Last night in Grenada

Well the first term has finally come to its conclusion. I made it! And they're going to let me come back again for a second term, so I've got that going for me. Over the last few days I've spent a few hours at the beach, and I've also had a handful of errands to finish before I head home. It's been sad to see all my friends leave, one after another, until only I remain. I've been pretty bored the last 2 days, so I had to come up with my own devices to pass the time. The included picture is of a box of some of my laundry and bathroom stuff that I'm leaving here in storage. Making that sign took about a half an hour, so it was a successful waste of time. The abrupt transition from the previous 2 weeks of studying non-stop for finals to having absolutely nothing to do really caught me off guard. But now I get to look forward to a day and a half of traveling and a mini visit with Maria and Kamau, yippy! On my way back from storage, Mama one of the campus dogs followed me back to spend a little time with me before I have to leave in the morning. The forecast says I'm to expect 10 degree weather when I get home. Mom, the car better be warm when you get to the airport. I'll see most of you in the coming weeks. It'll be nice being back.

1 week left.

1 week from now I'll probably be lounging around drinking a cold beer or living it up at a post finals party. My last final ends around 2 pm on Friday Dec. 12. I don't leave for home until Tuesday the 16th so I have 3 days to relax on the beach. In retrospect I would have liked to come home right away on Saturday, but I went for the cheaper flight. I'll have to work on my tan during this time so I can make all of you jealous when I get back. I included a pic of where I will be unwinding to make you jealous preemptively since I know most of you have snow. Although I'm looking forward to getting home, I'm not looking forward to flying. Apparently it's hard to get from Grenada to La Crosse, WI, so I have a lot of layovers both home and back. I get the opportunity to get acquainted with the Miami airport for about 5 hours. I also get to spend the night in Chicago. Now all I have to do is make it through these god forsaken tests. If you read my last post, I've made it to the stage where I'm not stressing about the tests anymore. I just want to get them over with. I won't be stressed again until I wake up the morning of each of the tests. I want some Culver's now.

Almost there...

Sorry for the long hiatus since my last post. It's been a combination of the hectic windup to finals and a little homesickness that's given me little ambition to put together a blog post. But now I need a break from biochem (mnemonics are frying my brain,) so I'll catch you all up on the happenings down here. Although Grenadian Thanksgiving was about a month ago, most of the American students attended a few private little home brewed Thanksgiving dinners with fellow classmates and the various academic clubs. Mine was an exclusive invite as I dined with my girlfriend Kristen, and 2 other girls who are a couple of her vet student friends. We had a fairly comprehensive Thanksgiving dinner menu prepared. Fried honey glazed ham was the only substitute we had to make since there are no ovens in the dorms for turkey. Other than that, we had mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberries, yams, pasta salad, deviled eggs, and even a stove top pumpkin pie. Other than that, all weekend has been spent studying with a small break on Friday at the beach. Now is when my final study preparations are being made. I find this to be the scariest and most discouraging point, in going over all the material it seems entirely overwhelming in the sense that I know I can never master it all. In a few days this will inevitably proceed into the phase where I'm sick of studying and just want to get the tests over with and go home, but my stomach will be in knots until then.
Since I've been studying biochem for the last 6 hours you are all treated to this fun factoid which will be especially appreciated by all my readers in pharmaceuticals. Cytochrome P450 is a liver enzyme that is responsible for the processing of many toxins and drugs that pass through the system. This enzyme is inhibited by grapefruit juice, thus if you drink grapefruit juice while taking medication you inhibit your livers ability to get the drug out of your system and it'll start building up when you take more doses and may reach a toxic level. So that's the explanation of why you might see this on prescription bottles and you ever wondered why grapefruit juice was a no-no. Sorry for that, I'm sick of studying and needed to vent.

Number 50!

Yaay it's my 50th post. Sorry, I realize nobody cares about stuff like that besides the one writing it, but I had to celebrate anyway. I found an apartment today. It's sort of an efficiency, so it's almost identical to my current dorm, just a little bigger. But it's all mine and I get my own washer and dryer, an oven, tv, and free internet, so I'm pretty excited and it's all for a mere $700. With moderate A/C use I should be paying about the same as what I am now. It's close to campus though so I'll still be able to walk and not have to deal with a car. Wow, Grenada has really lowered my expectations. I also signed up for another dive on the 22nd, and since I've had time to recuperate from the previous dives, I'm excited to get back in the water again. Maybe I'll post some pics of the apartment or diving when I get them, but since it's my 50th post I can't leave without a picture. Enjoy.

Congrats Mr. Obama

Last night was pretty exciting around these parts. The cheering in the halls at midnight when the election was called was reminiscent of new years revelry. I'm pretty excited to see the country came through and realized we needed a change in direction. Here is a funny article from the Onion which I think summarizes my view of the election pretty well. I was able to watch the CNN coverage of the election on the big screen at the student center with about 50 other students. Due to the demographics, the audience was largely Obama supporters, so it was fun to hear everyone cheer when California, Oregon, and Washington were instantly called. I also stuck around for the concession and acceptance speeches. I'd have to say that Hillary was right, Obama is a pretty damn good orator. His speech was very inspirational and I feel the country made the right decision. Now all we have to do is weather the last 75 days of W. We're in the home stretch now. Check out the new election inspired poll.