Semester 3, The BUGS AND DRUGS.

Well here I am again, back on the island after a very exciting break. I am a week into classes in my third semester and everything seems off. I remember the first week of my first two semesters starting off with a "BANG!" like the gunshot before the race starts. This time around the block started like the gunshot to begin the snail race. Slow, sluggish and slimy.

Needless to say I got my wish. The second week picked up the pace and now I'm absolutely certain that I know just enough to know I'm behind. Now that's more like it! In my eyes, it isn't until you go to apply the information you THOUGHT you knew, that you realize you don't actually know Mr. Jack or  even Mrs. Squat for that matter. This semester has been overly classified as the "Bugs and Drugs" part of med school. I'll be spending the next 8 months learning about microscopic creatures that invade every inch of oneself. Grand. Now on to the drugs part. Being mostly ignorant on the concept and use of "drugs" places me in interesting predicament while studying them. Now, prescribing a drug can be helpful in many situations, yet I still feel that some drugs no matter how effective they "seem" to be, will cause more harm than good. I will have to battle myself on this issue as my career progresses, but I digress.


Let's flash me back to my (not so) epic return to the island. If I had to summarize my return back in one word, it would have to be "LIAT SUCKS." Yes, I am thoroughly aware that I used two words, but it needed the emphasis. Liat has taken the gold for the most inconveniences I've experienced while traveling to and from the island. Aside from the consistently delayed flights that happens every time I travel, they always seem to overbook their flights. My biggest suggestion for anybody taking a Liat flight, is to be there early. I have watched countless students get left behind simply because they checked in later than the rest. On my most recent flight, 3 issues happened. the first was the plane was delayed for an extra 2 hours. This was only a mild inconvenience since I already had a 5 hour layover, whats 2 more? The second issue is security. Upon leaving the terminal to board the plane,  a gentleman's bag happened to be too large for a carry-on and needed to be checked. If his bag size hadn't stopped him,  he would have been on his way to Dominica when his intended flight was to Antigua! To make that hiccup worse, the plane only seats 68 people, including the crew. Because I also had to check my oversized carry-on, I was among the last to board the plane and had an issue finding a seat. Luckily, I found the last remaining seat as people were still boarding the plane. They over-booked the flight! They attempted to kick one of my professors off the flight but his Ukrainian passport saved him. A very unhappy Dominican man was forced from his seat to fit the last Ross student that checked in seconds before him.  SO in the grand scheme of things, if Liat is the only option, put on your island hat, say "yeah man" a lot and go with the flow, because Liat is a bumpy ride. (pun intended)

After making the dreadfully nauseating ride from the airport to my room, I hit the showers and then the sack. The following morning I went to my quick check-in appointment. On my way out the door, my neighbor Kim  filled me in on her break and off I went. After check-in I stopped to pick up some groceries and made my way up the hill to my apartment. When I was within 20 feet of the door, the sky literally began to fall. This time though, the droplets were much larger and more colorful than I remembered. As I looked up, my neighbors Kim and Brad, were dropping water balloons on me from the roof of my building! As I dipped and dodged my way to the covered doorway, I dropped my groceries and peeked my head out again with a huge grin on my face. "It's nice to see you guys too!" I said, as the last of the water balloon arsenal fell from the sky and exploded at my feet. It's good to know I have friends without a dry sense of humor.  :-)



Also this semester, I'll be working on my extensive interview skills. I have workshops twice a week throughout the semester to help develop one of the most important skills to have as a doctor. I still get nervous every time I do a patient interview, but I hope that feeling will cease as I become more comfortable with the process.


Here's the picture portion:

 

"In order to obviate getting into conflict with the law and there by jeopardizing our friendship as neighbors, It is therefore necessary to strongly emphasize, that it is not right to block in front of my garage in any way. It is also despicable for the garbage truck to compress the garbage on front of my garage, creating a bad stench to you dog owners if your dog must poop please not around my area. Thank you. I can only please one person per day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow is does not look good wither. Yesterday was your day. Where were you."    Would this be considered an "aggressive- aggressive" post it note? :-P

 Arriving at the airport luggage claim only to see my woman's bright yellow car. <3

 An advertisement eluding that one day, our DNA will be our data. This idea scares the bajesus out of me.

 View from the subway deck

 Large white bird nesting.

 Do you see what I see?

 Oh! hello there!

 Teenage mutant ninja grasshopper.

 Day one of patient interviews. (wearing my 8-bit tie)

 Sometimes I wonder if the heavens are telling me something...

 My water-balloon bombarding neighbors.

 The crew at Monty's for the the fish dinner. It was great!

 

Home made chicken nuggets, using hummus.

 Some poor soul wasn't watching where he was walking and ended up with "gum on his shoe" hahaha.

 On the Ross Craigs List, someone decided to sell their brand new  "Ipad."  The response was overwhelming...

For those that haven't heard, the fine young woman and I became engaged over the short break from classes. I want to thank everyone again for the congratulations.


Below is a link to my BRAND NEW other blog that I'm dedicating to discussing medically related topics. Thanks for reading!




Nick

http://nkatch22.wordpress.com/2013/09/12/what-is-the-most-important-aspect-of-a-interview-with-your-doctor/

Mission Accomplished. Year one of med school.

 I want to begin this epic blog with an apology to anyone that read this on a regular basis. As you may have noticed, this page became a bit dormant over the last few months , and for that I apologize. But I promise you, it was for the best. This semester was an amalgamation of the study of neurology, reproduction, and my personal favorite, digestion. As anyone who knows me, I love to eat. I must say, the food on Dominica gets old really quick. The last few weeks of my semester can be summed up as me studying, and having a near first name basis with the kind people at Bob's Chinese Palace. I added Palace so that it wouldn't sound like I was eating at some dump for 2 straight weeks, but I think I need a reality check. I now hate Chinese food with the flaming hot passion of a thousand woks. I haven't had real food in my refrigerator in weeks, solely because I knew I would have to give food away or throw it out when the time came to leave. Needless to say, I hope to avoid the rice and MSG diet again in the future.


I'd be lying if I said that this semester wasn't tough. I'm not complaining by any means, because I enjoyed much of what I learned. Sadly, I don't have a fondness for genetics, just like my genetics professor doesn't have a fondness for sounding intelligent. When you say "Uhhhhh" or "muhhhhh" so often in your lecture that it becomes your signature, something like this tends to make it to the internet.

My professor

For the last bit of my semester I got to study the abdomen and its contents as well as the sex organs.  I remember the day in lab when all the women felt invigorated to finally slice a penis in half in retribution for all the guys that ever treated them poorly. You could just see it in their eyes. Vengeance had been served. I feared for all men that day in lab.  Mind you, they did the dissection by the books, you could just see males cringing as it happened.

At the beginning  of each new block for med school, I often feel like the "Polar Bear" in this here picture. Now, I don't expect everyone to understand why this is funny. This is meant for the science geeks.

Now I feel like taking everyone on a journey of my last few months in the form of the game, "Nick found something interesting enough to take a picture of it".   Here goes something.

 On occasion when I feel like dragging my butt to campus, I'll encounter a roadblock 

along the way. Yes, that's a cow. In the middle of the sidewalk.

 

Above is a view of my favorite place to study. In the distance is the view of the Annex and the 

hill I climb on a regular basis. Picture taken from the top of Safari Apartments.

To the right is one of my buddies that guards the Annex. Working is really tough.

 This little rascal lives under the food truck with his siblings outside the Annex.

 I don't know why I found this malignant spoon to be amusing, but it didn't listen to it's mother. It didn't use proper sun screen with UVA and UVB protection.

 The post exam meal with my first family on the island.  Pictured is the Basil Chicken Benton Box from "The Usual Spot." I'd recommend it.

 Here is Jamie and his mile high fried vegetable platter. I think he bit into a friend pig brain.

 The day after, my friend Shuo was kind enough to make "the family" a nice dinner from scratch.

 He's quite the cook and everyone enjoyed themselves.

 Michelle busting out the cak

 Another student passed out studying.

 Not an uncommon sight to see a cow waiting in line at the 

abandoned KFC. And you thought cows were vegetarians...

 Here's the MS hockey team warming up before a big game.

 Sadly, we once again lost in the finals. We let the prized tin foil cup slip away

 once again. It was a hard loss to swallow after going 10-0 in the season...

 El Capitan.

 Now, when you get off your plane at the San Juan Airport, this sign tops the priority list of things that should make the signs. For one, who the heck has a dog on the plane? Secondly, you know this sign was put up because someone let their dog plop a good one on the runway.  Logic escapes me.

 Now, Sarah was a fantastic person to fly me home so that I could make Marlisa and Erik's wedding. Here are some pictures that made me smile. For starters, this little guy is twirling a little princess. Boys! you better take notes, because the ladies obviously love this.

 I photobombed a pair of Duffy's :-)

Sarah is Act-chewy-ly being a creepy Dinosaur.

 A cat body pillow.

 A beautiful island sunset

Meet Brad. Brad is cool.

 Meet giant moth. I think the scientific name is  Zebracis- makegirlscreamacis

 And the Betty Crocker Beetle Invasion

 I've come to eat your toes!

 Behold, Brad being brave.

I love alliteration.

 On a normal night, the Annex has 10 people in it. Come finals weeks, the medical student awakens from hibernation, becomes hungry and starts to prey on long lost knowledge.

The "security" team. I have to say, they are a bit fierce, quite lazy, and I 

consistently find them licking themselves in public.

 Sit. Good kitty.

 My native friend from Michigan, Addison. He graciously invited me over for the after Final brunch. I had my first experience with chocolate banana pancakes. Muah! my compliments to the chef.

Yes, Advil was being served.

The day after the final  I was "rudely" awakened by a friend of mine that told me I was going snorkeling. By rudely, I mean he woke me up at 11am. which is far too early after an exam the previous day.  So I joined my crew of Brad, Kim and Abhi and we all made the trip to secret beach. The funny thing about secret beach, is that it is hardly a secret, but most definitely a beach. The beach is very secluded and beautiful. The water is blue-green, just as you’d imagine the Caribbean to be. We chartered a couple of 2 person kayaks and huffed and puffed our way with our paddles in hand. Coming around the bend to the entrance revealed a beautiful cove, completely unreachable unless by water. The cliff completely surrounding the nicest sand I’ve seen on the island. Of course, Kim decided to sing  “Just around the river bend” as  we crossed the visual threshold into the cove revealing its sights. It quickly became the theme song for the day, because a song stuck in her head isn’t likely to go away.

 The entrance to Secret Beach. It's the best non-kept secret on the island. 

It's a great beach and completely secluded.

 Kayaking to the beach

 We didn't win the race. Beat us by a hair...

 Abhi and Brad showing off their Oarsome sides.

 Standing guard

 :-)

 The water is crystal clear. Cabrits is the land mass in the background.

 "I'm not going in the water"

 Kim, and the two "sharks." Kim, next time don't watch shark week before snorkeling. It'll save lives.

 Look mom! I deed eet!

 Abhi and I are exploring

 Brad being a seal.

 A real picture :-P

 The men.

While snorkeling, we didnt take any pictures. I did see some zebra fish, and some that looked like Dori from "Finding Nemo." I also explored the archway with Abhi. (he made me). I'm glad he did because I saw the biggest school of fish I had ever seen hiding in the darkness. Thousands of fish huddling together as if trying to keep warm. I highly recommend going to this beach!

 Heading home on the kayak after a few hours of snorkeling.

 I like this one! The field goal is good!

The following  group of pictures is from my snorkeling adventure with Brad and Abhi after the first Mini. Enjoy! Photos courtesy of Brad Henrie

 Brad and his Lobster claws

 Brad swallowing salty water

 Synchronized snorkeling?

 Diving for treasure!

 Mission accomplished.

 Think these will fit?

Two mysterious chums.

 We found a skate or a ray. I put my money on a skate.

 Sea star!

 Brad touched it and it sprinted away!

 Thumbs up!

 Walls of coral!

 Anybody urchin to go snorkeling?

 It's so fluffy I'm gonna die! I see the resemblance.

 Some colorful fishes

 I love these trenches

 Some coral, sea urchin's and eel!

A ten foot bonfire ready to burn.

 Crab plus a water spot.

So I was studying in a classroom one day and I needed to print something. Somebody had a bit of fun waiting in line hehehe. It wasnt me.

Some days, I just need to take a walk.

It's hard to believe I'm done with my first "year" of medical school. The time really flies. I'm so grateful to have met some friendly folks to call my friends. I continue to grow as a student and a person, and I'm making my memories count. From the very first day, they said to make peace with the island because for now, it's my home. I'm finally beginning to warm up to it's beauty, and thankful for all of my experiences.

Thanks for reading,

Nick