What a crazy month this has been so far and it's only half way over! Even better is that it marks the half way point of the September 2013 class being on the island! Time sure does move fast when you're moving with it. Don't get me wrong, I love the island but some days are so tiring and so filled with air conditioning and studying that I briefly forget I'm even on a beautiful island. I didn't even think that was possible...to forget that I'm living in one of the top vacation destinations.
I'm sure there was March, April, and May Madness as well but this month has seemed more hectic than usual! Along with our regular classes we had ICM3 (Introduction to Clinical Medicine) classes, quizzes and physical exam & interviewing skills checkoffs, basically a fancy way to say an evaluation to make sure we have some idea of what we're supposed to be doing. We also celebrated my Birthday!!!! More about that epic celebration in a minute. We also had Block exams. All in a span of 3 weeks. I'm still trying to catch my breath. I know I was there for everything but it's all pretty much a blur at this point. When I need some inspiration to keep going I think back to all the fun we had on our full day off!!!!!!
We chartered a private yacht from a company called Private Yacht Charter (PYC) and planned have a great time cruising around St. Maarten. After a 35 minute drive we pulled up to the pier and all stared at the boat in amazement. Wow! Were we really about to board this beauty for the day??? Yep!
The 2 man crew quickly gave the safety briefing and we set sail. Breakfast of fresh French pastries, fruit & mimosas were on the menu and boy were they good. Then...sea sickness hit half of our group! Yours truly wasn't spared either. There was a passing storm in the morning and the water was pretty choppy. This most definitely was not how we planned to spend the day. Our crew, Jeff and Emmanuel, promised that it would get better as soon as we made our first stop. We just needed a little time for our eyes, ears, and brains to all sync up. I won't bore you with the scientific details of how all that works but he was right! The first stop was Tintamarre, a protected island close to St. Maarten. The waters calmed and once we got on shore everyone felt great!!! There was no more sea sickness for the rest of the day--Thank God.
We spent part of the day on Tintamarre and then set sail for Pinel Island. I think Pinel is my favorite beach in St. Maarten so far. I've been to multiple beaches and I love, love, LOVE Pinel Island! It's so chill. A place to just relax and enjoy paradise.
Lunch aboard the boat was delicious and the conversations and camaraderie was unlike any other. We snorkeled, swam, lounged on the beaches, ate, drank, tanned on the deck, laughed and joked all day long. There were no thoughts of school and no guilty feelings for the entire day; at least I didn't have any! That was a miracle in itself. With so much pressure to perform well, keep up with everything, memorize endless diseases, drugs, microorganisms, processes, integrate everything and apply it to real life situations is a feat unlike any other. Not thinking about any of that for just one day was just what these Future Doctors needed! Having that time off re-energized us and made going back to the daily grind more palatable, especially since the dreaded Block Week was upon us, as usual.
I know it probably seems like it's always block week. If it's not block week, we either just had blocks or block week is next week, hahaha...that's how we live. 3rd and 4th block are a little better because there are 4 weeks in between each one. More room to breathe but that much more new material is crammed into the added time. By now, we're pretty used to the endless information overload. Each of us in our way does the best job we can managing it all.
Feels a little weird but dare I say, things really are starting to come together! Some of the bits and pieces we learned early on are starting to make sense now that we're getting into more systems based learning and pathology. This is what it's all about. The 25,000 piece puzzle has a border and the inside is starting to be filled in. Random I know, but I loved putting puzzles together when I was younger. They were really difficult until you got the frame done then the rest started taking shape much easier. School feels a bit like that. Starting off, putting the border together seems impossible, and school is like working on a puzzle without the box to let you know what it's even supposed to look like. As the professors add more nuggets of information it's like we now have the box and see where we're headed so some days, putting the pieces together is a LITTLE more manageable. I'd say that's progress.
I hope June Madness hasn't been as crazy for you as it has for us.
Here's one my favorite pictures from our time on the boat.
Too bad it feels like an eternity ago =)
Until next time...
This is the first weekend after the first set of block exams, sigh of relief!
This is what many of us want to be doing...
However in actuality, this is what many of us are doing instead...
The days leading up to block exams are probably some of the most stressful, sleep deprived times most of us experience during the semester. It's the time when you KNOW you have to review all of the material and get it to a place in your brain that you can accurately recall it, integrate it, and answer the questions correctly on test day. The days are long, the nights are short, and the intake of caffeine increases exponentially. I think I did pretty good only drinking 2 cups of coffee the entire week.
Now that blocks are over for most of us, the adrenaline rush you get on exam day is gone and the lack of sleep and and proper diet is catching up to us. The 5th semester students get to experience this next week! I think it takes me a good 5 days to recover from exams but new information is being shoveled down our throats starting the day after exams...except this past Thursday. Thank you Jesus, for Ascending into Heaven 40 days after Easter, to be seated at the right hand of the Father--and giving us a day off! Amen! Ascension Day here in St. Maarten is a major holiday where most people have the day off. For us, it turned out to be a day to complete the non-exam related readings and view the presentations that we'd be "quizzed" on the next day. "Quiz" really translates to "major deal" because only 2 "quizzes" determine if you pass or fail the class.
The weekend after blocks is usually my guilt-free beach time or stock up on real food and new toilet paper time (after just a few hours of studying vs the entire day) but instead I'm playing catch up to try to really absorb the material we got in class this week. I was there everyday and gave my best effort at paying attention but I think I was glazed over for quite a few lectures.
So today, I shall sit until my gluteus maximus is numb and I plow through the lectures from the week...then maybe there will be some time to play in the sun!
As is the tradition with every entering Medical School class, we had the Summer 2014 White Coat Ceremony. This time around was different than when I received my white coat back in September 2013. This time I was in the audience with the friends and family of the new matriculants watching through a completely different set of lenses. New students being welcomed as Physicians-in-Training and fifth semester students who have demonstrated academic excellence were inducted into the Alpha Omega Phi Honor and Service Society. To be eligible for this honor, students must have obtained a cumulative GPA of at least 85 and participated in service learning at AUC and/or in the local community!
Some friends were being inducted into the Honor & Service Society and a group of us went to cheer them on. Seeing my friends and fellow colleagues being recognized for a job well done motivated me to dig deeper and push myself harder. I am so proud of them and their accomplishments. Not only are they great students, they are all around good people who will make caring, compassionate physicians. They inspire me to continue to shoot for the moon because even if I fall short I will land amongst the stars.
Congrats guys, you rock!
In true student fashion, we are always looking for an excuse to get away from the books for an impromptu celebration and this was a great occasion to do so. We finished our first week of school and our friends were recognized for being at the top of their class, win-win.
After the White Coat ceremony, we skipped the school sponsored dinner & party and headed out to a restaurant called Rancho, a steakhouse with live entertainment. They are next door to a Mexican restaurant called Tequilla and you have the option to order food and drinks from either menu. Between two restaurants' menus everyone was able to find something they liked. Rancho was open air style like many here in St. Maarten but still felt cozy. It was the perfect spot for a night out! The fresh baked bread, drinks and appetizers were so delicious that after the starters and drinks almost everyone needed a to-go bag. This was my first time there but I would definitely go back again.
Good food + Good company=Good combination.
Wow, 2nd semester came so quickly! It feels like we just started but then when you look back you realize how much you have accomplished in just a few months. The semester started in January with a move to our new place, an ocean front condo about 2 blocks from school. I love it! I don't know how I'm going to go back to living in a city after waking up to amazing ocean views every morning. I'll think about that when the time comes, there's so much more to worry about in the nearer future.
Second semester classes are MCB 2, Physiology 1, Immunology, Biostats, and ICM 2. I didn't think it was possible but the pace seems to have picked up even more since first semester. The material is more dense and detailed. The never ending pathways in Biochem made me want to pull my hair out. Physiology was interesting because we were starting to really get into the medical and physiological aspects of how the body works. Immunology presented it's own challenges of countless interleukins and cytokines, transcription factors and helper T cells. It was a toss up between Immunology and Physiology as to which class was more interesting. No matter what, they were both highly relevant and the foundation they provided will surely take us far. My favorite part of the semester is getting to play doctor...more on that in a few.
Some of the highlights from 2nd Semester:
>My computer crashed, again! It happened 1st semester the week before blocks and it happened again. Luckily I found a computer genius at Office World who worked a miracle and got me up and running again.
>A visit from my parents!
My parents came to visit for a week and it was so nice to see them in person. FaceTime and Google Hangouts are great but being able to actually touch them was priceless. My mom did my laundry and ran errands for me that I didn't have the time to take care of an my dad walked me to school in the mornings; with all of life's responsibilities, I actually felt like I was a kid again and for those few days it was great! Can't wait for them to come back =) When they weren't taking care of my honey-do list they explored the island and weren't in any hurry to go home. The visit was nice, but the amount of work I had to catch up on when they left was mind boggling. I don't recommend having family or friends visit if you don't have enough will power to let them be on vacation while you are still a student. I 100% failed at that but I learned what works and what doesn't.
>I bought a car. It makes those monthly trips to Cost-U-Less and other errands so much more manageable. The reduction in my stress level just from knowing I can get around when necessary made it worth it.
>ICM- Beginning Social History, History of Present Illness and HEENT (Head, Ears, Eyes, Nose and Throat) exams were the focus this semester. Learning to ask open ended questions so that the patients can tell you what's wrong is challenging but we had tons of practice with both peers and more Standardized Patients (SP's). The SP's are so good you would think they are professional actors. There was even an evaluation when we were recorded and then given feedback on how well we obtained the Social History. Super weird watching yourself on video being the doctor but hey, these are the first few interviews of thousands to come in our careers and the experience was worthwhile.
>The Clinical Studies Fair was held this semester. It's a once a year expo where reps from most of the Clinical Sites (US and UK) come to campus to interact and engage students to promote their location for rotations. The fair was a huge hit with students from all semesters interested in seeing what our next steps would be. We have 72 weeks of clinical rotations after leaving the island when Basic Sciences is over and getting to interface with the program reps was helpful and opened my eyes to many of the options for rotations. I am sure I will view next year's fair with a totally different mindset since it will be right before it's time for me to leave the island. Having the exposure early will allow me to be better prepared and more focused with questions next time the fair is held. I'm looking forward to at least one or two UK rotations!
>We had a small earthquake! I didn't even know there were earthquakes in the Caribbean. As a non-coffee drinker, I had a few cups and thought I had the shakes from caffeine overload until my roommate and I locked eyes and she felt the movement too. She's from the West Coast where earthquakes are normal. She was calm and I was a bit more freaked out. My first thought was to go outside and see if anyone else felt the earth moving. She had to tell me that's exactly what you're NOT supposed to do during an earthquake! Well, now I know. Turns out the epicenter was near Anguilla which is pretty close to St. Maarten. Hopefully this was my first and only Caribbean earthquake.
Saying goodbye
Friends that we made when we first got to the island are leaving to go and prepare for Step 1 of their USMLE (the first part of the medical licensing exam). It's a bittersweet goodbye. We're happy that they are advancing in their pursuit of the MD degree but we're sad to see them leave. So, the only thing we could do was send them off with the best party ever! We have to make sure they remember the good times and good friends they met on the island.
Not only did we say goodbye to a few 5th semester friends, we also said goodbye to our 2nd semester! We're almost at the half way point of being on the island. The half way point of Basic Sciences being finished...
