Random Ramblings

Have you ever seen the show 'Lost' where it seems the island is literally trying to kill the people on it? Sometimes I think that island is Grenada, whose flora and fauna have schemed to erradicate SGU students off this rock. For example, my classmates organized a class hike up to 7 Sisters waterfalls. While my classmates were playing and frolicking in the waterfall on a beautiful Saturday morning, there was a flash flood. A spontaneous wall of water threw people off the waterfall and left others stranded clutching rocks for their lives (Barry and Gina down on the right) until help could be called for miles away. Thankfully no one was seriously hurt, but there were quite a few ouchies and the hike back to campus was a long one.


On the other side of the island, myself and a few other people went to an equine colic lecture that could have been disasterous too. We were learning how to shove nasogastric tubes down a horse's noses when two horses got into a fight and the loser came galloping into us like a bowling ball hell bent on knocking over pins. One again thankfully no one was hurt, but my poor little brain that is already going through an academic blender cannot take the extra shot of adrenaline. Whoever said the Caribbean is relaxing was lying!! I would not be suprised if a polar bear to come out of the trees!!


In other news, I am in the beginning stages of writing a textbook with one of the professors down here. I just got a huge volume of notes yesterday from him that I need to start rifling through and all of my additional resources have been mailed to Matt in the US. It will be a busy Christmas break to see how much I can get done. Coming home in 30 days!!!

Off to the Races!

Hermit crab races that is. The epitome of entertainment. After our physiology test we headed to the Owl restaurant for a night of drinks and sketchy betting on these adorable little crustaceans. When you think 'hermit crabs' do not think of the cute little stinkers you find at Petsmart with little paintings on their little shells. The Grenadian hermit crabs are the size of apples and could scurry your rear end up a coconut tree with a single icy glare. The races were awesome and well worth the 4EC I lost




Here I am giving my little crab Node of Ranvier a pep talk.
He lost, but he is still a winner in my heart



Oh my goodness, chaos on the race track!! Go Node of Ranvier!!

One Health One Medicine

Just got back from an awesome morning at the SGU One Health One Medicine Clinic. It is a yearly event where medical students give free health exams to the local Grenadians and the veterinary students give free health exams and vaccinations to their pets. My job was to travel (not by myself Mom!) to some of the poorer areas around Grande Anse giving out flyers to the population of people who cannot afford to see a doctor. I wish I had known beforehand whether or not the med students had HIV testing...that seemed to be the most common question I received. When I was finished talking to 50-80 people I was reaking of pot smoke and rum... not bad for 10 am on a Saturday morning.
When I got back to the SGU tents I tried to do little jobs here and there for the vet students who were examining pets. We saw dogs all over the spectrum for possibly mangy to a temperature over 107 degrees. Most just had some tick problems and nails clipped. Having free vaccinations and dewormer was phenomental, if we can save a few dogs from rabies and intestinal parasites, than standing out in the heat for a few hours was well worth it. After that I went food shopping (since I was right next to the mall) and they totally had french vanilla coffee creamer!!!!!! I stocked up on 4 bottles and did a little jig with my prized creamers.
<-- My life is now complete

Working Hard of Hardly Working

I apologize that I have not taken the time to update this blog for some time. Academia kicked it up a notch and I had a string of four tests in a short time period. However I have been kicking back and my lowest grade so far is a 96. Let us see how long we can keep that up! Midterms are in 2 weeks (I cannot believe how fast time is flying). Some of the clubs in the vet school have been doing some really neat wet labs to give 1st termers some hands-on experience and a much needed reminder that eventually we will be practicing medicine. Last Saturday we had some dead pigs and got to practice tracheostomys, thoracostomy, thoracocentesis, spinal taps, and trans tracheal aspirations. This first picture is the chinese finger trap suture where you shove a tube through the ribs and then make a beautiful tie from the skin down the tube. That was an awesome morning! Later on this week we have suture and bandage wet labs.


In other exciting news, the Union workers here went on strike! The school sent out a rather miffed e-mail to the students and faculty explaining that 400 out of the 600 Grenadians working on campus were part of a Union and that services would be affected until a deal could be reached. Well, turns out only 50 people did not show up for work and they sat out on lawn chairs outside the school gates. I had to get through them to go to the farm on Wednesday and it was completely anticlimactic. I am not 100% sure why they went on strike other than it was money-related, but I did see the pamphlet the Union was passing out to motivate the Grenadians and it had a picture of a white man beating a black slave.... awkward? We received another updated e-mail last night and looks like the Ministry did a good job of settling everyone down so life will get back to normal.

I also received financial aid so my tuition is paid for- no more free school :o(

Fish Friday

Last night several of my classmates and I went to the town of Gouyave for their popular Fish Friday celebrations. We called up a 10 person reggae bus (taxi service) and the driver gave us a great deal of $20 EC/person for the trip up and back. This island destroys personal bubbles. If you do not like people within a two foot radius of you at all times, this is not the island for you. We managed to shove 18 people into this bus (we have some very aggressive people in my class- they wanted fish really badly) and went screaming down a windy road at 70 mph in the dark. It was rather terrifying, but the reggae bus is the only way to get around the island and everyone drives like a crazy old woman...makes driving in the US seem awfully dull and noncreative. Anyway, so we reach the fishing village where the fishy streets are lined with fishermen and fisherwomen cooking fish for fish lovers. Oh my goodness it was like heaven! The food was so incredibly delicious and after a few drinks I was dancing my little heart out to the reggae. I wish it had been light out so I could get some pictures of the village, it was really neat with tiny streets and incredibly old buildings. Our bus driver ended up being kind of a jackass because I KNOW I asked him prior to us heading to the festivle what time he wanted to leave and I got a 'dunna worry white girl you go have a great time' and then an hourish later he said 'gather your friends so we can go or I will up the charge to $25 EC.' Well that was rather annoying, but we gathered up all 18 and wedged ourselves back into the reggae bus and headed out on the long/terrifying drive home. All in all it was a really neat trip and I will definitely have to do that again sometime.

Funny side note: I absolutely love having a diverse faculty. The professors I have this semester include 2 from Germany, 2 from India, 1 from Scotland, 1 from the US, 1 from Spain, and 1 not of this world. Everyone is incredibly caring for the students and all of them do a fantastic job of teaching. However, this is a slight humerous drawback of having professors all over the world, teaching us technical terms with their thick accents. Here is a sample of some of the words I hear during lecture and have to translate in my mind.

Professor Language - English

Injimes-------------- enzymes
Schlendary---------- secondary
Imblicus------------- umbilical cord
Calshum------------- Calcium
Beetah Blunkers----- beta blockers


Ahh good times!

Hurricane Season

I have had a couple inquiries regarding whether or not I have been affected by the hurricane. Thankfully, Grenada is just a little too far south for the common hurricane tracks. The island has only experienced two in the last 50 years (granted the one in 2004 was pretty epic in a bad way). No worries though, I have already paid for my emergency evacuation insurance so if anything comes this way I am good to go. If you removed the St. George's tag you just might be able to see the island... it feels that small when you live on it too. Clicky for clearer picture if you would like. Sidenote: Still do not have my financial aid yet! Free school!

Yay Agriculture!!!

So I have some very exciting news that I would love to share. Today we had a little 45 minute lecture regarding programs for students who are interested in pursuing a masters degree while working on a doctorate in veterinary medicine. This usually requires an additional $24,000 added to the overall 6-figure pothole of tuition debt and a sacrifice of three summers on the island. Though some of the degrees offered seem very tempting (marine science, wildlife science, public health, etc), I forbade myself from looking further into it. During the talk, the head of the research department had a random power point slide talking about the School of Veterinary Medicine Outreach Program. "Outreach" tends to be one of those trigger words that make me salivate comparable to "beer." Turns out SGU has a volunteer program geared towards educating schools and farmers on agriculture....holy shit that is what my Masters is in!! A few interested students and professors travel to different villages in Grenada and simply teach a class or seminar about veterinary medicine in agriculture. I get goosebumps just thinking about it. I gave my information to an elated professor and will hear from the coordinator of the Outreach program on Monday. I also sent an e-mail to my old grad adviser at Tech letting him know that I did not completely abandon the field of agricultural education...but merely brought it to my island.

Transitioning

It is pretty amazing how one week can make all the difference in the world. When I arrived here off the plane I was tired, angry, alone, and seriously doubting my decision to arrive. Now that I have met a few friends and have figured out where things are, I sleep better at night. Here is what has been going on the past few days...

Orientation wrapped up over the weekend with a large bazaar on campus, sponsoring several local businesses to come out and sell their wares. SGU gave each incoming freshman $30 EC (Eastern Caribbean) to spend on food and whatnot. I bought 5 bananas and 2 cucumbers for $7 which came out to not quite $3 in US. Beer and sammiches were also free through the University and it was quite the party.

Monday morning and the semester has begun!!! While all of the med students and upperclassmen vet students headed to class, the 1st term vet students were invited to a beach resort for a 2-day professionalism workshop. A study came out several years ago through the University of Washington that graduating veterinary students were very capable in medical knowledge and technical skills, but epically failed in people skills. Sooooo....SGU has started this workshop (first of many) to teach vet students how to work with people. Some of the future subjects in this term will be topics like grief counseling, informed consent, veterinary ethics, etc. For this workshop we talked about communication overall and did the corny team building exercises. Overall the experience was beneficial in getting to meet many more of my classmates and three free meals over a 2 day period. Here are some pictures of the resort we were at for this....yes that is me in a hammock.

So nice workshop was over on Tuesday afternoon and then Tuesday evening we had the White Coat Ceremony. The ceremony is supposed to signify the welcoming of new students into the medical profession, where we slip on a white doctor-looking coat and say the veterinarians' version of the Hippocratic Oath. Though SGU had good intentions to make this memorable ceremony for us, it was memorable in a way I am glad my parents did not waste the money to fly down and witness it. To start off the ceremony, we had SGU's first female Grenadian graduate make the initial introductions and give thanks to various people. Though Grenadians are a kind and wonderful people, I have not met a single one who willingly projects his/her voice from the default soft-spoken whisper; so if you put a microphone in front of Grenadian and throw her on stage, we do not have a very happy situation. Overall her public speaking skills were not bad and her seashell dress was awesome. The best part of the ceremony was the key note speaker- a veterinarian visiting from Auburn University. I really wish I had taped the whole thing because my description would not do his speech justice...he spent the ENTIRE monologue praising Auburn University. He began with a quote that he felt symbolized Auburn's spirit. He discussed how Auburn's vet school took wing and became a successful university in 1907, back when sugar was $0.05 a pound and bacon was $0.16. He focused 99.9999999% of his attention on how wonderful HIS school was. It got to the point that all of us were looking around mouthing "Are we going to Auburn now?" Even my anatomy professor this morning was making jokes about the key note speaker- it was very special. I did not have my camera on me last night, but pictures will be forthcoming for that.

Actual classes began for us this morning, on another evening I will try to go into more detail about them. I have procrastinated long enough tonight.

Getting Settled

Today was full day #2 at SGU. The morning started off at 8 am to catch a tour of the capital of Grenada, St. George. The town was completely decimated by hurricane Ivan in 2004, so honestly when you walk through the town it still looks like crap, but it gives the town an ancient classy Pompei kind of look I suppose. You cannot see it in this picture, but I swear to God that the entire city is on a 89.9 degree angle. The locals must have legs of steel to be able to navigate around town. By the end of our tour all of us were panting like dogs and wearing sweat-soaked clothing, it kind of sucked.

Our tour guides were Grenadian students at SGU and were very nice and helpful from the small phrases I could understand. If you have never heard a Grenadian talk...think of it as a Jamaican accent from Cool Runnings but with a British lilt and incorporated french words. In time, I am told, I will understand all of the various inflections and dialects of the locals and will be able to fully contribute to a conversation. I think the Grenadians enjoy the look of panic on my face when I cannot comprehend and tell their friends.

Being that Grenada is the major exporter of spices (especially nutmeg) in the world, everything revolves around the spice industry. As we walked around to various stores and the popular outdoor market, the smell of spices wafted in the gentle breeze until it found me and clung for dear life, I have been smelling like nutmeg all day. I will visit this market often to get fresh fish, vegetables, fruits, and of course spices. If you have any requests for fresh nutmeg or REAL vanilla just let me know. Christmas may come early for you.




So did you like Pirates of the Caribbean? Well here we go to Fort George.



Though the movie was not filmed here, the fort has a fascinating history and has been around in some form of fashion since 1649. The actual structure I walked around today was built between 1705 and 1710 and has been active in the Seven Years War, the American Revolution, the French Revolution, the Grenadian Revolution, and the US-Caribbean Intervention. Our tour guides gave us a very heartfelt recount of the US-Caribbean Intervention of 1983 where the Prime Minister Maurice Bishop and his cabinet members (one of whom was pregnant) was taken to the very wall I happened to be leaning against at the time and was executed. When people of the city heard the shots, they ran up to the fort only to be gunned down. People in the town still have missing limbs and other bodily injuries from jumping off the fort's cliff to escape gunfire.






After an exhausting walk down from Fort George we walked through the city to get to the buses. I expected the waterfront of St. George's to be similar to the Inner harbor of Baltimore. I was completely and utterly blown away when I saw the busy city streets saddled by crystal blue water. I mean this water was so clear and full of large colorful fish that it looked like an aquarium instead of a bay full of commerce. I wish my camera could have taken better shots of the cichlids and pipefish that I saw, but here are some shots of the bay itself.

I hate Jamaica

Alright so getting a maximum of two hours of sleep last night, I arrive at the BWI airport by 6:30 for my 8:30 flight to Montego Bay, Jamaica. Flight goes fine and I spent the time talking to a Jamaican woman next to me who loved sharing stories about working on a sugar cane plantation in the 50's. So after we landed in Montego I had to sit on the plane for 55 minutes. The air conditioning unit was broken so they brought in an additional auxillary unit- also broken. Third time is a charm right? The third auxillary unit produced hot air. It got so hot in the plane that the windows fogged up on the inside and everyone truly believed we had died and gone to hell. So after the awful wait we flew from Montego Bay to Kingston...a smashing 20 minute ride. We landed in Kingston and had to sit on the plane for an additional 30 minutes-once again no air conditioning. When we were allowed to get off the plane, the airport had a 'special route' for students at St. George's. Get this...those awful people made us walk the entire length of the Kingston Airport, stand in a line to go through security, walk back to our original plane, and then go back towards security again- once again without any air conditioning. So my third plane was saturated with SGU students and parents ready to fly down to Grenada, but first we had to sit in the plane for an hour and a half -once again without air conditioning- because of baggage mixups.

FINALLY I am in Grenada!! Only to stand in line for another three hours-once again without air conditioning- for immigration and customs. So after 16 hours of sweating and waiting I am finally out of the airport atmosphere and managed to track down my dorm room. It took me 7 minutes to unpack and 'decorate' my room- I will take some pictures in the morning when the light is better. Tomorrow I register and will take a tour of the facilities. <3

Leavin' on a jet plane

So we are down to the final days before I leave the states. The plan is to drive up with my mom to Baltimore on Monday and fly out of BWI at an ungodly hour Tuesday morning. I have stored some winter clothes with my parents, all of my furniture was sold on Craigslist , and Matt adopted Riley (though he is still mine). AirJamaica allows two 50lb suitcases and a 30lb carry-on; I am considering myself quite lucky as other airliners only allow 70lbs between two suitcases or less. Linens, clothes, scrubs, and school supplies taking up most of the bag space, I am stuck with two picture frames and a Mexican coffee mug to personalize my future room. The real trick was trying to hide all of my electronics and pricey gadgets so I do not get charged at customs. The laptop I cannot get away with, as customs knows full well that if I am going to SGU then I definitely have one with me. My ipod is nestled safely in a vacuum sealed bag of clothes and all of my computer equipment is hiding for dear life in various regions of my multi-pocketed suitcases.

I’ve already spent a over 1K getting immunizations, plane tickets, and supplies- why should a couple more dollars make a difference? Well… I don’t have financial aid yet. The lending company SGU has been using for a long time backed out of their agreement at the beginning of the summer, the financial aid department has been scrambling to find new lenders for months. Well last Wednesday we finally got the happy e-mail of ‘zomg we have a company that will give you guys money!!!!’ That gave me less than 5 days to send in a loan application, get it approved, have money in my account, pay my school tuition, have the check clear and get a registration voucher. I don’t think so. So as of now I am flying down anyway and living on what I currently have in my bank account until the loan goes through. This sounds horrible, but thankfully all of my classmates are going through the same thing so my panic attack was not nearly as bad as it could have been.

Going to spend my last day in Virginia hanging out with Matt and the family. This will constitute a trip down to the docks so Riley can swim around and roll in mud, shooting range for some practice (shot my first groundhog on Wednesday), and the final shopping trip for crap I know I will not be able to purchase in Grenada. Take care and the next post will be on my island.