A.L.M.O.S.T. home....whew

19 days from now I should be landing in MSP! Waahoo! This semester has been quite the whirlwind with school and trying to wrap up my time on the island. Hmmm I don't think a whole lot has happened socially. My birthday has come and gone, yet again in another country. A few of us went out to dinner at The Stone and then out after that for a bit. I'm definitely going to miss the amazing food in St. Maarten!

Other than celebrating birthdays pretty much every other weekend it's been pretty low key. We had a little guys night after ICM 4 wrapped up with block 3...and since both went quite well it made it a fun night with a little bit of everything SXM has to offer.

Right now school is school and i'm pretty burnt out. 4th semester is kind of in coast mode and now I'm more focused on studying for step. Tonight I just finished 50% of the Kaplan Qbank...a whopping 1144 questions in the bag! This weekend hopefully I can find some time to set up a study plan for break and next semester...the last thing I want to be doing at this time next semester is worrying about the 3rd comp!

It's kind of crazy to think I've been down here for 15 months and only have 5 more to go...the time has absolutely flown by. On one hand I'll miss a few things around here but for the most part I'm ready to move on to the next phase of Step 1 and clinicals.

Oh I also got to shoot another engagement a little over a month ago! Photography has really taken a back seat to school and step studying but it was a fun little project. Here are a few of the shots:

Noxolo

Oh MPLS...

After getting a little food poisening from Chipotle...yeah blasphemy I know...I headed up to MPLS for the weekend. First things first, I got a new Tokina 10-17mm fisheye lens...I won't elaborate here but I will on my photo blog. Anyways....my big plans for the weekend: shoot lots of pictures, help out with a Nature of Life group interview, have a photoshoot, a little South Africa group reunion, and just kick it with some friends....needless to say there was lot's to get done! By Sunday night I think I had taken close to 15 gigs of pictures and accomplished everything on that list...go me.

Hmm...first off...South Africa reunion. It was really good to see some people I haven't seen in far too long! I really love seeing/hanging out with everyone I went to SA with...it's kind of a weird bond by experience thing...even if I haven't seen them in a LONG time...it just clicks. I'm really hoping to get another psuedo reunion or two in before I leave in a few months....I think we can get it done!

Oh Nature of Life...it's kind of crazy, but NOL has been a part of every single year I was in Undergrad...wow! It's kind of been my baby these past few years and I've done everything I could to mold it the way I saw fit...but now i'm done...or on the way out. It was good to help out with interviews and get my 2 cents in. I think after the interview it kind of set in that I'm not going to be up in Itasca for 2 weeks this summer...and it makes me sad. I may try and get a group of people to go up for a weekend in early april if I can...we'll see!

Life after college has been pretty mundane. Lots of work, a little fun, and even a little growing up? It's kind of scary how relationships have fallen to the way side...much like after high school...but i've kind of grown accustom to it. I've managed to stay in contact with a lot of people, but there are always some that fall out...if only there was a way to fix it. The thing is...with me moving out of the country for 20 months I can't imagine this situation getting any easier....

Finally...photography....well......go to the photo blog...im not going to double post!

Long story short, it was a good weekend, lots of fun...made me very tired but all is good!

PS I sent in the rest of my paper work last week Thursday I think it was...ie financial aid papers/health clearance forms/temp resident docs....2 months....

Noxolo