Updates Galore

Hey Everyone!

Well, it's been four long weeks since I've posted. And the reason I'm posting today is because Mini 1 is officially over and done with! I took my exam at 8:00 AM yesterday and Mike took his at 1:00 PM. Four weeks from now, we take Mini 2. Ugh...

So far, I'm pretty disappointed with how 2nd semester is going for me. For one, it all started on the wrong foot. As it turns out, you have to buy your plane tickets way in advance if you want to get decent rates as well as decent departure dates. About 2 months into last semester, I sat down to search for a return flight for second semester. Ideally, I wanted to fly back to Dominica the Friday or Saturday before classes started. However, I searched everywhere (American Airlines, Expedia, AA to San Juan and then Liat to Dominica) and the only return flights I could find were for the Wednesday AFTER classes started. This would mean that I would miss three days of school. So, I spent HOURS with American Airlines, Liat, Expedia - you name it - and the best I could do was a return flight for Monday, September 8 (the first day of class). What a disaster that was! That Monday I flew from Miami to San Juan and then to St. Maarten via American Airlines. Then I jumped on a Liat flight from St. Maarten to St. Kitts (we landed there but I didn't get off the plane) to Antigua and then finally Dominica. I practically toured the whole Caribbean. So, I missed the first day of class and then the next day I had to register, take my refund check to the bank, put electricity, and do groceries. So, I also missed the second day of class. Yes, here in Dominica, doing all of those things takes an entire day. The point is - I got to the island late and by the time I had settled in and gotten everything ready to start 2nd semester, the first week of classes was over. That meant I had to watch and cram four week's worth of material into three weeks before Mini 1. And trust me on this, what you cover in one week in 2nd semester is even more astronomical than in 1st semester. Needless to say, the weeks leading up to the Mini were very stressful.

So, how did Mini 1 go? I have NO idea. I KNOW I knocked Physio out of the park. I spent a lot of time on it because it was worth the most along with Biochem. Mini 1 Physio and Bio are each worth 25% of our entire grade. Neuro, Histo, and Anatomy are worth 16%, 15%, and 10% respectively. Naturally, I focused on the classes that were worth the most. So, I think Physio went well. As for the other subjects, I feel "eh" about my performance and my grades can go either way. I can't say with confidence that I did really well on those subjects but I wouldn't say I bombed them either. That's usually how it goes for me with my grades here at Ross. I take the test and I never really know what to expect with my grades. I'll find out in a few days...

What else is new?

1) Well, the trio is down to a duet. Our third roommate moved out so it's just Michael and myself in our apartment. Mike and I are splitting the cost of the third room which means we're paying an exorbitant amount of rent this semester. One positive is that we're spending A LOT less money on electricity this semester than we did last semester. I don't know if it's because we're using less electricity or if the electric company is charging less. Either way, less money spent on electricity is always welcome to offset what we pay in rent. Mike and I are also undecided about where we'll live next semester. We don't want to bring in another roommate so our options are to either move or stay and pay what we're paying now. Chances are we'll stay because we love our apartment and we don't want to go through the headache of moving. Mike and I have A LOT of stuff and we can't fathom moving it all to then move again when we're done with Dominica. The less moving, the better. We'll keep you posted.

2) Moving to Dominica meant sacrificing a lot of what we love back home. We left our families, friends, and pets and moved to a country that resembles nothing of home. In Dominica, there are no malls or movie theaters. There is no such thing as a Denny's or Chili's or any other chain restaurants. There is no such thing as Wal-Mart or Best Buy. There is no such thing as Starbucks or Barnes and Noble. There is no such thing as a Burger King or McDonald's. (Dominica boasts ONE fast food restaurant - KFC. And when I say "one," I literally mean that there is ONE KFC in Dominica. To be fair, they do have Subway.)

The point is that we've given up a lot of our creature comforts to live here in Dominica. However, one thing we are not willing to give up is our college football! Watching TV here is quite the event. We get about 40 channels. Of those 40 channels, I'd say about 10 have some sort of religious programming on 24/7, about 5 are Dominica-related and the rest are an amalgamation of the same channels we get in the United States. Coupled with the limited amount of channels is the fact that our Cable comes from who knows where? I've turned on the TV and watched local news from New York and commercials from Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. What?? That makes no sense. We have figured out that our cable comes from Northeastern United States. For example, if we turn on channel ABC on Sunday, Gabe and I get the NY Giants game instead of the Miami Dolphins game we want. Same thing happens with ESPN. If we turn on ESPN to watch the University of Miami game, instead we'll get a Notre Dame or Michigan University game. And then there are times that we turn the TV on to watch football and instead we get soccer or cricket matches or golf or whatever. So, you can see why three college-football-loving med students put their brains together to figure out how they were going to watch their games. Well, we found the solution: The Slingbox. Basically, you connect the Slingbox to your cable box and internet at home. Then, you download the Slingbox software and that allows you to watch your TV from home on your laptop anywhere in the world. Of course, there are cables and some configurations to be done but the setup is not very complicated. Also, it's cheap - sort of. The Slingbox is about US$180.00 but that's all you'll ever have to pay for the service. There are no monthly fees for using Slingbox. Mike bought a Slingbox over the break and it's currently connected to his mom's cable at home. I bought Gabe a Slingbox for his birthday and he has it connected at his parent's house. So, when Saturday roles around, we watch our UM Hurricanes game on Gabe's laptop and Mike watches his Florida Gators game on his laptop. To the right, you can see what the Slingbox and the software look like.
The remote control that you see actually works like a real remote control. You can click on it and change the channels so that you can watch whatever you'd like. The only drawback I believe Slingbox has is that you're basically sharing a TV between your house and your laptop. For example, if someone at Mike's house changes the channel on the TV that the Slingbox is connected to, then whatever Mike is watching on his laptop will change to the channel that person put. Then, if Mike changes the channel back to what he was watching, the person at Mike's house will now see the channel Mike wants to watch. I know it's a little confusing. Below are two videos from YouTube that explain what Slingbox is and how it works. Hopefully that'll give you a better idea of what I'm talking about. Bottom line - the Slingbox really does work and I highly recommend it! Without it, we'd be three very sad med students...






3) I want to apologize for the lack of updates. When I first started this blog, I was writing all of the time. Everything was so new and there was so much to do and see. So, naturally, there was A LOT to write about. But, like everything else, the novelty of being here has worn off. We've settled into our routine - wake up, study, eat, study, eat, study, shower, go to sleep - and we've rarely strayed from it. For the most part, I alternate between studying at home and at the library. Outside of Gabe and Mike, the only time I communicate with other humans is when I'm in PBL or lab dissection. I don't even walk to Tina's or RUH to put electricity any more. I just call them and give them my credit card information. Sad, I know. So, all of this basically translates to "I don't have anything to write about!" Which brings me to my next point. I enjoy writing on this blog and I really, really want to keep it updated more often. I hate that I let weeks go by without writing anything. Yes, I'm busy but it doesn't take more than 20 minutes to write a post or upload a few pictures. So, I thought I would come up with an idea or two that would motivate me to write more often. Well, a picture is worth a thousand words, right? I've been thinking about making a weekly post with nothing but pictures. For example, every Tuesday, I'll upload a few pictures as part of a series. I could do a post on, say, "The Animals of Dominica" and I'll upload pictures of different animals that have crossed my path. I could also do "The Fruits of Dominica" or "The Flowers of Dominica" or "The Beaches of Dominica" or "The Food Stores of Dominica." I know this sounds so silly but I think it'll keep me motivated to update the blog regularly. Also, you'll be able to get a better view of Dominica and our lives here. So, what do you think? Any suggestions?? Is there anything you guys want to see or want me to write about? Well, I'm going to give this weekly "of Dominica" idea a shot and we'll see how it goes. I really, really want to write more often. So, leave a comment or give me an idea of something to write about. And if I start slacking on the updating again, don't be afraid to leave a berating comment!

Well, that's all the updating I can do for now. We're going to Roseau tomorrow to do some grocery shopping at IGA and Astaphans. I'll be sure to take a lot of pictures so that I can write a post about it. Also, check back every Tuesday for my "of Dominica" posts. And seriously, please tell me what you want to see or you're going to get a lot of photo series like "The Cars of Dominica" or "The Construction Workers of Dominica." (There's a ton of construction going on right across the street from where we live.)

~Melissa