That awkward time I sort of stole someone's seat...

Seriously, this just happened today:

So, I finish running at the gym and get cleaned up so I can head over to my home away from home: the St James classroom.  It's one of the 6 or 7 large lecture halls that almost never has anything scheduled in it.  So naturally, students go there to study.  It's really pretty nice.  Long tables with those little under-the-table mounted swivel chairs that are horribly uncomfortable b/c the backs are hinged so the moment you lean back on them the chair bends in half and backwards you go...... anyway.... other than the chairs it's a great place to study.  Long tables, outlets galore, it's quiet and people actually follow the no talking rule.  Students are usually spread out so there's 4 or 5 chairs between everyone.  Can't get to close to each other now can we?!
Of course we all have our usual spots we sit in.  At this point I've spent more time in that spot than is healthy so, naturally, it feels super weird to not be in that spot.  Which means I go to the same spot EVERY TIME.  Today, I go and sit down and notice a neat little closed backpack on the chair next to me.  "That's weird," I think, "someone must have left their backpack???"  I mean, I did leave my computer in this very same room once upon a time.  So I get all situated and about 30 minutes later in comes this guy who isn't a regular in the St James.  Come on people, I spend 6-8 hours/day in this lecture hall.  I know if you're a regular or not.  Anyway, he's super ticked but can't really get mad at me because it's a quiet study space and everyone would shoot death ray vision lasers at him if he became irate.  "Dude!  I was sitting there!" he whispered.
I just sat there... kind of stunned.....and then like an idiot I reply, "Well, I'm here all the time...sooo...." and I continue on with my studying.  Haha!  So what does he do?  He sits down in the chair right next to me - keep in mind there's like 4 chairs on either side of me that are wide open.  He kept muttering under his breath as he unpacked his stuff.  I could tell he was pissed, but c'mon!  Your stuff was all packed up and I had to sit down and start unpacking before I even realized the territory had already been claimed.  Still, he felt like he'd been severely slighted.
Eventually he settles down and we both study for like a few hours.  He didn't bother me, I don't think I bothered him..... but it was weird b/c we were RIGHT next to each other and usually it's only lovey-dovey people that do gross stuff like that ;-)
Well, he got up and left again, and I figured I should probably apologize so I wrote a note.  Notes are great. Non-confrontational, gets your point across.  Perfect.  Here's what I wrote:

Hey!

Sorry I stole your seat..... and sorry that I was kind of a jerk about it.

What I should have said was, 

"I had a 50/50 chance of choosing the seat you weren't using....

obviously I chose wrong.

I'll slide down a few seats for ya"

Really, I feel dumb.

Sorry!

-Mac

For the life of me - I don't know why I didn't do that right off the bat.  But I didn't... I think I was just shocked!  I mean, it didn't look like someone had established themselves there for the duration of the day.....and he was so mad!

I put the note on his laptop and continued studying.  A few minutes later in he comes with some food from the shacks.  He picks up the note and starts reading.  Then he sat down looking all confused - of all things. I turned to him and mouthed "sorry!"  He looked at me real puzzled like for a few seconds and then said, "you're good"

And then we both got back to studying until I had to leave 2 hours later.  

I'm still chuckling over it!  

In other news, I think we've finally made somewhat of a transition in weather.  Yes it is STILL a bazillion degrees during the day, but if it's overcast the temp drops a lot and it really feels great outside - especially if there's any wind, which we've had a lot of lately.  It also gets really nice at night these days.  I've been able to sleep without using my A/C - which is saving me a TON of money.  Electricity is SO dang expensive over here!  A month ago I tried to sleep with no A/C and I woke up sweating and wanting to die.  Glad that it's not so bad anymore.

School is going well.  For the past week and 1/2 we've been going over Cardiology.  I loved the heart during Anatomy at BYU, and I have LOVED this unit.  The heart is fascinating!  It truly is an amazing organ.  Next week we start Respiratory.  I'm glad we're back into things that were covered well in Exercise Science back at BYU.  It makes it easier for sure.  Also it has given me time to start studying for the semester final - which is coming right up.

Next week is our last full week of classes!!!  WHAT?!  Hard to believe.  We've got 5 days next week and then only 4 days of instruction the week after that.   Then we've got midterm #4 on Dec 1st, Anatomy and Histology Final on Dec 3rd, and then the semester final on Dec 8th.

Wish me luck because you probably won't hear much from me between now and then! :-)

My Kindness Shall Not Depart From Thee

For a long time I have felt deep and abiding feelings of gratitude developing in me for the role religion plays in my life.  In a world where religion is seeming to fade, I consider myself lucky to have been born into a religious family.  Growing up I didn't always see that as lucky, but I sure do now.  My paternal grandparents are devout Lutherans.  My great grandpa was even a Lutheran clergyman.  Grandma and Grandpa Viehweg go to church nearly every Sunday.  For as long as I can remember Grandpa has always asked a blessing over the food Grandma cooks.  Christmas in their household is still very much about Christ, and is steeped in beautiful German traditions.  Grandpa still sings in small ensembles for his congregation.  I have no doubt that my Grandparents believe in God, and am thankful to them for the role they had in bringing religion into my dad's life.  I know it was hard for them to watch my dad chose the LDS church over Lutheranism, but I hope they can see that the switch in denomination only built on what they had already taught my him.
My mom's family has been member's of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints almost since the beginning.  Her ancestors joined the church in Europe around the 1850's.  They then followed the call of church leaders to emigrate to the United states and go by handcart from Missouri to Salt Lake City to be near the other members of the church.  The sacrifices they made to be near to those who shared their faith are absolutely incredible!  However, it was those sacrifices that grounded them in their faith.  Mom's side of the family has remained active in the church for over 150 years now.  My maternal grandparents have 10 children and I am one of 88 grandchildren.  I have been watching my grandparents, aunts and uncles, and my older cousins as they have raised their families in righteousness.  It is an inspiring thing!
Some of my earliest and fondest childhood memories are of my parents using simple object lessons to teach me and my siblings gospel principles.  My parents aren't perfect, but I always knew they believed - and more importantly that they LIVED - the principles they were trying to teach us.  I may not have always listened to them, but I have grown up watching them.  Not once have I seen them do something contrary to what they have taught me.  While I was growing up we had family scripture study every morning at 6:30.  As a teenager I begrudgingly went to it - most days I was late.  Today, I'm grateful for it because it was in those early morning study sessions that I was taught the doctrines of my faith and the teachings of the Savior.  I'm sure there were days when my parents thought their efforts were futile.  Most days they probably were!  We often fell asleep while following along and would have to nudge awake the person next to us when it was their turn to read.  But every once in a while we'd have a good day where questions were asked and answered, something was learned and the Spirit of God was definitely felt.  Had my parents not been consistent with trying to read the scriptures every day I don't think those moments would have happened like they did.  At the close of our scripture study we would kneel as a family in prayer, both giving thanks for our blessings and asking for protection and guidance during the coming day.  My parents also taught us to pray individually.  I have so many memories of walking into my parents room and catching them on their knees at the foot of their bed.  I pray because they taught me by their example how important it is.
Looking back now, I realize that my testimony is really nothing more than the some total of all those small quiet moments when I felt the Spirit testifying to me that what I was being taught was true.  I'm so glad those moments came so often while I was growing up.  My faith and my testimony have shaped who I have become and will continue to do so for the rest of my life.
When I was in high school I remember thinking, "do I really believe it all?  Is it worth the sacrifices I have to make?  It would be so easy to just quit."  I have come to know that I could never bring myself to leave it all for I could never deny the impressions I have always had that the gospel is true.  I still have thoughts like that from time to time.  I wondered if it would be easy for me to slip quietly away from the faith once I moved out here to go to school.  But I have come to know that it would be impossible!  Sure, I could stop living a faithful life, but I would never be able to deny the things I know in my heart are true.  And because I know it's true I'm going to continue to live it.  My testimony is an integral part of me.  It grounds me and is built on a solid foundation of faith in Christ.
That being said, it hasn't always been easy.  God tests those whom he loves - and boy has my faith been tested.  I have felt the blackness that totally engulfs you when a loved one dies.  I've felt the emptiness the Spirit leaves when it withdraws when I'm out of line.  But ya know what?  I've also felt it's quiet and peaceful return when I humbly seek forgiveness and comfort.  God is always there.  We may not feel Him all the time, but He is always nearby, ready to throw His loving arms around us.  One of my favorite scriptures comes from Isaiah, Chapter 54 verses 7, 8 and 10:
7) For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee.
8) In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer
...
10) For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee.

Elder Jeffrey R Holland, a modern day apostle and a leader in the LDS church put it well in his Sept 2008 address to the Young Single Adults of our church:

I know that God lives, and that He loves me.  His love is boundless and endless.  It is what keeps me going and gives me strength in all that I do.  I am so grateful that I have a knowledge of His love for me.  I am grateful for my parents, grandparents, and great grandparents who all played a part in determining the importance religion plays in my life today.  While I know there will be hard and dark times in life, I also know that God is always there, just around the corner.  I say that in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

I stand corrected!

Apparently Dominca, or the small island country to the north of us (Guadalupe... pronounced gwadaLOOP), does have at least 1 helicopter.  It flew over me today as I was cooling off in the ocean after my run.  :-)  I have to say, having the campus athletic center steps away from the ocean is kinda nice.  After running a very chilly few miles on the treadmill in air conditioning I always go hop in the ocean to warm up / cool off..... and by cool off mostly I mean work on my tan. Haha!  Seriously though, it feels great and it washes some of the sweat off my gym clothes.  Ew!
Today as I was in the ocean I was almost carried away by the HUGE waves.  Seriously!  I lost my footing and got dunked a few times.  I think they're so big because of Hurricane Sandy, which is like 2,000 miles away from us right now.  Crazy how something so far away can have an impact.  Oceans are BIG and waves are kind of creepy.  They NEVER stop coming!  Have you ever watched waves come in at night?  They move really fast!  Anyway, I hope people on the east coast stay safe.
I also tried to rescue a bee from drowning in the ocean today. It was an eventful 10 minute swim!  At first I thought it was dead but then I saw it moving.  I had my shirt in my hand so I scooped it up and blew on it until it dried off.  Then it tried to fly away but it must have been tired b/c it only got about 3 feet from me before it fell right back to the water.  I was done swimming so I picked it up again and took it up on shore where I set it down on some ruins to dry while I turned around to watch the waves crashing.  So weird for here because this ocean usually looks like a calm lake!  After just a few minutes that darn bee flew right to my feet and plopped down in the sand.  Just than a rather large wave came in and swept him out to sea.  I think he must have had a death wish.  I was kinda ticked after my efforts to save him.  Oh well, I tried.
Today was our last day of lecture before our test on Thursday.  Not gonna lie, I'm nervous.  I don't feel nearly as prepared as I want to.  I think many of us are starting to hit the wall.  It's not easy having your brain SERIOUSLY engaged for this many hours / day for this many days in a row.  Seriously.  I've never spent so much effort on learning - and that includes learning Russian on my mission which was DANG hard and took a lot of effort.  It really is amazing that we all chose to go through this.... because sometimes it feels a bit like torture :-)
I will be grateful someday I'm sure.  The good news is no class tomorrow or Wednesday so I'll have a LOT of time to study.  I think I should be ok.  I am excited for the next block though: Cardio and Respiratory Systems!  I LOVED the heart when I studied it at BYU.  Plus that means Christmas break is almost here.  Hooray!

PS - here's the sunset w/ those huge waves.

Usually the ocean is totally calm and about 3 feet lower than this dock.

The waves were knocking loose some of the planks even!

I got me a lil sum'm sum'm!

Yesterday I purchased this little gem from a local artist named Felix:

It may not be a masterpiece..... but I sort of love it.... a lot :-)

In other news we only have 2 more days of lecture material until the end of this block!  Our 3rd midterm is a week from tomorrow!  CRAZY!  But I like it a lot because that means we only have one more block until Christmas break.  Woohoo!  It's still weird to me that the weather is as warm as it is.... after all, the last day of October is a week from today!  How can it possibly be this warm out?!  It's probably even colder in AZ than it is here right now.... am I right on that?

This block of material has been interesting to say the least. Muscles + Blood and Lymph tissues and a few lectures on the Immune System.  The muscles part was great.  We covered that EXTENSIVELY in Exercise Science so I've got that down.  Blood and Lymph have been..... interesting.....??  It's some of the first material I've encountered that I haven't really studied in depth before so it's been harder to master.  Especially because there are lots of processes (blood clotting, the activation/maturation of white blood cells, etc.) that each involve 10 trillion proteins, all of which have names that are just a few letters + a few more numbers..... and the best part is the numbers aren't in order from lowest to highest in the order that they appear in the process.  Haha! It's been a doozy!  (How on earth do you spell that word?!)

Luckily we have Friday off, and then all of Monday and Tuesday to prepare.  Should be enough for me :-)  Hopefully we'll do something fun after the test on Thursday that I can post about.  Until then, see ya later.  Imma go bury myself in my laptop.

What's that sound?? And also the story of the worst/best morning I've ever had

Today while I was getting my fruit smoothie at the Shacks I heard a siren....  At first I thought it was someone's ringtone or something but a few seconds later 2 firetrucks rolled on by with lights flashing and sirens wailing.  And then I realized I hadn't heard a siren since I arrived on the island.  That's crazy right!?  That's something you hear multiple times / day back at home..... I mean, I've seen police trucks (not cars, pick-up trucks) and ambulances (minivans w/ the word ambulance stenciled on the side) driving around down here doing who know's what.  But they've never had their sirens on.  It was kind of weird!
I guess when the population of the entire island is about 76,000 people - and they're all spread out in hundreds of tiny villages and towns there aren't going to be many emergencies to respond to.  As for fires, people start fires outside all the time to burn trash or tree limbs and whatnot. It's so humid here that you won't see a wildfire in a million years.  The dry waste you want to get rid of burns and everything else is too wet to catch.  As for man made things, everything is made out of cinder blocks here so I don't even know what could have been burning in the first place.  It was funny because you could see everyone realizing they hadn't heard a siren in forever all at once.
Also, it got me thinking of what else I haven't seen/heard since I got here.  I came up with air traffic.  No airplanes overhead, or helicopters for that matter.  I used to hear life flight come in and out of UVRMC at least 10 times / day.  Not the case here.  I don't think there's even a single helicopter on the island....

In other news, this was my facebook status this morning:

"That awful feeling you get when class is starting and you realize your laptop - and therefore all your notes - is not in your backpack...... followed by a worse feeling when you realize it's not at your apartment..... or at campus security.....

followed by that wonderful feeling of having it found on the lecture podium at the front of the St. James Classroom TWELVE HOURS after you must have left it there when packing up last night.  #Godmustlovemealot! #worstandbestmorningever! #whatkindofidiotforgetstheirlaptop!?

SERIOUSLY!?!?!

Did that really happen to me? Yes, yes it did. ME! I happen to be proud of the fact that I know pretty much exactly where everything is. I always take a survey of a room whenever I enter to see what's where, after a while you memorize where everything is and can find it quickly - learned that little trick from a sister on my mission.
So here's the scoop. Last night I was packing up after a long evening of studying. I don't think I left it on the table b/c one of my buddies was right next to me and he surely would've noticed. I did however, try to go print something at the print station at the front of the classroom. Saw the printer was jammed so I just left for home. I didn't even open my backpack at home so naturally, I felt no need to check it this morning when I left for class. I got to class and went to pull it out..... no laptop.

WHAT!?

I was SERIOUSLY so confused. Also, I wanted to throw up a little bit. So of course I left class and walked home to look for it - even though I knew I didn't even open my backpack while I was home.... of course it wasn't there so I called campus security. Nope, no sign of it yet.

:-( 

Then I started wondering what could have happened - Did someone sneak up behind me and unbeknownst to me open my backpack and take it while I was walking home?! Not likely, I would've heard them! Plus I was using an umbrella because it was raining - which means the zipper to my backpack was covered. Did someone break into my apartment last night and come ALL THE WAY INTO MY ROOM without me noticing?! Doubt it. I'm not that heavy of a sleeper. Did I sleep walk and leave it somewhere? I guess it's possible.... Or did I really leave it where I studied last??
The St James was closed this morning b/c an upper semester was having an exam in there so all I could do was wait. Naturally, I made breakfast and watched some TV hahaha! Had to wait until the exam was finished to do anything.
Got to the St James right as the students were leaving. Looked around a bit, no laptop. Headed over to the security office. "No laptop, but let me make a quick phone call....-3 minutes later-.... Good news! The cleaning ladies put it on the lecture podium last night. It should be there still. Call us when you find it."

I AM THE LUCKIEST PERSON ALIVE!

I must have either left it on the chair next to me as I was packing up my bag or put it on top of the printing station right before heading for home. I STILL can't believe I did that. The super funny thing is, I was WAY more worried about my lost notes than my laptop. I totally would have thought it would be the other way around. Luckily everything was backed up on Monday (I think) so I only would have lost about a weeks worth of notes. But that's a LOT!

-sigh-

I'm glad no one stole it. I'm glad the cleaning ladies didn't take it either! I'm glad I got it back. You better believe I'll be triple checking my bag to be sure it's in there from now on. I'll also be backing up my notes every day on a little thumb drive. You can't be too careful!

Second Midterm is DONE!!

Sorry it's been a while since I last posted! I really had to buckle down for this set of material. It just took longer to master so I spent more time studying over the last 2 weeks. Hopefully it pays off! We should know our scores in the next few days but I feel like I did OK. Maybe not as great as the first one, but maybe better.....? It's hard to know - hahaha! As for actually taking the test? That went much better than last time. 92 questions in 2 hours, so longer than the first test. The first 20 questions took me a long time so after finishing them I felt like I was behind! Not a great way to start a test! However, by the half way point I was a bit ahead of the time and I actually finished 25 minutes early. I don't feel like i rushed though b/c all along I had been discounting every multiple choice option that I felt was wrong - just to be sure i really was sure of my answer. Of course there were those questions that I just didn't know, but I felt like mostly knew what was going on. Further confirmation that I am studying well. I LOVE that!
Anyway, if you finish with more than 10 minutes to spare you are allowed to leave early so that was nice to get out before the masses. I went to the grocery store and got some milk! That may not be a big deal for you but we never knew when the grocery store here is going to have milk. Haha! I got lucky. They also had some big beautiful heads of romaine lettuce! SCORE! I think I miss salad most of all here.  There just isn't any great lettuce.
Once I got home I vegged out in front of the TV for a while. Gosh that felt good! After being mentally exercising for 2-3 weeks straight it's been nice to be brainwashed a bit ;-)
At 1:00 I met some of the branch members to go to a place called Secret Beach. It was a pretty cool little beach! Only accessible by boat - or if you swim around. We had it mostly to ourselves which was nice because the beach right off of campus was swarmed with people who were consuming WAY to much alcohol. I'm sure they'll all be feeling SUPER for class tomorrow. Haha!  Anyway, here's some pictures of Secret Beach:

The boat ride over:

The beach looking north:

Looking south:

Some kayakers came and snorkeled nearby for a while

Can you see the sea creature in this one??

There were TONS of these tiny little guys everywhere!

Lots of great snorkeling too!

It sprinkled on us off and on for a bit while we were over at the beach but it was SO hot that it actually felt good.  It's so weird to me that it can be this warm in October. I can't seem to get used to it.

After we got back a bunch of us went out to eat to celebrate Travis's birthday which was actually on Monday.  Poor guy got 2 very unwelcome presents in the form of our histology and gross anatomy lab exams. The restaurant we went to is right across from the main gate to campus. It's actually pretty nice. Most places you buy food from here are pretty low key. You get the entree you ordered and that's it. No sides, no drink.... just your entree.  But at this place your food comes with rice and green beans and some sort of cabbage dish and a bunch of veggies. Kind of like being back in America. 

:-)

That always feels nice. I got some Thai curry chicken that was SO good! It had a bunch of fresh basil in it that really made it yummy! Hands down the best food I've had since getting over here!

Well.... it's hard to believe it's back to the grind tomorrow morning. I guess I better head to bed!

Saturday, 09/22/2012 - Aba Wavine

I have no idea what Aba Wavine means or even what language it's in but it was a pretty cool place!  One great thing about this school is there are a million clubs and all the clubs are constantly planning outings and activities.  I probably should've studied instead of going on this trip but I felt like I wanted a break and after doing pretty OK on the mini I felt justified.

We were told to meet outside the library at 8 AM - pretty early for a Saturday, haha!  I didn't think I'd know anyone who was going, but ran into Jen Noorlander, a spouse from the branch, as soon as I walked up.  Always nice to know someone!  The church is SO great for that reason!  Once everyone was there we piled into the vans and took off.  BLESS this countries windy and pot-hole-filled roads!

:-/  

I hardly ever got car sick before coming here.  I get car sick almost every time I go somewhere on this island.  Haha!  SUPER fun.  I did get to sit next to 2 faculty members on the trip over though - Dr. Costello and Dr. Bianchi.  Both women.  Both in their late 50's.  Both went through the same residency program way back when.  And both of them got the travel bug so they decided to come work at Ross for a few years.  They help run the Intro to Clinical Medicine curriculum, a big part of which is the HUGE simulation lab the school has set up.  They tell us it looks just like a hospital.  Can't wait until I get to experience it!  Anyway, they were both very friendly.

So we got to our destination about an hour and a half after we left.  I'm pretty sure it's maybe 15-20 miles away from campus as the crow flies but the roads wind up and over the central mountains to get to the Atlantic side of the island so it takes forever to get anywhere.  At least it's a pretty drive - no matter where you're headed!

Here's a pic from near the top of the trail:

OK, so this hike is pretty much AWESOME!  I should've taken more pictures, but I didn't want to hold up the group.  No one likes the annoying guy w/ the camera who makes everyone wait.  :-)   Guess I'll have to go back again.  The first little bit is pretty much jungle-style stairs.  Someone has gone through and staked in palm tree logs to make the trail more like stairs than a steep trail.  I think we would've been slipping and sliding all over the place if it was just a normal trail.  Humidity makes everything SUPER slippery.  So, there w were, going along and suddenly we come to a cliff drop-off covered in vines and roots.....  And over the side the guide went!  We knew what was coming but wow!  It was something else.  Someone has tied ropes in to the trees but I feel like the roots/vines were more stable b/c they didn't move as much.

This picture is pointing straight down!

As if my camera was lying flat on a glass/see-through table.

That's Jen looking up at the camera

Crazy huh?

Then at one point someone put in a rope ladder.

This is Dr. Bianchi that I wrote about earlier

All in all there were 2, 20-30 foot stretches where it was really straight up and down, and the rest of it was on a trail hugging the hill/cliffside which was very-nearly straight up and down. We must have dropped over 200 feet down to the beach below.  I'm not gonna lie, my legs were shaking on the way down.  Heights don't really get to me, but not being tied in was kinda freaky!  Now that I think about it there were so many vines and tree trunks everywhere that you wouldn't really fall very far even if you tried to :-)

The beach was really beautiful - and clean!  Not many people go down there so there's not much trash - Perfect!  The waves and currents on the Atlantic side are definitely way more powerful than on the Caribbean side where the school is.  They'd knock you over if you weren't careful, and the force of the water going back out to sea was equally as powerful.  We tried to do some body surfing but they were just coming in too fast and too irregularly.  But it still felt great to get in after the hike

First view of the beach coming off the trail. Looking North

Looking south:

That's the hill/cliff we came down on the right there:

Coolest feature of the beach was this waterfall that comes right off the cliff face. It's gotta be about 50-60 feet tall.  It is SUPER pretty and feels great too.

I'm glad I wasn't the only crazy photographer there :-)

Jen wasn't quite sure if she wanted to get all the under

This is another faculty member, didn't really talk to her:

But she's married to this guy, who was one of our van drivers:

He was super nice!  

Climbed a tree and got everyone some fresh coconut and everything.

I'm glad I went.  This trip was put on by the Wellness Club so everyone that came is super active - a fun kind of group to get to know.  Two of the girls who came are spouses of students.  There's a national trail that zig-zags all accross and up and down the island. I think it's about 120 miles total split into 15 or so segments.  They've done almost the whole thing, one segment at a time.  I would LOVE to do that during one of my breaks between semesters.  Anyone want to join me?!

We got back to campus around 3:00-3:30.  After showering I went and hit the books till late.  Maybe I should've stayed home and studied but I feel like it was totally worth it!  Several of the other 1st Semester students that came shared the same sentiment. 

Monday, 09/17/2012

First mini (aka midterm) of the semester was given on Monday, 09/17.  I was a nervous WRECK!  Haha.  Seriously, I was stressin!  I felt slightly unprepared - even thouhg I had gone through all of the powerpoint slides - along w/ my notes on them - for all of the material we had covered.  I felt like I knew my stuff pretty well but still....  You wonder if you're study methods are good enough.  You wonder if you hit the material that the profs are going to ask questions on.  PLUS it's the first test so you have no idea what to expect when it comes to question formatting and all that jazz.  Yeah, I was nervous.
The test started at 8 am, which was nice.  I felt like I wanted to vomit right up until getting started but as soon as I read the first question I knew I'd be ok.  Super straight forward questions AND answer options.  It was just fine.  For almost every question I either knew it b/c I remembered studying it or I didn't know it b/c I knew I hadn't spent enough time on it.  No surprises at all.  I love that!  It was timed and they only gave us about 90 seconds / question so that was a bit tough.  I had 5 questions left at 4 minutes to go and I missed one of them b/c they called for pencils down before I was ready.  I was debating between options D & E and I panicked and put C.  DOH!  The correct answer was D, which is what I was leaning toward..... better luck next time I guess...
Anyway, I walked away feeling really pretty great about it, which surprised me a lot!  It was not at all like most of my undergrad tests, which just about left me in tears and ALWAYS gave me headaches from trying to figure what exactly they were asking in every single question.  After finishing the mini I kept thinking, "I feel like I got a B".  But that kind of made me nervous b/c everyone always talks about how hard it is.  Turns out I got a 79 which is the highest point in the B range.  Had I got that stupid last question right I think I would've had an 80 or an 81 and therefore an A-.  SHOOT!  Still, I'm very pleased - especially b/c the class average of those who passed was a 73.  And I know there were a lot of people who didn't pass too. Man, I'm glad I'm not in that boat!  Those people now have to do super well on the final at the end of the semester to pass the semester. Talk about stressful!
So we were finished with the exam by 10:30.  Almost..... no wait, actually ALL of my peers (except for the branch members) headed for the bars.  Seriosly people were getting totally wasted and it was only 11 AM.  Stupid.  I wanted to enjoy my day off!  It was kind of drizzling outside but I hit the beach anyway.  A few of the ward members came and joined me.  It rained while we were in the water but we were wet anyway so it didn't matter much.  The Stenquists let me borrow their snorkel gear. That was pretty fun! I've never really done any snorkeling so I don't have anything to compare it to, but there is a LOT to look at down there!  A few of the stray dogs that hang around campus found their way down to the beach and proceeded to dig up and wrestle/fight with crabs.  Talk about hilarious!  Those crabs were SO angry and the dogs were having the time of their lives!  Anyway, It felt great to have the rest of the day off to relax :-)
That night all 8 of us first semester students and everyone's families tried to go out to eat at this really nice place on the Atlantic side of the Island.  Supposedly it's this great restaurant that sits on one of the nicest beaches on the island.  Turns out it was closed b/c of the poor weather.  We hit up a different one instead and it was quite the experience. :-)  Let me just start out by saying that my curry chicken was AMAZING!  That being said, there was only one waitress and one cook to serve over 20 people.  It took like 2 hours to get all our food out to us.  Those who got hamburgers got the worst of it.  No buns, so they used bread that was about a month old instead.  Haha!  It seriously looked, sounded and I'm sure it tasted like it had been petrified.  Almost everyone ordered their kids a hamburger.  The poor little guys couldn't even bite through the bread.  Ahahaha! I'm chuckling just thinking about it.  It was pretty funny.  So, not quite the outing we were hoping for.  We were expecting a nice beach and some great food but got a rooftop balcony and some pretty good memories instead.

Here's a few shots of the view off the balcony:

Saturday, 09/08/12

Had a fun weekend a couple weeks ago - haha!  Sorry it's posted so late. Lecture ended early so I decided to post some stuff before the next one starts.
Most Saturdays I go to the market to get fresh fruits and veggies. The people here are pretty shy about getting their pictures taken but I got a few of them to agree. They're such interesting people! Most of them are extremely nice. A lot of the produce is new to me so I always ask how to prepare it. They love sharing their recipes.

After going to the market I went on a Ross sponsored whale watching trip. That was fun! A whole bunch of the branch members went so we had a grand old time. The school rented this huge catamaran which picked us up at a dock between the school and town.
The boat was a little late picking us up so I started taking pictures of random things. Haha!

It's crazy what humidity and salt water does to stuff!

There was this old  fishing boat pushed up on shore by the dock. I think it was pushed on shore after the really bad hurricane that blew through here like 30 years ago. I took a bunch of shots of it but I don't feel like I got "the one" - ya know?! I'll have to go back later. It would also be fun to paint! Maybe someday...

That's our catamaran coming to pick us up in the background there

 

Being out on the water felt SO good! A few people were worried about getting sea sick but it was really calm. LOVE the Caribbean Sea for that reason. While the boat was moving there was a breeze that actually felt GREAT! We didn't see any whales but we had a great time.

Owen and Addi being best friends

Travis and Scarlet

Brittany and Lindsay

Travis, Lindsay and kids

It was SO relaxing sitting out on those cargo nets!

That's campus and a few of the taller apartment buildings nearby

Travis and Owen

Like father like son - haha!

Brittany, Tyler and Addi

Jonathan acting like he's running the show.... scary!

Still can't believe I live somewhere this beautiful!

Tyler, Brittany and Addi

There are little villages like this all up and down the coast 

All in all it was a great day! Too bad we didn't see any whales. Maybe next time...