Life has a way

The last couple of months have flown by so fast it's hard to recall what I've actually done since I've moved down here. Obviously a lot of school, some rotations, random patient write-ups and notes, and some fun times with some good friends; some of it has been good and some not at all, I suppose as all things are in life.

The semester officially ends on August 5, so just in a few weeks and there's still a bit to get done before then, but then it's back to study mode 9-5 for a week do to the review course I'm taking. Then I just jump into studying on my own and head back to Columbus at the end of September to do some more of that.

Ive been to the beach a couple of times now, am more comfortable with the driving around here and the freeways, the lack of English in many places and the craziness of our schedule...well that I may never get used to, but at least we're almost done. I've had a friend visit, an old friend start his education not far from where I live, met some good people, became better friends with others and explored the cuisine of Miami...probably more than I should have. I've cooked a decent amount and found out how much I love it if I had a little more time, kind of baked a few times but I still need to perfect it, and am trying to continue with the whole gym-going thing but a week-long sickness kinda put that at bay so now I'm desperately trying to get back to that too.

So thus far life is decent but I'm excited to leave this part of my life behind. It's been fun and it's been VERY very educational both school-wise and in so many ways life-wise too, but I'm ready for a new start even though it's just a different kind of continuation. I'm starting to notice changes in my likes and dislikes, what's important to me and what is not and it's making me feel like finally I'm getting somewhere with this "purpose" in life :)

Hope you're all healthy and happy!

Love,

Basia

Getting into the groove

I have a few more days before my comprehensive exam which I am a bit nervous for because the passing rate is usually very low for the first time and because there really is just a lot of information. It's amazing how much you forget! But I'm gonna do my best and if the worst happens, I will just have to take it again at the end of the semester. Cross your fingers for me!

This past weekend I went through a BLS and ACLS training meaning I am now not only CPR certified, I am also certified to run a code blue in any situation in general. It was a long weekend but I learned a lot and it was fun in a lot of ways too. If you remember nothing, know the ratio 30:2....30 compressions followed by 2 ventilations and repeat 5 times before a shock and before switching.

My back has been bothering me lately which is upsetting because I can't go to the gym, but hopefully it will resolve soon. As you all know I HATE meds, but I caved in and took an Ibuprofen because I couldn't even breathe without intense pain shooting down my back. And I'm not even sure how I caused this problem. :(

Yesterday I had my first rotation and I was lucky enough to get Dermatology. It was a very long day but it was still exciting and fun. We saw close to 40 patients all who had anything from warts to acne to moles to rashes to cancer. The doctor was a big goofball and his medical assistants right there with him so it was an entertaining experience as well. However, we did learn things when he tested our knowledge and we did get to speak with patients, take their history, diagnose them and honestly, practice our Spanish A LOT! In all, a good day. We are looking forward to the other days we get to go there but I'm pretty sure Dermatology is not the specialty I want to go into. It's an easy job, with great hours and pay, but in my opinion, not a very challenging specialty which I DON'T like.

And I will end this post by wishing my beautiful, sophisticated and quite amazing Aunt Barbara a VERY VERY VERY Happy Birthday! I will see you this weekend Ciociu!

Cium!

Basia

I'm Back

Dinner with friends in Miami

Well it's been exactly 3 weeks since I have officially been off the island and 2 weeks since I've been trying to get settled in my apartment in Miami, FL. It was definitely a bit nerve wrecking waiting for the final scores to come out but once they did, I was able to breathe a sigh of relief and enjoy some time with family and friends. I then took the 20.5 hour journey down to Florida by myself (which was actually a lot of fun for me).

So now here I am. Life is very different in Miami...definitely different from Dominica, but even from Ohio. I'm glad I'm here and glad to have this experience but so far it's pretty evident that Miami is not somewhere I could ever live long term. According to some of the locals, the hispanic population has expanded tremendously in the last 2 years which has led to what I call "little Cuba." Every store within a 5-10 mile radius has only hispanic workers, some of which speak English but most of which do not. (Even greeting cards are all in Spanish. I had a hard time finding English ones.) As you can imagine, that was quite an adjustment, but now seems like it's a way of life. The traffic is awful here, with no traffic only seen between the hours of 9pm and 5 am and which makes me wonder where people are going and why they are not working. It's also very hectic in general here which is to be expected in a large city, but I honestly miss the simplicity of island life...sometimes, I miss Dominica. Yes, I know, crazy, but I sometimes I do.

People are also very fake and mean around here which is strictly different from the midwest. And to prove that I am not crazy, I recently met a neighbor who is from Indiana and going to PT school here and he said that was the first thing he noticed too. I have seen more BMW, Masarati's and Lamborghini's in a spam of 10 minutes than I have ever seen in a lifetime (TV not included of course). It's like you have to be part of a club to live here and have your own personal plastic surgeon because everyone is "perfect" and rude. Again, very much not something I relate to well. In a nutshell, I would describe Miami in these few words: Fake, Rude, Hectic, Upscale, EXPENSIVE, and fun if you let it.

But it's not all that bad. I mean I AM in America, the weather is usually very nice and I'm really glad to be having this experience overall. I have spent time exploring a little and there are some very neat places so I'll let you know things as I discover them. Currently, I'm studying for my comprehensive exam and school starts Monday, so life will also pick up a little with that, and I have enjoyed the variety of cuisine from a variety of cultures. Oh and I forgot, I also began experimenting with cooking now that I...wait for it...HAVE MY OWN KITCHEN!!!

As time goes on, and as my blog title change states..."Time will tell."

Until next time,

Barbara

I'm watching ants carry food in the library

Yes, I am watching ants have like an assembly line and they are carrying little bits of food across the top of the library cubicles, which are all lind up in a row. What's funny is that they keep bumping into each other as they go in opposite directions...haha.

Okay, so for those who I haven't told yet, I passed my last set of tests...hooray! I have another one this upcoming Friday and then round two of the ALL of the subjects again 2 weeks after that. So 5 weeks are over, about 2 months or so to go.

Tomorrow we get the day off, which is really nice because they have this thing called a Carnival, to celebrate their Dominican spirit. I will be going to the beach for a few hours, then studying SOMEWHERE since everything is closed including the library, then NOT going to the gym cause it's closed too...very frustrating. I will figure it out, I just hope I don't have to study at home.

Oh, right, the most exciting news: 1. A dude escaped from prison and is on the run for murder, and the PR also included that he was a plumber, which is supposed to what, makes us all feel better? Maybe I should ask him to fix my leaky sink while Im being kidnapped or something...so Dominican-like of them to put tha it there. 2. A volcano from 2 islands had it's peak collapse into it, sending ash flying and causing Dominica to be covered in ash for the last 2 days - thankfully, it's gone, We had to wear masks and "not go outside." 3. There was a forest fire last night about 300 feet from my apartment. I have to say after I got over the "this better not spread" point, it was very cool because it lit up the entire night and it looked very royal. They contained it, so no worries. And this all happened in the last like week or so, see my life IS exciting! :)

And back to my random subway stories, I of course had subway today, and they FINALLY got some chipotle sauce and MUSTARD for goodness sakes. They haven't had either in such a long time, probably a month, but they've had other shipments of the other items, I mean how hard is it to order some sauce with that? And mustard? That's the most basic condiment out there. I will never understand, ever.

My professors this semester aren't AS exciting as last semester, but my favorite one is back - the one who has the biggest accent and talks to himself while he still has his microphone on and who grew up in "Taliban land" as he calls it. He makes my days, I wish I could send you all a recording of just one..it's hilarious.

I hear the weather is fabulous in Columbus, and heck in the US in general - please send me pictures of snow, you in snow, someone you know in snow, snow splatter - whatever!

Miss you guys!

Barbara

Overdo update

Hello, hello everyone!

Im taking a short study break and decided to write on my blog cause I think I last posted like 2 days after arriving here, it's time again, even if nothing exciting happens to me :)

So for staters, I have a huge test on monday and had one today, which was hard. I have no idea what I got, but Im pretty sure I hit above the average, so long as I do that, Im good. Im still not happy with it because it was supposed to be a practical, aka...what is this and that, vs. a test (which Im taking on monday) that asks secondary and tertiary questions. But oh well..we'll see. So wish me luck monday cause I have a 3 hour test covering 7 subjects all together.

Thus far things have been pretty good. I actually like the island now and have no problem with living here except for the distance. Ive become friends with a lot of ppl and getting to know more every day. Some of them are 4th semester and thats good for me for tips on school things, but it's sad cause they're all leaving at the end of the semester (unless they fail the semester and have to repeat) and some are actually pretty cool people. My other friends, the ones I always spend time with, have ALL been sick since we got here, it's weird. Alex has been vomiting for days with diarrhea (she thinks she ate something/has a bug), Marissa has had a deep cold for the last 3 weeks, and Amira is more tired than normal always. But so far, I haven't contracted any of it...thank goodness :)

All of them were really good on my birthday, they all got me gifts, took me out and made the day special...it was a really good birthday actually. :) For pictures, see facebook.

Im still hitting the gym daily, well Thursday is my day off, and it's sort of a part of life now..its nice to say that. I feel stronger in my legs, which was part of my goal - it's working :) Im running, and I hate to run, and arms are okay. I still want that flat tummy, but Im not that disciplined to get rock-hard abs or anything...so Im settling for small tummy..or whatever u call it, toned but not like Im on steroids kind of stomach. Ive actually been associated with being in the gym "all the time" but some people which is completely different for me from my normal Columbus life...again, not a bad reputation to have.

School is good. Im liking what Im learning for the most part, minus biochem cause we have to memorize pathways that are totally useless, but whatever, ill store it in some small part of a brain lobe for a while. Our teacher for that is also Britishand he hates America, so he always comments on how fat americans are, how we have to change everything from like celcius to fahrenheit, etc. It's frustrating, and especially because he's a fatty himself, but apparently we're all starving the rest of the world because we eat too much meat, which could feed 1/3 of the world if we were all vegans...again, he probably eats an entire cow daily. The others are alright. One got fired cause everyone hated him and it's good cause he was a bad teacher. He was a smart man, but he wasn't meant to be a professor, but to be a researcher and article writer type of guy.

Post mini on monday we have another beach bash, which is free food, drinks, water sports, etc. Im looking forward to it. Then the monday after we have the day off because it's "Carnival" which is a huge festival here and a national holiday...Ill be studying because I have another test that friday...it never ends!

Ive fallen in love with a stray dog here, he's old but he's always so happy, I just LOVE him. He's always happy to see me and he'a furry. For a picture, again, check facebook.

Okay, I must go now. So far, Im good, so dont worry about me. Oh and to leave you with a quote from my professor: On lactation - "women have very large and luscious milk-producing breasts..." Coming from him, it was alarming :)

Miss you all!

Barbara

Round 2

Hello all, it's been a while since Ive posted anything on the blog, I just realized this, but Im back for round 2, finished semester 1 strong and passed - yay! Sadly I know a few people who did not so they are now repeating. Approximately 100 people didnt pass I believe.

Thus far, and it's only day 3, life is not so bad. I had a bad first day because our school decided to change how their printing works and no one could print or when they tried, it didnt come out. Now it's day three and things seem to be working a bit better. I still think the last system worked just fine, but that's just me - whatever.

Im feeling much more "at home" hear this semester mostly bc I know where everything is and most of the ins and outs of the uniiversity and the professors and such. I watch the first semester students and I kind of feel bad for them, they are still making friends, figuring things out, and just look stressed and lost - we all feel much better.

I also finally got my baggage (3 days later) and ALL of the food was all over my suitcase, with an explotion of like 6 of my ramen noodle bowls, and of course, shampoo, which customs didn't bother to wrap back up when they took it out of the bag it was in.

Okay, lunch time, gotta go. Ill write again this weekend if something fun happens...right....:)

Barbara

22 Days and definitely counting now!

So while you all focus on the upcoming feast of eating...and thanking is somewhere in there although Im pretty sure the US forgot why we HAVE Thanksgiving, Ill provide more stories. Actually I bet that some people have no idea what the story behind Thanksgiving is at all and they were born in the US.

Teacherisms:

Apparently "dead space" is "deadest space" when your professor is from Iraq. When you say pneumonia, you say the p as well. When you try to teach students about pleural space (space between the thoracic wall and your lung) you apply to to a marriage. The space is your marriage certificate, the lung is a woman who wants to go to the theatre, the wall is a guy who wants to go to a boxing match. So because of that certificate you have to compromise and go to a possibly violent theatrical performance. That's what the lungs and wall have to do when you breathe. Who is he married to?

Another: I was told today that if I shower too much the phermones I let out will be faint, so I won't be able to attract anyone - ever. I should start showering like 5 times a day :) I was also told that because we subconsciously react to phermones vs. odorants we can react to voluntarily, sorority house girls tend to have menstrual cycles that eventually occur all at the same time as you adapt to each other's cycle. That's a lot of girls being bipolar and moody at the same time! AHHH!

Cool: My cadaver, Harold, who is pretty much cut up in every direction, has a HUGE heart. Like one from a cow or something. But it is SO cool. He had a double bypass and his heart is massive! And get this, people STOLE some of the hearts from the lab - how messed up is that? Like what are you DOING with he hearts? I don't even want to imagine. SICK, people are sick.

I forgot to update you all on my snorkeling experience so here it is: It was okay. I had a hard time breathing through the tube but on the other hand it was absolutely beautiful to see the coolest creatures just feet from the beach. :)

We had a football game for the girls this past weekend whic they call "powderpuff" followed by the men's game. Amazingly, or maybe not, a ton more people came out to see the girl's game than the boys. And I got free juice!

I have listened to the same music over and over and over and over, for the last 3 months. I am going to be an expert on music soon. I even know the song that's coming up next on my ipod and I have like 1,000 or more songs. THAT is sad. So who's going to buy me my first "return" Chipotle burrito?! :)

And finally, in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I am thankful for all of you. Both friends and family. I love you all and in each of your ways, you all make my life complete and without you, it would be a more sad life. So thank you. I also am thankful for my stuffed animals, food - which I lack, or good food, and headphones, yes, headphones.

Love you all!

Barbara