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