Fight like you're not scared to die

I guess it's about time to update.  I'm going to try to be better about updating this semester.

Let's back up just a little bit.  Finals last semester SUCKED.  I had an awful time studying for finals, a couple of the finals were WAY harder than I had hoped they'd be, and the exam grades weren't awesome.  However, I still passed with fairly decent grades, so I won't complain any more.  At least I never have to do 3rd semester again.  And now I'm in 4th!  More on that trainwreck later...

I actually had visitors over break!!  Two of my friends from Michigan came to visit, however, I had a bit of a rough visit, for reasons unrelated to them.  My car died the first or second day that they were here, so I had to rent a car for us.  It ended up costing me a ton because I'm not 25 yet (I thought they just wouldn't let me rent a car if I was underage, but apparently it just costs a zillion dollars).  That set me back quite a bit.  Monday, we went on the catamaran trip, which would have been a lot of fun.  We had pretty perfect weather, a lot of great people went on the boat, and we were having lots of fun.  However, about 30 minutes from the end of the trip, we hit a wave and I fell and broke my rib!  Nothing like a broken bone to kill your high.  It ended up being not too serious though, no punctured lung or anything.  But I had my first experience at the hospital on St. Kitts and I have to say, it was a little terrifying.  People there were surprisingly rude, considering everyone there is sick or injured.  Let's just say I never want to go back.  I was supposed to be on bed rest, but let's be honest - not only did I have visitors who were on vacation, but I was on vacation too!  If I was supposed to be laying around all day anyway, I might as well be laying on the beach, right?  So I did :)

On the cat trip, before tragedy struck.

After that, things kind of calmed down and we were pretty relaxed.  We had some beach days, some pool days, even some lay around the house days.  When it was time for them to leave, however, a "tropical storm/hurricane" (AKA rain for 30 minutes one morning) was supposed to hit the islands.  Their flight got cancelled and once the rain passed, we got some more Caribbean time.  Their flight was rescheduled for Sunday, but then THAT flight got cancelled too (the "hurricane" was supposed to be hitting Miami at that time)!  They finally left on Wednesday, which ended up being almost twice their predicted vacation time.  I think they hated being stuck here, but I have to say, there are worse places to be stuck.  We even had pretty good weather while they were stranded, so I didn't think it was too bad.

Being stuck on this beautiful island sucks!

After they left, I finally decided to rest for the most part and spent the next couple of days on the couch.  I think that was a good idea, too, because I think it sped up my healing time.  It hasn't even been five weeks and I'm in almost no pain (it only hurts a bit when I sneeze, yawn, and sometimes cough).

As for my car, I ended up blowing the head gasket (sp?), I had a leak in my radiator hose, and the fan for the radiator kept getting stuck.  I was out of a car until earlier this week and now I am out 1200 EC, but at least I have a car.  It could've been worse.  And I'm SO glad I don't have to mooch off of people for rides anymore.  I am dreading the time when I turn my car back in to my mechanic when I ask him to repair the motor for the window and the head lamps.

So now I am in 4th semester at Ross.  I kind of hate it already.  It's mostly because of our schedule.  Monday we have class from 8-4, Tuesday-Thursday, class from 10-4.  It's basically 6 hours of sitting and listening to someone talk at us...a lot of interwebs for me.  It's just so exhausting.  The classes could be bearable, if they weren't so damn boring.  I could complain all day, but I won't.  We just took our first exam of the semester, which was actually two mini-exams for epidemiology and pathology II.  It could've gone better, but overall it wasn't too bad.  I'd better improve my study habits before the next test though.

Something really exciting is that I'm getting SCUBA certified this semester!  I haven't started yet or anything, but I paid to go through certification, so it's happening!  I'm so excited.  I might even have to ask for an underwater camera for Christmas... :)

I guess that's it for now.  Like I said, I'll try to be better about updating this semester.  My classes aren't ridiculously hard, so it's very possible.  Peace.