingers in these backwater pockets, and although the Baron has watched his resources and income dwindle over his lifetime, his people still look to him for aid. Into this place, dark nights have fallen. Wolves - perhaps a single wolf, perhaps a pack - have been prowling at night, howling, killing livestock, and lurking just out of sight. Now, a peasant girl has gone missing, and her parents are certain that the wolves got her!

Tonight, as a storm brews overhead, several residents of the Barony have come together to ask for aid, including the parents of the missing girl. Joining them is the Baron, his sister, and their household staff; a famed huntress who has come to the Barony to offer her aid in killing the wolves; and travelers who are seeking shelter from the storm, including a trio of gypsies.

So, I played Luella, the maid of the household.  She was a cheerful young woman who longed to travel and see the world.  I was intrigued by the gypsies and the seer (Ashley) “read” my tarot cards and foretold my death.  Sure enough, I was the first victim of the night—I died by vampire attack and then spent the rest of the night attacking the party as a vampire.  It was funny—nobody picked up on the fact that the gypsies were the vampire lords even though I didn’t attack any of them and Paul (the storyteller) even patted me on the head saying “good minion” at one point.  I even got an attack in on the werewolf (Richard/the Baron).  We had to do paper/rock/scissors to decide who won each hit in a battle.  Pretty funny to look at a “battle” with this going on.  I look forward to attending another one someday. 

Well, I’m going to get some renal physiology reading in since we have our first Physiology II exam tomorrow.  Plus, I have some firsties wanting to be quizzed on microanatomy.  So, as always—until next week.

Week 2 of Semester 2, Round 2--Leatherbacks!

So, trying to integrate into this class is rather… interesting.  A lot of them seem to look down on us repeaters, but there are some really nice ones (like those in my anatomy group and my parasitology lab partner) that are very welcoming. 

Lots of club general meetings this week.  I gave the presentation for the AAFP, and was rather disappointed with the way I spoke (I thought I was too fast), but Steven and Lexi said it was fine.  We have a LOT of events planned, but it’s sad that we’re all stepping down this semester.  I also announced that I’d be stepping down from my position in P.A.W.S. a semester early.  (If I decide to stay here next semester, I don’t want to be AS involved anymore, so that I don’t have to worry about failing another class as much.)  In a sense, it was kind of sad…

Friday and Saturday were kind of a mess due to my sleeping pattern.  Friday was The Unknown’s first volleyball game of the season (the preseason one), but the team we were scheduled to play against never showed up.  Another random team wanted the practice, so we just played back and forth for a bit—don’t know who won, but it was fun. 

Then I had to run home, get some food, pack up my bag, and head off to North Friars Beach for my leatherback patrol.  Dr. Stewart had a little hatchling from the night before that was too weak to get to the ocean, so she gave it to Jeremy and myself to release if he wanted to go.  They’re so tiny—it’s  just amazing how big they get… from ounces and just a few inches to hundreds of pounds and almost 5 feet long.  He didn’t seem to want to go to the ocean on the first attempt, so on our second sweep of the patrol, we figured we’d give it a shot after a quick nap.  However, we woke up to a light drizzle, which quickly turned into a steady rain, and then into a monsoon… and we were stuck on the far end of the beach.  Had to quickly break out the windbreakers, curl up over our backpacks to keep our stuff dry, and just hope it passed sooner rather than later.  After about 20 minutes, it did, and we made a run for my car.  Another half hour later, the rain hadn’t let up and Dr. Stewart called it quits for our nightly patrol around 1:00am.  (Woo-hoo!  More sleep time!)  Apparently, we have a photographer and author coming down next week to work on a children’s book about our project… kinda like the one when I went to the marine biology summer camp in Maine when I was 13.

Saturday morning was Beachfest put on by the scuba club.  Steven, Lexi, and I played on another volleyball team (The Cremasters) in the tournament and lost pretty miserably on our first game, but it was a good one.  I think I’m getting better at this game.  ;P

Saw Pirates of the Caribbean 4 with some of the firsties, but I had a HORRIBLE headache (probably dehydration despite downing gallons of water over the weekend), so I wasn’t able to fully enjoy the 3D of it.  But, from what I recall, it wasn’t as good as 1, 2, or 3 were.

Sunday was a recovery/cleaning day.  While making breakfast, I saved Gibbs from launching off of the cabinets at a piece of dust hanging from the ceiling.  In the process, however, I caught my toe on the edge of the fridge.  I was joking that if I had gotten an adamantium skeleton years ago, this wouldn’t have happened.  (Good ol’ X-Men joke)  Despite the injury, I cleaned out the interior of the car with the hopes of getting it in the shop again tomorrow.  (Hooray for Ross-mobiles!)

I guess that’s about it for the week.  See you all at the end of the next one.

Week 1 of Semester 2, Round 2--Disappointment and Elation

Well, what a break and first week that has been.  I’m sorry I disappeared again from the blogging, but I had a huge blow to the ego at the start of the break.  Originally, I had failed out of the university from failing 2 classes—Anatomy II and immunology.  I spent most of the break trying to change flights, enjoy time with my friends, and making sure it was a legitimate grade.  Long story short, there were some variations in the manner of grade calculation, and I ultimately ended up with a passing grade in Anatomy II.  This allowed me to repeat second semester.  I’m still not sure what to do after this point, but I DO know for sure that it’s better to leave the school passing the semester, so I opted to stay at Ross at least for another three months.  Let’s just say it was the biggest emotional rollercoaster I’ve been on since arriving here a little over a year ago (wow… a year… dear god…).

So, I re-start as a “greenie,” and it’s interesting being in another class yet again… feeling even more like an outsider with this class than I did with the black class.  We’ll see—they might just be very reserved.  At least I have Amy (who had repeated her first term) and Emily in this class.  “My” firsties seemed pretty excited to still have me around… but I’m pretty upset that Natasha didn’t win her appeal on basis of a personal issue with an instructor.

As was the case with last semester, I still joined some clubs, but I’m not getting AS involved as I had been in the past.

• ·         AAFP (my last term as vice-president)
• ·         P.A.W.S. (webdesigner)
• ·         Scuba Club (member)

I figured I can STILL attend any interesting lectures from other clubs… much better for me.  Plus, I’m still in charge of the volunteer schedule for the campus tortoises and am staying on the leatherback monitoring network, having seen two nesting females now.  It was pretty damn amazing—they’re HUGE.  Definitely made hiking 50 hours up and down a beach worth it.

Mr. RUSVM was Saturday.  It was… interesting, to say the least.  It started off really strong—I was impressed with everything until the second topic was over, and then it was all downhill from there.  I’m sorry, but a man with fake boobs smashing beer cans is not a talent, in my opinion.  Unfortunately, he won overall… and third (the black class) won second place.  Russell, the orange class (sixth), was dancing for the “viral YouTube video” portion, stepped wrong, and ended up with an oblique fracture through his fibula and tibia.  Ouch.  The look of pure shock on the guy’s face was just horrible.  Keep him in your thoughts for a speedy recovery—he’s definitely out for a semester, as it’s hard to do field work and surgery on crutches.  I’m glad that the judges gave him the win for that round—it was great sportsmanship. 

Well, I suppose I should head off to bed again—I have to get ready for a full week of classes again.  Hope everyone was well in my absence, and I’ll see you all next week.

Last Stretch of Semester 2!

... I'm determined to NOT let it take me down!

My agenda for the following week:

• Monday - Immunology (12:00-2:00pm)
• Tuesday - Anatomy II (12:00-2:00pm)
• Wednesday - Parasitology (8:00-10:00am)
• Thursday - Physiology II (8:00-10:00am)

... let the caffeine-fueled cramming/studying sessions begin!

Week 13 of Semester 2--More Sea Turtles Work

Well, here we are at the end of the semester again... it has been quite a long one, yet it feels like a year has just simply flown by as well...

Thursday night was my first sea turtle night patrol--I was on the beach from 8:00pm-12:00am.  There have been some... issues... on the beaches near Timothy Beach (the other main turtle nesting beach), so they put all of us volunteers on Cayon-to-Keys Beach.  There were... 10 of us, I think.  We broke up into 2 teams and started at the midpoint of the beach.  One team went north, the other team went south... and then we set up camp for half an hour to 40 minutes.  Then we met back at the middle point, and set up camp for half an hour to 40 minutes.  Then the teams swapped ends of the beach.  In the 4 hours I was on patrol, we made one full pass of the beach, but didn't see anything.  It was actually pretty disappointing, but we'll have to see what happens next week.

We had our last volleyball game on Friday, and boy are the beaches getting hotter and hotter as we get closer to summertime.  We lost our final game, which made our overall score 2-wins and who knows how many losses.  It was fun though... and it sounds like Heather is planning on keeping the team together for next semester (she's talking about team t-shirts).  I'm definitely glad I stuck with it.  :)

I think I've got a cold coming on (and yes, I know how ironic it sounds to get a "cold" while living on a tropical island--but I'm in the second round of people catching it).  I even backed out of seeing Sucker Punch with my friends so that I could stay home with some tea and get some more sleep in.

Well, back to studying--parasitology lab final on Tuesday!

Week 12 of Semester 2--Exhaustion

What a long week this one has been, although it didn't start off like much.  Just the usual classes up until Friday... and Virginia's birthday dinner on Tuesday... and the VCA-sponsored oncology lecture with Dr. Boshoven on Thursday... and taking over the tortoises on campus starting that day as well.  Alright, so that was a lot mid-week, I suppose.

The Unknown won our second game of the season.   We've gotten progressively better and have started playing more like a team.  It's a blast now... but with the weather getting more hot (and the sand burning your feet while waiting to get on the court), I'm not sure if I want to play next semester or not.  I probably should, but it's getting to be that miserable time of the year down here.

Friday night was the AAFP's semester-ly trivia night, and I was asked to emcee it since I'm the vice president.  It was pretty nerve-wracking, but it worked out well... better than the prior ones I had gone to.  I taught myself how to use TurningPoint (the clicker system that we use on campus to answer quiz-like questions during lectures), so we did the trivia night based on those.  I had 6 categories, 5 questions each... 4 subjects were vet-related and 2 (and the final question) were more fun trivia... like, what was the name of the cat actor in The Godfather seen in the opening scenes?  (He was a random stray that walked on set, so he didn't have a name.)  Hopefully we can keep it going that way next semester as well!  Lexi won the "fastest" response and the team MVP award.  As usual, there was a good variety of dishes to try there (it was a pot luck dinner).

Yesterday was the last P.A.W.S. adoption day of the semester.  Our total of adopted pets for the term is 32 (16 cats, 16 dogs), so it went rather well.  :)  We also started selling bumper stickers, which seem to be a big hit.  They say "The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated," "saving the life of one animal may not change the world, but it will surely change the world for that one animal," and "save a life, adopt a shelter pet."  It's been an interesting semester... so let's see where the next takes the group.  (That's a picture of my friend, Lolly... she was so happy to have a handful of kittens.)

After that, Lexi, Steven, and I took Gus and Lia to the beach to meet up with Alexis and her foster dog, Flora.  Lia's terrified of the ocean, but Gus and Flora (for the most part) seemed to love it.  At least it got Lia to burn off some energy and she slept rather well for the night once we got home.  While the rest of the group played in the ocean, I took to trying to take some more artsy-like photos... like the paw print I have on here, and then some of shadows. 

 

And today, I woke up late... (9:30am!) made some breakfast, and just spent the day cleaning and studying.  Gonna catch a movie with Heather and Katy in a little bit... although I forget which one it is.  Haha.

See ya in a week!

Week 11 of Semester 2 -- A Bit of Artistic Skill

Well, two more exams down--and I'm passing 3 of the 4 classes.  Immunology was a rough one though--he focused most of the exam on the material he already tested on in the first exam.  I have to get a B on the final to pass the class.  Ouch.  At least now, it's clinically-relevant material... we're going over hypersensitivity (allergic reactions) and autoimmune diseases, so it should help make things make more sense in my head.  I can do this...

Other than that, it was the last week of the sea turtle morning patrols.  I'm getting moved onto a night patrol after this on Thursday nights from 8-12am.  This is where I get to actually work with the turtles!  It's pretty exciting--we take measurements on the momma turtle, draw blood, move the nest if it's in an unsafe zone, etc. 

It's been a quiet week--Saturday was the ABC (Animal Behavior Club)'s bowl-painting event.  It was a REALLY nice change of pace from the usual frantic studying that we'd be doing on a Saturday.  The woman brought the bowls and all the glazes to the school and we got to paint our own bowls.  These were my two about midway through.  The one for Liamuiga has the paw print in the center and bones and balls along the top of the outside portion.  Reese's has a dead fish in the bottom (complete with X's for eyes) and a Pac-Man scene along the top of the outside.

Week 9 of Semester 2--Accreditation and Herpetology

Interesting title, no?

To start off, we had a great bit of news on Tuesday this week--Ross University was granted full accreditation by the AVMA... so that means we don't have another comprehensive site visit until 7 years from now!  This means that graduating from Ross is no different than graduating from any of the US schools, and we won't have to take any foreign equivalency exams (like the ECFVG or the PAVE). It's such a big step for our university--we've showed that we're as capable and competent as any other United States veterinary school.  They managed to get at least 90% of the student/faculty/staff population into this picture, I think. It's been a big celebration week as a result.

Wednesday was a parasitology exam... not fun... it was a tough one.  Next up is anatomy on Friday.  *fingers crossed*  Let's see if my meetings with Dr. Moffatt pay off--I mean, I understand the larynx and pharynx SO much better now.

I finally got my package in the mail, so I have a new laptop battery and charging cord!  What a relief!  It's so much more convenient to be able to sit in class without finding a nearby outlet.

This week's volleyball game was quite possibly the most fun I've ever had in a game.  It was full of laughs and funny volleys (like when Scott and I had a joint effort to get one over the net or when I shot it into the next court just trying to bump it up), and a good stretch of serves (I think I scored 8 points in a row just on serves at one point).  We won the first game and then went on to lose the next two... but we were very evenly-matched.  However, it was such a blast... and that's all that matters, right? 

Today was the morning of the next SKSTMN patrol--so far, my group is 2/2 for finding nests.  This one was particularly interesting, because it looks as though the turtle had come up rather high on the beach, started to dig the nest, got distracted/confused by the lights, and moved about 10 feet closer to the ocean to lay the nest.  This time, I was in charge of the recording--we had to measure the width of the nest, obtain a GPS coordinate, and then mark the nest (which is what that pole is in the left side of the picture) with the type of nest and the date.  Lucky me, I got to draw the path she took on the data card.  The walk along the beach felt so much longer this time, but I managed to survive much better in terms of the heat and physical demand of walking along it.

That's about it for this week, although it was a busy/rewarding one.  :)  I was supposed to meet up with Lindsey about the campus tortoises today, but she had car troubles so she wasn't able to... ah well, it's probably better that I took the time to study today instead.

See you all next week.

Week 8 of Semester 2--Managing to Find New Ways to Hurt Myself...

What a week... again...  at least there were no exams, so that was a plus!

Monday was a day off from classes, but insanely busy otherwise... with studying and everything other than relaxing.  I had to get 2 new tires, for example. 

Classes are going along as always--have a parasitology exam on Wednesday, so I've been focusing on that... and, after meeting with Dr. Moffatt (one of the anatomy instructors), she's been able to help me focus my studying for that exam in the following week.

I got my hair cut on Friday--I'd been told there was an excellent place by the Marriott (above the Rituals Coffee shop), called the Pink Daisy Spa and Salon.  Maxine was a wonderful stylist--reminded me of the hair salons back home.  You can tell she loves her job too.  I gave her free reign over whatever she wanted to do with color and just gave her a basic idea of the cut I wanted.  I now have bangs... I haven't had bangs since 7th grade!  I also let the stylist dye it a maroonish color.  I like it... most of the time.  I'm just not used to it yet.

Yesterday (Saturday) was a busy day--woke up at 5:30 in the morning to head out to Keys Beach to start my first turtle patrol.  We met with Dr. Stewart for our training.  The beach walk is about a 2 mile stretch... very good workout, for sure!  There were 2 already marked nests on the beach, and we came across the third... so we learned how to determine the coordinates of the nest, took some measurements of the width and distance from the high-tide line, and just learned some of the basic leatherback turtle nesting behaviors so that the track patterns began to make sense.  By doing these patrols, we'll qualify to do night patrols, which are longer shifts, but we'd get to see the turtle digging her nest and work with the turtles themselves.  How awesome would that be?  I'll have to bring my camera out there next time... or steal some pictures from Alayna at some point. 

P.A.W.S. had their second adoption day of the semester--5 found homes, 3 cats and 2 dogs.  I'm hoping Tink doesn't stay with us as long as Trix and Foo-foo did.  :(  I managed to keep up with the website updates, so things were so much easier this time.  Midway through the event, I realized just how dehydrated walking the beach can make you--I had SUCH a headache.  I've also learned that I can't use the sneakers that I wore--they created a huge blister on my heel that ruptured through the walk.  Time to retire those and get a new pair of running shoes when I go back to the US in June for Rachel's wedding (and to get my filling fixed). 

That's about it--I need to head off to bring in the laundry and make the cheese sauce for the brocco-flower that we found down here.  :P  A little taste of home!

See you next week post-parasitology exam.