2nd semester is in the books

Story of this semester:

I think I won the battle, but as a whole we lost the war.

It was a rough run of things for quite a few people I think which sucks and saddens me. There is nothing worse than seeing people struggle who do not deserve to do so. I guess we'll see when all the grades come out, but until then...my thoughts go out.

Noxolo

So.Ready.To.Be.Done

Block 4 was yesterday and was pretty brutal. I hate that i've studied more for these last 2 blocks than I did all last semester combined, yet i've done quite a bit worse. By all means, I can't complain....I do fine. However, for the amount of work I feel I put in....I don't get out what I want. I guess there is always room for improvement and I'm looking forward to a clean slate next semester! I fly out and will be home in 8 days...but still have 3 cumulative finals to  give my best shot.

Here we go.

Noxolo

Ugh OH

Here comes one heck of a week...followed by another! We're officially in the home stretch! 1 week from tomorrow is block 4, then another week until finals. Should be an interesting run filled with lots of studying, little sleep, ICM2!?, and more studying!

Wish me luck.

The morning of the 15th can't come soon enough...yet I wish I had another month just to study for these next tests!

Noxolo

Thanksgiving

It's been a long day and not my standard thanksgiving to say the least. Between class, a trip to the ER with a friend, and a few hours of cooking...it's all starting to calm down. It's been a weird time being away from home and family BUT I'm super thankful I could spend it with my SXM friends who are my fam here. At the end of the day, we all have something to be thankful for.

Noxolo

Oh Hipsters

Since moving to a tropical island I'm missing out on all my hipster eye time! Now that i'm heading back states side in a few weeks I'd brush up on Stuff Hipsters Hate. Made me laugh...and i'm super tired from studying! BUT...it's thanksgiving! woot woot! (at least here it's 12:05 only since we don't observe daylight savings down here...ugh).

Noxolo

This week would be packed...

So we're getting into prime study time for block 4 and finals, but you know how it is...there is always something going on! This week we have full ICM small groups (I went today, and weird enough but ICM is growing on me), Phi Chi initiation tonight, Thanksgiving on Thursday (even though we don't get school off a few of us are getting together to cook a feast fit for a king), and little odds and ends in between.

However, 23 days from now I will be sitting in the Chicago airport waiting to catch my connect to Minneapolis! It's been almost 8 months in the making since I took that long flight...half of it with Tubby Smith to Atlanta! On that note...Gopher basketball really stepped it up and won the Puerto Rico Tournament knocking off #8 North Carolina and a very good West Virginia team that made a run into the Final 4 last year! They must have shown something since they jumped to #17 in the poles...let's just hope they can keep it up!

Noxolo

Sunday Dinner...the last bit of sanity until December 15h

So a few of us have Sunday dinners every week and this week it was my turn to cook. I really don't cook though..hmmm. With a quick email home I figured i'd make steak kabobs with red peppers, onion, and mushrooms marinated in a teriyaki/honey sauce with cheesy potatoes, corn on the cob, rolls, and fruit pizza. It turned out way better than expected :) Compound all that amazing food with a great lunch of wings, ribs, crab cakes, chips and salsa at Jimbo's for the phi chi social and a great dinner of a 14oz filet mignon, homemade mashed potatoes, and whiskey carrots from Toppers last night...i'm stuffed! All in all...a great weekend but I got ZERO studying done since Thursday night so it's going to be another LONG week..and really a long push from here on out!

Noxolo

Where has the time gone!?

So it's been a while since my last post, whoops! But since a great friend of mine started up her blog I figured I should touch in here. Not a whole lot is new...same old story, simply a new day. School is school and I am ready to finish these last 4 weeks up strong and get back home for a little break. 3rd block ended up being my "welcome to med school" block. Life down here was no longer sunshine and happiness. School kicked my butt more than i'm used to which ends up putting a lot of tension on everything else. No worries though, all is well but I just need to stay focused to get where I want to be. These past few weeks have been busy with the school wide Talent Show, Phi Chi's Wine and Cheese party, Community Action Day and Harry Potter! It's fun to stay active but at the end of the day it all comes down to school and staying ahead of the game. We initiate the new phi chi pledges on Tuesday so hopefully that will be my last shin dig for the semester due to school. Thank goodness for great friends and family, both here and at home, I don't know how people would do this whole med school thing in a different country without all the support.

Noxolo

block week...again

I swear I blink my eyes and it's block week again! So....here we go...one more week before block 3 and there is a LOT to still do. I'm really not looking forward to all the studying that needs to happen this week but it'll all get done. Last night the halloween party at tantra was pretty good..lots of good costumes...and dinner before hand was REALLY good. One of the best steaks i've had here yet!

Back to the study!
Noxolo

another week down

it's hard to believe that we're only a few weeks away from another set of tests! This weekend is going to be packed with dinner's and shindigs, but most importantly ....STUDYING! My goal is to be all caught up before Sunday dinner...fingers crossed.

PS our Halloween costumes came in!

Noxolo

why do weekends go by so fast?

so...the week after blocks is done...which really didn't mean much since we had our biostats final on Friday anyways! I'm happy to report I am DONE with biostats (and even got all my biostats Q's right on my kaplan questions today)!...and overall block 2 went well....er....I can't complain at least. There is always room for improvement though so time to move on to 3rd block.

This weekend was a real good time and it absolutely flew by! On Friday night we had the CMSA Hockey Tournament which was a blast. Our team lost both our games, mainly because yours truly was in goal, but we still had a great time. Last night we went out to dinner for Jeff's birthday at the Boathouse and then went to see a movie. Dinner was great, the movie was....a movie...but it was good to get off campus/out of Cupecoy for the night. Finally, tonight we had a little Sunday Dinner....which essentially was a fourth of July dinner + guac!...burgers, brats, coleslaw, pasta salad, watermelon, and lemonade :) Hopefully we can continue because I loved it!

Hopefully i'll be able to catch up on studying this week so next weekend can be freed up. Time will tell.

Noxolo

oh block 2

block 2 is in the books as of yesterday...er...atleast MCB2, physio, and immuno are done! We have our biostats final on Thursday. It's 80% of our grade so no break from studying! After getting 2 of my test grades back I think block 2 can be summed up by saying I knew my material well, but I just wasn't confident in my answers. MCB focused on some pretty minute details but let's not go there. Immuno on the other hand was much harder than the first test, but still doable I thought. Goal for 3rd block....just answer the one that I know is the MOST right...ie...don't go with the safe answer choice and hope for the question to be thrown out or multiple answers to be given credit! Just have to move on though! I'm looking forward to playing some soccer tonight though, should be a good time!

Noxolo

Much needed break

Tonight a few friends and I went to Pineapple Pete's for dinner and to play some pool...it was a blast. No matter where people are they always say "there isn't anything to do here...blah blah blah." I know I've said it every other place I've lived but in reality it is all what you make of it and the people you're with. I'm thankful to have some good friends down here that are open to go do something as simple as play pool on a Wednesday night and make it a great night. Plus...i'm feeling better...and I'll attribute it partially to them/that.

Lets hope I wake up tomorrow feeling half way decent!

Noxolo

1st block of 2nd semester is in the books!

So for the past week or so I've been sick...and being sick sucks...but there is nothing worse than being sick when you need to be studying hard core! We had block 1 yesterday and all the grades are back to us by today! (A really weird quick turn around since we weren't expecting physio until the end of the week!) After getting grades back I'm kind of blah. I did fine on 2 of the tests...and managed to get my lowest test score so far on the other. I think the worst part was knowing the answers but over thinking them and choosing something obscure. On Friday i'll know which ones I missed though...nothing I can do now but move forward to the next block. Well....I think im going to try and get better first! That brings me back....who gets a.) a cold in the caribbean? and b.) an ear infection in their 20's? ugh...just have to keep moving I guess! Not a whole lot else has been going on besides school and sickness...hopefully something fun will be done this weekend though!

Oh, ps....short tests suck. This block our tests were 40, 35, and 28 questions respectively. To me...40 questions is a good number..and should be the minimum number of q's for the amount of material we cover! In physio...28 questions...you miss 3 and you're already down to an 88!....CRAZY!

Noxolo

Really...

One would wonder how I become sick with a cold on a tropical island...and really I have no answer. I figured i'd have a better chance of getting Dengue or something else...but a cold was NOT on the list. For the past few days it's been full of class, studying, headache, sore throat, sniffles, followed by a plugged nose and ear's that won't seem to pop! Not that being sick wouldn't be bad enough with class and normal studying, but this is the week before block 1! ugh...I think i'll try and get to bed by 12 tonight....lets hope these extra few hours of sleep help!

Noxolo

On the other side

On Monday I started my 2 semester commitment as an Anatomy TA. It was not at all what I expected. Just a month ago I was on the other side of the tables...white coat on...trying to grasp every bit of knowledge I could. Now, I try to interject my knowledge into the 1st semester....what is this, how you can tell between this and that, where did you find that....over and over, table to table...it's simply weird. They all seem so young, but they're really not. Some seem so eager, which will go away soon enough, but some so timid and over extended. I have a feeling these next 2 semesters in lab will be just as interesting as last semester!

Noxolo

2nd semester....and hurricanes...oh yesss

Today was our first day of 2nd semester...delayed from our original start date of yesterday due to Hurricane Earl. It feels good to get back in the swing of a regular schedule even though nothing about today was regular. We finally got power back after 2 days without it only to have it go on and off frequently over the past few hours. There is nothing more frustrating that having power for 15 minutes and thinking it's back for good to only have it go off for a few hours...and then come back on after you already get to school! No worries though...the storm could have been worse. All in all Earl wasn't THAT bad. We lost a ton of trees and vegetation...a few signs....some fence....but nothing too crazy. I think i'll try and come up with some goals for the semester and post them here in a few days..pending on the power!

Noxolo