Good evening! 

Tonight I write to you from my house here in Maine. 

Last post was just about a month ago. At the time I was just getting into the swing of things here in our 5th semester. Since then, I have completed my preceptorship in Lewiston, finished my clinical skills classes, as well as virtual clinic. Next week we have a few final assessments and then we start Kaplan next Friday! The semester is flying by. Already over half way done. 

Preceptor: Let me just say that this experience was a fantastic introduction into surgery. I got to scrub in on a few more surgery days since I last wrote, as well as some really interesting clinical days. I even got to the point where I was able to suture a real person! How exciting! If any of you are interested in surgery, make sure you indicate so before coming to Maine when they send out the interest survey. As of now, there is only one surgeon who we are able to do preceptor rotations with for our Maine semester. I learned a tremendous amount and look forward to my surgery rotation in my clinical years.

Virtual Clinic: This was also one of the best experiences. It was always a bit nerve-wracking going into, but you get used to them about half way through. I can guarantee that your confidence will skyrocket by the time you finish the class. I can't tell you how much I have been able to improve of my history taking and physical exam skills. Our knowledge of clinical diagnostics and patient management is fantastic after completing the program. A big thanks to all the doctors and standardized patients who are so great at what they do. There is way to much for me to get into detail with what we did and what we have learned, just trust me that you will be very happy with the improvements you will see in yourself. It is a vast consensus that virtual clinic is a great feature of 5th semester. 

Clinical Skills Lab: Another awesome opportunity. We learn and master many clinical skills that we will be performing in our clinical rotations and for the rest of our careers. Everything from Arterial blood drawing, Venipuncture, Intubation, IV access, various injection styles, lumbar puncture etc. This stuff really interests me so it was great to get some exposure before the real deal. 


Examinations 
  Coming this Monday, we have an examination of our clinical skills. You are given a skill at random and must perform it properly as well as answer any questions that area asked of you. Pretty simple, low stress. Just have to make sure you have all the procedures and protocols down. On Tuesday we have our virtual clinic OSCE (Objective Structured Clinical Examination). This essentially is just like virtual clinic except they are super strict with your timing. You have to go in as a Doc, interview the patient, come up with a diagnosis, and give a treatment plan. You have 20 minutes to do this. You also have to be a presenter for another patient. Just like I described in the last post. We have lots of practice with this now, just a matter of keeping yourself calm for one last time. Its worth a bit more then the others ;) The final assessment is on Wednesday where we write our final written exam. We had one about 3 weeks ago, and this is the second one that we have to do. I have ACLS practical on Thursday and then start Kaplan on Friday. Will be a busy week. 


Thats about it. Ive had some time to explore Portland a bit. Saw the ocean finally. I also went skiing at a place called Shawnee Peak. It is about an hour away. Its a nice hill. Has some more advanced runs for those of you who are Skiers or Snowboarders. Its also pretty close and decently priced if you are looking to go. We went for the evening run so it was a bit cheaper. It was a great night to go as it was perfect weather.
   I will be sure to let you guys know how the finals go, and will check in hopefully before Kaplan is over. If not, I will give you a final 5th semester rundown at the end. Also, I will give you some tips on what I have been doing to prepare for Step one while in Maine. Everyone has their own approach, but once I see how successful I was post Kaplan, I will be in a place to give you some advice on what worked and didn't work for me. Be sure to check back for that. 

Things I've Learned 
-Having time to go to the gym is great. I missed it after not being able to afford the time in SK
-Funyuns are quite delicious. I don't think we have them in Canada..
-Trying to work with Cash like I did in SK is a pain as a Canadian. There is no good way to take out money in the US unless you have a US bank account. I will have to do some digging to figure out the best way to do things. 
-I miss having an Ocean view. I also miss walking to school in a weird way. My calfs ardent getting the same workout as they used too get walking up all those Caribbean hills! 
-My Fitbit step counts have seen better days.. Walking everywhere is SK was nice for that. 
-Having a Dryer is super nice 
-Having computer repair stored nearby is very handy. I put a big magnet on my computer by accident and killed by hard drive.... Oppps


Cheers,
Mike

Good day everyone! 

   Just on a break today and figured I would get another post started.  
Initial Impressions so far? I love it. This semester is honestly a whole lot of fun. Such a different change of pace and style from what I have been used to for the past year and a half on the island. The whole focus changes from Academic to Clinical. While there is still a bit of lecture type stuff going on, the feel is still very much centred around us being able to make sound clinical judgements.
  I guess the best first thing to do would be to give a rundown of the schedule for a typical week. So like I said in a previous post sometime, the semester is broken down into two parts. You essentially register for 2 classes when you come to Maine. The first which is essentially ICM 2 runs for the first 2 months. The next course or section of the semester is the Kaplan Course that runs for just about a month. Right now, I have completed two full weeks, the first being paperwork type formality stuff. Second week was the first full normal week, and I am currently in my 3rd week now. Ill give you a break down of what it is like.

Monday: Heavy lecture day. From 9-11 we have a lecture. Each week the topic varies, but it is system based. Last week was Respiratory, this week was Cardio. The lectures are given by a large pool of doctors who's other roles are to facilitate our virtual clinics. We get an hour for lunch from 11-12, then have small group lectures from 12-230. These group are around 10 people each and we meet with a doctor and discuss topics on the current body system that we are on that particular week. We break down the physical examinations, diagnostic tests, treatment, and just general patient management. We start to discuss beyond how to diagnose a patient. All of a sudden we have to start thinking about management and treatment. Not just which drug to use, but proper dosing, cost of treatment, patient financial situation etc. We have to think about when we actually admit a patient into the hospital or if we can send them home with a treatment plan etc. We can no longer just say we would order a CT, Xray, BMP or cultures, we have to actually take into account if we are seeing a patient in a clinic vs hospital, or if the patient has health insurance etc. Its really cool to think beyond just the diagnosis. All these topics we discuss in our small groups. After small group we then have a series of clinical scenarios that integrate pathology. We will be presented with a case, then work through the entire diagnosis, diagnostics, treatment etc. They will provide us with X-ray results, Echo tests, Pathology sections, histology etc. Some of them are pretty tough, the others are simple. It is a lot of fun but can be stressful at times because you are put on the spot on occasion. But its how we learn. 
  By the end of the day, we are all pretty tired. The day finishes at 5, its dark and winter outside, we are all ready to go home. 

Tuesday: Tuesday is Virtual Lab day. We are all put into groups, so your start time may vary. For me I start at 1045. We get to school where we are assigned a partner.  One of the two people is assigned to be doctor first, the other is presenter. You then will switch positions on the second room. You knock on the door, inside is a real doctor and a actor patient. When you walk in the room the time starts. The doctor has 20 minutes to take a history, do any physical exams they want to do, diagnose, and provide a treatment plan. We are graded on all of this including our ability to council the patient and explain procedures etc. If we make the patient uncomfortable, if we sit or stand, if we do exams correctly, if we explain procedures etc. Everything is evaluated. At the end of the 20 minutes, the presenter then has 10 minutes to gather any addition information they want and give a comprehensive summary to the real doctor. You then have to provide your own diagnosis with 2 additional differentials. You also have to give your own treatment plan. We do this twice, but change roles in the second room. The presenter is also responsible for writing a SOAP note at the end of the day. We have 30 minutes to essentially write down the comprehensive summary and treatment plan that you verbally gave to the doctor. This is also graded. This is a great experience and a lot of fun. It can be stressful, especially when you can come up with a diagnosis:P This happened to me. Normally you have a few things in mind, but there is always something that makes the lightbulb turn on. It might be a specific physical exam finding, or simple one thing that the patient says. At the end of the day, you always have something you need to say. Some of the cases I have had so far include exercise induced asthma, Infective endocarditis, pre-syncopal aortic stenosis and a few others. 
  This experience is super important as it is us essentially practicing for our USMLE Step 2 CS exam that we do about halfway through clinical rotations. This is all good practice. The other thing I do on Tuesday is clinical skills lab. Here we practice some more hand on skills that we use as doctors. Last week we did various injection methods as well as placing TB tests. This week we do Intubation and arterial puncture for drawing arterial blood for blood gas analysis. Each week there is a different set of skills that we will work on. For me, I do this from 3-5, so I have a bit of a break after Virtual clinic. Depending on your luck, you get assigned to a group that either does Clinical skills on Tuesday or Wednesday. I get to get it all done Tuesdays. 

Wednesday: Wednesday is Grand rounds and Therapeutics. At 8 am we are supposed to show up at the hospital in Maine and sit in on talks given by residents or doctors etc. The topics vary. We are amongst regular hospital staff at that point. The talks are normally about an hour long, at which point we head back to school and have lectures from 10-12. This lecture is titled therapeutics. The topics change from week to week. Last week it was dermatology, this week it is EKG etc. The day ends normally at 12 and we can go do some self study. 

Thursday and Friday depends on if you are group A or B. Group A does precepting on these days. Ill talk a bit about my experience with this separately. You have to complete 30 hours in a month. So it is up to you to get this done between Thursday and Friday each week. If you are not in Group A, then you have other lectures which I'm not to sure about. I am in Group A, so I'm not quite sure how it works. 

Thats the week! Not too bad if you ask me. This is the regular schedule for the 2 months. The last month is in the Kaplan course and everything changes again. Ill keep you posted with that. Just remember however, that during this time you are supposed to be prepping for Step 1. You are on your own schedule to do this, but you are expected to be prepping. So in the evenings it is not all free time. I mean if you don't want to study you can do what you want, but it is just like St Kitts in that you work well into the evening. Its just that you are know reviewing material and not learning new stuff every day. This is extremely refreshing and feels absolutely amazing to finally be able to go over previous material.


Ill give you a bit of a taste of what I do with my Preceptor, A while back I told you that I was assigned to a general surgeon. When I first got to Maine I went to the hospital and did a bit of familiarization training as well as how to scrub in and remaine sterile during a surgery. I had my first actual session last week. On Thursday I headed to the hospital and checked myself into the OR. Got my scrubs, got prepared and waited until my Surgeon showed up. This was the first time we met. He is a super nice guy and went over the cases for the day with me. He told me a bit about the specifics of each problem, went into the pathology of the diseases a bit then we got prepped. Anesthesiology put the patient under then we got started. I was surprised at how much I was able to do. I figured I would most likely just be observing from a distance, but I essentially took the job of the scrub nurse. I took her position on the table and the Nurse worked through me essentially. She would hand me tools that I would give to the surgeon, I would be suctioning and retracting, holding traction, cutting suture lines etc. I was right in there the whole time! He was good at asking me a bunch of questions and explaining what he was doing. I got to talk with anesthesiology a bit too. This was a super great experience. I cant wait for more. I think this week he isn't in the OR, so instead we will be in the clinic. This will still be a good opportunity to learn. For the school, we are required to write up some notes of a few of the patients we see. So that is really the only thing that you need to do outside of the actual precepting. While I was paired wth a surgeon, other were paired with family docs, internal medicine docs, addiction clinics, sports medicine etc. A whole bunch of different experiences. There is something unique about each specialty and there is no real "better" position. I guess it is mostly based on your interested that makes one better over another. Each has their own particular set of skills the you get to practise or situations you get to experience. I am pretty happy with where I am however. 

Thats about it for now. I have yet to explore the area too much, but Ill be sure to do that when I get the chance. I might be going skating next weekend and will surely be doing a bit of research into some possible Ski locations. Ill wait for a bit more snow before I start to figure all that out however. 

Thing I've Learned 
-There is one benefit to coming to Maine in the winter. We get snow days! Get my first one tomorrow;) 
-Movies are a lot more expensive then in SK... 
-Getting cash here is annoying.. and expensive 
-Being able to use Amazon is great
-It is very very very nice to have a car again 
-There are people who think the weather is terrible right now. Please. Just wait 
-I feel more and more Canadian when people ask me questions about ice fishing, skating, snowmobiling because very few people have actually done these things. 

Cheers,
​Mike! 
​

Good Evening from Maine!! 

Feels weird too say that! St kitts was all I ever knew untill know:) 
So just a quick update, I am all settled in here in Portland. I arrived yesterday evening and spent the day running around. Me and my parents made the 7ish hour trip down from Ottawa yesterday. My roomate, who is a good buddy from school back in St. Kitts arrived the night befor me, so he had already settled in by the time I arrived yesterday. Moved my stuff in, got all set up, then went to bed pretty early. 
  This morning I woke up to meet my parents down at their hotel in town. I live in Westbrook, which is about a 10 min drive from downtown Portland. After breakfast we did some running around. I had done a bit of research into different phone providers in the states, and ended up going with T-mobile. They had a pretty good deal that suited my situation well. It allows me to use my phone in Canada and the States without any problems. We set that up this am, then did some grocery shopping. I also got a flu shot which I forgot to do while I was at home. We need them as we are in the hospitals over here. It cost like 30US.. So if you are a Canadian, get it for free back at home befor you come here. My parents came back to the house, we said goodbye and they started on their long journey back home. It was great for them to be able to see my place right away!! And of course, they tried to buy me as much as they could befor leaving:) After they left, I did some running aroud with Jameison (My roomate). We did grocery shopping mainly. We also drove to campus and introduced ourselves to the staff over there. Also got a bit of a tour! We head back there tomorrow morning in order to register. That is the only thing we have to worry about tomorrow which is nice! Aside from that, my day is pretty much done. Might head out in a bit to do some more exploring, but might just lounge around the house as well. Will have to see!

Crossing the border...
So this was the part of the trip I was looking least forward too.. We decided to cross at the Derby crossing which is one of the border crossing into Vermont from Quebec. The more popular crossing was in Sherbroke, but due to the weather and what not, the better route was going to be through Derby. When we got the the border, which was about a 4 hour drive away, I got to the customs officer and explaned my situation. Since he couldnt take all day to read all the paperwork, he told me to come inside and they would look it over. Thats fine, not a problem. Little did I know that we would spend about 2.5 hours waiting to cross out the other side.. The customs officers did not understnad my situation very well and spent a tremendous amount of time doing stuff on their comuters and humming and hawing over the paperwork. I was a little worried that we were goign to get turned away and would have to figure out some other way to cross. There was a contact number for one of the administration ladies in Maine, but they were not interested in calling her for some reasons. After a litlte while, what I learned was that I left a form that was inteded for students indicating which borders were best to cross at since they are the ones UMHS students will typically use and hence will have the least confusion when crossing. It also tunred out that the border that we were told to avoid was the very border I was trying to cross at.. So you could imagine that the customs guys were pretty ticked off at that to begin with, let alone not understanding my situaiton. This is completelly my fault for leaving that form in the pile that of other forms that the school gave to us to assist in our crossing. At the end of the day, a senior officer arrived, looked at the paperwork, and 10 minutes later cleared me. He appoligized but said that my situation was unique and was not seen very much. He approved my VISA and sent me on my way. Most of that could have been avoided I think.. But O well. When I asked him what I could do better next time, he said nothing. I provide whatever documents I have, and its their job to figure out what we need. Thats what he said. So lets hope thigns so smoothly when I start rotations, as thats the next time I will need to reapply for a B1 VISA.  
   The bummer was that it delayed us almost 3 hours. It made us completing the rest of the drive in the dark, which is a bummer becuase the views were awsome comign through Vermont and New Hampshire. But I guess I will have to wait for my return trip to see it!! 

All in all, not a terrible experience, jsut slightly stresfull. My house is veyr nice, Portland seems to be super nice as well. Once I figure my way around and explore a bit more, I will give you an update on Maine.

Things I've Learned 
-The interstate costs money. Even when you dont know you are entering an interstate untill its too late to turn around. 
-There are a lot of ambulances driving aroudn the city. Like a weird amount.
-They have Chipotle here! Ive never had it, yet heard so much about it. Next on my list
-People from Maine dont really have an accent in case you were wondering. 
-ATM's in the US are expensive when you are a Canadian
-T-mobile has pretty good reception in everytwhere Ive been 

Cheers,
Mike

Good evening from St. Kitts / Ottawa (Sorry the post took me a bit of time)

So looking at the archive on the right, I see that my last post was in October. For that I am sorry. The reason behind this is time. After my last post in October, I failed to find opertune moments to write more entries. When I did have the time, I didnt have the energy. This ended up being the case for the rest of the semester apparentlyl! But dont worry, I will be getting back into it now.

The biggest news I have to share is that my time in St. Kitts has come to an end. Today was my final exam, and I got the all clear from the Dean that I am on my way to Maine! This is a very exciting time, but also comes with some mixed emotions. At the end of this post, I will be sure to get all inspirational and such, but until then, I have lots of catching up to do. I will write about a few different things that I would have liked to have written here at various times in the semester. Please feel free to read whichever headings seem intersting to you:)

Student Governent
Wihle my time as a student in St. Kitts comes to an end, my time with student Government also comes to an end. As was mentioned previous, I fulfilled the position of Vice president this semester. It was a super great oppertunity, and I got to work with some fantastic people. I highly reccomend SGA to any of you soon to be UMHS students out there. You wont regret it.

Some of the events that happened
-Sunfest: The usual event that happens post block 2. There was a beach, drinks, food, and fun. The only issue was that the sky was grey and it rained... But only for a bit! Still a success.
-Med-Olymics: O wait, no it was cancelled. Another club at the school decided to have a catamaran trip that same day, and something about one of the classes having an exam, so there was not enough interest to make the event worth while. After two successful semeseters in a row of Olympics, its okay to take one off :)
-Food Trucks: For all of you new students, you are welcome. It was a project we have been working on for the last 2 semestes. Students wanted an alternative to the regular calf food, so after working with administraiton in SK and with President Ross, we aquired three food venders that now operate on Campus. The three are Rituals Coffee (Essentlly island Starbucks), Shawarma king, and Spice of Inida. All the most popular places student like to eat. It was great having some choice with regards to food, and not being forced to eat Chicken Parm on Wednesday and Fried chicken on Friday for once..
-Ross Vet Collaberation: Another goal of ours this semester was to connect with our neighbours. We are all students living on this island for a good while, why not branch out and meet new people. We met with the exec board of the One health club at Ross earlier in the semester, and ended p having a BBQ with them a few weeks ago. It was lots of fun. We had a good turn out from both sides, and got to meet some great people. We also opened the doors for many more events in the following semesters. Already we have a planned debate night where we will have a faculty lead debate on varous medicine topics that span both human and veterinary medicine, such as Lyme disease etc. Im am sad I wont be a part of this..
-Video Shoot: As part of the SGA and ambassdor programe, I got to take part in a video shoot that was being conducted for new schol advertising. I got to make a few appearances in there, so keep an eye for those videos to pop up on the UMHS website at some point in the future ;)

Those are the more excitng things to do with SGA. Everything else is just the regular old stuff.

Ambassador Program
There is not much to report here. Talked to a bunch of people, got hung up on a few times, tried my best to help people out etc. The one intersting piece of news is the possibility to extend the program to Maine. A few of us who are leaving this semester were asked if we would like to continue our roles as ambassadors while in Maine. This is a paid position (Deduction from tuition) so I am all for it. I dont know all the specifics yet, just that it will happen! Ill keep you posted on that. This is another great opertunity for you new students to get involved!

Hospital rotations
 This is where I left off last post. I was just about ready to start hospital rotations. Well those finished quite a while ago, but I am happy to share the experience. First off, it was great. I think looking back, it will be amazing to know that you were able to gain experience in a hospital setting such as SK. We are expected to do 5 rotations at the hospital. Those are Internal medicine x2, Surgery, OBGYN, and Peadiatrics. The day will go as follows. Arrive at hospital, head to your ward, meet the Doc who will be in charge, you are assigned a patient in groups of about 3, will have about 40 minutes to take a history and conduct any physical examinations you wish, and then attend a seminar presented by one of the hospital docs. This takes about an hour. After that, you return to the ward and discuss all the cases with the Doctor. Each one has a different approach, but it will consist of you giving your full report and him asking you a bunch of questions. It was great experience and we got to test out practical knowldge quite a bit. I took a lot from the experiecne and hope that everyone does as well.
  The only downside to it all is the working condiritons. There is no AC in the hsopital. This means you will be stading up for 5 hours in dress cloths and a lab coat in the heat of SK. Not the most fun at at times. You get used to this by the end. The hospital is a very neat component of your last semester, and it is really the first practical hospital expericne you get on this journey. Try to make the best of it. 

Maine Housing
  The one thing I will say here is get a head start. The school provides you with little help in finding housing, so dont waste time assuming they will give you a big master list of houses to choose from. There are a few suggested places on the UMHS website, but they are quite expensive. At least more then what I am used to paying in SK. Feel free to check them out if you choose. Sometime after block three, you will also get a list of housing from staff in Maine. There are some decent houses there, but the problem is that lots of them are already taken by then time the list comes out. Most of those houses are also listed on craiglist which is where most students will find their houses. Obviously, be carefull with this i.e. dont be sending money to people unless you know it is legit.
   In terms of places to live, depends on what you like. Old orchard beach is popular, but a bit farther way from school. Its up to personal preference. Most people will have a car in Maine, so just mapquest stuff and see what you are comfortable with.

SCC
   SCC or Student Clinician Ceremony is a ceremnony that final semester people attend. Other semesters are welcome to go as well, but they have to pay for their seats. Most of the time it is held at either the Marriott or Carambola. This semester it was at Carambola. It was a nice venue, but because it is an open concept design, it was very hot and there was quite a few mosquites. It was still a very nice ceremony and one of the last times you have to dress up while on the island ;) There will be some pictures at the bottom, and some of them will be of SCC.

ICM
   ICM finishes about a week and a half befor exams start. This is really nice. When you are in your last semester, having only two exams to study for will be so nice. Especially if you are in MED and used to 4 exams a semester. All in all, this course was great. As descussed earlier, there is a lab component as well as a written. You will have a block exam each block, two practical exams, final presentation, and SOAP notes. These are written summaries essentially of the patients that you have seen in the hospital. You have to hand in two off these by the end of the semester. They are a bit tedious, but get used to them becuase its what we do for the next two years while we do clinical rotations. The block exams for ICM are not bad. Certinaly devote most of your time to Path and Pharm, but dont let ICM slip either.  With only 40 question exams, its pretty easy to go from an A to a C if you are not carefull. You will get a good guage after block 1. Practical exmas are pretty fun. They are just like PD, except you are expected to know more, and the questions are a bit tougher. For your final practical, aside from the 3 ICM proffs there are also 3 hospital doctors who come to evaluate. You will either get 2 hospital docs and 1 ICM proff, or 2 ICM proffs and 1 Hospital doc. Its all luck of the draw. The hospital docs are pretty good. They are the ones we work with when we do our hospital rotations, so we know them already. This course is fun. Enjoy it, dont let it stress you out.

Pharmocology
   Another fun class. There is nothing too difficult about the class conceptually, what makes it difficult is the fact that there is so much material that you are expected to know. To me, it was very interesting though. Real medicine, real application. You get a taste of pharmcology with others courses, but with Pharm it puts it all together. There is lots to know, so make sure you spend the time. There were not any real good questions to practice from except for Uworld. I find it hard to do questions for a class when you have to search far and wide for them. If you stick with the material provided, you will be fine for the course. Obiously our goal is to do as many questions as possible befor Step, but after the course, when you have gone over everything, you can better and more efficiently answer questions. Just stick with this course. Dont let other people psych you out and dont get scared becuase of its name. Is a fun course, enjoy it.

Pahology II
   Like all the other last semester courses, this is another great one. One of the main reasons for this is the professor. He makes class very interesting and is one of the best proffs at the school. For those of you who are thinking about coming to UMHS, I hope he is still teaching when you get there because you are all in for a treat. The key to success in this course is to study. The material is plentifull, and the tests are hard. Gone are the days of choice A B C D. Get used to reading a paragraph long questions of lab vlaues and patient presentation only to look at the answer choices and see choice A though J. No joke. You know it or you dont. One way to succeed is to do questions. There are quite a few good resources for practice Q's, but those will be made aware to you when you take the class. Uworld is always the best, and you might see very similar questions on his tests. I wont tell you the other sources now, because I guarantee you wont remember what I say by the time you get to your last semester. All the sources will be given to you by the time your get there, or at least will be super easy to find. You will feel pretty impressed with yourself when you finish this course.

Prepping for Maine 
   I know when I first started the basic science portion of the program in SK, Maine was a fairly distant stage that I didnt worry too much about at the time. As you start to progress through the program, you obvisouly learn more about life past SK. At this point, I will give you a quick overview of the things you need to think about as you get ready to leave the island. 
   First off, which I have already mentioned is the vaccinations. This is the first thing you should start to think about as you enter into your last semester, or on the break right befor you start your last semester. This is a very important step, and it is best to meet with the school nurse well in advance so you know what you need to get done for both Maine and Rotations. If you do things right, you can be ready for even the clinical program after Maine. Next is working on housing, which I have already mentioned aswell. After those two, most of your preparation is done. Actually, one other important thing might be trying to decide what you want to do for transportation while in Maine. Ive been told that it is failry essential to have access to a car, so you might want to do a bit of research. I live close enought to Maine that I can drive, so I will be taking a car myself. Other people will often rent a car in Maine (proabably a bit expensive), but I have also been told that there is a market to purchase cars as well. I havent done much research here becuase I am bringin my own. A lot of students will trade off cars with students who are finished their semester in Maine. So there are options for you, just be sure you think about it and maybe budget in a few extra dollars. If you are rooming with someone who has a car, there is a chance that you could carpool. It is not a guarantee, but Carol in Maine does a great job at making sure roomates who carpool have similar schedules. This means you will both have to be in the same group A/B (so get vaccinations in early!), as well having the same preceptor while in Maine. Most of the clinicals or hospitals that we will rotate with are a fair distance from school. Definitally not walking distance, and the bus system is not very established so Im told. The staff in Maine are great to deal with, so be sure to ask them any questions you may have as you get closer. 
   Another thing to think about when going to Maine would be the ACLS (Advanced Cardiac Life Support) course that we all must take befor rotating in hospitals. You are able to get this course on your own if you choose, but they also offer is as an optional course in Maine. The cost is just under 400US and you need to have that money for the first day. It is not included in tuition. This means that one weekend will be used for the ACLS course. You could probably find it for a bit cheaper on your own, but if you do it in Maine, you will be doing the course with all your classmates which will add to the experience no doubt. The onther thing you might be able to do ahead of Maine would be a CPR HCP course. Not sure if you nead SFA, but definitelly the first two. This is quite a chore if you have never gotten these courses befor, as you cant take them at the same time usually. HCP is like the "next step" course. If you dont get it on your own, you can take it in Maine as well, similar to ACLS. I dont think there is a cost to it. If you already have them, then you are exempt. Just something to think about, 
   The rest of Maine prep is pretty tailored to your own preferences. Some people study befor Maine for the entrance exam, some dont. Up to you. It is designed to be a diagnostic to see where you sit after SK, but some people will brush up on some previous material. It is not meant to be an exam where you study hard for, it meant to be a dignostic. So do whatever you are comfortable with I suppose. 

My preceptor
   Befor you leave the island, you will fill out a survey which outlines your previous experience and interests for purpose of pairing you with a preceptor. I am interested in EM, but this was not an option unfortunatelly. A few days ago we were sent our preceptor assigments and I have been assigned to a Surgeon at the Central Maine Medical Centre! This is pretty cool. I called his office the other day and I am in surgery day one! We will be spending one day a week with our preceptors and I think this will be a good experience. I will be sure to keep you guys informed.

This is about it for now. There obviously was a lot that happened during the two months that I didnt write any blog posts, but that is what happens when you dont do this regularily. You talk about the big stuff and leave out the small stuff. I will be better in Maine and will try to update this more frequently. I like being able to look back and remember all these experiences, but you forget a lot, or things get blended together and its hard to put in down on paper after the fact. 

Things Ive learned (Last SK edition!!)
- Flying to Puerto Rico with Liat this semeseter has been an absoute nightmare for people. People were stranded all over the place and had to resort to chartering flight to get them home.
- I remember I have a housing deposit in St Kitts that I have to try to get back. 
- SK is changing so much! They are building everywhere and I am excited to be able to see what the island is transformed into over the next few years. I just hope that the rugged nature aspect of the island is maintinaed as best as possible.
- While I spent about a year and a half on the island, I still never really got used to the heat and craved the cold weather. I certinaly built up a toerance to it, but it is just too unnatural for a Candian :P very nice at times, but also way to hot at other times. 
- I never for to snorkel the shipwreck. I really wanted to do that..
- I left SK happy that I actually experienced the island. So many people will go through 2 years on the island, and many have never actually experienced it. They go form home to School and thats it. They have never gone on a hike, never drove around the island, never went to Nevis, never went to any landmarks like Brimestone or anything!! I dont unerstand it. All I ask is that you guys get out and explore if at all possible. It is a beutiful island and I want you guys to enjoy your time there. Its a wonderful experience.
- Cows can run fast 
- I will miss SK and the people there dearly. 



    As I finsih this part of my medical edcuation, I look back with nothing but happy memories. Of course there were times that you got upset, that you were stressed out, got very little sleep, but in all honesty the happy moment massivly outshined the negatives. I was able to make the best of my time there and I really hope that everytone else can figure out a way to do that same. Looking back a few years down the road, St. Kitts should be a distant memory of an amazing life advanture. I know it will be for me. And to all those still on the island, I wish you the best of luck and cant wait to meet you guys down the road in the halls of a hospital somewhere. Only we will know what it took to get there, and that will be a connection we will share forever! 

To finish, I want to include something that a fellow classmate named Adrianna wrote that I think sums up many peopls feeling of the island so well.. 

You're never really prepared for the biggest parts of your life. I was not prepared to hate island life, to be a patient when I was studying to be a doctor, to fail, to succeed. I was never prepared to feel so lonely, isolated, determined, or mentally and emotionally fatigued. I was not prepared to miss so much time with family and friends. I was never prepared to meet strangers who became family. I was never prepared for any exam or 8am lecture. I ended up not prepared to leave the island home that has stolen a piece of our hearts and minds and didn't bring tissues when I cried on the plane- again, not prepared. Despite all of this, and mostly because of this, I am prepared for a lifetime of serving others in medicine and I feel prepared for every challenge life will throw at me. Ready for the next adventure! #SKN


Cheers,
Mike



 

Happy Friday!

Hope everyone is doing well. I figured I would check in.

   Since last time I wrote here, 1/4 of the semester has gone by! I know I say this all the time, but this semester is really flying by. No joke, I cant believe it. Part of the reason might be due to the business of the semester, and a big part of it I think has to do with the fact that it really is a lot of fun.
   To start off, I guess Ill talk a bit about blocks. Last Monday we finished block 1 exams! I feel like I wasnt as nervous as most people going into them. I think the stigma is that Med4/EBS5 is the big bad semester. The make it or break it. The truth is really, that every semester is make it or break it. If you don't pass a class, you redo a semester essentially. So stressing yourself out over the fact that it is the last semester is pointless. If you have been successful thus far, keep doing what you are doing. If you have been able to make it to the final semester, you have been doing something right. At this point in the game, the tedious stuff is done. We are using our knowledge and applying it to big concepts, something that I absolutely love. Like I said in previous posts, I am taking three classes this semester. Pathology, Pharmacology, and ICM. Ill talk about my experience with each one thus far.

Pharmacology
-This class is no joke. The thing about pharm is that its a new language that you have to learn. For the fist block alone we have around 90 drugs that we needed to know. It is broken down into systems in a way. We started out with general pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamics followed by some general classes of drugs like Cholinergic's and Adrenergic's. After that it gets a but more specific. We just finished Heart failure drugs, anti arrhythmic drugs, anginal drugs, anti-hypertensives etc. Up untill this semester, there hasn't been much emphasis on treatment of diseases and disorders in terms of pharmacology. So that means this semester It's all new. Its really neat to see how it applies with all the disease processes and pathologies we've learned so far. It really brings it back full circle. As for the block 1 exam, I did pretty well. I have a nice buffer going into block 2. Things picked up a bit more today, so I have my work cut out for me this weekend. 

Pathology 
-Pathology is the real deal. We are doing system based path now and are about half way through respiratory. Just when you thought you knew everything there was to know about emphysema, asthma, bronchitis, you learn real quick that there is much more to take in! I love it though. For block 1, we finished Cardiology and blood vessels. We also had a few respiratory lectures. The exam was tough. It was my worst mark this block. It was acceptable, but I would say 45% of the class failed the first midterm... The professor who teaches us path is quite an interesting guy. He will not let you pass the course unless you know 100% what you are talking about. Im sure some of you have experienced this before in university or wherever. You learn something superficially and assume that it is enough to get by. It might work for certain classes, but not Path2. You have to know the concepts inside and out. He will ask a questions in class, you answer it thinking you know what you're talking about but if he has even an once of doubt that you don know it to the level he wants, he will annihilate you. Its fun in a way, because you make sure you know it for the next time. You could probably imagine from my description of him, that he writes some pretty tough questions. So Path will be the course that makes me put in the time. Its very interesting to me, so I think it should be doable. 

ICM
-This course has been nothing but good. It is all real world application. Each week we cover a new system so to speak. There will be two days where we talk about theory / clinical exams, then the rest of the week is spent in the lab doing examinations. In ICM we have real people acting as our patients. When we arrive to lab, we go straight to a patient and conduct the exams for that week. After the examination, we get together as a group and discuss our findings and go over differential diagnoses. This is a great opportunity to learn. We also have simulations with ICM. The week before block exams we have our first one. It is similar to the simulations we had in Physio, except way more intense. Our first case was an Acute Myocardial Infarction case. With our knowledge now, we are required to perform to a much higher standard. We are in a group and coordinate how we are going to run the simulation. We would do an initial assessment, order lab tests, start Iv's, draw blood for blood work, get chest X-ray, run EKG's etc. When the patient evidently goes down hill, we then jump into action. I ended up working airway on this simulation, so I got to intubate which is good fun. We are expected to know the Cardiac arrest protocols, give the appropriate medications and therapies. We saved the patient. It was great. Looking forward to the next simulation! 
The nice thing about ICM is that the midterm wasn't too bad. It was just a theory assessment, so not to intensive. This Monday, I do my first practical assessment. I think I'm prepared enough for it, so this weekend will just be a bit more practice. There are two components to the exam. One component is where we take a history on a real patient and gather all the required information to make a diagnosis. We don't have to do any examinations here. The second components is the physical examination part where we are given a case and expected to do the appropriate examination. Right now we have to either do Cardiac exams, Respiratory Exams, Abdominal exams, or Peripheral Vascular exams. They all have different components to them, but we need to be able to do each one if asked. 20% of our grade comes from our ability to answer any questions that the examiner might ask post examination. So its not enough to know how to perform, you have to have all the theory to back it up. Will be exciting. 

St Kitts living 
-The island still remains about the same. Its hurricane season right now, but we have been very lucky. Hurricane Matthew which is pretty troublesome right now passed just south of the island early last week. It was just a tropical storm when is passed by, so the most we got was a bit of wind. Didn't even get rain. There is still another month and a bit of the season, and historically the worst storms come in October, so fingers crossed! I don't suspect anything too crazy will happen. 
-Its hard to believe that I only have a few more weeks here. I will have mixed emotions for sure when It comes time to pack the bags. Its been a tough year in terms of academics, but the island has certainly made the journey exciting. There are things that are frustrating, but I think I will definitely miss it here. 

Clinicals
-Today we had a orientation to the clinical rotation we are starting next week. In your last semester, part of the ICM curriculum is to rotate through different areas of medicine At JNF hospital. This is one of our first introductions to real hospital clinical practice. We do 5 different rotations. 2 Internal Medicine, 1 Surgery, 1 ObGyn, 1 Paediatrics. You are placed in a group and are given a schedule indicating when you will be doing each rotation. My schedule starts with Internal Medicine, followed by Surgery, then Peds, then ObGyn. I'm excited to see what is in store for the next few weeks! Essentially what we do is meet with the Doctor, do some patient histories and examinations, report the findings to the doctor and determine a diagnosis. You then compare your own diagnosis with that of the doctors or the pre diagnosed condition. We are then required to document the examination which will be used in a presentation we have to give at the end of the semester. I will be sure to give you more info after I start next week. 

Thats about it on my end. I will be sure to keep you posted towards block 2!

Good evening everyone:) Its been some time since the last post. I have been more then ever trying to find the time, but it seems harder and harder. I've shifted a few things so I could write this, so hopefully it doesn't take too long!

First off, Id like to wish my sister a big Happy Birthday!!! Wish I was there to spend it with you. Once of the hardest things about being away from home for so long is missing events such as these. But with FaceTime, Skype etc, its never too hard to keep in touch. Happy Birthday!! 

So where to start. It seems like last semester was already ages ago. Ill just mention quickly that last semester was a lot of fun. For those going into MED3/EBS4, you have a great semester ahead of you. It was certainly challenging but the material that you get to learn makes it so worth it. This semester so far is starting out the same and it makes me super happy. 
Words of caution for last semester courses. 

Path: Stay on top of the material and learn your histology! There is a lot of material to cover in this course. Its not super challenging, its simply the amount that makes it difficult to manage at times. I also found that it required a fairly strong histology background which was tough at first for me. If you really try to understand it in class, typically that's all you need to do aside from the usual reviewing. Don't worry too much about it until you see it for yourself. 
Neuro: This course was very interesting. My undergrad was in neuroscience, but I will tell you I learned a tremendous amount it. Every aspect of it was clinically oriented which is exactly what you want from a Med school course. My only real word of advise it to go to class always. Everything you need to know will be said by the professor, all you have to do is listen:)
Microbiology: There is a lot of material here. Out of all the courses I took last semester, this was the one that stressed me out the most. I think I touched on this in a previous post, but the material will swallow you if you don't keep up. On an individual level, each concept you learn is very easy to understand. Nothing is conceptually difficult, it just becomes a mountain of material when you step back 4 weeks later and look at what you covered. Just make sure, like all other classes, that you always stay on top of it.
Behavioural: A relatively easy class. This course is taught by two professors and each have a fairly different teaching style. Its important to make sure you take as many notes in class as possible for the first two blocks. The professor has slides but they are not inclusive. You need to make sure you take down some of the examples he tells you in class. Alternatively, there is a packet going around that someone has made which includes many of the examples that he uses in class. It will be easy to find once you start the class. 


The break
I suggest to everyone, if you have the opportunity, stay on the island for a break! There is a lot to explore and we simply don't have enough time to do it during the semester. If you enjoy adventurous stuff, rent a car and check out the island. Try to have a friend or family come down and just enjoy the island. I feel that I would be very disappointed if I left without truly experiencing it. There are some people in their last semester who have never even seen the atlantic side of the island. People just don't have time, or if there is no real reason then people just don't bother. Its a shame. You are going to live here for over a year, I think its important to know your surroundings! But to each his own I suppose. I don't have any regrets. 
For me, I did pretty much everything I wanted to do on the island except explore the shipwreck. I ran out of time. I had about a week where my friend and parents were here, and after that, welcoming committee consumed the rest. Ill be sure to get there before I leave. 
For those of you thinking about staying on the island, doing the welcoming committee is a great experience and it breaks up the idle time very well. Depending not the semester, it could be quite hectic (Which I experienced this September), but it is fulfilling. You get to help out a bunch of students who are in the same shoes as you were a few months prior. You get reimbursed 500US for doing it as well which is nice! When you come to the island and get greeted by the welcoming committee, you will understand pretty quickly what it entails and if its something you would be interested in!

Med4
So far so good for this semester. I am currently taking Pharmacology, Pathology 2, and ICM (Intro to Clinical Medicine). All three courses are shaping up to be excellent. The first week was a slow ease into things, but I can feel the pace and difficulty picking up. Im ready for it. Last semester!! Its all still pretty new, so I will give you some updates later.

Vaccinations
   When you guys are on your way to the island for the first time, there are a number of vaccinations and titers etc. that you will need. When you enter into your last semester on the island, you will be required to double check that all your vaccinations are up to date for your clinical rotations in St. Kitts. You will similarly need the same vaccination proof for Main. My advice to you is to make sure that you look after this sooner then later. I find that there are a few students who slip through the cracks with regards to what they needed to provide for vaccination proof when entering the school, and then find out a few weeks before the start of their last semester that they are missing a bunch of stuff. Make sure that you follow the guidelines that are provided when you are accepted. For me, since I didn't go home last break I had to get some stuff done on the island. This really isn't too big a deal, it is just a pain if you want to go through insurance and what not. I was missing the lab results for MMR titers, and when I got my doctor to send them over, my Rubella titer was low. I needed to then get another MMR shot and redraw the titer on the island. I only had that too do, so not bad. The only problem is that stuff like this takes time, so if you leave it to the last minute, you won't be able to do rotations in the hospitals here in SK. You need to have your paper work in before the end of September, which is pretty tight if you only discover you are missing things when you return to the island for your EBS5/MED4 semester. Better to plan this stuff out well in advance. The only thing that we will all have to do is get a PPD (TB) Test. This needs to be done within a certain timeframe of starting in the hospitals, so you will need to do this on the island most likely. There is lots of time for that, don't worry. Its just the vaccination and drawing titers that is a bit of a pain. 

Letters of Reference 
   One of the first times that you will start collecting letters of reference (Aside from applying to UMHS) will be when you are getting ready to leave the island and head to main. Just keep in mind that you should get at least 2 letters of reference from professors at the school. My advice is to be one of the early ones. If you have an idea of which profs you wants to ask to write a letter for you, make sure to see them early in the semester. Dress up like you are going to an interview, it will mean a lot. Shake their hand and be professional, regardless of how buddy buddy you are. It is very important to have good letters of recommendation for the eventual day that you apply to residencies, so try to plan accordingly. If you are going to ask a professor for a letter and you have to make sure you write your name down for them, even if they agree to it, its probably not be the best move. There will be some professors you connect with more then others. Those should be the ones who you should ask. Remember, it is not a privilege that you are giving the professor to write a letter for you, it is something that you should be honoured to get from them. Some people have that concept a little messed up. 

Things I've learned 
-When you want to flash the high beams in a right hand drive car, you will most definitely just end up squirting windshield washer fluid. Takes some time to get used to:)
-There is only Premium gas on the island! No such thing as regular grade here. 
-When you take the scenic railroad tour on the island, they give you unlimited alcohol:)
-There are some crabs that don't live in the water. Like they simply just live on land their whole life. 
-There is a fruit here on the island called Kinep, Which is delicious. Its like a little ball of slime, but it taste so good. Its like candy.
-Having to wear long pants for classes is not fun. Especially when you walk to school in the caribbean heat.
-Bobbsys Wing's is a fantastic place to get chicken wings
-A super cool hike that is relatively easy to do is the Radio tower hike. It is the tower that you see from school up on the mountain. It is a great beginner hike, the only problem is that you have to climb the tower a little bit to get a good view. 
-My laptop went all purple and spazzy the other day. I though it was the end, but it is back. 
-Dont go to the hairdresser on the Saturday before school starts. School also starts for the kittitian kids and they all get haircuts on that day. 


Thats all for now. When you have every hour of the day accounted for, taking 30 minutes to write this is hard to manage! So I hope to have another post soon enough :)

Cheers,
​Mike


​

Hey everyone!

  Just writing here to say its been one year to the day that I arrived on the island!! What I've learned over past year has far surpassed what I could have imagined. It has been far from easy, but I would not change a thing. I just want to thank everyone who has got me this far, especially family and friends both at home and here on the island. Even though you may not always be close, a text or Facebook chat every now and again really helps! For all those students who are starting this September, I want to wish you the best of luck. Its a long but rewarding road, and in a few short months, you will be looking back on your year with the same smile I have right now :) 

More on the break and exams when I get some time!! While I wish you luck, you students are keeping me very busy. 

Cheers,
Mike

Hello!!

   Checking in since its been a while. Today is Tuesday, one day after finishing block 3 exams. Yesterday we wrote our last block exams before finals! In exactly 9 days I write my first exam... in 14 days I'm done!! I am very excited about finishing up Med 3. Block 3 went okay, but I will say it was my worst performances out of the three. I had a very nice buffer going into it, so I am still sitting quite well in all my classes. I found that this block had the highest quantity of material compared to the first two. All thats important is that it is now in the past and I can start to prepare for finals. Over all, this semester has been great. The classes have been very interesting and I have been learning a ton. This is the real stuff. They say the three P's of the USLME are physiology, pathology, and pharmacology. I am almost done 50% of these courses. In term of difficulty, MED 3 is probably similar to MED 2. In term of pressure, MED 2 was way worse. Having 5 exams vs 4 exams means the world of a difference. This coming exam season we have an NBME for pathology, which is also my first exam. I'm pretty happy to be honest that I am getting this one out of the way first. It is a heavy course and having a few extra days to study for the other three will be very nice. I just have to keep pushing for a couple more weeks and then I get to enjoy a break on the island!!
   This break I have a buddy coming down from Canada for a week. I have an action packed couple days with him and then my parents will come down for a few days! Im looking forward to seeing some familiar faces again. It will be a great break. There is so much to explore on this island that I have simply not had the time to do. I will certainly make the best of the two weeks I have off. In addition, I have also been selected to be on the welcoming committee for the new incoming class! So similar to my experience, I will start by greeting those students who are arriving in SK at the airport, and helping them get set up in their houses. Once the actual orientation begins, I will be responsible for a group which I will guide through the various components of the orientation, and then we are in charge of activities in the evening for anyone who is interested. It is another huge group this September, just like my semester was. Im really excited and glad that I was able to do this before leaving the island. Cant wait! 
   I have also been elected as next semesters Vice President for Student Government! I just had a meeting today with the group in order to wrap up this semester and get things rolling for next. I will likely be pretty busy again next semester outside of classes with SGA and Ambassador program, but I think it will be manageable. MED 4 will be quite different from the previous three semesters which I will get into in another post, but I think it is very doable. So close I can feel it!  
   So what have I been up too the past few weeks? By this point you guys should pretty much know my schedule.. classes all day, study all night. I guess one of the exciting things that happened was that I helped with the camera crew that the school hired in order to get some new pictures for advertising, website stuff etc. It was kind of neat being able to parade around SK with the camera crew taking a bunch of pictures. It was pretty funny how staged certain things were, but I think they did a good job of capturing student life as best as possible. Im anxious to see if I make it on any advertising and what not! Aside from that, only fun things I've done are the occasional movie, beach day after block 2, snorkelling, and thats pretty much it. Most of my adventure stuff will come in a few weeks when Im on break. I also rented a car for the break, so I will get to experience driving in SK! Ill be sure to let you all know how that goes!  
   Thats about all I have for now. Wish me luck on exams! 

Things I've learned 
-When you talk about roadkill in SK, unfortunately we're not talking about skunks and squirrels. We're talking about monkeys.. 
-The first tropical wave came through the island. It was less intense then a tropical storm, but after it crossed the islands it became a bit more violent and caused some problems for the western caribbean islands. 
-I have yet to find out what is making the noise that everyone who I talk to on the phone comments on. Its either a bug or a bird, but it is definitely the nighttime soundtrack of SK. I don't hear it anymore, but when I think about it, it is quite obnoxious. 
It kind of sounds like a squeaky swing..
-Pokemon Go arrived on the island not too long ago.. Lets just say it has taken over the school and pretty much anywhere students go..
-One of the bottle water companies on the island was shut down after failing a quality control inspection. Its good to see that why are looking out for stuff like that on the island :P They got their act together and were reopened a week or two later
-It feels even more like summer on this island somehow.. 


Cheers,
Mike 

Hi Again! 

   We are finally done block 2! Exams were on Monday and today is Wednesday. I can't tell you how nice it is to finish blocks and have a slow easy week. The first week of a new block is the most stress free, as the material has yet to accumulate. Yesterday I was thankful that one of my classes was cancelled, and my last class let out 1.5 house early. It made the day nice and easy. Today was also a pretty chill day. Its currently 840 and Im done studying for the night. Its very nice. 
   Blocks went well for me. I was a little worried with Path as it was pretty tricky, but I was pleasantly surprised with my mark. Neuro was tough this block. The average was quite low, but I never was really too worried because I prepared well and I gave the class its deserved study time. I was also happy with my mark in Neuro. Behavioural was quite a bit more challenging then last block I found. I still did well, but not as good as first block. Micro was to be expected. I actually thought it was pretty easy, but when I got my mark back I didn't do as well as a hoped. Im still sitting in a good spot in the class, so its not the end of the world. Over all, I am quite happy with where I stand this semester. I just need to keep up the work and push through for a few more weeks. Its already crazy to think that I only have just over 5 weeks until classes are done for the semester! Its absolutely nuts. 
    Since last time I wrote, I haven't done too much. We did have the post block party on Monday which also happened to be July 4th! It was good fun even though I really didn't want to go out:P I was working the party for SGA so I had to be there. I wanted to catch the 11 bus back home, but I missed it so I had to hang in until 1am.. It wasn't all bad though. Got to watch some fireworks at least! Yesterday I also went to my first Cricket game. It was a ton of fun. I didn't realize how big cricket was until I went to the game and had a buddy explain it all to me. The game I went to see was part of the West Indies Premier league. It was St. Kitts vs Barbados. On Saturday and Sunday the biggest league called the Indian Premier league has a game taking place. Both are super big deals. It was a great time and I recommend that everyone check out a Cricket game if they have the opportunity. 
   The next few days there are some American photographers on the island taking pictures to revamp our schools website. Being part of the SGA and the Ambassadors program, I was one of the people who was selected to help them out. They have a schedule for their shooting, and we are the people who they will take pictures of. For example, tomorrow they are taking pictures in classes, student life during the day, and then later they want to take some pictures of student houses, the airport, downtown, and supermarkets etc. We get some free lunches out of it, so I'm more then happy to help out. Maybe in the next few weeks I will see my face on the school website:) That would be pretty cool. 
   I guess the next thing I have to do it work on the UMHS apparel and decide if I want to reapply to the SGA! The elections are already beginning to happen. Ill keep you guys posted with what I decide to do with regards to that! Thats about all I have to say for tonight. Ill catch yo guys later. 

Things I've Learned 
-Always check to make sure you aren't buying headphones that have two right ears and will only fit in the ear they are designed for. 
-Nobody dresses up for Canada Day or July 4th Except about 3 of us... Very patriotic. 
-I didn't have time to work on my beach body for sunset this weekend. Opps :P
-Ive finally found a piano on the island, but even time I've had an opportunity to be able to play it, its been broken.. 

Cheers,
Mike

Hey Guys! This one is overdue.

   Its saturday night. Just thinking about finishing up studying for the evening finally. Figured I would write this at school as I charge up my laptop a bit more.. Ive been having some problems with my charger at home. I can't charge it without getting shocked, so I make sure my laptop is charged for when I go home. Im usually at school until 11, so I never have a problem making it last until morning.. 

   We are one week away from block 2! The material is coming in quick, but I think it is manageable for now. My tough course this block I think is going to be Pathology or Neuro. Micro is not challenging, its just a lot of material. We just finished two weeks on neoplasia in pathology, which I've found to be a little bit difficult. Its essentially being able to diagnose all the different forms of cancer/tumors etc. We are now into blood disorders which is a bit more straightforward. In Neuro we continue to do stuff that is way over anything I've learned before, but its just a matter of putting in the time. The hardest part about this block for Neuro would have to be remembering all the pathways in the cerebellum and brainstem along with the blood supply. Its a lot. It makes spinal cord (which we did first block) look simple. One more week to get it all mastered. It will be a long week as always. 

On the non-academic front, a few things have happened since the last post. I went on a super cool hike to the crater of Mount. Liamuiga, which I learned is the tallest point in all of the Caribbean! The top of this hike is situated on the rim of the crater of the volcano. It was such a cool hike. On my next break I want to do it again, but camp out in the crater over night. There is also a hike that takes you to the highest point of the crater, but it is on the opposite side of the mountain and it required jeeps or 4x4's to get to the base. It also requires someone who knows the route, because very few people do it. Ill see If I can convince the right people to help me out:) 
   SGA also hosted Med Olympics again this year which was fun. My semester won this year which was exciting! I can't take any credit however, as all I did was help run some of the events.. I didn't actually participate in any. It was a great day however. Lots of faculty came out and a good amount of students as well. Next event I guess is the post block 2 party that happens on block Monday. SGA hosts that one as well, so I will be helping out in some way there. 
   This week I also found out I will be a hurricane team coordinator :P So in the event that there is something, I have a group of 20 people that I will be in charge of contacting to ensure they are in a safe place. The school is split up into these groups and there are a few coordinators who are each in charge of a group. Cant say I'm looking forward to it, but its a neat system in the event that something comes through.
   The Muslim Student Association had an event 2  weeks ago about Ramadan and what it means to them. I got to learn what it is all about and sit through a call to prayer chant which was very interesting. We then all joined them in a post fast meal. Next week there is a Faces of the World event where all the different cultures represented at the school will have some sort of thing. Whether it be dances, songs, food etc. I am looking forward to it! 


Things I've Learned 
-Ive learned how to write in straight lines on non-lined paper!  I could never do it before, but I've run out of lined paper and have been stuck using computer paper. 
-There are very few Cruise ships this time of year  
-Ive started taking my wallet out of my back pocket when I sit down now. It is so much more comfortable, I feel like I've lost 15 years of seated comfort. 
-My record for number of people called in 3 hours (Ambassador program) is 89! I also had a 35 minutes conversation which I thought was pretty good until my friend had an hour long conversation.. 
-It seems like all the dive places on the island are either on vacation or their boats are being refitted in August when I have my break.. I had intentions to do a lot of SCUBA diving. Might have to make my way to Nevis for that.
-In Neuro lab my fear came true. I have this thing with eyes, in that I can't deal with eye problems or anything with eyes really. We had to poke each other in the eye for some cranial nerve tests. It was terrible. 

Have a good night! 
Mike