A bona fide diver

This weekend is a four day weekend for the medical students because of Grenadian Thanksgiving. I have no idea why the poor vet students didn't get any time off. But I took advantage of the time off and scheduled my final scuba dive for Friday afternoon. It was a wreck dive, so I got to swim in and out of the ship which was very cool. There were also several large schools of fish hovering around the wreck so it was a cool feeling to drop down into the middle of them. Since it was my last dive, I'm now certified for open water diving, and I can technically do it by myself if I wanted. Although diving with the dive center is probably my preferred method because they take care of everything for us. Our instructor brought an underwater camera this time, so included is a picture of yours truly doing my best scuba pose for the camera while we were hovering under the surface doing a safety stop to let some nitrogen work its way out of our systems. I'll probably do another dive this semester with some of the vet students, and possibly get my deep water certification next semester. But, it's been tiring cramming all the lessons into 2 weeks, so I'm glad to have a little break. This weekend was originally supposed to be a trip to a nearby island for a little relaxing, but the plans fell apart. I'm actually relieved because I'd rather just spend the weekend either studying or laying in bed. Neither of these things cost any money either. I hope to see you all soon, and check out the new holiday poll.

What a week.

It seems like the end of midterms was just yesterday, but an entire week has passed. Sandblast has come and gone, and the Grenadian Thanksgiving is right around the corner. This past weekend was kicked off with a birthday party for a pair of friends at a local french cafe. I had recently eaten, so I just sampled some deserts and had a cappuccino. After we returned home, I retreated to bed in order to have all the strength necessary for Saturday's party on the beach. Sandblast was nice, but my group only stayed for about three hours. The weather was perfect, the surf had calmed from the effects of a distant hurricane which had kicked up impressive waves and reshaped the beach during the preceding few days. After a nap I rejoined the group for the after party at the aquarium club. Everybody returned home relatively early due to the rainy weather and the fact we mostly had our fill of partying. Sunday for me was spent catching up on a little anatomy and enjoying the Packers put up a dominating performance against the colts. The picture I've posted just shows a portion of the beach during sandblast. Normally the beach only has a few dozen people on it, so this was pretty well attended. It's nice to have this to look forward to next term as well. But now it's back to the grindstone until I come back for a visit in December.

An enjoyable experience...

This weekend was a much needed break from the grueling week of midterms that the school completed last week. Since the finals are not cumulative, we had our first free weekend without any studying. We start in on new material on Monday. I actually didn't do much at all this weekend. I took a long "nap" on Friday and just read a book that wasn't related to medicine on Saturday and watched Badgers get thoroughly dominated by Penn State. This morning was my first scuba session. It took up most of the day, and despite the overcast sky it was everything I expected it to be. After a boring video on using the equipment we got to get into a pool to practice a few techniques under the water. It's a very strange feeling the first time you breath under water. It takes a while to overcome all the instincts you've built over the years. After another boring hour in the classroom we took a trip out to a reef frequented by many snorkelers and divers on the island, flamingo bay. Apparently they describe it as the closest thing to diving in an aquarium due to the wide variety of fish species one can see. During the past few days the island has received a lot of rain, so the runoff from the island was diminishing the visibility while we were diving, but it was still very easy to see fish 20 feet away, so I can't wait to see what perfectly clear water looks like. I saw a few eels, a shrimp, and tons of different kinds of fish, many of which I have no idea what they are. The ones I could identify were parrot fish, angel fish, and trumpet fish. My next dive is Tuesday morning. Hopefully I'll have some pictures for you then. Our group was typically male and we all forgot to bring a camera.

1 down...

I had my first midterm in anatomy today, well technically yesterday. It was a fairly long test because it had two practical portions to it, both a dry lab (looking at x-rays and dissection slides) and wet lab portion (tags tied to structures on the cadavers.) I felt pretty good about it, and I should easily have a B on it which is good since it's 8 of my 19 credits. Wednesday brings Histology which will also be accompanied by slides for us to identify the tissues and cells. It was a nice feeling walking out of the lab after finishing the anatomy final, but then we came back to our rooms and continued studying for histology. Noon on Friday will be the sweet release we're all looking forward to. I also start my diving course on Sunday morning. Apparently after a few hours in the classroom we head out the the pool and practice underwater and by the end of the day we're able to go 40 feet under. It will be the first of 3 five hour learning sessions which will be followed by a full dive which means we get to dive until we run out of air. This should last 45-60 minutes depending on how out of shape I am and how nervously I'm sucking in the air. After that I'll be certified for open water diving and I can return anytime to visit any of the several dozen dive sites that don't exceed 18m (60 feet.) Then the weekend after that will be Sandblast. Every term and school will be done with midterms at that time, so there is a huge party on the beach filled with all the mischief and debauchery which all you can drink mugs bring. It will be the spring break I never had. Since I'll be here for 4 semesters, that means 4 spring breaks. It makes up for all the ones I missed in undergrad. I apologize for the tardiness of this post, but I've been busy studying. I'll definitely be posting this weekend to express my relief that we've met the post midterm calm, and maybe you'll get a peek at a wetsuit adorned marvel.