My Caribbean Medical School Experience: From the airport, to home and the first semester wrap-up.

Finally. My current adventure has taken me to the San Juan airport where I am half way to home after my first semester as a med school student. I just sat down and had my first taste of real American food in almost 4 months. I can already feel the stomach ache starting. Thanks McDonalds! Its feels so good to be on the way home, to see my family and friends after the most stressful semester of school I've ever taken.

Going into the final, my head was above water and all I had to do was nail the final exam and move on to next semester. Unfortunately, I'm not feeling to wonderful about that last exam. It was indeed the most difficult exam I have ever taken. It made the first few med school exams look like art class. ( although for some people, that may be a terrible comparison.) I am eagerly and reluctantly waiting for my scores to find out if I have proved myself enough to move on. If not, all I can do is suck it up and move on. I thought to myself, and I realized that if I could go back and do anything differently, I wouldn't. I worked hard, studied hard, and kept sane.

The last few weeks a lot has happened. To recap a bit I'll discuss my final hockey game. My team ultimately made the finals of the intramural league with a record of 8-1. Having only lost our first game. The team we met in the finals was not who we expected. It was the team we had beaten several times before, and rarely gave us any trouble. Most of their team were 4th semester students, which meant they wanted to win their last game before leaving the island. With the Tin-foil Stanley cup and the intramural sports champions t-shirt on the line, we were going to have to earn it. After the first of two periods we were ahead 5-3. My team was tired from working hard, and we knew the opponent wasn't going to quit, and we were right. We extended our lead early on to 6-3 but unfortunately, that would be the last goal we scored. With 5 minutes left, they closed the gap , 6-4, 6-5, 6-6. And then, they took the lead. We worked and worked to grab the loose pucks and had plenty of chances, including sending a few over the net, and a few off the post. This semester we did not hoist the tin foil cup, but it is definitely leaving me hungry for it. There is always next semester.

I spent the week after the game studying the average 12 hour days in the annex near my apartment. At times, taking a nap with my feet propped up, and my class t shirt under my head. Having 4 days to recall an entire semester's worth of material isn't nearly enough. The brain can only retain so much, needing ear plugs just to keep it in.

knowledge retention devices

Nonetheless, I managed to get through those days, trying to recall every minor detail of some random cycle or whether an individual enzyme was turned on or off by phosphorylation. Because I have already mentioned the exam, I wont put you, or myself through that traumatic experience again.

The morning of Tuesday the 16th, I had my bags packed, excited as ever to come home. As per usual, I had an unsteady stomach due to waking at 5am and not being able to stomach much of anything. The cab driver picked me up, as well as several others students from across the campus area. As I may have mentioned in an earlier blog post, The drivers in Dominica are great, considering what they have to deal with. The roads dip and turn and wind around and make you feel like you are on the "teacup" ride at the local carnival. Now, I love roller coasters, but I can't handle the teacups and I never could. After an hour of driving the roads resembling the twists and turns of our own small intestine, I made it to the Dominican airport.

The Dominican road system

The plane we flew out on was small. It reminded me of a pack of gum with not one but TWO propellers. The flight to San Juan went smoothly and I finally was able to start this blog at the airport Mcdonalds.

Little did I realize that the American Airlines system being down was quite the issue. They checked my bag without issue. After lunch I met a few friends from school at the terminal and waited for boarding. And we waited, and waited and then our flight was delayed, followed by cancelled. As frustrating as that was, I felt like Tom Hanks in the movie called the terminal, where he was unable to leave the airport. So I wandered until I found a plug to charge my laptop, waiting for the the worldwide crash of American's system to come back. A few hours after our flight was cancelled, we were finally able to reschedule our flight for this morning at 6:40 am and I stayed the night in San Juan.

View from my San Juan hotel room

So my hockey teammate Slava and I went to dinner at the Buffalo wings place and grabbed a few brews, courtesy of American.

Then we went back to a respective hotel rooms within the airport. Last night I was able to talk with Sarah for a while until Skype cut out another dozen times. She even made me another song that she mixed herself! I loved it :) And this is where I have to make a shout out to her cat Chewy and his many faces from the last four months.

And Gizmo :-)

I have to say, for only getting 5 hours rest, that bed was the most comfortable I've had in months. ( My bed at school is concrete with a sheet.) So far today, I had two eggo waffles with Nutella and peanut butter sandwiched between them. That combo is divine and highly recommended. Today, my flight started on the right foot and so far has been swell. I am very eager to get home and see my family and friends. It's funny to think about, but the last time I was this excited, I was accepted to med school. Now, I cant wait to get home.

Thanks for reading,

From high in the skies,

Nick

PS! I'm coming home part 2 is below!!!

My friendly roommate

Inside Ross Main Gate

The day of my birthday some friends were kind enough to make me a cake, give me a cookie while blowing out a lighter for the candle, give me a pack of vanilla crackers while I was studying, and another bought me Chinese for dinner, including a periodic table shower curtain from Sarah!!. I have some great friends.

Brad at my birthday

Stephanie, Jeremiah, Tamara, Carina

Kim and lumberjack

Tamara, Logan, Carina and Matt

A friend of mine named Anthony invited me to try something called Bubba (bubble?) Tea. It was tasty. It was Honeydew flavored, the balls next to it are something similar to Tapioca.

After our string of exam before the final, we went to Tulips. With Kim and Brad.

The faded rainbow, frequenting the Dominican landscape.

The sunset, waiting for the green flash

If you have never seen this before, I was told that this is the common cashew. You know, the nut. This whole thing is wasted, the green part is dried and roasted and fills the can. It takes an entire tree to fill a can. Hence why they are so expensive :)