New Wheels!

ROLLIN Gangsta’ Style
Very exciting news!!! I have a new member of my Grenadian family –a Suzuki escudo!!! My friend DJ from class knows a little something about cars and how you fix/maintain them so he helped me narrow down quite a few choices to “betsy”. This jeep is like no other!! It’s as local as they get, right down to the decals all over. Pictures are worth a thousand words… but here is betsy….
Her official name is “Empress” and on the back we have her slogan “local beauty”. At first I was a tad horrified at all the bling but after thinking it over, I think I am going to keep her that way. Not only is it kind of cool to have a vehicle like this (I can’t foresee having a gansta vehicle at any other point in my life) but looking more local should prevent a lot of hassle from other locals! With my tinted windows up no one will no the difference… Mom was saying that of course I will have to take care and drive carefully (everything here is backwards, left side of the road, signal on the wrong side of the steering wheel, merging and yielding are all backwards) but frankly I think it will be safer then the school buses. They just installed speed bumps at school to prevent busdrivers from speeding through the campus. As fun as it is to roll full speed ahead on grenada’s awesomely rolling hills in a bus, it gives the illusion of safety when you are in control of the steering wheel and the gas!

Happy Easter

Happy Easter everyone!! I miss all of you so much and can't wait to see you in less than 2 months!! Hope you are all eating chocolate easter bunnies and easter dinner!
Hard to believe summer is almost here.. can't wait - I've already got a list of musts for the summer...

Summer to do list:
-camping with jess/colleen/keith/mike and whomever else is feeling adventurous!!
-ride with cheryl, anna, melissa
-go sailing with dad on the new boat
-hang at the lake with family
-run everyday with gromit
-vancouver/seattle trip to visit the cousins?
-mini horses!
-bowling!
-spend more time with my grandparents
-make it to the summit of at least three rocky mountains
-whitewater rafting!!
-take it out of the indoor gym and rock climb outside with colleen/mike/keith
-campfires and bbq with friends
-visit colleen and jess
-trip to new york?
-trip to visit beth in oregon.. friends in florida?

River Tubing!

Got up early and met friends at the campus early to go river tubing. Now granted it is Grenada, so the rivers here are not quite like they are in the Rockies but it was a good time, a good way to cool off and meet some new people. The float itself was about an hour with a couple of stops where people could do some cliff jumping if they wanted. I was the designated photographer so here are a few picts of the whole day.

On the way back from the river, annandale falls

Floating and ready to hit the rapids!

The river

Group shot!

Sandblast 2008

Since SGU doesn't have an Easter weekend -this weekend was it. The student association puts on a big beach party every term -Sandblast!! It's an all day affair -the whole school turns out for the event and lots of fun is had by all. Here are picts from this years escapades...

Fig eating one of the sandblast hats

tthe coastguard boat making sure no one drowns

beach shot

the view -busy day at sea with two cruise ships

Alex and I ready for the party to begin

Heath and his awesome 'stach!

me and the girls...

Friday

All the stores are shut for Easter weekend and there wasn't a whole lot to do... Went with Beth and Jodi to Louise's apartment to feed the turtles and watch tv (Louise has cable -it has been soooo long since I watched american tv!!).

turtle attacking the water conditioner tablet that was shaped like a turtle -it was pretty funny!!
turtle up close
Holding one of the two tiny turtles..


Took a break a couple of hours in to hit the beach with some of my friends. It's amazing how much damage the larger waves have done, half the sand is gone and sharp things are poking out all over the place. The sun bathing was still good and playing in the waves reminded me a lot of west edmonton mall waterpark!!

Fun with SGA

SGA, SGU's student government kids were responsible for all the noise.. turns out they were making jello shots for tomorrow's party -Sandblast. I gave them a hand and I have never seen so much jello in one place at one time. It was a good time for all, we sampled all the leaky product and decorated hats -sombrero's to keep kids from getting too burned during the festivities.All the jello...
WIth one of the hats we decorated out front of the dorm.

3-1 part 2!!

Midterms are finished and so begins the second half of my first term of third year prevet. The majority of this weekend was spent recuperating from a really hectic week, finally getting enough sleep and cutting out caffeine completely. Friday night, I went with Megan and Pearl to a fancy restaurant called the boathouse. We thought we would treat ourselves to a “real” meal to makeup for last weeks typical diet –pasta and coffee. The food was the AMAZING –honestly probably the best food ever. We had steak with a creamy peppercorn sauce, fried plantains, cooked pumpkin and cheesy potatoes with a greek salad to start. Desert was the best part and we ordered a “Grand Etang” (coffee ice cream cake with an oreo crust), Chocolate Mousse and the Crème Brulee. DELICIOUS!! I met one of Pearl’s roomies from Y dorm, After supper we rushed back to get ready to go out with the rest of the prevet/med people. Slept in on Saturday –fig didn’t like that much, and lounged around on the beach with some of the kids from the first term vet class/med classes. It was straight out of the movies, music cranked, people sunbathing everywhere, swimming and throwing Frisbees, good food and and the end of the day lots of impressive tan lines/burns. Saturday Night I went into town with Megan to Victory Bar, it’s a large night club right on the Bay where they are building the new port –Port Louis. We stayed there for a bit and Megan’s car broke down so we caught a ride with Megan’s friends from Scotland back to Bananas. Sunday I went with Megan to get her car fixed –turns out it started just fine which was a bit weird and got a start on some notes for this week. Monday there were not classes, back to the beach, laundry out of the way and everything back in order for classes today. Hope I can stay a bit more on top of classes so finals are not as ugly as midterms were!


The week went by fast!!! Spent the majority of it in class or studying –boring!! But now it is time for the weekend and a bit of a party time☺ Friday after class it took almost 3 hours to get home because I kept seeing people I knew that wanted to talk. It was nice –made me realize I have more friends then I thought. Went out to a new bar last night too –Aquarium. It’s gorgeous!! A little beach house right on the ocean and actually backing out onto the beach! Everyone went out to bananas afterward but I caught a taxi home. I think this weekend will be a marathon not a sprint and I do want to get some things accomplished this weekend! I had cottage cheese and fruit for breakfast –never tried that before. It was pretty tasty but the best part was that I found the only bag of frozen raspberries in the whole of IGA on Wednesday –SO EXCITED!!! I have missed raspberries so much!! Later on I’m going to meet some friends and hang out on the beach –provided the waves settle down a bit –they’re predicting a storm somewhere nearby so as a result the waves are HUGE. I think everyone is a bit worried that the drunk people at sandblast might get swept away if this keeps up so we are crossing our fingers for more sunshine and less wave. Fig and I are chillin or “limin” in the room for a bit and I hear noise down the hall so I might investigate….

Babysitting!!

A quick post, a bit behind the times, for those who were having supper at aunty jane's you would have seen Kirby in action. Fig and I were lucky enough to babysit a little lovebird named kirby for a couple of hours while Megan's room was sprayed for roaches (joys of the carribean!!). He was a noisy little critter but fig sure liked him...

And so the week goes on and I finally have a chance to stop and breathe. The enlish midterm on Monday went well I think, Genetics on Tuesday was a bit tougher then anticipated but I did not well above class average which is a relief. I just wrote Biochemistry and am reserving judgement -lots of questions where I could narrow it down to 2 questions but wasn't a hundred percent. Nutrition is tonight and Anatomy is tomorrow then I am FINITO!! Can't wait. Last night was intense. A group of us had a last ditch study session on campus and I ended up staying well past the last bus at 2 a.m. Christina was generous enough to lend me her car so I could drive me and some of the other kids home only to pick us all up again in the morning. Driving here is an ultimate experience. Not only is everything on the left hand side (which makes right hand turns really interesting) but the indicator lights control is on the right hand side of the steering wheel and the manual stick shift is all on the left side (backwards!!). Fun times -oh and the best part, I went to hop in the car this morning and there was a cockroach that skuttled out from under the seat ;) I had no idea they could get into cars -GROSS!! So now I have phobias of things touching my feet lol.

I had the worlds best run yesterday. I went at about 1 and it was SO HOT, it is impossible not to get dehydrated in that kind of weather. I found this amazing trail, it takes me all the way to the top of the ridge looking over the whole peninsula. You can see Grand Anse beach, Morne Rouge Bay, School and the Highway all at once -it was spectacular. Just as I was getting to the top there were two little boys flying a kite. It was really neat -they made it themselves out of some tarp and bamboo -it was really flying!! Excursions like yesterday make me realize just how lucky I am to be here and I can't wait to take pictures to show you all what the view is like!!

In other news, Figaro has decided that he must sleep on my bed and this is what every morning is starting to look like: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMXCuW9LDps

That being said, I am looking forward to seeing all of you in less then 2 months!! Time is sure going fast but it will be nice to be home for a bit...

Sunday

Had a really productive day today. Not only did I get organized for the week and laundry out of the way, I managed to get a really early start on studying. I met my friends Christina and Beth at the Anatomy lab and our anatomy prof came in to help us review for the test on Friday. I can't believe this school, the profs are so nice they will actually come in on a weekend to help us out -we are so fortunate! With his help, we got through all the material about four times faster then if we'd been by ourselves and I feel so much more confident about the class. Afterwards Christina and I went for lunch at a little cafe at the Prickly Bay Marina. It was beautiful and sunny and I had the best Greek salad ever!! We also saw one of the cutest puppies I've seen in awhile, he must have had some corgie in their somewhere because he was tiny, low to the ground and had really short legs with a small teddy bear face. Got some Biochem under our belt and then I went back to Grand Anse to study with some of the other kids in my class in one of the study rooms. Definitely ready for a bit of a break and then off to bed. I've got an English Midterm bright and early in the morning. Hope everyone had a great weekend!!

runners high

Grenada is amazing!! I just had the best run of my life! I've been working hard to take regular study breaks so that my studying stays effective and to do that I've been running quite a bit. Today I found a new route and it was unbelievable. You go up this hill, it's really steep and takes a good while to get to the top but when I finally did, the sun was setting and I could see the whole bay right out into the open ocean -it was breathtaking!! I'm finding that the more you run, the better you feel while you're doing it, it isn't as torturous as at the beginning of the week even though I've started varying the distances and terrain to be a bit more challenging. It's also a great excuse to crank up some music and get rid of pent up stress!
On the way back, I ran into one of the street parties. It's really neat, in Grenada, they seem to have all sorts of festivals. They're not planned and not advertised, they simply appear in a matter of hours in the fields across from the dorm. Pick up trucks arrive with steel drums and ENORMOUS speakers, the music starts and throngs of people migrate to the spot. There was a really big party going on and it was really fun to run past them and see the whole thing. People here definitely know how to have a good time!
I've made a couple really great friendships the last couple of days. The girl across the hall has been super sweet lately and we've been talking a lot, there is a girl in the next building over that is from Edmonton (and she has a cabin at Pigeon lake right across from us! -very exciting to talk to her more) and the rest of my friends here in the dorm, or as I call them my "Grand Anse family" have been really fun.
At the end of last week I went to an anatomy practice lab exam. It was being put on for the first term vet students but because my pre vet anatomy class is covering all the same topics (in a different order) we were invited to come and try it out in preparation for out midterm later this week. I was really happy with the whole experience and did pretty well on the material that we've covered in class. The whole thing was really neat, you walk in with the whole class, you number a sheet of paper from 1-72 and all the dogs that we've been dissecting this term are laid out on the tables with pins marking different structures. You have to go around to each station, read the question card and answer the question on your sheet of paper. The really awesome thing was it was very practical and you not only had to use the dogs but they had some x-rays posted where you had to identify structures as well. The whole thing took a little over an hour and you have to run home to shower because you smell so stronly of formaldehyde. Fun times!!

and one by one our heads fall off...

It is officially the week before midterm week -which is why i haven't been posting much I'm afraid... and everyone has hit a wall. When I heard that the students here party together and study together I had no idea it was this extreme. From last week going out on wednesday, thursday and friday night to Saturday morning... it was like a bomb went off and now there are only the walking dead -or headless zombies left. Everyone is super concentrated and focused. There are ZERO extra curricular activities and everyone is locked in their dorm rooms or the library from 8 in the morning to the small hours of the morning. I cannot wait until after midterms just so it feels like there is a little life here. It is a bit frusterating for those of us who have been trying to keep up with the material as we go along because now, there really is nothing to do but study even if you think you deserve a break:) I've been running every day... I've been thinking that maybe I'll get in shape and try out a triathlon... we really have everything necessary to do it and rumor is that there will be a beginner sprint in may. So I'll see how it goes I guess:) Now back to the books!!