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
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