Where's my coffee... WHO MOVED MY COFFEE!!!

Today we salute you Mr. Stressed Out Vet Student during finals week. As you sit in your lonely cubicle in the library, doped up on Red Bull and adderall, you think to yourself, will I ever really to need to know this stuff in real life? The distractions are tempting and you have just diagnosed yourself with ADD, advanced delusional schizophrenia ... Read Moreand involuntary narcissistic rage. By now you know exactly what everyone else is doing because you have checked your Facebook 800 times. Break is just days away, and your Prozac prescription will be in tomorrow. So crack open an ice cold Carib you academic warrior, because you’ll be spending break in rehab.

Thanksgiving... St Kitts style

So my roomates and I scrapped plans for a small thanksgiving and proceeded to get uber stuffed at Amanda's house. It was a potluck dinner, so basically we had more food then we knew what to do with...





Needless to say, we ate, and ate and ate....
(dont worry, thats what I took home lol)

Dessert was just as tasty



but after all that food I felt like I was going to explode!!!



Good thing Thanksgiving is only once a year!!! (so what that I had another dinner the next night at a different house)

Maybe this is why Dallas keeps female cheerleaders...

As you know, Thanksgiving is all about family, friends and football. Not to miss any traditions from back home, Ross had a powderpuff football game. Basically powderpuff football is where the girls play, and the guys cheer. Below there are two links to some videos of the boys... watch and enjoy. And yes, this is what we do in vet school (after almost 9 hours of studying)

Oh, and the guy in Orange is one of my roomates. My other roomie is in there too, but he blends in with a grey shirt


http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=539165547&k=5ZEXX6524V5MZFFCVGZUS
That ones longer, but it's the whole routine


http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=539165547&k=XXGY36WSW2VMZFFCVGZUS
Shorter routine

1 year down, 2.5 to go

As I'm sure you can tell by the lack of blogs recently, it's beeen a busy few weeks! It's been a seemingly endless barrage of exams, drinks, and drama. I was given the oppertunity to attend an alumni event at Reggae Beach which was very nice. The food was good, and the new faces were refreshing. I've also been chipping away at getting a new position for the Bayer Corp. The powers that be are scheduling interviews via webcam/phone during December/January. I've already emailed about mine so we'll see how it goes.

Second semester is slowly coming to an end. As of today, we have this week, next week, and then finals the week after. This semester has been a steady rotation of waking up, feeling like crap, going to class, studying, meetings, and going to bed. Wash rinse repeat. It has become such a routine that the semester (though it felt like it dragged) truley flew by.

It blows my mind that I have been here coming up on a year. It seems like just a few days ago I got off that plane. In fact, when I come back from NY, I'll be flying in on the one year anniversary of my arrival in St Kitts.

What's most trippy about life here recently is the sudden and almost ever present Christmas theme. Since about Halloween the radio stations have begun playing all the regular rotations of holiday music! It's freakish to be in 85+ degree weather and be thinking about Christmas. This place truly is a bubble. If not for the music I probably wouldn't even know Christmas is coming.

That being said, my roomates and I are having a small thanksgiving here at the apt. I'm not sure when we'll have the time to cook, but I think it will be nice to spend some non-school time with the people that have become family.

Anyway, the countdown has begun and only 2.5 weeks till I'm back in NY. Get your party pants on because Rachel will be coming to town!

Autumn in the Caribbean is hot!

It's barely 7am, and I already feel bad about not taking this time to study... Second semester has crept into every aspect of my life, including my sleep! Such is life though for a vet student here at Ross (and I'm sure anywhere else also). I told someone recently that I spent so much time and energy getting in to vet school, I never really thought about it's potential difficulty. Thanks to my 3 exams in Anatomy II this week, and then Physio II to top it off, it's been duely noted. :)

Not that I mind, in all honesty, thats what I came down here to do. Besides, everyonce in a while I get to leave the compound and go out for a night! We had a Halloween party last week, and it was quite the show. Faries, Batman, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were everywhere! There was a girl dressed as a transformer, and cupid tried to shoot me with an arrow. We even had an anatomy specimen walk in (with all of his limbs!) Good times were had by all!

In case you are wondering about hurricane Omar, we survived with little issue, though most of the caribbean side of the island was pounded pretty bad. Many of the beach bars down Timothy beach were literally buried in sand. The bar owners (with a little help from anxious students) dug out the establishments and almost all is well in the world again. There are some issues with the reefs surrounding St Kitts, but hopefully we can work something out to help the corals, fish and sea turtles that call this island home.



You can click these to make them bigger...


I was a Crue groupie and Amanda was a Lime (Soco wasn't available for the picture) ;)


Transformers...

Robots in disguise!!


I'm a sucker for a guy in diapers lol


At least George isn't dipped in Formalin!




Oh James..



Hurricane pictures to follow :)

Hurricane Omar

We were let out of school to take precaution against Omar. I've been sitting on my balcony waiting for it to roll in. I've never been through a hurricane (and it just got increased to a catetorgy 3) and St Kitts hasn't had one hit from the carribbean side in a number of years. Needless to say, it's nifty to have a front row seat from my home.

Update - How the begining of the hurricane looks - The horizon has started to vanish. Slowly the view of Nevis is dissappearing, and the penninsula is quickly following. This hurricane moving in from the Carribbean side obscures any view I once had. The wind picked up, but nothing too bad. I must admit though, I'm glad our palm trees were recently cleaned up and all the coconuts were removed. Those things are like rockets with the right wind.

For now, the power is on, so I am going to take advantage of it and get some studying done. Catch you on the other side of this storm.

The Blackout of 2008

Today is day 5 of varying power. There was a fire in the power plant that supplies the island... welcome to St Kitts... so power on the island has been out for most of the day, everyday. It's not too bad though, I've been lucky and my section of the country has been getting power during the evening hours.

Other then that, life has been a steady pace of exams, SAAVMA meetings, and visiting Hanleys the local mechanic. My poor car is falling apart slowly, but I'm still okay because she gets me from point A to point B.

(update 10/7/08 - I brought my car to hanleys and got my inspection up to date. Involved in this "inspection" was turning on and off my lights, pressing on my brakes to demonstrate break lights, and putting on my windsheild wipers. Needless to say, I passed. Not 20 minutes later, driving home, my breaks decide to just barely keep working. I couldnt stop laughing about how I PASSED my inspection 20 minutes prior to my brakes giving out. I brought my car this morning to get new brake pads and rotors... all while driving very slowly lol. But all is okay, I have survived and I'll have new brakes by tomorrow afternoon)

Well, back to the books before the power goes back out.