In Case I Don't See You - Good Afternoon, Good Evening and Good Night

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY FAVORITE OLDER BROTHER, MARK! 

Don't worry, Marky. We all love your stories enough to start hearing them over and over again. ;-)

Now that we have gotten the important business out of the way... let's begin. 

Things have gotten pretty hectic around here with a 7 class workload. I am loving the teaching styles and am starting to understand my professors A LOT better. I have noticed about a million advantages to attending school down here so I wanted to share a few with you:

1. The class sizes are TINY. About 25-30 students in each class which means the professor learns your name and demands an interactive learning environment. More often than not, you are expected to have an answer to their questions and actively participate in the learning process. It's also less intimidating to ask questions when you're lost instead of refraining because you're embarrassed about holding up 300 other students. 
2. There are a MILLION resources at your disposal. This is a medical school. The material is coming at you fast and hard and they want students to succeed. After all, it helps their statistics at the end of the day if they have a high student pass rate. The professors are very approachable, they offer 3 or 4 review sessions throughout the week taught by a student who got a high mark the semester before and if you are still struggling, the school will find you a private tutor - FOR FREE. We were assigned a Learning Development Counselor at the beginning of the term who is responsible for hosting valuable workshops about time management and study skills throughout the semester. You can also work with them individually if you find yourself behind or struggling. Overall, their goal is to develop your self-efficacy as a student to prepare you for your workload.
3. The students are here because they are dedicated to becoming medical professionals. We are all looking out for each other, are willing to help out if someone in our class is struggling, and making sure we are pulling our weight in group settings. This may change in a couple of years since I've heard upper termers are a bit more competitive and cut-throat but for now I am really enjoying having friends in my class that I can turn to for help, if necessary. Similarly, being able to teach someone a subject is the best form of studying I have found, thus far. 
4. Students don't work. Most of the students' schedules revolve around their studies rather than employment or social obligations. The school will pay you if you become a tutor but for the most part, no one holds a job.

Saw this on Facebook and it made me chuckle.

We finally got our white coats for lab!

Emma and I like to hang out on the dock in between class. Spoiled rotten.

This is our view. 

In case you were wondering, no, it never gets old...

I've been picking up some of the local slang over the past few weeks and I wanted to share a few fun terms with you that may help you in your future travels to Caribbean islands; Namely, when you come to visit me. ;-)

1. A lot of Caribbean islands use the term limin' instead of chillin' or hanging out. Wanna know how I learned that? Limin' with the locals... dur. 
2. They have a lot of stray dogs here. Sad. :( They call them 'Pothounds' or 'pumpettes.' I recently joined a club at school called 'Pothounds Against Pregnancy.' Basically, vet students, with the help of their professors, volunteer their time to spay/neuter the stray dogs. Not sad! :)
3. Grenadians don't pronounce the 'th' sound so the word 'thing' is pronounced, 'ting.' Also, instead of saying, "blah, blah, blah" they say, "ting, ting, ting." I could seriously listen to them talk all day long.
4. You always greet a person with "Good Morning, "Good Afternoon," "Good Evening," or "Good Night." I have a hard time saying, "Good Night" as a form of greeting but I'm learning. :)
5. They say 'gyal' instead of 'girl.'
6. Don't EVER call soccer, soccer. It's football. Off topic, but have any of you seen Green Street Hooligans? SO GOOD!
7. Eitherwho, if someone makes a mistake, they say 'Messed' but you have to drag it out... "Messsssssseeeeddddd, I totally flunked that test!"
8. And my personal favorite is, "That girl wants piggy, brethren." You see, 'piggy' is apparently a term for sex and 'brethren' or 'partner' means friend. I died laughing the first time I heard it...

Friday was rough. I decided to go to the Spice Mall since my only plate and utensils were accidentally taken after the dorm lunch last weekend and I desperately needed to buy another set. After my only class that day, (Oh, I forgot to tell you, my original schedule was wrong and I DO have one class at 11:30am on Fridays. BOO!), I jumped on a bus to head to Grand Anse.  There is so much stress involved with riding the busses here. They don't follow the schedules and are too small to fit all the students so everyone just pushes and shoves until they get a seat. My friend from New York is really good at it since she has experience on the trains in the city. Anyway, in all the chaos, I got on the WRONG bus! Since I don't know my way around the island yet, or the normal bus routes, I ended up riding the damn thing for TWO hours until it eventually dropped me back off on campus. I'm pretty sure the bus driver was judging...

After finally getting back to campus, two more buses to Grand Anse came and went as I unsuccessfully tried to board them,  I waited another 40 minutes, before I was able to squeeze my way onto the correct bus. By then, I was grumpy and anti-social and, in hindsight, feel bad for the people sitting next to me. Then, I had to fight the hungry students and locals at the grocery store since I forgot that Fridays are when they get all their new inventory in. UGH! Waited in another long line to check out, spent waaay too much money on milk and bread and then waited 25 MORE minutes for the next bus back to campus. First time since I have been here, that I really just wanted to go home. What could have been a half hour trip to the grocery store took six hours. Nonsense. 

I found the closest "pharmacy" which is basically just a convenient store.

It was like playing "Where's Waldo?" trying to find all these teeny-tiny little bus
stop signs all over the island.

In Grenada, you can get a ticket if you aren't wearing your seatbelt, but not for having a beer in your hand...

The sign for the local student bar where the usual debauchery occurs. Friday's special?
Unlimited drinks for $25EC (about $10US). I think they should change their slogan to:
 "Breeding baby alcoholics since 2001."
(JK, I have no idea how long they've been open).

Fresh eggs at the mini farmer's market on campus!

My roomies, Daniella and Nakeisha, cooked a whole lunch for 30 people in our dorm on TWO tiny burners.
And it was DELICIOUS! 

My Roomies! I seriously LUCKED out with all the girls in my dorm. There's 8 of us and they are all amazing! Also, I have no idea who the random dude is on the right... LOL.

Okay, by now you all should have noticed that I have an extreme obsession with the fruit on this island. This week's honorable mention: STAR FRUIT!

How beautiful is that?

OBSESSED!

They are beautiful, juicy with the perfect amount of crunch, packed with antioxidants and Vitamin C, refreshing and full of fiber. You can eat them raw, in a smoothie or cook with them.

As opposed to... non-tomato ketchup???

A pic of the blue moon taken by the talented Mr. Sameer Shah.
See more pics of his time at  SGU by clicking here.



Alright, I am officially putting the "pro" in procrastination. Back to the books.


"Education is simply the soul of a society as it passes from one generation to another."
- Gilbert K. Chesterton