I survived!!!

"I am not telling you it is going to be easy, I am telling you it will be worth it"

First semester of med school is done!!!  At times, I thought I would never make it.  Between the extremely sick multiple times, the electricity problems, the brown water, and the "hissing" guys, I was convinced I was not going to survive.  Yet here I am. I kept repeating that quote and kept working as hard as I could, so hopefully it paid off.  I had my comprehensive final this morning, a three and a half hour exam that covered an entire semester's worth of material in great detail. But now I am free!  I might have aged ten years in the past three months but all that matters is that I stuck with it.  Many thanks to all my mentors and friends who provided me with invaluable support throughout this ordeal.

Tomorrow (well tonight), I head to the airport at 4 am to start my epic journey home.  I go from Dominica  to Antigua, to San Juan  to Charlotte and finally to Buffalo.  I was going to bring people souvenirs but because of my extremely tight flight schedule, I decided to not check a bag.  I am only bringing a purse and backpack (finally learned how to pack light!)  The weather should be an interesting change.  Right now it has been "cold" here in Dominica, meaning around 85 degrees.  I actually get cold at 85!!! Basically I am going to freeze when I get back to Buffalo.  My parents said they were going to bring my wonderful poofy jacket and socks! (I am going to be that cool person rocking Birkenstocks with socks...I know everyone is jealous of my fashion sense) Yay for fantastic parents.

Heading back to the states is beyond exciting for numerous reason. Here are some of my main reasons why I am psyched to come home...

• I get to drive! And not only do I get to drive, I get to drive on our side on the road. Not this scary left-sided stuff.
• I get to have legit coffee without rationing it...aka when I hit the San Juan airport, I am finding the Starbucks.  Peppermint Mochas in red cups better watch out!
• I can have fresh vegetables and I don't have to worry about getting food poisoning from restaurant food.  I also don't have to worry if my ground beef is in fact ground goat. 
• Non-reggae Christmas music and hopefully a cold weather Christmas.

and finally.....I get to see all my fantastic family and friends and my dog!  Cannot wait.  I know this sounds cliche but I never really knew what I had until it was gone. I never thought I would be the homesick person but now that studying is done and I am waiting for the bus, I realize how much I miss Buffalo, Ithaca and all my amazing people.

Here is a pretty amazing mashup of all current popular songs that fits my mood right now. Enjoy! 

Hurricane Season is Over

The beginning of December marks the end of hurricane season, which will hopefully mean no more wading through giant potholes to get to campus. It also means we got a hilarious email from the school.   The main point of the email was to say that "we have been spared from the ravages and fury of Mother Nature" (aka no hurricane actually hit the island). The best part of the email was when the school's disaster team started talking about what other natural disasters we could face: 

"While we are officially out of the hurricane season, hurricanes are not the only hazard we are prone to here in the Nature Island.  While we do have a hurricane season, we do not have a season for other hazards, such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, flooding, etc.  as such, these can occur at any time with or without warning."

VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS!!!!!  Only in Dominica would you get an email saying that by the way we might have a volcano erupt any day.  I started laughing when I read this email because all I could think of was the Jimmy Buffet song about volcanoes (click for the song) .  He is basically singing a song about not knowing were to go if the volcano goes (my thoughts exactly when I read the email).

I wish Dominican life was more like his Cheeseburger in Paradise song (cheeseburger song).  Seriously, there is no good beef on the island.  I never thought that I would crave a steak. But steak and broccoli are the two foods that I really, really want! Once I bought ground beef at the grocery store without looking closely at the label.  While I was eating it, I thought it tasted funny.  Later when I went back to the store, I actually read the label and realized it was "Fresh Ground Local Meat."  Basically it means that it was goat (or at least I hope it was goat and not more guinea pig). Needless to say, I haven't bought that again!

10 more days and I am back in the states!  Can't believe how fast time has flown by down here. Hopefully I will get a white Christmas.