Hello again!
Sorry thats its been a while. Things are really busy here as you could expect. I believe last time I wrote was Monday of last week? Sorry I can never remember. I always forget that when I start to write a new post its really annoying to leave and come back. If I remember correctly then yes, last Monday. So whats in SK? Well all I can say is that classes are progressing. Not much else has progressed, aside from my guitar playing skills. This however came to an end the other day when my guitar string broke. Of course I didn't think to bring any extras.. I find that I have time to do about one non academic task throughout the week, so my goal is to have new guitar strings before Friday. The process of doing something like this is not so easy however. You see, the Idea of taking the time to go downtown and wander around until I can maybe find a place to get new strings is absurd. If Im going to take the time I need to know exactly where I'm going and it has to be tied with some other necessary reason to go into town, like getting groceries. Yesterday was phase one. I asked locals if there was even a music store or somewhere similar on the island. The end result was that I might find strings in a hardware store called the TDC, or maybe a place called the Quick Bargain shop which is next to the police station.. If you ask me, both of these places seem very unlikely to sell musical instrument components.. So phase two was today. I had to put more minutes on my phone. I called the TDC to which they got confused and finally decided to hand up after passing me to a few more people who also couldn't figure it out. I then tried to call the Bargain shop, but there was no answer. After trying to find the Bargain shop online, which was difficult due the to fact that is was renamed to Joseph's enterprises, I was happy to see that they listed musical accessories as one of the things they sell! So tomorrow I will try to call again and confirm, then maybe make the trip down after class. I do need more milk I suppose. So this is the process for most outings during the week. You have so little time and you need to make sure your not wasting it. The problem with the island is that even though you do all the required groundwork to make such an outing happens successfully and efficiently, it still might not go in your favour. Last semester I made my way downtown to put minutes on my phone (yes, I found out that you can do it at school), and I simply walked to "LIME", the store which I always went to when I needed to put minutes on my phone. When I walked in the door and looked around I was surprised to see some place I have never been before. Was I in the right building? I walked outside and looked around. I swear that this is where the store used to be. It had the same set of stairs, same walking distance and everything, but there was no sign of the store I once knew. I walked around downtown for a bit wondering what I was going to do, until I decided to ask someone where Lime was. They told me that it moved locations. After following their directions, I was surprised to see not Lime, but a place called Flow. I walked in and asked where Lime was and they told me that I was there. They must have seen my confused look and told me that Lime also changed their name to Flow... So things don't always go as planned here. Plan ahead.
Back to a bit of schools stuff. The first week went well, but all it did was made me aware that things are going to get much harder as we get into the semester. The first week wasn't too bad in terms of material and difficulty as much of the material is still review stuff. The week with the Biochemistry substitute was good. She knows her stuff. The content was more interesting then I had thought It was going to be. Biochem will be okay I think. Not easy, but interesting at least. Immunology is going to be A LOT of work for the measly 2 credits that you get out of it. As an example, Anatomy was 11 credits. I have to put equal amounts of work into Biochem and Immuno even though there are 5 credits of weight separating the two.. But its the way it goes I guess. Genetics will not be fun just as I predicted. At least for this block anyways. Maybe it will get better in a few weeks. Physio is awesome! I love this course the most. Super interesting material. Tomorrow we start on Cardiophysiology which Im really looking forward too. As for Epidemiology, its going to be alright.
TA reviews started this week. I need to figure out what Im going to do on Mondays. I have class from 930am until 6pm with a one hour lunch break. I then have Genetics review from 6-7 and right after I have Immuno Review from 7-8. This only leaves me about 3 hours to study in the evening which is not enough.. Also thats a ridiculous amount of time to sit in a classroom. Result here is that I may not be going to one of those reviews.. The rest of the reviews are spread out through the week so they should be okay. Physiology was today and Biochem is tomorrow. Ill see how they all go by the end of the week.
Things around school are pretty much the same as they were last semester. Same food on the same days in the Cafe, sitting in the same seat in the auditorium (one seat off actually), avoiding some zombies in the library (I don't know how they study there), and trying to stay focused. The one difference is that I have been studying at home a bit more. As I was talking about before, this semester the weather is a little nicer in terms of my room not always being a sauna without the AC. So studying at home in the evenings is quite tolerable. Also the social dynamic is a bit different this semester. I find people are a bit more focused. At least the people from my semester and who sit around me. It is still the first week, so we'll see. I also see a new group of people this semester because of Med 2. I am taking some classes with EBS 3 people. So thats different too I guess. Either way, things are going well so far, and I expect them to stay that way! Thats it for tonight. Time to do a few more Biochem questions then off to bed!
Things I learned this week
- Next week I'm going to start boxing (sort of)
- There are a lot of people who are scared of spiders at this school. For a few days there was a GIANT spider living on the wall of the auditorium. He was there in the same spot and would move ever so slightly throughout the day, but was there for a solid 4 days. He was one of the biggest spiders I've seen. The amount of people who literally did not want to sit in the class was rather amusing. People would actually sit on the complete opposite side of the room. Today the spider was gone however.. Who know where he will turn up.
- If I had about 2.5 more hours in the day, I would have the perfect amount of time for Med 2 :)
- I have to keep remembering to not go to the grocery store on Sundays unless I'm in the market for chicken gizzards.
- I've had a beard for the last 6 months give or take, decided to shave, forgot that I don't grow it back as fast as I remembered.. damn.
- There is this little green jumpy bug that always appears while Im in bed with my computer. He's attracted to the laptop light when Im in the dark. When I turn on the room lights to shoe him away, he disappears and I can never find him.
He's kinda cool. He can hang out if he wants.
Cheers,
Mike
Sorry thats its been a while. Things are really busy here as you could expect. I believe last time I wrote was Monday of last week? Sorry I can never remember. I always forget that when I start to write a new post its really annoying to leave and come back. If I remember correctly then yes, last Monday. So whats in SK? Well all I can say is that classes are progressing. Not much else has progressed, aside from my guitar playing skills. This however came to an end the other day when my guitar string broke. Of course I didn't think to bring any extras.. I find that I have time to do about one non academic task throughout the week, so my goal is to have new guitar strings before Friday. The process of doing something like this is not so easy however. You see, the Idea of taking the time to go downtown and wander around until I can maybe find a place to get new strings is absurd. If Im going to take the time I need to know exactly where I'm going and it has to be tied with some other necessary reason to go into town, like getting groceries. Yesterday was phase one. I asked locals if there was even a music store or somewhere similar on the island. The end result was that I might find strings in a hardware store called the TDC, or maybe a place called the Quick Bargain shop which is next to the police station.. If you ask me, both of these places seem very unlikely to sell musical instrument components.. So phase two was today. I had to put more minutes on my phone. I called the TDC to which they got confused and finally decided to hand up after passing me to a few more people who also couldn't figure it out. I then tried to call the Bargain shop, but there was no answer. After trying to find the Bargain shop online, which was difficult due the to fact that is was renamed to Joseph's enterprises, I was happy to see that they listed musical accessories as one of the things they sell! So tomorrow I will try to call again and confirm, then maybe make the trip down after class. I do need more milk I suppose. So this is the process for most outings during the week. You have so little time and you need to make sure your not wasting it. The problem with the island is that even though you do all the required groundwork to make such an outing happens successfully and efficiently, it still might not go in your favour. Last semester I made my way downtown to put minutes on my phone (yes, I found out that you can do it at school), and I simply walked to "LIME", the store which I always went to when I needed to put minutes on my phone. When I walked in the door and looked around I was surprised to see some place I have never been before. Was I in the right building? I walked outside and looked around. I swear that this is where the store used to be. It had the same set of stairs, same walking distance and everything, but there was no sign of the store I once knew. I walked around downtown for a bit wondering what I was going to do, until I decided to ask someone where Lime was. They told me that it moved locations. After following their directions, I was surprised to see not Lime, but a place called Flow. I walked in and asked where Lime was and they told me that I was there. They must have seen my confused look and told me that Lime also changed their name to Flow... So things don't always go as planned here. Plan ahead.
Back to a bit of schools stuff. The first week went well, but all it did was made me aware that things are going to get much harder as we get into the semester. The first week wasn't too bad in terms of material and difficulty as much of the material is still review stuff. The week with the Biochemistry substitute was good. She knows her stuff. The content was more interesting then I had thought It was going to be. Biochem will be okay I think. Not easy, but interesting at least. Immunology is going to be A LOT of work for the measly 2 credits that you get out of it. As an example, Anatomy was 11 credits. I have to put equal amounts of work into Biochem and Immuno even though there are 5 credits of weight separating the two.. But its the way it goes I guess. Genetics will not be fun just as I predicted. At least for this block anyways. Maybe it will get better in a few weeks. Physio is awesome! I love this course the most. Super interesting material. Tomorrow we start on Cardiophysiology which Im really looking forward too. As for Epidemiology, its going to be alright.
TA reviews started this week. I need to figure out what Im going to do on Mondays. I have class from 930am until 6pm with a one hour lunch break. I then have Genetics review from 6-7 and right after I have Immuno Review from 7-8. This only leaves me about 3 hours to study in the evening which is not enough.. Also thats a ridiculous amount of time to sit in a classroom. Result here is that I may not be going to one of those reviews.. The rest of the reviews are spread out through the week so they should be okay. Physiology was today and Biochem is tomorrow. Ill see how they all go by the end of the week.
Things around school are pretty much the same as they were last semester. Same food on the same days in the Cafe, sitting in the same seat in the auditorium (one seat off actually), avoiding some zombies in the library (I don't know how they study there), and trying to stay focused. The one difference is that I have been studying at home a bit more. As I was talking about before, this semester the weather is a little nicer in terms of my room not always being a sauna without the AC. So studying at home in the evenings is quite tolerable. Also the social dynamic is a bit different this semester. I find people are a bit more focused. At least the people from my semester and who sit around me. It is still the first week, so we'll see. I also see a new group of people this semester because of Med 2. I am taking some classes with EBS 3 people. So thats different too I guess. Either way, things are going well so far, and I expect them to stay that way! Thats it for tonight. Time to do a few more Biochem questions then off to bed!
Things I learned this week
- Next week I'm going to start boxing (sort of)
- There are a lot of people who are scared of spiders at this school. For a few days there was a GIANT spider living on the wall of the auditorium. He was there in the same spot and would move ever so slightly throughout the day, but was there for a solid 4 days. He was one of the biggest spiders I've seen. The amount of people who literally did not want to sit in the class was rather amusing. People would actually sit on the complete opposite side of the room. Today the spider was gone however.. Who know where he will turn up.
- If I had about 2.5 more hours in the day, I would have the perfect amount of time for Med 2 :)
- I have to keep remembering to not go to the grocery store on Sundays unless I'm in the market for chicken gizzards.
- I've had a beard for the last 6 months give or take, decided to shave, forgot that I don't grow it back as fast as I remembered.. damn.
- There is this little green jumpy bug that always appears while Im in bed with my computer. He's attracted to the laptop light when Im in the dark. When I turn on the room lights to shoe him away, he disappears and I can never find him.
He's kinda cool. He can hang out if he wants.
Cheers,
Mike