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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.

New experiences

This past week I've tried to broaden my horizons a little. Considering the extreme change in my environment, there is a lot of new things to try. I went up to the small farmers' market that they have on campus every morning and bought some interesting fruits that I've never tried before. First I bought a bag of guineps which are pretty much like grapes covered in a thin lime skin and they also contain a large seed. The things taste similar to grapes, but they have a horrible fruit to seed ratio, so they're hardly worth the effort or money. I also tried a guava for the first time. Although I had heard of them before, I had no idea what they looked like. They are shaped similarly to pomegranates, but they're about the size of a golf ball and have a yellow citrus type skin. They taste pretty good, but they have tons of really hard seeds in them which are impossible to avoid and difficult to deal with while trying to chew. The picture I included is of the guineps on the stem they came on and also an enormous 6 lb pineapple I bought. The pineapple was per pound priced, so it still cost a small fortune even though it grew up around here. I also had to carve it with a paring knife since it was all we had.
Also classmate of mine set up a group to go scuba diving the week after midterms, and I figure I've got to try it at least once while I'm down here. So I'll be going down with them tonight to check out the program. I'm not that fond of snorkeling in Wisconsin lakes so this should be interesting. At least I'll have more than 6 feet of visibility though.
Also speaking of Pineapples, it won a landslide victory in the poll, but I suspect there may have been some jerrymandering. Check out the new one.

A birthday meal

Since Monday is my 25th birthday, a group of friends and I made a trip downtown to a nicer restaurant. I had the dish you see here. It was a catch of the day sort of thing with a lime garlic sauce. I have no idea what gave it such a bright yellow color though. It tasted great. We also shared a couple of Crabbacks. No, that's not supposed to be crabshack or crab-bake like we also thought. It's an hors d'œuvre made by mixing crab meat with some herbs and spices and then restuffing the crab shell (sans beady eyes) with the mixture. Obviously it was a welcome change from the usual ham and cheese sandwiches. Many of my friends' birthdays are also coming up in late October after our midterm, so we're going to find a few more of the nicer eateries in the area. Other than that, not much is happening on the spice island. The service union affiliated with the school went on strike last week, so we got an email that our housekeeping and transportation services might be disrupted, but I haven't seen any difference. We're also starting to get a little precipitation. I was beginning to think the rainy season was a misnomer. I want to experience at least one tropical storm while I'm down here too.
Well I'll get some productive stuff done now that I'm back on campus. But, I'm definitely having a drink on Monday to mark my quarter century.

Short lived relief

I finished my unified quiz after only an hour and a half of the three hour allotted time. I promptly headed back to my dorm room with a classmate where we enjoyed a beer to celebrate our completion. After grabbing a bite to eat, a group of about 50 students headed to the beach to enjoy the last few hours of sunshine. Because Grenada is in the eastern time zone yet it lies several hundred miles east of the east coast of the US, the sun sets at about 6 o'clock. The picture included is of the coastline and setting sun. A group of 4 of us invested in a bottle of rum, some soda, and some ice to replenish our electrolytes that we lost in the quiz. Some of us exclaimed that we need to have tests more often because it gives us a reason to visit the beach. Most of us only see the Grenadian weather on the way between our dorms and the lecture hall. So it was a good change of pace.
We continued the celebration at Bananas, but we all went home relatively early because everyone had early labs in the morning. This morning reminded us all why we don't go out to the bars on school nights. Waking up to attend an 8 0'clock histology lab after spending the night at the beach and a bar and not having showered since, I must admit I've probably looked better than I did at lab this morning. The funny thing about all the celebrating was that it was an insignificant part of our grade, and we're going to be retested on the same material in 3 weeks on the midterm, so we're going to have to review the material again anyway. But I feel I did very well on the anatomy and bioethics portion, and I held my own on the other two sections. We have an idea of what to expect now and I hope to improve my approach in the coming weeks. Our histology professor commented today in class that this is just the first step on the road, and when we signed our name on the line we actually signed away the next 4 and more realistically 7 years of our lives until we get out of residency. So we're in it for the long haul, but time's already flying. I'm sure I'll get there in no time.
On another note, Mojito won with 57% of the vote. That was also my favorite. There is a new poll now, so check it out.

Anatomical Model

Thursday like usual was my anatomy lab. We are learning about the thorax at the moment, and during this particular lab we were mapping out the contents of the thoracic cavity. It seems like a rite of passage in most medical schools to draw out the locations of these internal structures on fellow students. In the future when we may need to perform procedures like a pleural centesis to remove liquid buildup from around the lung, so we use these exercises to get our bearings on the exterior surface. I was volunteered by my fellow group members for today's activities because my torso is devoid of most of the stuff (muscle and fat) which would obscure the underlying structures that the group was trying to palpate, like counting ribs for instance. So scrawny boy got marked up like a connect the dots puzzle. Unfortunatly I was volunteered before I was told the markers were Sharpie™. Jenny did give me the helpful advice that alcohol helps remove it. So last night I rubbed some cheap rum on myself to get it off. The above picture is of the DiVincis working on their perfectly sculpted canvas.
After this lab I came home with a hungry stomach, and the 2 bags of fully ripe mangoes were still sitting on the refrigerator since I'd shied away from them the week before. Because all my allergy symptoms were gone, I decided not to let the mangoes go to waste. I threw some of my anatomy gloves on and gave the mangoes a shot. I washed the exterior of the mangoes with dish soap to get rid of any sap residue left on them. Since I was still wearing my scrubs from lab this whole process was probably pretty comical to watch. I proceeded with my paring knife making a complete rostral to caudal sagittal incision and removed the flesh with a spoon. I also played it safe by washing my mouth afterward to prevent and more swollen lips. It's been 2 days since then and I don't feel any effects, so the mango surgery was a complete success. Although I think it may be a little too much work to justify buying anymore.
Monday is the unified quiz that I mentioned before. I overshot the estimate on the weight of the quiz for each class. Apparently it's only worth like 7% of each classes grade. Nonetheless, I still feel pretty anxious about it since all the work is finally starting to pile up. I talked with a friend of mine tonight from undergrad that worked in the same research lab as me. He's currently in a DO school (also a med school but grants a DO and not an MD) in NYC and he's in the middle of midterms right now, but he's also feeling the strain. So, it's comforting that there are also people out there suffering like the rest of us book worms here in Grenada. I'll write an elated post on Monday night after I've finished the dreaded thing. But, until then I'll be stuck studying all I can this weekend.