Everybody's got a dark side. Do you love me? Can you love mine?

OH MY GOSH.  This semester is draining the life out of me.  I don’t know if I’ve written a single update since this semester, but it’s just awful.  The thing that makes it the most unbearable is the length of our school days.  8-4 on Monday, 10-4 on the other days.  The length of your average day at a desk job, you say?  Yes, but time at a desk job is spent actually working.  I am sitting and listening to (boring) people talk at me for 6 hours a day.  It’s so draining.  We also had like 10 exams in 7 weeks or something stupid like that.

I’ve actually gotten to do some fun things recently!  First of all, I got SCUBA certified and I got to go on a couple of dives as part of my training.  It was one of the coolest things I’ve ever done.  Fish of every different color, sting rays, gigantic lobsters, and jellyfish!  It was incredible.  Next on my SCUBA list:  shark dive.  They do one in St. Maarten that I want to go to now.  Either way, I just can’t wait to go on another dive.

I also went deep sea fishing recently.  It was my first time and I caught two fish.  Just little groupers, but a proud moment, nonetheless.  I got kind of seasick, despite taking some anti-nausea medication beforehand.  It was a long day out in the sun with some very aggressive waves, but it was still really fun.

My brain has been doing this thing where it makes me believe that I am in fifth semester, instead of fourth.  Wishful thinking.  We got our book and supply list for next semester and I am actually going to get to do some hands-on stuff next semester!  I can’t wait.  I had to buy some supplies, but it was well worth the money and I look forward to actually getting to use them.

We had our semester’s fundraiser last week - the Last Cup tournament (beer pong).  Although I was awful at beer pong, I had tons of fun at the event.  I won’t go into it, but beer pong + dancing + friends = a good time.  I also just got home from another fundraiser - the Josh Project Staff Cook-Off.  They put it on every semester and it’s basically a food competition between the Ross staff.  A pathology professor has won the last few semesters and I got to try her dish tonight.  Not bad!  I got to try a lot of new foods and fill up my stomach for only 20EC, so I’d say it was a successful night.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and although I have to be away from my family, I’m so excited to get to go home soon.  Only about 3 1/2 weeks to go!  It’s going to be a rough couple of weeks with finals coming up, but there’s a light at the end of the tunnel now.

Ok, PD is begging for my attention and I can't resist my little nugget so I have to go snuggle.

Some nights I stay up cashing in my bad luck, some nights I call it a draw

Hopefully this will be the end of my car issues, at least for a while.  I gave my car back to my mechanic because it wouldn't start on Thursday when I was trying to go to school.  Although he was able to get it started Thursday night, I still wanted him to check it out.  Besides, it's been having some problems getting started and accelerating, especially in the morning.  So hopefully he figures out what is wrong with it and I get my car back for good!  Also, I've been in need of a new motor for the passenger side window, as well as new headlights (the reflective part behind the light itself).  I've been going to Island Auto Supply for weeks now trying to get those parts and every time I come in they tell me that they don't have the part and to come back in two weeks.  So I've been back four times and I still don't have the parts.  I told my mechanic and he is going to check somewhere else and see if he can fix all of these things at once.  Not the most interesting story, but it's island life...

I got to play volleyball yesterday!  This was my first time playing since I broke my rib and it was so much fun.  I really miss playing every week.  Afterwards, we stayed, drank a bit, and socialized.  It was really fun, but I got a little bit out of hand.  Luckily I have some amazing friends that took care of me.  This morning, I woke up with sand embedded in my skin, which poured onto the floor as soon as I got out of bed.  I spent a good 20 minutes sweeping sand off of my floor and brushing off my bed.  I think I took the beach home with me last night.

I also gave some ants a great meal!  At about 4 am, I woke up with my feet throbbing.  I thought that was a weird thing to be hurting, but I figured it was just because I was walking on sand for about 5-6 hours the night before.  I started picking off what I thought was sand embedded on to my feet, but it was hurting more than normal, so I turned on the light and checked it out.  Turns out, I had over 35 fire ant bites on my feet.  They started itching immensely.  I was actually shaking because I wanted to scratch them so badly.  It was awful.  I had to go get some calamine lotion today because the normal anti itch cream just wasn't cutting it.  It's not helping much.  This is by far the worst meal the ants have taken from me since I've been on the island.

In better news, I did really well on my recent quizzes and tests!  I have another exam coming up on Tuesday, but I don't think it will be too hard.  I can't wait to go home in December.  I know it's still a ways off, but I'm so excited.  Yay!

Welcome to Blogging!

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.

I'm not gonna stay and watch you circle the drain

I've been on a theoretical roller coaster lately.  So many things have been happening.  


I found my next apartment.  I am just going to be moving into the building directly behind mine (so I'm REALLY at the top of the hill now), but I'm pretty excited about it.  It's a cute little apartment, PD has a huge yard to run around in, I only have to pay for A/C, I still get to stay up on the hill where I get an AMAZING breeze and I don't have to move too terribly far.  The landlord seems great, so hopefully this is the LAST time I have to move (until I move back to the states).  I'll post pictures once I move in (hopefully at the beginning of August).


Two of my good friends are transferring into vet schools in the states.  I'm super happy for them, but I'm also really sad that they are leaving.  They will be leaving at the end of the semester (which is only like, 7 weeks away, thank dog) :(  Very bittersweet.  One of them (I make a point not to mention names in my blog, even if everyone already knows who I am talking about) is married and she is going to be much closer to her wife (really, you can't get much farther unless you go to Africa or something) and the other one's wife is currently pregnant, so they are going to be able to be in the states and closer to both of their families when they have a tiny new baby.  It's awesome for both of them.  I'm also extremely jealous because I have been really wanting to go back to the states recently and they actually get to go.  I still like it here but some things are just so difficult and it would really be easier if I were in a country that had neurologists and sleep specialists...


I recently got not one, but TWO As on recent exams!  I got a 100% in pharmacology (to be fair, it was a pretty easy exam and I definitely wasn't the only one to get a 100) and an A in virology :)  I'm super excited about both of them because we only have 2 exams for those two classes, so at least now I have a cushy grade going into the final.  It's about to get WAY harder though, so there will be no slacking off for me, don't you worry, baby birds.


This weekend was our midsemester break (really, we only get one extra day to our weekend) and my weekend was actually very relaxing.  On Friday, I did my usual volleyball thang, then saw my pregnant friend (the wife of the aforementioned transferring student) who just got back to St. Kitts after 6 weeks or so in the states.  She was just revealing the sex of their baby (which is a boy!) and another friend of mine made this adorable cake with three different shades of blue inside and then the outside frosting said "Ten fingers and ten toes" or something along those lines, because she had just had her ultrasound that confirmed that the baby isn't an alien or a tumor.


Saturday I studied a bit (studying on a break?  What?  Welcome to vet school.) and then went on the hash.  It wasn't as fun as the one I went on a couple weeks ago but it was still good to get out and get some exercise (I've been stress eating like it's my job lately).  It was pretty much all uphill and we were walking through these trails that I'm sure some guys hacked with a machete the day before, but the grass was still really tall so PD couldn't really walk it and I didn't want him getting ticks.  On the way down (at the very end), we were walking on a really dusty trail behind this guy wearing flip flops (I mentioned this was a hike, right?  Flip flops?  For real, fella?) so PD inhaled quite a bit of St. Kitts dust, not to mention, everyone was covered in a layer of dirt at the end.  All in all, not my favorite, but not enough to turn me off on hashes altogether.


Sunday I laid around my friends' apartment watching their dogs, enjoying their free A/C and watching their numerous tv channels.  I also studied a bit, but it was way more fun than it sounds.  Those dogs are adorable.


Monday, I went to the beach, caught up with some friends I haven't seen in a while and just relaxed.  I hadn't been to the beach in a while (like, 3 weeks.  Ha!) and I really missed it.  I'll probably miss it a lot if I go to a school for clinics that isn't near a beach.  Overall, it was a great, extremely relaxing weekend.  Just what I needed after studying my ass off for two huge exams.


Last night, I got to see my friend, the wife of the OTHER aforementioned transferring student, who came for a visit over midsemester break.  It was so great to see her.  I miss her a lot :(  I really hope both couples who are transferring come back to visit after they leave.


Two of my friends from home are coming to St. Kitts for a visit in August!  I'm so excited to see them and to have visitors!  I'm already trying to think of fun things we can do when they are here.  I probably should keep studying though, since that's a bit more pressing...


I leave you with an adorable picture.  Because, why not?

Hey I heard you like the wild ones.

It seems like I only get a chance to post after exams, so I'm trying to post a little bit before an exam.  This half hour away from studying may or may not break my grades (probably not).


My classes this semester SHOULD have been really cool.  I'm taking pathology, bacteriology, pharmacology, and virology.  All sound sweet, right?  Yeah, until you meet my professors.  They are all nice people, I'm sure.  But they are just so boring to listen to.  I started nodding off in class again, which means I need to start studying other material just to stay awake (pretty much what I did all semester last semester).  Also, every single one of our teachers is from a different country, which means that in addition to figuring out what they are trying to teach us, I also have to figure out what they are saying.  Some are easier to understand than others, but some are just ridiculous to try to understand.  A couple of them also started speaking really fast so it sounds like they are speaking their native language, instead of english.  I feel like a huge jerk being upset because of their accents, but it just makes it that much more difficult to learn material that we are going to be tested on.  America doesn't have an official language (we are in St. Kitts anyway) but it would be great if people who are supposed to be teaching students can at least speak english correctly.  It's hard to decipher broken english.  (I'm a jerk)


I got to do my first necropsy this semester, which was awesome.  The dog we performed it on died of heart worm disease, which was a cool thing for us, because it's something that most of the students know a little bit about, but now we got to see the physical manifestations, instead of just treating the animals in a clinic or learning about heart worms in parasitology.  I've got some beef with our pathology class but I don't feel like getting into it right now.  Necropsy was awesome (we got a little gypped because our teacher was rushing us because she scheduled a conference call during our necropsy that she had to leave for (shitty)) and I still want to be a vet.  End of story.


I realized how inefficient my study methods are recently.  Everything just takes so long!  I have to rewrite all of my notes and most powerpoints.  Sometimes I make flashcards, but it doesn't work for every class.  I guess it works out for me because I get pretty good grades but it would be nice to get good grades without giving myself carpal tunnel every time I have a test.


It's getting inappropriately hot here.  Yesterday was the first day that I was really uncomfortable anytime I had to go outside.  It would be perfect beach weather for this weekend, but I'm going to have to study all weekend.  We have our first exam of the semester on Monday and then another one on Friday, so I'll have a busy weekend with not too much fun involved.  There is a hash this weekend that I would really like to go to but that depends on how much studying I get done before hand.  Either way, I think PD is getting a little hot, so I bought us a fan for my bedroom and I've been taking him for walks a little later than usual so he doesn't get so hot.  I think it might be time to get his hair cut again soon.  It's not that long but he would probably just get too hot if I didn't cut it.


Well, that was boring.  Sorry about that.


I am looking for yet another apartment.  Hopefully this will be my last move.  I was really unhappy with my lease and landlord, so I'm moving, but trying to stay in the same area.  I haven't had much luck so far.  I found my dream apartment that wasn't too much in rent each month, but they kind of lied to me about a couple things and it ended up being way more than I could afford just to move in.  Even if I could afford it, they started lying to me before I moved in...bad move, potential landlord.  There is another apartment right behind where I live right now and it's pretty decent, and they are asking a pretty reasonable price.  It's not the nicest apartment in the world, but I could definitely live with it.  I'm going to keep looking, but I don't know that I will find a better deal than that one.  It's got a pool too.  Anyone know any apartments opening up in St. Kitts?  Yeah, didn't think so.  


I went to a meeting last night for a club on campus that teaches you spanish that you might use in a clinic!  It's awesome!  We learned stuff like, "Is it male or female?" "What breed is it?" "What's wrong with your animal?" "When did the problem start?" etc.  I think it's going to be so useful when I get in practice.  I'll keep you updated on all the sweet stuff we are learning to say (I've only been to one meeting so far and they only had one meeting before that).


I forgot anything else I wanted to say, so I'll have to update again soon when I remember.  But I will leave you with a picture of PD and his girlfriend, Carmalita :)

I'm a train wreck waiting to happen

This is going to be a ranting post.  If you’re looking for a post about how much I love the island, go ahead and skip this one, because the island/Ross have been putting me through hell lately.

There are times when I’m so happy that I live on a tropical island.  This isn’t one of those times.  I’m going to go over some issues that have already been solved just to emphasize my point, as well as issues that are currently driving me crazy.

First of all, I’m currently typing out this post on a word processing program, because this school can’t seem to figure out how to work computers.  The student network hasn’t been working for about 2 weeks now (mind you, we are only two weeks into the semester), which means that while we are at school, students are unable to get online to download powerpoints or notes from their teachers that they upload on to one of the many websites we use (I’ll get to that next), as well as print anything out at school (you can only print stuff when you are logged onto the student network).  Doesn’t this seem like a problem that should be fixed ASAP?  Well, the IT department doesn’t seem to think so.  They’ve got bigger fish to fry...

LIKE MANAGING THE 4-5 DIFFERENT WEBSITES WE HAVE TO USE FOR SCHOOL.  Why do we have 4-5 different websites for school related things?  I don’t know.  Here’s the run down:

-MyRoss - for official school stuff like final grades, transcripts, keeping our addresses updated, financial aid, blah blah blah.

-eCollege - where we have most of our class notes, lectures, syllabi, and things that teachers want us to know about.  I emphasize that I used the word “most” instead of “all” because...

-studentapps - this way out of date website where SOME teachers choose to post their documents.  We just have to keep track of who likes to put their notes on eCollege and who likes to put them on studentapps.  The problem here is that apparently teachers have to go through IT anytime they want to load anything onto eCollege and they can just upload whatever they want onto studentapps, whenever they want.  Why can’t they just cut out the middle man and let professors post things directly on to eCollege?  That would eliminate a website all together.  The good thing about student apps is that a lot of teaching assistants post their powerpoints and old exams there for students to access.

-eValue - this is where we get our schedule.  That is the only thing we use eValue for.

-eGrade - this is where we get our grades.  That is the only thing eGrade is for.

Can anyone tell me how this makes sense?  Ross is making it so much harder for both students and IT.  They have 5 different websites to have problems with, instead of just one and we have 5 different websites to organize things that undergrad schools can organize into 2.  At Grand Valley, we had two websites;  one like MyRoss, where we had all of our official information, and one like eCollege, where teachers could post information for students WITHOUT GOING THROUGH IT.  We could also find our schedules and grades under MyRoss and I don’t know why Ross isn’t utilizing the same option (it’s the same program, just a different name.  Organized the same and everything).

Anyway, this is something that has pissed me off ever since I started here.

Here’s more stuff that I hate about IT.  At the beginning of this semester, I went to print out my syllabi at least 5 times before I could actually print it.  I mean I had to go to the print station 5 separate times, in different locations, because either the computer at the print station, the keyboard at the computer at the print station, or the printer itself wasn’t working.  They had lines about 20 people long waiting to print stuff at the one print station on campus that was working.  I think that’s just ridiculous.  I know IT has gotten complaints about the printers and every time I go into IT, there are at least 3-4 people sitting on their asses in there.  Why aren’t they going around to AT LEAST make sure the printers aren’t jammed and that they have paper in them?  Mother fuckers.

Oh!  More IT complaints.  At the beginning of last semester, nobody could use their computer on campus until they installed two things:  antivirus software (don’t forget, Macs don’t get viruses), and some other software that allows us to log on to the student network, which never works.  Let’s start with antivirus, shall we?

So the antivirus software actually slowed my computer down.  It’s unnecessary.  If someone gets a virus, then deal with it, or at least make it optional.  It also wants me to do a computer scan every 30 minutes (no exaggeration).  I’ve set it to scan once a month, but no matter what I do, I get this annoying yellow bouncing ball at the bottom of my screen, asking if I want to update and scan my computer.  EVERY THIRTY MINUTES.

This other software, I’m pretty sure, serves no other purpose besides getting us to log onto the student network.  If we close our computers, we have to log back on to the network.  Again, just stupid.  I know you can function without having students logging on to the internet every time they open their computers, because I’ve done it everywhere else I go and I don’t even have to do it anywhere off campus  Why can’t they understand that here?

Enough about IT, let’s talk more about island work ethic.  Our cable in our apartment has been out for at least a month and I know that because it hasn’t worked since I moved in.  We’ve called numerous times every week to try to get this fixed.  Go ahead and ask me how many times they’ve been out to check out the problem.

Zero.

We keep getting taken off the waiting list!  I have no idea why!  Our cable isn’t fixed, nobody has been to our apartment to fix it, why would you take us off of the repairs list?!  Also, there is only one company that controls the cable (aptly named The Cable), so we can’t go to anybody else.  One more point, our cable is included in our rent, but is our landlord trying to help us get it fixed?  Of course not!  She told us that we would have better luck if we called ourselves.  Better than getting taken off the waiting list every day?  And of course, we are still paying for that month of cable that it’s been out.  I wish I knew how to raise hell better.

Onto my recent hot water problem.  When I moved in, my hot water pressure was extremely low.  We called a plumber to get it fixed, he didn’t come out for a few days, and when he did get there, he looked at it, said he needed a part and that he would be back the next week.  Fine.  However, the next week when he came back, he looked at it again, and then SHUT THE HOT WATER OFF COMPLETELY.  WHAT?!  Of course, this was on a Thursday, of course he didn’t come back Friday, of course Kittitians don’t work on the weekend and of course Monday was a holiday.  So Tuesday, we finally got our hot water back on.  Luckily I have friends nearby that are willing to let me use their shower.  The thing that really bugs me is that in the US, that would’ve been considered a plumbing emergency and the landlord would have an emergency plumber on call to come fix it ASAP.  Kittitians will apparently not shower for 5 days straight and then go back to work when they feel like it.

By the way, as I’m writing this, I’m watching somebody cut the grass at Ross using, not a lawn mower, but hedge trimmers.  I’m guessing we pay our employees by the hour.  Now he’s sweeping up the grass by kicking it over to the sidewalk.

Next topic: pesticides.  Yum.  So start in the morning, the first time I see my roommate for the day and she asks if I got a text from our landlord.  I hadn’t, but apparently, we were having pesticides sprayed in our apartment between 10:30 and 11:30 that morning.  Mind you, I didn’t even hear this until 10:45, whatever.  So I lay around studying until about 1, they don’t show up.  I have plans at 3 that day, so I assume they aren’t coming and keep studying, assuming my plans are a go.  Then around 15 minutes later, my roommate gets a text saying that they are spraying our apartment, another girls apartment, and the outside of the building, and they don’t know in which order.  Either way, she tells me that I need to have my animals out of the house for 1-2 hours after they are done spraying.  Well, if would have been nice to know this before they were coming so I might be able to arrange for some place to take my animals!  I could take my dog anywhere for a couple hours, but my cat?  Not everyone is willing to have a cat at their house for a couple hours.  I was able to go to a friends house (which was quite a ways away, since none of my nearby friends were home).  I finally got to take them home, only to find PUDDLES of pesticides sitting on the floor on the apartment.  FUCKING PUDDLES!  Nowhere near dry, even two hours after they left the apartment.  I had to frantically go around the apartment wiping up all the puddles with my cheap ass paper towels, and even then, there was still plenty of residue to make my animals super sick, so I had to lay my own towels around the floor.

First issue.  I was never actually told about this by my landlord.  If my roommate hadn’t been home, I wouldn’t have known at all.  And I’m the one that has pets that need to be out of the apartment, not my roommate.

Second issue.  We weren’t given any notice before that morning.  Like I was saying, not everyone is ok with having a cat come stay at their house, so if I had some prior warning, maybe I could have asked my friends if anyone was willing to have us come over for a couple hours.

Third issue.  They were hours late.  Yeah, you get used to island time, but it doesn’t make it any better.  It still sucks having to be home waiting on people, when they don’t show up for hours (if they show up at all, cable guy) after they said they would be there.

Fourth issue.  Leaving fucking poison around my house!  Nevermind how it can kill the animals, but that’s toxic to humans as well.  The fumes in my apartment were a little ridiculous and I can’t believe they left so many puddles.  Not to mention they sprayed my fucking pets food containers!  Yeah I found huge puddles underneath them.  What the hell would possess a person to spray where someone keeps food?

I could go on and on, but honestly, my fingers are getting tired from the typing and it’s pissing me off to think about how shitty things are here somethings.  Time to get lost in some sweet Sarah McLachlan songs.