49 Days

With the help my trusty sidekick, the Self Control App, I was able to fend off all timesuck websites trying to ruin my life and successfully complete my first round of midterms at SGU. It was a somewhat rude, yet hilarious wakeup call to see how many times I would mindlessly click that browser button to get my Facebook or StumbleUpon fix in a given designated study day, only to be harshly rejected by a big, fat, "THIS WEBSITE IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE. PLEASE CHECK YOUR NETWORK CONNECTION AND TRY AGAIN." Upon crunch time, I reluctantly set the app to block me for an entire 24 hours.  Dinger offered to keep me up-to-date on all the engagements, break-ups, births and exceptionally witty posts so I wouldn't feel left out. My addiction is flat out, well... sad.

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Midterms came and went fairly quickly. As miserable as the 500 required orientation sessions were that first week, I wish they would have added one more regarding examination procedures at SGU. They are h.a.r.d.c.o.r.e. These professors make my CSU profs look like kindergarten teachers that allowed potty breaks and playtime in between multiple choice questions and the short answer section.

Girls must have their hair tied back. Guys can't wear baseball caps. No wristwatches. No backpacks. No purses. No pencil bags. Proctors in little maroon vests that were supposed to make them look "official," checked your ID and made sure you were abiding by all the rules before you even entered the classroom. If you speak once you've entered the classroom, your exam will not be graded. If you start your exam before the proctor allows, your exam will not be graded. You must hand in a receipt with your completed exam which is cross checked, again, with your ID or guess what... your exam will not be graded. Keep in mind, there are a whopping 25 students in some of these classes, so the profs know darn well who you are. It's insane. As if my test anxiety wasn't through the roof already. Yeesh.

So, as I was saying... where's my "I survived midterms at SGU" T-shirt?

Upside to hurricane season: double rainbows!

We've been having a bit of interesting weather the past few weeks. Officially, the Atlantic hurricane season is from June 1st to November 30th, but as the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory notes:

"There is nothing magical in these dates and hurricanes have occurred outside these six months, but these dates were selected to encompass over 97% of tropical activity."

Um... thanks for that.

We've had it fairly easy compared to our fellow Caribbean islands to the North. A little thunder here and there, some rain but mostly just clouds and the coolest sunsets you've ever seen!

Don't worry, I had you in mind when I snapped these little gems. Feel free to express your profound jealousy of my life in the comment section below. After all, that's what it's there for.

Instagrammed

Instagrammed

Unedited

Unedited

Tropical Storm Rafael rolling by at Grand Anse Beach.

People, this is NOT photo-shopped. Scouts honor, the sky was actually THIS pink!

On the commute home.

See? Pink, I tell you!

The school photographer took this one. So I don't know if it's edited or not.

I can't say I can blame this on the weather, but I got SOOO sick the week before midterms. There was definitely something going around campus. #dormlifetroubs

@TheGabe felt like he needed to do something for me so he made himself some chicken noodle soup and rubbed it in my face. How sweet. :)

Whatta stud.

Luckily, the weather was good to us the weekend before and after midterms, so we were able to sneak off to the beach for a bit. The Saturday before midterms, we spent the day at Grand Anse Beach with the Orphanage Student Organization. We got to paint with some of the orphans on the island and took them all swimming. Too much fun! I was SO impressed with the amount of students that showed up the weekend before midterms.

Staring at a bucket of fish they caught.

I had a HUGE moral dilemma when the kids started playing a little too rough with the fish - squeezing them and leaving them in a buck of hot water on the sand. I reeeeaaallllyyy wanted to save the poor little helpless fishies' lives but could I actually take toys away from these adorable little orphan babies? *sigh*

O took me to this cute little restaurant called Umbrellas on Grand Anse Beach.

My first "real" salad since I've been here. OMG. Delish!

Cheers to midterms finally being over!!!!! 

Not the best picture, compliments of our waiter. The girls and I went to Beach House the Friday after midterms were over. It's my new favorite restaurant on the island; a bit pricy but the food and drinks were fantastic and it's right on the beach. I had another REAL salad. It's the little things in Grenada.

Appropriately named, "A Day at the Beach"

Emma and I are both members of the SGU Surgery Club which means we get to practice our suturing skills at suturing clinics throughout the semester. They started us off with the basics and let us practice our simple continuous and simple interrupted sutures on a sponge nailed down to a board. After getting those techniques down, we got to try them out on human cadavers! Out of respect for the generous deceased whom donated their bodies to science, I opted out of snapping pictures while we were in the wet lab. But I'll still let you see my sponge! :D

It was a beautiful night to save lives. 

And finally, the Fruit-of-the-Week: The Golden Apple

Wikipedia (my most beloved source for 100% factually correct links), didn't have ANYTHING on the Golden Apple. This is cause for concern. Who do I speak to about this?

Anyway, these things are delicious. I know I say that about all the new fruit I try here, but seriously, YUM. It's juicy and sweet - kind of like a cross between a pineapple and a mango. It can be a little fibrous and has a gigantic inedible, wooden core that sort of creeped me out at first. They're labor intensive for the amount of meat you're getting since you have to peel the skin and the majority is the core.  Still, economical since these little guys are only $1EC a piece (about $0.40US).

From the outside, it doesn't look very appetizing. 

See the little wooden fibers? And the core is huge!

Coming up:

• Sandblast this weekend! This is supposedly THE party of the semester the school throws after midterms on Grand Anse Beach. SO EXCITED. 
• DINGER'S COMING TO VISIT!!!!! In exactly 7 days, 22 hours and 32 minutes my bestest friend in the WHOLE WORLD will be in Grenada. I could NOT be more excited!
• The big 2-5! When did I get SO OLD? Good news is I can finally rent a car! Pretty much the last 'good news' birthday until 65 when I will finally qualify for sweet senior discounts at the movie theater. 
• Couple of cool lectures thrown in here and there by world-renowned vets. NBD.
• Finals (BOO!), then Christmas Break in 49 days (YAY!)