21st day - bad day

Today was supposed to be a good day because of anatomy, however it wasn't. Like usual, I went in the morning to the anatomy lab. I was in a 4-person group in the wet lab identifying stuff on cadavers - simple, was able to identify everything. Next, it was dry lab, was able to answer all the clinical questions with ease. Next, was small group case studies. That was easy too, but we did get another uninterested teacher that just wanted to get it over with. After, this 4 hours passed, I had 1 hour to go before class started. I used that hour to eat lunch.

Lecture started with 2x anatomy, which was easy since I just had anatomy in the morning, all the clinical cases were easy to understand. Next, was something I wasn't expecting. We had 2x of biochem and the topic was transcription and post-transcription. I was completely caught up with biochem up to the translation, but because of the morning anatomy lab, I didn't have time to pre-read. I couldn't understand the lecture at all! That was the first time that has happened.

After the lecture, I was so angry with myself because that was a waste of a lecture. Normally, I pre-read, so the lecture is easy for me and it is easy for me to post-read. Oh well, I went back home with the intention of spending time on that lecture.

When I came back home, my roomate, Aalok, informed me that he is taking a "leave of absence" due to family problems. He said that he will start his Term 1 in January and still pay the rent for his room until then. He will not have to re-pay the tuition either and he has talked to the Dean and confirmed. He will be leaving on Friday! Wow! The only person that from the FTM program that I picked as a roomate is leaving! Great...Now not only am I living off campus isolated from the on-campus students, but my roomate is also gone. Oh well, 3 more months and I'm done. Time to focus!

The rest of the night, I spent studying transcription and finished. As I thought, it's not hard once you go through it yourself. Post-transcription is still left.

DES - Department of Educational Services

In our university, we have a institution called DES that basically sets up little sessions for reviewing our courses. This is actually pretty useful and I used it last term in the FTM program. In McMaster, we had something similar called Tutorials, but tutorials were part of the course and were mandatory. Here, it's optional for some courses.

Most of the people who graduated from the FTM program, even people who got GPAs between 3.5-3.8 were placed into AEP (Academic Enhancement Program). For these people, it is mandatory to attend the DES session. Normally, whether you were placed in AEP or not was stated in the letter of admission and it wasn't for me. I guess I was omitted since I got 4.0. Yay.

I still plan to go the DES sessions though because it serves as a nice review.

20th day

I had Histo lab in the morning today and oh my, we had a bad teacher this time. From the first look, I could tell she was either extremely tired, bored, or just did not want to be there. As usual, we took turns presenting. We were supposed to present slides for connective tissue and blood. I forgot to prepare for the blood, so I volunteered to present the connective tissue. I ended up presenting all of it, which was good. The blood stuff was actually pretty easy too and didn't need any preparation. I had asked a lot of questions, but some of them she seemed like she didn't care or didn't know the answer. One of the questions was "If platelets are just fragments of megakaryocytes, they do not possess a nucleus, so how do they know to clot?". She clearly did not know the answer to this nor anyone else in the group, even though some of them are bio and microbio majors. She even answered me back with another question, "Red blood cells also do not have a nuclei, so how do they know?". I answered her question stating that RBCs originally had a nucleus that degenerated later in its development and they don't need a nucleus b/c they have hemoglobin which attracts the oxygen and just serve as carriers of oxygen. I asked similar questions, but her answer would either be "you don't need to know this for the exam or I don't know". Most of the students also prefer to just know "what is on the exam" and not anything further. Too bad I can't take the exam right now lol.


After the presentations were over, I asked the professor of the course and he answered me clearly. It is due to the presence of chemotactic factors and receptors on platelets that allow them to know where to go. I hope we get a more interested teacher next time, someone who actually enjoys the hows and whys, not just the whats.

I had an omelette for breakfast and studied biochem until class started. I wasn't able to actually finish pre-reading biochem (this is the first time that's happened). It's because we are learning some new things that I've never seen before like dna replication. I took 1 Biology course in the 1st semester of the 1st year of my undergrad and that's the only time I learned about dna replication, so I had to go a little slower to read it this time. Because of this, the lecture was hard to keep up with today. I'll have to post-read now. Oh well.

Tonight's biochem+anatomy. Anatomy I got down like the back of my hand, literally, so it's just going to be review. I have to do some case studies though for my lab tomorrow.

19th day

I woke up and zipped through the 8 lectures of Histology that I did yesterday in 40 mins. Then I read two new lectures that took me an hour. After that, I took a shower, went to school and did Biochem for the rest of the day. I couldn't get a bus to go to school since on Sundays buses come less frequently. Although, a local was kind enough to give me a ride even though I didn't ask! I sat on the back of his truck and he didn't ask for anything in return. All of the people in Grenada are nice. It's only the students here that have adopted bad manners from other locations. While I was studying in the library, someone flooded the toilet, so I left (TIG).

Hurricane Earl and it's radius

Oh, and if you have been watching the news, you should know that there is Hurricane Earl coming in the east caribbean, but don't worry, it won't hit me. As you can see from the image above, Grenada is much more south than the hurricane. However, Antigua is almost at the center and will get hit. That's where another caribbean medical school was that I almost selected called AUA. Further south is another island called Saint Dominica that has another caribbean medical school, Ross University (I almost went there too). Ross and and SGU are the best schools at the moment with SGU ranked higher. Pheew good thing I picked SGU. Though some of my friends went to Ross, I hope they will be ok.

18th day

Today was pretty productive. Woke up, had some oatmeal, instantly started studying anatomy, finished anatomy completely, started laundry, started Histology, finished Histology, exercised, took a shower, ate lunch, finished laundry, and Histology for the rest of the day.

I ate outside and also had time to watch a short movie at home on my laptop.

17th day - 2nd week is over!

It's a friday today. I actually went to the anatomy wet lab in the morning. I went over some stuff in the arm and back, but I felt like I needed to do some more studying. A professor did arrive eventually to guide the students. His name was Dr. Brahman (Dr. B) and he asked a simple question, "What muscles do the axillary n. innervate?" I said the teres minor, deltoid, and the long head of the triceps. He said the long head of the triceps is innervated by the radial nerve and not the axillary nerve. I didn't say anything back, but actually in almost all the books and resources online, it says that the long head of the triceps is innervated by the radial nerve AND the axillary nerve. He also asked another question, what muscle causes aDduction of the arm? I said pectoralis major (right of his notes) and he said wrong, the answer is pectoralis minor. I didn't say anything again, but pec. minor is responsible for depression of the scapula and aBduction of the arm which was evident based on the direction of the muscle fibers.

I didn't stay for too long as I had to pre-read 4 lectures in 2.5 hours. I ended up succeeding as the lectures were still basic. After the 4 hours of lecture, I went to the library, finished my ethics assignment, and read some of my favorite subject - Anatomy.

It's a Friday and I might go out or I might just stay and study like usual. I ended up studying 10 lectures of anatomy in 4 hours. Those are all the lectures we've done so far, so I'm done yay.

16th day - internet arrives

I had a bioethics small group in the morning. I basically discussed some very basic ethical issues within my group. Since I had the same group as last time, it was fun. Then, I had 4 hours of lecture in the afternoon as usual.

Afterwards, I went to the emergency club to do the airway workshop. It was kind of boring. They showed us 20 different tools to do something that seemed relatively simple. Yet, in EMT, these tools have been around for years. I tried to clear the airway obstruction using the tools myself and it was not easy. It took me two tries with a lot of help to finally get it right. I hope one day somebody designs better and easier tools to use for emergency situations. The emergency club took way more time than I would have liked. I may just quit and just go to the surgery club.

The internet finally got fixed the 3rd time. We can connect now, but it it is extremely slow. We will have to daisy-chain another router to boost the signal strength.

Variety in Engineering across the world

So I've met a Nuclear Engineer from MIT (she's in my group) and a Biomedical Engineer from John Hopkins. Apparently, John Hopkins has the highest ranking program for Biomedical Engineering (BME). I asked both of these guys what they think of SGU so far. The MIT girl said it is much easier (first person to agree with me). She's very smart and thinks through her case studies instead of memorizing treatments. The JHU guy says that it's a lot different for him and that anatomy is very hard. This was very surprising for me. It seems that the BME program in JHU does not include anatomy.

Another BME from Duke University and another one from Boston University. Both are finding med school difficult at the moment.

So I guess, no matter, what university, there's not much difference.

15th day - still no internet, but productive nonetheless

Today was quite a productive day. I was already ahead b/c I had pre-read for Histology and Biochemistry the previous day thinking those lectures were that day. Because of this, it only took me 30 mins to 1 hour to review 4 lectures. This gave me ample time to do some chores. I also had no lab in the morning, so perfect time to call Lime, the internet provider.

When, I called them, it took them a while, but they finally figured out that it was the modem itself that needed some programming. I told them this the first time they came that I couldn't even detect the router, but they told me it would work after they'd activate it. Obviously, that was wrong because a router is supposed to be able to broadcast a network with or without activation of the internet. They asked me to physically bring the router to them. So I walked all the way to the Lime store, it was around a 20 min. walk, but I didn't mind. In fact, the Lime store was next to Subway, which was what I was looking forward to.

Subway is the best food on the island. I've tried pretty much every restaurant far and wide that all the students have and also had indian food. Nothing beats subway though. The indian food is just not on par with it, maybe because they don't have good vegetables or rice available. Anyways, they fixed my router and I was able to connect to it and I had a subway sandwich afterwards.

I still had some time until class started, so I walked to a barber shop! This was the same barber shop I went to last time. I had even shown a picture of myself the first time I came in order for the barber to copy the haircut in the picture. I had left that picture accidentally and he still had it! The haircut was 30 ec, around $15 USD and he did a good job, so I gave him 35 ec.

After the haircut, I went to school where I still had 30 mins remaining, so I pre-read some more, actually I ended up pre-reading the lecture for tomorrow also. When class started, everything was a breeze as usual. Histology is getting more tricky though, it seems to be the most challenging subject for me as I previously stated. I just need practice though and I should have it in a snap.

After class, I went to the grocery store and bought some milk (I was out). They unfortunately, only had skim milk, so I bought a gallon of that. I took a bus back to campus, then from campus, I took another bus back home. When I got home, the first thing I tired was connecting to the internet. As expected, I could connect to the router, but the internet was still not working because there was no response from the DNS server.

Oh well, another TIG, I will have to call Lime again tomorrow, the 3rd time is a charm.

14th day - first great academic experience

Today was the most tiring day, but it was also the most fun day. I woke up at 6:30 am, took, a shower, had oatmeal, and changed into my scrubs. I had to catch a bus in order to be at my anatomy lab at 8 am. It started raining heavily outside, but unfortunately my umbrella was in my locker at campus. So, I used a orange raincoat instead which covered my top but not my pants. I anyways went out and started walking. Luckily, the bus showed up just when the rain was about to hit the cats and dogs level.

I got to school, went to my locker and got my umbrella. I then walked all the way to my lab and started as soon as I got there. It was 4 people to a station, so I just picked one. I went through all the stations with ease and the students in my group were now asking me all of the questions instead of the prof. for convenience. I got all the questions the prof. asked right to and one of the profs. even asked what my name was after I answered it. He didn't ask anybody else what their name was. This was the wet lab and we went through many cadavers and x-rays. It was easy and fun. Many students asked me if I would accompany them to the lab sometime this week lol.


After the wet lab, I went to the dry lab where we were assigned into groups based on our last name. This is where I got REALLY lucky. Everyone in my group I have met in someway or the other and all of them were very smart. Most of them knew me as well. The group composed of a girl from MIT, a girl from Toronto, a girl from my Histo group, a girl who sat in class with me, my CPR partner, 2 other girls, and 1 guy who I met during orientation. All of them knew their stuff, so it was fun to work with them and discuss the clinical scenarios. We rotated questions after we were done answering the set we were given. There were around 20 questions total. You don't write down the answer, you remember it. Afterwards, the teacher would pick random people from the group and ask them to explain the answers. I didn't get picked, but I would have no problem if I did.

This group would be my anatomy group permanently for the rest of the term! All of us had the same alphabet in terms of last name, so we would also cross each other in other groups. After this, we went to the small discussion groups in another building. Here we talked about more case studies in detail and questions relating to the anatomy. I had answered all of these in advance, so I already knew it. Each table was assigned a prof. He wanted us to explain it in our own words and not read the answer, which was exactly what I'm used to.

After this, we entered our physical examination where the boys in the group had to take off their shirts and be the patients. There was only 2 boys including me. After a while, it got chilly not wearing a shirt in a A/C room, but I coped with it. We did all kinds of stuff involving the upper body.

Then, we sat down again to discuss another case study and then I was free to go. The whole thing took 4 hours. In one hour, lecture was going to start, so I went to get something to eat and then pre-read some biochemistry. Then, it was 4 hours of lecture - 2 hours of anatomy+2 hours of biochem. I knew my anatomy like the back of my hand literally and I ended up pre-reading the next 2 lectures of biochem because I thought we already finished the ones today. In a sense, I was ahead. Anatomy and Biochem, the hardest courses to most, were my favorites.

After all of this, I was pretty tired. I was still wearing my scrubs too. I went home and rested for a bit. Then, I went back to school again to study some more.

Today was a good day. I was happy that I am in SGU and that they're people like me who actually like medicine.

13th day

I had a histology lab in the morning. We were supposed to be prepared for the presentations of the slides and I accidentally studied the wrong slides. I literally studied what I could in 5 mins and presented that for 30 mins. I presented 6 slides with on-the-spot improvisation. Each slide I was looking at for the first time. Without knowing what tissue I am looking at or reading the background about it, I presented what I could see on the slide in terms of the cellular characteristics and I did well. Histology seems to be the most challenging subject this term because of the subjectiveness of these pictures. There were times when we had questions in which the professor could not answer and then the professor invited other professors to discuss the question and then they agreed upon an answer. It's like looking at an X-ray scan that is highly distorted and then trying to figure out what it is. In real life, they would just take another tissue sample and put it in a light microscope.

Apparently, our group was lagging behind because all of the questions (I was partly responsible). Because of this, the main professor came to our table and went over all the slides and clinical questions with us in speed mode. There was a question about what can happen if the cilia in the lungs do not move. Since I forgot to pre-read the lab, I did not know what was written on the slide as the answer, but from my common knowledge, the first answer that came to mind was  - Cystic Fibrosis. The professor said no and that CF is due to other factors. The answer was bronchiectasis not to be confused with bronchitis.

This bugged me for a while, so after class I looked it up. The condition of damaged cilia is known as bronchiectasis, but CF can cause of the impaired cilia. CF is due to a genetic effect that blocks the CFTR channel which is responsible for exchanging bicarbonTe and chloride. When this channel doesn't work, the mucus in the lungs becomes sticky and dry, so the cilia is unable to move it leading to impaired cilia. So CF is the cause and bronchiectasis is the effect. Then, can a patient with CF also have bronchiectasis? Yes, yes they can. This is the answer I would've appreciated from the professor, but instead they just said CF is completely different. CF is NOT completely different and does relate to damaged cilia. Oh well.

After lecture, I went back home only to find out that I could no longer use the wireless from downstairs. Therefore, I went back to campus. While I was walking, it started raining (yay me). I also had my umbrella in my locker, so I quickly ran to a place where I could have some shelter. There, I waited for the bus to take me to campus.

Pictures of Grand Etang Forest

12th day - Chores and Review

I woke up today after hearing the footsteps of ten thousand soldiers - it was raining hard! Today, I plan to do all my laundry, cleaning, etc. The rain even says I should stay home.

I met an engineer today that is afraid of viruses and doesn't know how to zip a file - this can only happen here, a rare sight indeed. He was a BME from Duke at that with a MSc.

I went to school to get my rice which I had bought earlier and stored in my locker and forgot to take home. When I got back home, I could finally make something involving rice - kichidi. I got a pressure cooker from home, so I made kichidi. It was very good!! No jeera, but it was still very good.

11th day - CPR certiified

I got my CPR certification today. They made us watch a video and then do CPR on a partner. I got to kiss a girl. Just kidding, we had dummies in which we inserted a pipe through and blew through that. I know CPR now for adults, babies, and also choking.

Afterwards, I started my bioethics assignment, which surprisingly, I enjoyed. The article was one of the most logical articles I've read concerning health-care anyways. Here's the article if anyone wants to read:
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/06/01/090601fa_fact_gawande

The main point of the article was that most doctors care more about maximizing profit by telling patients to do more tests and/or through privatization than optimal care for the patient. By doing this, the costs of medical care skyrockets. There are, however, physicians in the world who will only do tests that are necessary for the patient and compromise that extra profit. Are more doctors turning into entrepreneurs? Can a physician be good without a reward? Can a physician be evil to get a reward? These are the questions you must ask.

10th day - first week is over!

Today was a typical day. I had a bio-informatics lab today - what does that mean? It means I spent an hour learning how to use pubMed, something I learned in my first year of undergrad.

We had 2 histology+2 anatomy today. Everything so far is good. I went straight home after classes. My plan was to finish bioethics, but as soon as I got to reading, I fell asleep. I woke up like at 8 pm. I would've gone to Fish Friday, but seems like this Friday night will be just some chatting, cooking, and studying.

9th day - Internet arrives!

I got a call in the morning from LIME, the cable and wireless company. They tried to call me yesterday, but I was in class. I arranged for them to come in the morning. They needed directions to our house since most of the houses in Grenada don't have addresses. So while I waited for them to come, I pre-read biochem.

Once they came, they changed the channel on the modem manually and called the company to activate it. The guy told me afterwards if I have any medicine for a cold b/c he wasn't feeling good. I didn't have any advil, so I gave him robitussin.

This way, I didn't need to give a tip. We anyways deposited 500 EC for this so they owe us service.

We got a funny prof. today for class. As normal if the prof is funny, the class will like him. It doesn't matter if the prof. can actually teach, all that matters is if he is funny or not. It turned out he was also a good teacher, so it didn't matter. After the whole class was over, I hear people complain more and more about studies. Term 1 is supposed to be the easiest too. Most students are so used to memorizing every detail and having time to read the whole book, studying like this is a completely different thing for them. It took me 3 years in undergrad to finally learn the optimal method of studying. People are still studying longer, I'm studying more efficiently.

After class, there was an upper termer who overheard me explaining the development of the nervous system with my hands. He came over and said that he was a 4th termer and that all 1st termers need to is memorize the slides and that you don't have to understand it so well. Wow. A 4th termer is telling me to not "understand", but to "memorize". This is where you have to use your own brain and common sense to filter out nonsense like this. Sorry, but I'm still an engineer, and I will not lose what took me 3 years to understand. Students here are trying to transition from memorize->understand and he's telling me to do the opposite lol. The worse part is that upper termers think they are doing you a favor. No thanks. The last thing on my mind is learning the minimum amount of material to pass the course. I'm not aiming for just As, I'm aiming to be a good doctor overall. It's too bad that 90% of the students will take whatever upper termers say as law.

When I came back home, I found that the internet was not working (TIG). I will have to call them again in the morning sigh. If you're wondering how I'm writing this post it's because the the floor below us does have internet :)

8th day

I had an 8 am Histology lab today. It was more of an intro. lab. I woke up at 6:30 am and was able to do the daily routine. Then, I went outside to wait for the bus, but it was taking too long. So I walked to Texaco, the gas station where all bus routes intersect, it took me 10 mins to walk there. I got the bus and got to campus on time. I got my lab coat out of my locker and went to science hall. Unfortunately, the lab wasn't in science hall, but in taylor hall, so I had to walk to the other end of the campus.

I made it anyways. I picked a table and sat there. I had no idea that the table I picked was the group I would be stuck with for the rest of the term. I picked a good table anyhow and all the people were good. I did some histo already too, so I was the only one answering all the questions from the prof. again. I felt bad, but that's life, if you know it, you know it. We have to do presentations on the same stuff the prof. talked about next week. A student is selected at random from the group and asked to present the material. Another prof. will grade that student. I don't mind, I'm used to presentations and I know my stuff.

After that, I got breakfast and pre-read all of biochemistry. Apparently, I went ahead and read more than I needed too, but it didn't matter b/c I had already done all of that stuff before. It was just acids and bases, simple stuff with some clinical application in respiration, kidney failure, and liver disease. All stuff I've done before.

The lectures today were histo and biochem. Histo was first and we went through it pretty fast. Since I had the lab in the morning, the knowledge was still fresh in the head, so the lecture was easy. The biochem was also easy since I pre-read. Then I got some more food. Then, I wore my scrubs and went to the anatomy lab. There was a session going on for Term 1 students to give them tips in anatomy. I went, but I found out it was the same tips I've been using since year 4 of my undergrad.

Then, I went to the library and pre-read all of anatomy and went home at 11:25 pm.

7th Day - the real stuff begins

We started with our first set of classes. Bioethics followed by Anatomy. Bioethics was a 2-hour boring lecture about common sense. However, I did like the clinical examples she gave. A lot of them had to do with doctors learning to be more caring to patients who have cancer, etc. She has already assigned us to read half of the bioethics manual+there's an assignment up.

Next course was Anatomy. This was also a two-part lecture. Both of the instructors taught me Anatomy last year. The first part delved into the muscles and innervation of the back. The second part delved into the formation and clinical cases of the muscles of the back and also the spinal cord. All the knowledge from FTM suddenly came back. But man-oh-man, some of the people in the class have never taken anatomy so they were not able to keep up. The first part was easy, so I didn't ask any questions. The second part, even I got lost, for some things. That's ok though because I didn't pre-read. After class, I went to her to ask a question, there were many people in line to my surprise. Everyone's questions were to clarify what she just said - as in- they didn't hear it the first time. My question was more of a curious one, "What causes the formation of hair in spina bifida?" 30% of the lecture was talking about spina bifida, how to diagnose it, the different variants of spina bifida, and how it happens. Not once did we talk about the cause. One of the landmarks was hair above the butt. She answered, "I actually never figured that out, but I can look that up for you if you give me your email address". Then, I said, "Well, technically, isn't hair just a down-growth of the epidermis?" She said, "No!" with a lot of confidence. I didn't argue with her further. After the class, I looked it up and this is what I found:

"A hair develops as the epidermis thickens and cells begin to grow down into the dermis. This invading down-growth forms a cap over some of the connective tissue to create a papilla. Cells of this papilla multiply to form the hair. As these cells are pushed up the central canal of the hair shaft, and thus farther away from their source of nourishment, they become impregnated with the hard protein-- keratin. The cells of the papilla continue to multiply and are successively filled with keratin as the hair grows. Other cells of the papilla form an internal root sheath of keratanized cells. A sebaceous gland develops from cells of the newly formed root sheath. In a fully formed hair follicle, the hair lies within a two-layered hair shaft. The sebaceous gland oils the hair and a small erector muscle is able to make the hair stand on end." (DON'T READ THE WHOLE THING)

This is a complicated way of saying that epidermal cells go down, thicken, get keratinized, and then are pushed up by a erector pilli muscle which makes it erect. So in a sense, I was correct in saying that hair is a down-growth of the epidermis.

I got a lot of catching up to do already it seems. I got anatomy, bioethics, histology, and biochemistry lectures to read. Now let's see if I can do this. I wouldn't be behind normally, but they posted the lectures on the same day as the lecture was given! This is normally not done. The lectures are posted online a day before the lecture, so it gives time to students to pre-read. They did this in FTM too. Oh well. A new challenge is always welcome.

The rest of day, I finished selling all of my FTM books and getting all of my Term 1 books. In the end, I spent $175 USD on my Term 1 books (school cost was $850 USD). I opted out that I didn't want the school to purchase them. I sold all of my FTM books for $120 USD. There was also a course companion of 2010 edition, so I couldn't get from any student. They actually posted the companion online but they locked the pdf so nobody could print it. Hahaha, what a mistake. For an engineer, decrypting a pdf lock is as easy as 1-2-3. I decrypted it and printed out the whole manual for free. In the library, there are only 2 printers that let you print for free. Only the FTM students had the option of opting out, but no one else did.

I had dinner at school b/c there was a meeting for Canadian students at 6 pm. It was mainly a club about getting residency in Canada. When I was getting food, someone cut in front of me while I was texting. Since it was sort of my fault that I didn't move in front and was not paying attention, I did not say anything. He may have thought I was not even standing in line. Anyways, he ordered the same thing I did, and then went outside to talk to his friends. I went inside. Eventually, his food came, but since he was outside, he didn't her the lady calling. The lady already knew me, so she gave me the food instead LOL! So basically, I got my food before he did even though he ordered before I did. Man, I love karma!

6th day - classes begin!

Well finally today the classes will begin. We started off with a professional workshop in the morning which was about common sense. Afterwards, at about 1 pm, we had classes - histology, biochemistry, anatomy, and bioethics. All the courses look interesting. All the profs. didn't teach us anything today though besides more common sense.

After the courses, we had to prepare for the white coat ceremony, which is basically a ceremony where faculty members put a white lab coat on the student to introduce them into the world of medicine. Sounds like a neat idea, but it really isn't. I mean come on, wouldn't you rather get the prize AFTER the hard work? I don't feel like a doctor now and I won't feel like one after I wear the coat either. Anyways, the ceremony was pretty boring with very long speeches. On top of that, the most annoying person was sitting next to me who laughs and jokes about everything...Some jokes that shouldn't be said and aren't funny. You can only pretend to laugh at someone's jokes for so long. We could sit wherever we wanted to, but it was too late to move. When they announced our name, they also announced our birth country. Mine was obviously India. It was no surprise to me that I was the only Indian from India in FTM. Either that, or they were too ashamed to say their birth country.

I did, however, feel good once I had the lab coat, but that feeling soon subsided. A lot of people told me I look like a real doc. After the ceremony, there was supposed to be a formal party. Like most formal parties, the food quality is avg. and the food quantity is a lot. They had meatball sticks, samosas, fruits, and some egg thing. Nothing to really fill you up unless you take like 20 meatball sticks. The kids from the FTM, as usual, were stuck together with glue. I also talked with some FTM people, but most of the people I know from FTM went to UK. While I live off-campus, I'm getting to know around the same or more new 1st Termers than the FTM people who live on campus! I tried to meet some new people from the incoming class. This was the only good part of the entire ceremony - meeting and talking with new people. It felt like a freaking prom, with people taking pictures of fake people they just met, so they have a pic to put on facebook.

After a while, I changed my clothes and went to the library. I would go home, but I would end up doing the same thing - internet. The only difference is that the library doesn't have mosquitos. With a warning of dengue fever around the corner, I'm trying to avoid them as much as possible. Though, mosquitos are everywhere, so it's pretty much impossible.

I'm glad I finally have some reading to do for some courses. Most likely, I'll end up doing the same thing as last time- solo studying unless I can find someone who I can study with. Honestly, I'm probably a nerd for saying this, but I just want to get caught up in studying.

5th day - last day of orientation

Today was convocation. It was a long, grueling, and boring 3 hour lecture about stuff I already knew. Afterwards, I got some lunch at school. Then, I sold two of my books for 110 EC, which was more than what I bought it for. Then, I went to withdraw some money from ATM and it worked!! I finally had enough to go shopping at IGA again. So I took a bus to IGA and bought the remaining cleaning and cosmetics that I needed b/c my other cosmetics had gotten mold on them.

I got them and went back to campus to store them in a locker b/c I had to stay at school for something else - footsteps buddy program. It's a program where you are assigned 1 upper termer to be your mentor. They sorted all the canadians in the same row. I didn't really need to ask anything from the upper termer other than how did she study for each course and if she got an A. She ended up being a party-motivator more so than a study-motivator. However, she ended up giving me her notes for free! Everyone who attended this footsteps buddy prog. got these tickets which were worth 25 ec and could be used at the bazaar.

Afterwards, I bought another book I needed. Now I only need two more books, and I should have all the books I need. I went to the bazaar after which is basically clubfest, where all the clubs display their info. and you can sign-up if you want. I signed up for Emergency medicine and surgery club. There was a dance team, but I really did not want to sign-up b/c I need to focus on studies. I have plenty of stuff to do already besides studying like going to the gym and also the beach. I then went to check out all the food they had at the bazaar. There was some indian food, but I didn't want to be disappointed, so I looked around some more. After checking everything, the chicken kebab w/ rice and cabbage rolls seemed to be the best option. I used all the tickets on it and I ended up getting 2 chicken kebab sticks. It was very good.

Later, it started raining, I went back to my locker, picked up the stuff I got from IGA and the books I got. Then, I boarded the LAX bus to go home. I cleaned up my entire room this time thoroughly including bathroom. I then took a shower. Only thing left to get is hangers to hang the rest of my clothes. I thought I'd cook maggi today for dinner, but there was no water. They turn off water when it rains (TIG). I ended up making oatmeal. I'll make-up for it by having a big breakfast.

4th Day

Today was a great day. I went to the Grand Etang forest. The best part was that I got to meet a lot of 1st term ppl, even 1 from McMaster and 2 from Toronto. I find meeting people through events like this is much better than meeting people in parties. There was a party last night, but there were over 2000 people there and most of them drunk. You normally don't meet new people in crowds like that and stick to the ones you know.

Last time, I went to the island tour too, but I didn't have a camera then. This time, I took a LOT of pictures, which I will post later in this blog. The guy sitting next to me was a FTM kid, so he asked me a lot of advice about FTM. During the hike up, somebody's mom needed help getting up and down, so I helped her out. I got to take a picture of myself when we reached the top of the hill. Afterwards, went to the waterfall where some pros who make a living off jumping off waterfalls showed us some tricks. I recorded a video of it with my camera.

After we got back, I got my white coat for the white coat ceremony. Their small size is pretty big. Most of my friends even got small. I already had a lab coat, but this one has the SGU logo in it. Then, I took a bus back home and grabbed lunch on the way from a place called Charcoals. I took an afternoon nap.

There was a BBQ later in the evening, so after I woke up, I took a shower and went there. It was free food, so how could I refuse? The BBQ was good, it included chicken, pasta, and a dinner roll. After I ate, I went to the library and chilled there since I have no internet at home.

3rd day

I woke up, had oatmeal, and took a shower. Today's goal was to get internet. I was waiting at the bus stop for a ride, but a arts and science prof. conveniently gave us a ride to campus. When I got there, I registered for off-campus housing. I also went to the Chancellor's office to get a letter giving us permission to get internet off-campus (TIG). Then, I went to LIME, which is the cable & wireless company in Grenada. We gave them a 500 EC deposit and they said it was going to take 4 business days!! I told them that we already have the modem and the router and all they had to do was activate it. Yet, they still said 4 business days is priority and 7 days is normal (TIG).

Afterwards, I went to a 45-min lecture about studying skills. It was very boring and most of it was common sense. The good thing was that since I went to this 45-min. lecture, I was exempt from attending the 3-hour lecture later in the afternoon. This choice was only given to CFP/FTM students who had previously been to Grenada. I got to meet some old friends, but half of them went to England, so not many were there.

Then I went to a place called Sugar Shack to have a sandwich for lunch. Since I had no internet at home, I was stuck at school for a while. I also had no money, so I couldn't go to IGA again b/c Grenada has not processed the bank transfer yet (TIG). So I went to the library for a while to chill. It started raining heavily outside. Meanwhile, I got to catch up with some emails, news, etc. I went to the housing office again. This time I had to complete my OSAP application stuff. Since it was raining, some of my documents got wet, but all I needed was a void check, so it was ok.

After the rain, I went back home and took an afternoon nap. I woke up and thought why not cook daal chawal today. Then I realized that I have no masala danis in my bags. I just went to school then, got a sandwich and then went to the library again. Then I went to the library and stayed there for a long time before I went back home again since I had no internet.

2nd day

Since my A/C wasn't working, I slept without a blanket. I ended up waking up pretty early. I made some oatmeal, which was very good. I'm glad I can have that everyday now. Joe, our mechanic, came and replaced the filter of my A/C, so now it works, yay. I took a shower and then went to school.

I went to the orientation office and picked up some stuff like a map and signed-up for an island tour. I did the island tour last time too and since it was so good, I'm doing it again. I also went to another office to register for the fall session. When I went there, I saw a lot of people in random places, the door to the office was open, so I just walked in. Apparently, there was supposed to be a line, so they didn't let me in. I told them I'm a returning student, and I just needed another sticker on my id, but I still had to stand in line. The line extended all the way to 2 floors on the stairs. It took me 45 mins and I finally got my sticker (TIG).

I then boarded a LAE (Lance Aux Epine) bus to go home. Then I realized I have to meet someone to buy books, so I got off the bus. I was so concerned with my laptop bag, that I forgot to take my other backpack. It was 5 mins later that I realized that I don't have my backpack with me and that I left it on the bus which has gone now! I went to the security office which was coincidentally right next to me. I told them that a small white bus that is going to LAE with an indian driver has a green backpack in it. Soon after, I get a call from the girl who was selling me books. I got 5 books for $70 USD. Now I had 5 books in my hand and no backpack. I then waited in the bus stop to go back home with 5 books and a laptop bag in my hand. Five minutes later, I get a call from security that they found my backpack! It's at the bottom security office which is at the bottom of the hill. I went down then with 5 books in my hand all the way down to the bottom and got my backpack :) I also got another book after, the Goljan Notes for Pathology, which I couldn't even find in India.

I went home and had some indian food that I had packed from Toronto. At the same time I washed and dried all of my old clothes. I dried them the old fashioned way obviously since the drier still doesn't work and it eats up too much electricity anyways. I got a call later from a person selling some more books I needed. I went back to school and realized that I don't have enough money to buy the books. By then, my phone battery and laptop battery were dying and I couldn't find the adaptor that I had got only works for India, not Grenada. So I took another bus to Spiceland Mall to get another adaptor. I had just enough money to get that. Once I got it, I was able to contact the person who was selling books and tell them we'll have to meet some other time.

It was around 6 pm in the day. I went to one of the information sessions they were having for new students. I skipped most of them, but this one was important. It was about Boards and courses in medical school. To my surprise, the one giving the lecture was Dr. Beeson, he was one of our teachers for Biochemistry before. It was an interesting lecture since I got to learn about all the different courses that I will be taking and also what I will be doing in rotations.

After that, I went home and relaxed without internet. I had some kerala rolls for dinner and it was time to snooze.

1st Day in Grenada

My flight was pretty smooth. I had salsa omelette for breakfast with some fruits and a honey bun. For some reason, I couldn't go to sleep even though I woke up at 4 am. Thus, I just ended up watching the in-flight movies Iron Man 2 and Free Willy. When we landed, we had to wait a while before we could exit from the front or back of the plane. As soon as I got out, I felt the burst of heat, avg. temp. was 86 F.

I went straight to immigration, which was a long line as usual. While it was long, I got to talk to some 1st termers too. When I got to baggage claim, they removed all the bags from the conveyer belt and put them on the ground. There were also some other bags mixed in from other flights and you had to ask some ppl where bags were from your flight since there was no sign or display at all. When something goes wrong that is unique to Grenada, students say TIG =this is grenada. This was one of those moments. It took me a while, but I finally found my bags and then I stood in the Green channel line since I had nothing to declare. I had my laptop receipt from the last time I paid tax on it, so it was smoothly.

After customs, I took a cab to my house which cost me 40 EC, kind of expensive considering my house was 10 mins. driving from the airport. Oh well, TIG. When I arrived at the house, I got hit by a lot of TIG. There was mold in some stuff that I left behind, dust, AC not working, dryer not working, washer door not closing properly. I learned a trick to close the washer door with a knife. That way, I could at least begin to wash some things. I would then hang them outside to dry the old fashion way. Before, I could even unpack, I started to do some cleaning and organizing to make some space. Then I realized I have no hangers b/c I forgot to get them from my previous room.

So I went to IGA, the supermarket. The name comes from IgA antibodies. Thankfully, they had milk, but they ran out of sponges (TIG). I ended up eating there at Spiceland Mall, which IGA is part of. I got a chicken wrap for 15 EC ($7.5 CAD). I waited for the bus and then went back home. Did some more unpacking and cleaning. Before you know it, it was night time.

I had to do another round of shopping as did my flatmates, so we went together and shared a cab. We got there and also had dinner there. Then I went back, unpacked, then went back to campus since I had no internet at home. I emailed a couple of people, wrote this post, and then the library closed at 9:30 pm for some reason (TIG). I went back home walked half of the way b/c I didn't feel like waiting for the bus.

Packing to Grenada

Today, I'm starting a new blog. It will be dedicated to my experience in Grenada.  As some of you may know, that is where St. George's University is located, a medical school. The island is located in the Caribbean, which is above south america and below Florida. I am currently in Toronto, Canada. I have had a hell of a summer and now it's time for the pay-back.

I am packing two suitcases, mostly clothes and some cooking ware. First of all, it's immensely hot in Grenada, average temperature is 86 degrees F. Second of all, I will be going for the Fall session, which is the wet season in Grenada. What does that mean? It means flooding, bugs, dirty roads, and a lot of rain. I'm packing light b/c I don't want to exceed the weight limit at the airport. Most of the other things I can buy in Grenada was pretty much the same price (some cheaper). I'm not packing any books because I can buy them in Grenada. I have some of my music books, mainly because I plan on buying a guitar there. That is, if I can find one, if not, then no harm done.

My flight is tomorrow morning - a direct one to Grenada via Air Transat. Today, I will enjoy my last good real meal until I'm back (homemade style). I'll pack some food so when I arrive in the afternoon, I got my lunch set.

That's all for now. I will update tomorrow.