weekend :)

Babysittin the kitten






Great weekend... Friday night went out for a friends birthday to karma, a club in town. It was so much fun -all of my friends turned up and the music was great. Saturday I babysat Megan's kitten.. more pics! Sunday I went to an embryo DES session and volunteered for PAP (pothounds against pregnancy) taking the dogs that are waiting to get spayed or neutered out of the kennels for a break outside. It was pretty amazing working with dogs that aern't used to human contact. Definitely have to be careful taking them out of the kennels because they're so nervous you can't be sure how they'll react -the muzzle is your friend! I took advantage of their outside play time to practice some photography :) Big push this week to get caught up because it's round three of exams starting thursday for a week and then Easter weekend and Barbados -Let's get the show on the road!!!
XO~

PAP pics

Heeere Leezard Leezard Leezard...

Had a great day today.. It was our last full day of classes for the week and definitely looking forward to cutting down on the class hours and upping the study time to catch up :) In anatomy we started learning about muscles of the back all the way from the top of the head down through the different vertebrae and into the tail. Pretty interesting stuff and it was my turn to dissect so I felt very surgeon ish. At lunch I was really productive and got a start on the Question and Answers for tomorrow's quiz -one less thing to do tonight and then in the afternoon we had Histology, two hours of Physiology and one hour of anatomy. Anatomy was pretty cool, one of the upper term students gave a talk on reptiles and amphibians. Really interesting stuff, I definitely need to learn more about those guys, they're so different from mammals they're almost like aliens :P Tonight I have a date with the study hall and hopefully will get a chance to catch up with mom and dad for a bit. Tomorrow is a lighter day of classes and Thursday I have a day off :) Cannot wait to get going.. If I get my studying outta the way I'll get a chance to get caught up on reading my camera manual...

Project Kitten :)

My friend Megan is fostering a kitten at nights for the next couple of weeks. We went to pick it up from the small animal hospital after class today and here are some pics :) TOO CUTE!

Little one

Tour of School

Just got a new camera to play with and thought I would show you around campus a bit...

Welcome to St Georges University

Up the road to the guard booth

Charter Hall -Med Lecture Hall

Taylor Study Hall -My Second Home :)

Anatomy Lab



My dorm

My window is the one with the blue curtain, Elise lives next door

My Room

midterms!

Midterms are done and out of the way and now on to bigger and better things. They all turned out really well which is awesome and the best thing about this midterm round was that my studying has really improved. It's gotten to the point where I can notice the difference that keeping up in class and everyday studying can make when it comes to trying to put it all together in the end. Sadly, I've been on a strict junk food no time diet so looking forward to putting in some yoga tomorrow and lots of veggies in the next week! This week has lots of promise too.. tonight I am going to watch a movie and go to bed early! I cannot say how excited I am to watch something other then lab movies. Then Tuesday is St Patricks day and the build up begins for Sandblast which happens this weekend. Beach Party here I come!! Miss you all...
XOX

academic day

Today and the rest of the week will be filled with "academic days". Going on an epic grocery shopping trip with my friend Alex tonight to stock up for the upcoming onslaught of my first official vet midterms. I'm looking forward to studying!! - sitting and trying to absorb all this material (is that sick?). Maybe after the tests are over I'll feel like I am starting to know something because right now it seems like every class we just find out how much more we have to learn ;) Also exciting news, my roommate Amanda has invited me to go and visit her family where they live in Barbados over Easter break! My tickets are booked and i'm so excited to go and see how another part of the caribbean is about. I'm also trying to line up a camera of sorts so that I'll have pictures to post -Manda says Barbados is famous for caves and her mom has booked us for a caving expedition already. I absolutely CANNOT WAIT!!
Yesterday I also tried something new. One of the visiting professors on his trip down here a couple years ago set up a bouldering wall on one of the hidden retaining walls by the human anatomy lab. Not many people know about it but it is the perfect climbing location. Thanks to Jess for bringing my shoes down here (and Keith for sending them with her). Not only do you get to climb (don't worry mom, it's not that high) but there's amazing views on all sides, an ocean breeze and these crazy little geckos that pop out from behind the holds while you're going along. Definitely excited to slip climbing in instead of the horrible weight room at the gym.
Last night I spent some time on my application forms to try and be an RA or resident assistant in one of the dorms next year. Fingers crossed that I get the position because I think it would be a great way to meet some more people and practice some leadership skills. Alright.. time for class!! Talk to y'all soon :)

Island love

I love my friends!! Some of my closest girl friends took me out for a surprise post birthday dinner. I feel so spoiled -my birthday this year was kind of lost amongst a million exams so it was a pretty unexpected fun surprise. We went to the beach house which is my absolute favorite restaurant here (I also got to go there for whitecoat with Grandma and Grandpa -too much fun :) ).

In other news.. I was shocked today to see that lines had been painted on the road outside of campus. They literally paint every single one by hand using a string -WOW!! you don't see that everyday. :P

Figaro

I had kinda a topsy turvy day today. If you hadn't heard, we recently lost Figaro to some chronic medical concerns. We were absolutely so fortunate to have such a great veterinarian to help us with him. Dr. Schlingman from Uncas Vet Clinic is an amazing lady and I hope that I can be just like her when I'm practicing. She made an impossible decision one that we could make and feel like we were doing the right thing. I know that he was in the best hands all the way through. We had a visiting professor offer a workshop on helping clients through grief of losing a pet. I decided to attend with the hope that I could figure out how to help my future clients with something so difficult. Surprisingly, the workshop really helped me to. The clinician outlined the psychology behind euthanasia, and presented some different perspectives on not only determining when it is an appropriate option but also post euthanasia support for patients and although I will always miss my little buddy, I can move past the fact that he has been lost and appreciate what an asset he has been to my life. He was my support, best friend and little buddy all the way up through grade 4 to moving out on my own across the globe to SGU at the initiation of this blog. I will always be thankful to have had a kitty cat that was so amazing.

supercharged term

So looking back, it seems the last couple updates start with apologies as to why I'm not updating and a quick catch up on past events. New approach starting now!! Shorter updates more regularly on cool stuff that happened that day or the past couple of days. Hopefully that will make it easier to keep up on posts with my crazy crazy study schedule. That being said, I'm really sorry I haven't been updating more, It's been crazy trying to keep up with the rigors of school :)
I need to talk about a couple of things that have been going on since the last post. First and foremost Mom, Dad, Tom and Grandma and Grandpa made the long trek down to the island for my whitecoat ceremony. I get all misty even thinking about it because having them here for a ceremony that meant so much to me means the world. I had a great time with them, they rented a house down the street from school and it was so cool to have my family here while I started my first couple of weeks in vet school. First and foremost the support I've been getting from my family has been absolutely unbelievable. I'm still floored whenever I have a tough day at school and talking with family on the phone or friends on the net will just pick up my day. Jess and Colleen thank you so much for the little cards you have been sending they are such an awesome surprise when I open up my mailbox. Mom and Dad have been fantastic -Love you guys so much!! And aunty Chuck and uncle Perry, uncle Jack, aunty Joy and cousins your emails always make me smile! Some pics from whitecoat :) :





Next was an awesome visit from Jess, she came down on her way to a wedding in Cuba and a backpacking trip to Argentina. It was an absolute blast showing her around campus, and the normal routine as well as St Georges. She's also responsable for getting me out to the beach! It was a sad day when I had to take her back to the airport!



Since then, life has been a whirlwind of trips to and from class, the grocery store and the gym all blurring into one. The term is speeding by so fast and it's pretty much supercharged. Hope everyone is enjoying their week -HUGS!

Vet Orientation

This past week has been an absolute blur filled with school functions, registration and orientation workshops. It's a relief I'm finally all settled in, unpacked, registered and ready to start. It's official -I'm in vet school! WOO HOO!!!
I'm extra lucky because I have the two best roommates in the world. My two friends from the medicine program Amanda and Elise have been amazing the past couple of days. We've got our small apartment all hooked up and unpacked it actually feels like a sort of home for the first time since I arrived on the island. Our place is set up really well, we each have our own bedroom, there's a really large kitchen and the bathroom and shower are separate which prevents blocks in the morning. The last two days have been particularly busy because of the Professional Academic Workshop or PAWS put on by the vet school. The purpose of the workshop is to allow us to get to know the faculty and other students in our class in a less formal environment while giving us an indication as to what we are expected to do at SGU and eventually in the profession. I'm extra excited because tomorrow is our first day of real classes. Anatomy is first on the agenda so I'll let you know how it goes.
Night!

Term 3 –The Beginning…

And so I finally made it. I’m officially a veterinary student in first term vet at SGU! And if that weren’t enough my parents, Tom and Grandma Joyce and Grandpa Bruce are all coming down to my white coat ceremony. I cannot wait to show them all around campus and the island. And so now to recap since last term: Christmas break and all the prep to come back down.

I was SO excited to go home for Christmas, it had been a long and CRAZY term. On top of my normal pre veterinary courses I had three extras, public speaking, introduction to psychology and computers. To top it off, to matriculate into the vet program or med program all school of arts and science students must write a cumulative exam on all material covered in the final year of the preparatory program. To sum it up there was no spare time and lots on the go. The flights home were long but pretty uneventful and Tom came to pick me up from the airport. I’m always amazed at how much has changed when I go away each term and come back. This time, I had trouble phoning home because you have to dial a mandatory area code in front of all local numbers –weird! Also, Tom not only came to pick me up but in his own car which was too cool. We went straight from the airport to Millhurst to fix a plumbing emergency. It was really awesome to see how much my little brother knows about plumbing now. He’s so professional and grown up!

On the way home finally I was devastated to learn that my really close friend and neighbour Pat Crowley had passed away the week before. I hadn’t even known she was sick so I felt badly that I hadn’t been able to say goodbye.. I missed her terribly all week and it was pretty heart breaking to see her family try and compensate for her loss and take care of the animals she’s left behind.

The next couple of days at home were busy helping mom get ready for dad’s 50th birthday party. We were in a major cleaning mood trying to get the house back into shape and running errands. The party was amazing. It was really fun to see all of my parent’s friends and everyone seemed to have a great time.

Next was a trip down to Houston. My grandpa Bruce and grandma Joyce organized a family cruise for my family on my dad’s side from Galveston to Mexico and back across the Gulf. Not only was it absolutely fantastic to get to spend time with my cousins, but we had a chance to stay with my aunty Joy, uncle Jack, and cousins Amy and Eric. It was so kind of them to let all 19 of us stay in their House, we had too much fun!

Cousins on the cruise boat..

The family at a park in Houston

Part of the family at dinner
Arriving back in Edmonton was a bit of a shock after Houston’s warm weather. We were dropped off at the tarmac in -29 weather. –BRrrr! The last couple of weeks were spent madly trying to finish up my correspondance classes and write the last of my final exams. I also got to see Colleen, Jessica and Vanessa on a regular basis which was amazing. I’m so lucky to have such great friends, Jess is coming down to visit me for my birthday and I absolute cannot wait.

Packing to come back down to school was insane. I am always surprised how quickly I can fill up a suitcase and still be over the weight requirement. It always takes twice as long to decide what I can live without and repack the suitcase then to pack it in the first place.
On the way back this time I took Air Canada from Edmonton to Calgary and then on to JFK New York where I spent the night in the airport. I almost had a bit of a heart attack. They had forgotten to put my bags on the plane from Edmonton so I almost missed my NY connection waiting for them to come in on the next plane. Currently I’m flying the last leg of the trip on Air Jamaica direct to Grenada. I didn’t sleep at all last night so time for a couple of ZZZzzz’s!

Late night episode

Last night I was attacked by an island moth.. Lol.. indeed.. I am now scarred for life! So to also scar you (or provide some entertainment I will recount said event). So I was headed home from the library after a dutiful evening of studying. It was about 2 a.m. and I was accompanied by my friend Jed -for those who have seen my facebook pictures, he is in many of them and is sort of my little substantially sized island brother/ party buddy. He was carrying his backpack in front of him. We were almost back to our dorm and were headed down the final long flight of stairs when I noticed a flicker out of the corner of my eye. Thinking it was one of the normal grenadian bugs I didn't really pay attention until I felt a huge furry thing flap around my legs...
I jumped sky high and made a gasping noise. Jed turned to laugh at me and it was at this point that the bird sized (no joke) moth thwapped him straight in the middle of his forehead. Jed promptly screamed like a little girl, the most feminine I've heard in a LONG time. He seriously launched his backback five feet in front of us and when it hit the ground the zipper exploded and coins flew in every direction.
Meanwhile the furry beasty decided to promote panic and confusion by hitting me squarely in the shoulder and circled madly around the both of us for a solid minute. Jed and I were flailing and screaming high pitched yips while dislocating limbs while beating the air with our hands. Eventually panic subsided (I'm sure the moth had been long gone for quite awhile) and we hurriedly picked up like 150$ worth of coins and resumed the trek home. I couldn't sleep for hrs... LOL wish you'd seen it, actually wish i'd seen the whole thing happen too.. pretty intense stuff.
Hope you both are well, missin you tons and excited for yet another long day of studying. MWAH!!
Katie

i love my island

What a great day. Woke up thinking it wasn't going to be that fantastic. Almost overslept and missed a class and met with my advisor to make sure I was on track to get into vet school. As it stands right now, things are ok but of course always room for improvement. What a relief! Spent a couple of hours this afternoon at the beach with Megan trying to destress and refocus (or have fun?). I was shocked when I first pulled up. The waves were HUGE!!! There's a hurricane by San Juan at the moment and we're feeling the effects, I've never seen the waves so big and literally there was no beach. The parking lot was even flooding in places. Went wave surfing for a good half hr -LOVE IT!!! Hope they're the same tomorrow so I can go and play some more. Then back to campus and a quick change before class and micro lab. Things went smoothly and then my favorite thing ever -YOGA CLASS!! I LOVE YOGA!! I've been doing it regularly twice a week and am already seeing improvements in my flexibility. I'm starting to see why mom is so in love with it. I have also found a fantastic new website with online radio stations. I am LOVING the Amy Winehouse channel if y'all want to look it up -good stuff! http://www.last.fm/listen/artist/Amy%2BWinehouse/similarartists . I intend to study micro for a bit in my room with good music, some coffee and a candle going. Should be lovely, and bed early.. G'night :)

just for fun...

Here's some incentive to come down here and visit me!

Exams are finito!

Midterm exams are over! So glad to have them done and out of the way, most of all, it's a good indication or rather wake up call before finals at the end of term. To matriculate into the full veterinary program I need a 3.4 in all the classes i've taken at SGU combined. All the subjects went fairly well, physiology is going to need some work but luckily I have time to bring that mark up. I have a new boyfriend. His name is the library. I intend to spend a lot of time with him in the near future...

My new boyfriend -the library!

Carriacou Trip

At the end of september, I took a trip to one of the neighboring islands with my friend Liz, it was tons of fun! I actually liked the island a bit better then Grenada. It's a lot more rural feeling, people are friendly, everything is well maintained and all the stray dogs are fat and happy. We took a ferry called the Osprey and arrived after about an hour and a half. This was one of the highlights of the trip. Being able to see Grenada's coast from the water was pretty cool. Once arriving on the island, we got settled into our hotel room and got ready for the Hash -the primary reason we were visiting the island in the first place. The Hashes here are really fun. It's basically a gigantic day long adventure race through the bush. Someone will head out in the morning and lay a trail of paper piles and then in the afternoon, we all take off in a pack of people and run from pile to pile along the route. There are code words for finding the trail "on, on" and losing the trail and turning back "on back".

Grenada from the water

Liz and I on the ferry

Carriacou

Tortoise at our hotel

Yeah! Time for a breather and a bit of a life ;)

and so.. it has been a month and a bit since I last sat down and wrote about my life. Lots has happened :) First of all, I had an addition to my small grenadian family of one. My friend Pearl and I bought fish (hers has since passed away :( ) but I now have a little friend to keep me company. Her name is newt and she's a female siamese fighter fish. Pretty cute... I think it's pretty funny that since I am not allowed to have any other sort of pets on campus, I am so excited about a little fish. Pics included:
Newt (my fish)

Pearl and her former fish, Emo Nemo (he was a bit depressed when we bought him..)

Me with Newt

Tuesday -exam day!

Two exams later and I'm completely exhausted but feel completely satisfied that I put in my best effort. As my mom said, Uncle Brett would be proud of my efforts in Molecular Biology and attempting to understand all the nitty picky details that Dr Martin keeps throwing our way. I have to admit, parts of what we are learning are very interesting and the course should be a good one if I keep up on the notes. Yesterday I went to class in the morning after dashing off a reading reaction to Martin Luther King's "I have a Dream". What a beautiful speech! I wish we'd been given more space, it is impossible to fit all my ideas into a single page. The afternoon, evening and most of the early night I spent studying and as much of a shock to the system as my first set of exams were, it was nice to get back into the regular rhythm of school. Early to bed tonight and then tomorrow night is the Ladybugs first soccer game!! Hope to conscript a friend to take pictures so that I can post them :)

Friday

Today was highly successful! I went to my classes and because it's glorious friday I was done at 11a.m. Came back to my room, made some food and had a nap. All my friends continue to succumb to the nasty disease floating around campus and I refuse to let that happen so I've been sleeping a lot and popping cold fx to ward it off. Studied some molecular biology, there is going to be a lot of studying this week because my first quiz is on Tuesday -bring on the red bull! Last night I went out with Linnea and Jed to bananas. It was really fun, everyone was out and my RA (dorm leader) from last term is back visiting for the week. Too fun! Tomorrow night there is an artist from Trinidad mixing so that might be fun.. have to see how much I get done. Also went for a surprise visit to Christina and Yensin's place. It was really nice to have a visit, I really miss having Christina in my classes. Lastly, my friend Mike had a bunch of us over for a dinner party. He cooked the most amazing Chinese food that I've ever had in my life.. it was fantastic!!! Now back to studying...

Thursday

Lighter day of classes and spent some time trying to get caught up with projects etc. I have two molecular biology tests next week so it's going to be a packed weekend of studying. Spent the evening with Cece and LIz, we went and got groceries and then I studied -exciting life of a student... you know it's bad when going to the grocery store is exciting. It's been particularly bad there lately, seems like the store is out of most things all the time. There have not been any tomatoes since I got here, I MISS TOMATOES! I also had a bit of a heart attack last night because then it appeared that my fridge had stopped working. I had just put everything into my freezer and attempted to find a friend still awake who had fridge space I could borrow when it decided to kick in.. weird! Oh last thing.. had my first soccer practice tonight! It was fantastic -great exercise and boy am I going to be sore tomorrow. It felt weird to be kicking a ball again after like 8 years off but things were definitely coming back to me by the end of practice. Might be playing again Friday evening so looking forward to that.