Yay!!!!! Ill just start off with that, one exam down and now another 3 to go (just in case you are wondering, that would be: Anatomy, Physiology & finally Nutrition).
I am hoping by the end of this week, I will know my Anatomy inside and out, Nutrition partially and well physio somewhat, then hopefully destroy Physio this weekend along with Nutrition. Out of my last three midterms, Physio actually concerns me the most, as the teacher presents a general overview of things, but there is a bunch of information and a lot of processes going on. Even though I have taken physiology in the past, I still think it is a very difficult class and kinda wished it was one of the classes I did over, instead of having to redo Physics or Calculus.
So as for my Microanatomy/Histology exam that I did this morning, Id like to think I did very well. There was a good rhythm going at one point, but the first 15 questions were kind of tricky, and also i believe I kind of went through it a bit too quickly the first time. The teacher telling us we had about one minute per question got me a little nervous, so i kind of just flew threw the exam putting my first instinct. I realized after re-reading it a second time (this time in a more controlled and calm manner), that i did a few careless mistakes and perhaps did not pay attention to the wording as well as I should have. I ended up changing a good 10 of my answers, which could be either a very good thing, or perhaps I messed up and changed a couple of wrong answers. Although i am pretty sure at least half of them were initially wrong, which means that the other 5 were either initially wrong as well, or I switched it from a right answer to a wrong answer, which is always a bit frustrating when you get your answer sheet back.
On top of my exam I had my teacher asking me personally how I found it, as I think he believes i understand the course information well and was looking to me as a guide to his exam. I told him, that I found it was a decent and fair exam, although some of the questions could have been left out as he didnt put any emphasis on that really during the class. On those questions I just made the best educated guess i could do. Here's to crossing my fingers and hoping I aced it, because I personally do not want to accept anything less than that.
Now that i got that off of my chess, let me tell you about the rest of the week I had since my last posting. Well the beginning of the week was relatively uneventful, although I have been hanging out with a very nice friend a bit more, and I have to say they are a lot of fun. Nice to chill and study with someone, or a group of people for that matter who share a similar your kind of sense of humour, although it makes the study groups a little less effective. In the future, Ill be sure to slap on my music and zone into my notes and studying, as I have to kick it hard core this week if I want to be able to pass everything the way I want and never mind just passing, I want to kill them and also remember it. Nothing bothers me more, than learning something and not remembering all that information I learned. One of the nice differences of this school is that they actually seem to care about the information they are giving you, that they actually want you to remember it and not just regurgitate and pass like I have felt in some other schools. The course load is heavy, but very doable. Ill just have to restrict the amount of fun I am having over the next couple of weeks.
Okay so back to my week, at least i think it was this week. Well I had some pretty good Indian food, although apparently not the best on the island. We went to Bombay Palace, and i tried a bit of my friends butter chicken, which was very good, then something similar to butter chicken but it had tofu instead of chicken. My meal was like this spicy spinach concauction with delicious mutton (mmmm you know like in a nice MLT, you know a mutton lettuce tomato sandwich, when the mutton is just right........ for those of you who get this, you Rock!). So it was good, but apparently the best Indian food on the island is Pride of India, which apparently we will check out in the next couple of weeks. There is also apparently a Star of India (a restaurant I recognize from home, but apparently it sucks ass!!!!).
Then the rest of my week was me being somewhat studious, did a study group on thursday, which was very informative. On friday I took it pretty easy, because I decided to go to Beach Fest. Which is this giant party on the beach the entire day (I took some pictures with a friends camera, so hopefully i will get some of those pics and I could post them, although I have a feeling that will not occur :S). Beach Fest was pretty nice, spent the day at the Beach drinking a bunch of free rum punches (for only 35EC = $13US), which I have to say I got my money's worth. Although what i should not have done, was drink the rest of my friends two Vodka/Tings (for those of you who do not know, Ting is like this mild grapefruit/lemon drink, atleast I find it tastes like it), and here they call Vodka & Ting = Ting with a Sting, which is kind of a cute name. Anyways by the time 16h30 rolled in, I wasnt feeling too hot, was feeling sun burnt and I actually felt dehydrated, thick tachy saliva, tachy mucous membranes, low energy, a small headache, I was like hmmm I actually dehydrated myself. Luckily there was someone who wanted to leave, so I caught a ride with her and another person, and a good friend was kind enough to take care of me, although my stomach was turning on me, so I had to ingest water slowly. A shower was great, not to mention the tylenol i popped. I then passed out for like a ridiculous amount of time, fell asleep till about 21h30, woke up, tried to eat something, stomach started turning, so went back to bed and didnt wake up till about 07h00. I havent slept like that in a long time.
Good news was, i wasnt hungover, and I felt in tip top shape ;) Initially my sunday was going to be a busy day, but it seems like everything fell apart, I dropped a friend off at school then went back home for 8h00, so i could meet up with my mechanic. Ever since he "fixed" my car, which I believe I mentioned included a change of almost everything, the car has been ridiculously noisy. So I call him, and he is like okay I will be coming by, and I happen to mention that I believe the noise is due to the engine manifold. The only reason I even knew this was because I brought my car to get an alignment (which btw is done in such a poorly done fashion over here, they have the little machine to check the alignment, but they just eyeball the level of it, they have no computers or machines to make sure ot it. So after the initial alignment, my steering wheel was almost 90o from its original position, so I brought it back, had it redone, and now it is still a couple of degrees off to the right, meaning I put my wheel straight and I slide a bit to the left. :S Once I find someone who can do a proper alignment on this island, Ill probably have it redone) and I had a chance to finally check the undercarriage of my car. Luckily the guy did exhaust systems as well, something he actually seemed to know something about and he told me straight up, that it was the engine manifold, but that was not something he would take care of. So back to my mechanic, I mentioned to him that it was that, and he is like, oh ya, that is what we talked about last time (which I do not really remember him mentioning, he said there was a minor hissing sound due to something, this is no hissing, I have an elf hitting some pots and pans in my engine cab).
So my mechanic appointment was canceled as there was no use in him coming until he gets the parts. My next meeting was at 10oclock at the local zoo, but I get an email from the girl I was supposed to meet, that she was hungover and that she couldnt make it and she wanted to reschedule. I called her and said maybe, then later on I texted her saying I do not think it would be possible, as I had pre-arranged plans as I had an exam the next day. She literally had the nerve to text me back "well we are all in vet school and all of our schedules are a bit tight, the only way the zoo functions is if everyone compromises and helps out, you are the only one who has not been trained, sorry about this morning but nothing I can do about it". I shortened it a little, but that was the just of it. So I text back, I understand about this morning, and that is fine, but unfortunately I was ready for my responsibilities this morning, unlike some, and if anything Ill go next sunday (when it is not my shift to see how it works). I never got a response =P Although I did get a response from the president of the ZEW club, and she agreed with me completely, and enjoyed my enthusiasm apparently. Either way apparently this girl has done things like this in the past and is not the most reliable person in the world.
So anyways, then I had a TA session from 12-2, followed by a tutoring session from 2-4, which was cancelled unfortunately. So my pretty all planned out day, more or less fell apart. Although I did have the chance to play some soccer in the afternoon, it was quite enjoyable.....I am out of shape haha.
Then finally to top everything off right before my exam, I blew out a tire this morning, and then realized my jack was rusted shut and i did not have anything to remove my lug nuts :( Luckily a few students stopped to help, the first one to give me a jack, which is when i realize i did not have anything to remove my lug nuts. The next person to stop gave me one, but there's wouldnt fit on my lock nut, it was pretty much stripping it. In the end I waited for security to come and help me change my tire and I had it to my morning class on time.
Then I had my exam (which i think I did well, but I do not want well, i want amazing), then got out a bit early for lunch, so I drove, got me some supplies (a jack, a proper wrench and while i was at it, two brand new tires), which ended up costing me close to 450US or like 1200EC, which sucks, but atleast by the time I am done with this car it should be in better condition than when i got it, which intially i save 2000$ from the guy selling it, so put in another $1000-$1500 Im still doing pretty good :)
Then to wrap up my day, the school offered 1st semester students Pizza as a way to say, way to go you finished your first exam. Which was very sweet.
That about covers it, wow, didnt think I had so much to say, although I think Ive said that before :S Now it is mad studying time, it is currently almost midnight, just took a bit of a break to finish this blog, and then perhaps another 30mins of studying then dodo time.
Thanks Y'all for reading, until the next one =D
About Me
- FutureVet
- I am fun loving, light hearted, positive and determined individual who believes that we can all help each other, whether it be something small or something grand :)
Monday, January 31, 2011
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
So much in just 5 days.....
WOW, I can't believe it has already been five days since my last post, well technically six days, but my last post was before the 24hr mark, so lets call it five still :P
I last left off with me heading to ZEW, which I have to say, it was not exactly what i thought it was going to be, but atleast it is something considering what they have to work with on the island. Im sure in a few years this club will have developed much more. My biggest interest in this club, is the chance to go help out the "zoo" animals and also the possibility of working with sea turtles so i can apply for a future position with one of the veterinarians here who works with locals to help save, educate and re-populated the leather back sea turtles (hmmm okay, Ill double check on the leather back part, it may be hawksbills :S).
Either way, it would be an experience of a life time. As to why I put zoo animals in quotations, well there zoo down here is more or less a wildanimal shelter/farm. It has some goats, chickens, a peacock, an iguana, and I believe a couple of mongooses. Either way, they are considered exotic animals and are animals I would not normally have a chance to work with. Plus you can always take a trip to some exotic locations, such as Africa to help with animals over there. Although one of those trips will normally cost you something in the range of $1500-2000US, which is something I could probably never afford :( For now Ill just stay positive.
I joined one other club, which was PAWS. Which I think is just awesome, because they are truly hear to try and help the animals of the island and help instill change by educating the locals. Something that i volunteered for as well. I think I am a pretty good speaker, my voice carries well, and well i think I would quite thoroughly enjoy going to local schools teaching young kids about what animals are, how they should be treated and what kind of care is considered acceptable or not. Once again there is a very fine line that one must walk when doing this kind of project, as you cannot just impose change, but it must occur through enlightenment. So i look forward to that.
I am looking even more forward to the week I get to feed the tortoises at school, there is about eight of them on the school properties and I get to feed them for a full week (the school will reimburse me for any produce I buy). I just cant, it will be a nice down time moment of my day, a very nice way to start my morning me thinks.
So back to the last five days, well it was been studying studying, and then too much slacking, which sucks. As my first exam is on this coming monday, which is histology/microanatomy, then I have another 3 exams the week after, which is the real exams to worry about. Nutrition, along with Physiology (a bunch of info, but teacher gives very little, makes me a bit worried), then the one I really want to kill, Anatomy!!! So much to know, so many functions, but it is just a matter of hammering it home, and Im going to check out a tutoring sessing, as apparently it helps to speak to someone, and they will ask you similar question to the exam to get your mind thinking on the same page, such as: what are the muscles that stabilize the shoulder joint? what are the ones that help adduct the limb? what muscles in general attach on the lateral epicondyl of the humerus? and so on. So we shall see, the tutor told me, she will amaze me with what i can learn, I am leaving that up for judgement at the moment :P
So, on friday, we went out for a friends belated birthday, a friends birthday and a friends early birthday. We had sushi!!!! Mmmmmm sushi, it had been so long. Okay not the best sushi in the world, considering it was served at the Marriot hotel, and well personally they added too much spicy asian mayo to everything, which kind of overpowered the other flavours in the sushi. Overall it was a nice experience. Then of course after supper, we just had to go out, well initially I did not want to, then everyone convinced me, to come out for an hour. Of course when friends say an hour, it never means an hour, so i ended up staying out til a little past midnight, after being a little annoyed with a personal situation that was going on. One reason why I have always said it is very difficult to deal with girls during school, I think sometimes the homosexual men of the school have it a bit easier :P
Anyways, then on the way home, the best part, my car just dies!!!! So now I am stuck in the middle of this dark ass road, trying to see into the hood of my car with the crappy light on my phone (thank god for that light attachment, I found it soooo silly initially, now I will never dis it again). Luckily I had a nice jug of water in my car, as my car was already having a bit of a problem, initially i thought it was a leaky radiator, but oh no, it was more than that. After waiting about 30mins, with my drunken friend passed out in the back seat (she was hammered shit face :P), the car starts up again and I am able to drop her off and get myself back home.
First thing in the morning, I call a mechanic (a different one than the guy I initially used), to see if he cannot help me out. Unfortunately he was off island on saturday, but he said he could come and get my car on sunday, which is amazing considering like everything is pretty much closed on sundays, very religious area.
So he picks up my car, and after a quick inspection with him and another mechanic, they pretty much decide it is my water gasket, which I looked up online, makes perfect sense, considering the puttering I was having, the stalling and what not. For those of you who do not know, the water gasket is the seal along the side of your engine, that prevents water from leaking into your engine when running. As some of you may or may not know, water + oil = does not mix well. So the oil in my system, was turning into this lovely mixture, which technically could have really messed up something in my car at any point in time. Lucky me that he was willing to start on it on a sunday, and even more lucky that there was a car parts store open on sunday.
While he was at it, I told him, do what I wanted the first guy to do, or atleast what he said he agreed to do for the price he asked for. Which was 250EC to do a complete tune-up, which included changing the oil and oil filter, checking the air filter, changing the spark plugs and gas filter. In the end I found out, that his idea of a complete tuneup meant checking that the solutions were okay and then making sure my lights worked, along with an oil change and oil filter. So in the end I spent 400EC for the parts (which included everything I just mentioned including a gallon of oil, a gallon of antifreeze, a radiator cap, as the seal on mine was broken, and of course a water gasket, oh an sealant for the gasket). Then I had to cough up another 600EC for the labour, which he got talked down from 800EC, so in total it cost me approx. $370US, which to be honest in the grand scheme of things it is not that bad. Hopefully by the end Ill have a car that works relatively well, and one that I can actually keep with less difficulties for the rest of the time I am on this island.
So I am hoping to get my car back today, it was supposed to be yesterday, but apparently since most people do not have proper garages here on the island, he could not work on my car because it was raining most of the day before. Because of that, I lost a wager to a friend, and it seems like I owe her a dinner now, which is suits me just fine ;)
Off I go to school now, since my lift will be here in a few minutes and I still have not brushed my teeth :S
Hope everyone is having a lovely week and Ill speak to y'all again sometime soon ;)
Jonathan =D
PS: I made some amazing chilli and cheesecake this week, hope you are all jealous :P
I last left off with me heading to ZEW, which I have to say, it was not exactly what i thought it was going to be, but atleast it is something considering what they have to work with on the island. Im sure in a few years this club will have developed much more. My biggest interest in this club, is the chance to go help out the "zoo" animals and also the possibility of working with sea turtles so i can apply for a future position with one of the veterinarians here who works with locals to help save, educate and re-populated the leather back sea turtles (hmmm okay, Ill double check on the leather back part, it may be hawksbills :S).
Either way, it would be an experience of a life time. As to why I put zoo animals in quotations, well there zoo down here is more or less a wildanimal shelter/farm. It has some goats, chickens, a peacock, an iguana, and I believe a couple of mongooses. Either way, they are considered exotic animals and are animals I would not normally have a chance to work with. Plus you can always take a trip to some exotic locations, such as Africa to help with animals over there. Although one of those trips will normally cost you something in the range of $1500-2000US, which is something I could probably never afford :( For now Ill just stay positive.
I joined one other club, which was PAWS. Which I think is just awesome, because they are truly hear to try and help the animals of the island and help instill change by educating the locals. Something that i volunteered for as well. I think I am a pretty good speaker, my voice carries well, and well i think I would quite thoroughly enjoy going to local schools teaching young kids about what animals are, how they should be treated and what kind of care is considered acceptable or not. Once again there is a very fine line that one must walk when doing this kind of project, as you cannot just impose change, but it must occur through enlightenment. So i look forward to that.
I am looking even more forward to the week I get to feed the tortoises at school, there is about eight of them on the school properties and I get to feed them for a full week (the school will reimburse me for any produce I buy). I just cant, it will be a nice down time moment of my day, a very nice way to start my morning me thinks.
So back to the last five days, well it was been studying studying, and then too much slacking, which sucks. As my first exam is on this coming monday, which is histology/microanatomy, then I have another 3 exams the week after, which is the real exams to worry about. Nutrition, along with Physiology (a bunch of info, but teacher gives very little, makes me a bit worried), then the one I really want to kill, Anatomy!!! So much to know, so many functions, but it is just a matter of hammering it home, and Im going to check out a tutoring sessing, as apparently it helps to speak to someone, and they will ask you similar question to the exam to get your mind thinking on the same page, such as: what are the muscles that stabilize the shoulder joint? what are the ones that help adduct the limb? what muscles in general attach on the lateral epicondyl of the humerus? and so on. So we shall see, the tutor told me, she will amaze me with what i can learn, I am leaving that up for judgement at the moment :P
So, on friday, we went out for a friends belated birthday, a friends birthday and a friends early birthday. We had sushi!!!! Mmmmmm sushi, it had been so long. Okay not the best sushi in the world, considering it was served at the Marriot hotel, and well personally they added too much spicy asian mayo to everything, which kind of overpowered the other flavours in the sushi. Overall it was a nice experience. Then of course after supper, we just had to go out, well initially I did not want to, then everyone convinced me, to come out for an hour. Of course when friends say an hour, it never means an hour, so i ended up staying out til a little past midnight, after being a little annoyed with a personal situation that was going on. One reason why I have always said it is very difficult to deal with girls during school, I think sometimes the homosexual men of the school have it a bit easier :P
Anyways, then on the way home, the best part, my car just dies!!!! So now I am stuck in the middle of this dark ass road, trying to see into the hood of my car with the crappy light on my phone (thank god for that light attachment, I found it soooo silly initially, now I will never dis it again). Luckily I had a nice jug of water in my car, as my car was already having a bit of a problem, initially i thought it was a leaky radiator, but oh no, it was more than that. After waiting about 30mins, with my drunken friend passed out in the back seat (she was hammered shit face :P), the car starts up again and I am able to drop her off and get myself back home.
First thing in the morning, I call a mechanic (a different one than the guy I initially used), to see if he cannot help me out. Unfortunately he was off island on saturday, but he said he could come and get my car on sunday, which is amazing considering like everything is pretty much closed on sundays, very religious area.
So he picks up my car, and after a quick inspection with him and another mechanic, they pretty much decide it is my water gasket, which I looked up online, makes perfect sense, considering the puttering I was having, the stalling and what not. For those of you who do not know, the water gasket is the seal along the side of your engine, that prevents water from leaking into your engine when running. As some of you may or may not know, water + oil = does not mix well. So the oil in my system, was turning into this lovely mixture, which technically could have really messed up something in my car at any point in time. Lucky me that he was willing to start on it on a sunday, and even more lucky that there was a car parts store open on sunday.
While he was at it, I told him, do what I wanted the first guy to do, or atleast what he said he agreed to do for the price he asked for. Which was 250EC to do a complete tune-up, which included changing the oil and oil filter, checking the air filter, changing the spark plugs and gas filter. In the end I found out, that his idea of a complete tuneup meant checking that the solutions were okay and then making sure my lights worked, along with an oil change and oil filter. So in the end I spent 400EC for the parts (which included everything I just mentioned including a gallon of oil, a gallon of antifreeze, a radiator cap, as the seal on mine was broken, and of course a water gasket, oh an sealant for the gasket). Then I had to cough up another 600EC for the labour, which he got talked down from 800EC, so in total it cost me approx. $370US, which to be honest in the grand scheme of things it is not that bad. Hopefully by the end Ill have a car that works relatively well, and one that I can actually keep with less difficulties for the rest of the time I am on this island.
So I am hoping to get my car back today, it was supposed to be yesterday, but apparently since most people do not have proper garages here on the island, he could not work on my car because it was raining most of the day before. Because of that, I lost a wager to a friend, and it seems like I owe her a dinner now, which is suits me just fine ;)
Off I go to school now, since my lift will be here in a few minutes and I still have not brushed my teeth :S
Hope everyone is having a lovely week and Ill speak to y'all again sometime soon ;)
Jonathan =D
PS: I made some amazing chilli and cheesecake this week, hope you are all jealous :P
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Finally a regular updaet =D
Alrighty, sorry it took me a couple of days longer than expected (seems as if I am always apologizing for this), but unfortunately I lost my internet connection for a couple of days, something that happens quite regularly on this island, altthough Im lucky to say i have never lost my power as of yet (knock on wood)..........
Darn it, there goes my power. Just kidding :P
So this week has been going well so far, have been concentrating on learning my Anatomy, which I truly believe is one of the most important classes for me right now. I want to learn my anatomical features like the back of my hand, or the front, because honestly how often do you really look at the back of your hand? Okay, maybe not even my hands at all, maybe know them as well as I know my ABCs :P
At the moment, most of it is sinking in pretty well, although that darn Omotransversarius is being the bane of my existance, i do not know why, I just cant seem to remember it. We joke that Ill get it finally on the exam, and Ill be like "In your face -Omotransversarius, booooyaaah!" Although I would probably be asked to leave the exam room for calling out an answer :P Who knows maybe typing about it, Ill finally remember it hehe :)
As for my other classes, I am not to worried really at the moment, I have done quite a bit of Nutrition before hand and the information is being assimilated really well. The other class Into to Vet Med, is pretty much an ethics and get to know the profession class, so it should be easy marks as long as i do the work on time and in a proper fashion, hoping to get most of it down in the next week, hopefully have it ready by the end of the weekend. Then I have physiology, with a very amusing teacher, one of my classmates, who is quite amusing as well, said he sounds like Rafiki from the Lion King. I have to say I would agree with that assessment, although I would never tell him :P Physio should be a little harder than nutrition, but i am not to worried as well, especially since the exam is around mid -February mark.
My first exam coming up, which most students are stressing about it, is Microanatomy (with a bit of development biology mixed in). I am acing the laboratory section, but the class part is a bit more challenging. Especially since the teacher tends to give information and then tell us, "but you do not need to know that right now" or "this is more than you need to know at the moment". So the exam is on January 31st, which means I really need to buckle down these next couple of days and on the weekend as to be honest I have not done much studying these last few days.
Although I do have a good reason, as I have been running around getting supplies for my car, as it has a small radiator leak and since most stores close at 5pm and I normally finish school at 4pm, that leaves me like an hour to go shopping :S
Plus yesterday I just had an absolutely lovely day, as just I was about to get into class at 13h00, I get a phone call from administration asking "are you going to pick up your animals". I was like huh? What do you mean. Apparently there were on the customs loading dock since 10h00, and how nice it was of them to call me a whole 3hrs later. So I rush to the airport to pick up my two cats, but unfortunately they forgot to remind to me bring close 700EC with me to pay the airport for shipping, to sign the paperwork, to pay the veterinarian inspection fee (which was the big one at 460EC), and then another 60EC to release them from customs.
FYI: 1US dollar = 2.70EC (Eastern Caribbean dollars).
Luckily I had enough on me to pay the airport, and the veterinarian told me I could pay him later on in the day. Unfortunately the customs agent, would not release them without payment, and the only thing accept is Cash!!! So I had to run to the ATM at the airport, which I found out that apparently it is only a banking machine, not an ATM. Meaning I could only use my debit card (I was hoping to take out the cash on my credit card initially), meaning I had to take out all the money then and there, which sucked because it used up about 3/4 of the available funds I had left over for myself. So now I am pretty much broke with only a few hundred EC dollars left (approx. like 100$ US maybe a bit more).
Then, since my cats came a day earlier than I was expecting, I was realized, Shit! I do not have a little pan, or litter, so I then spent the rest of the day running around trying to find one that wasnt ridiculously expensive, and at the same time I decided to invest in some supplies to build them a lovely scratching post, as the ones here would be very expensive to buy, close to like 200-300EC, although in retrospect, all the supplies cost me close to 200EC :S But I realized I over estimated everything and i could have easily build like 3 scratching posts out of it, perhaps a small business I can start for the future ;)
So in the end I got my cats and there are now adjusting well to there new environment. Pebbles was the first to relax a little (big surprise) and Luna soon followed. Ill try and post a couple of pics of them soon if I can, so you can all see what they look like ;)
Well thats it for now, I am off to a ZEW (Zoo Exotics Wildlife) group to see what they are all about, then time to study!!!!!
Until the next time ;)
Jonathan =D
Darn it, there goes my power. Just kidding :P
So this week has been going well so far, have been concentrating on learning my Anatomy, which I truly believe is one of the most important classes for me right now. I want to learn my anatomical features like the back of my hand, or the front, because honestly how often do you really look at the back of your hand? Okay, maybe not even my hands at all, maybe know them as well as I know my ABCs :P
At the moment, most of it is sinking in pretty well, although that darn Omotransversarius is being the bane of my existance, i do not know why, I just cant seem to remember it. We joke that Ill get it finally on the exam, and Ill be like "In your face -Omotransversarius, booooyaaah!" Although I would probably be asked to leave the exam room for calling out an answer :P Who knows maybe typing about it, Ill finally remember it hehe :)
As for my other classes, I am not to worried really at the moment, I have done quite a bit of Nutrition before hand and the information is being assimilated really well. The other class Into to Vet Med, is pretty much an ethics and get to know the profession class, so it should be easy marks as long as i do the work on time and in a proper fashion, hoping to get most of it down in the next week, hopefully have it ready by the end of the weekend. Then I have physiology, with a very amusing teacher, one of my classmates, who is quite amusing as well, said he sounds like Rafiki from the Lion King. I have to say I would agree with that assessment, although I would never tell him :P Physio should be a little harder than nutrition, but i am not to worried as well, especially since the exam is around mid -February mark.
My first exam coming up, which most students are stressing about it, is Microanatomy (with a bit of development biology mixed in). I am acing the laboratory section, but the class part is a bit more challenging. Especially since the teacher tends to give information and then tell us, "but you do not need to know that right now" or "this is more than you need to know at the moment". So the exam is on January 31st, which means I really need to buckle down these next couple of days and on the weekend as to be honest I have not done much studying these last few days.
Although I do have a good reason, as I have been running around getting supplies for my car, as it has a small radiator leak and since most stores close at 5pm and I normally finish school at 4pm, that leaves me like an hour to go shopping :S
Plus yesterday I just had an absolutely lovely day, as just I was about to get into class at 13h00, I get a phone call from administration asking "are you going to pick up your animals". I was like huh? What do you mean. Apparently there were on the customs loading dock since 10h00, and how nice it was of them to call me a whole 3hrs later. So I rush to the airport to pick up my two cats, but unfortunately they forgot to remind to me bring close 700EC with me to pay the airport for shipping, to sign the paperwork, to pay the veterinarian inspection fee (which was the big one at 460EC), and then another 60EC to release them from customs.
FYI: 1US dollar = 2.70EC (Eastern Caribbean dollars).
Luckily I had enough on me to pay the airport, and the veterinarian told me I could pay him later on in the day. Unfortunately the customs agent, would not release them without payment, and the only thing accept is Cash!!! So I had to run to the ATM at the airport, which I found out that apparently it is only a banking machine, not an ATM. Meaning I could only use my debit card (I was hoping to take out the cash on my credit card initially), meaning I had to take out all the money then and there, which sucked because it used up about 3/4 of the available funds I had left over for myself. So now I am pretty much broke with only a few hundred EC dollars left (approx. like 100$ US maybe a bit more).
Then, since my cats came a day earlier than I was expecting, I was realized, Shit! I do not have a little pan, or litter, so I then spent the rest of the day running around trying to find one that wasnt ridiculously expensive, and at the same time I decided to invest in some supplies to build them a lovely scratching post, as the ones here would be very expensive to buy, close to like 200-300EC, although in retrospect, all the supplies cost me close to 200EC :S But I realized I over estimated everything and i could have easily build like 3 scratching posts out of it, perhaps a small business I can start for the future ;)
So in the end I got my cats and there are now adjusting well to there new environment. Pebbles was the first to relax a little (big surprise) and Luna soon followed. Ill try and post a couple of pics of them soon if I can, so you can all see what they look like ;)
Well thats it for now, I am off to a ZEW (Zoo Exotics Wildlife) group to see what they are all about, then time to study!!!!!
Until the next time ;)
Jonathan =D
Monday, January 17, 2011
My first week on the island! :)
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| The first animal we helped save, and we've only been on the island for 2 days! =D |
So to start off, my plane was to depart at 17h10 from Montreal to JFK, my best friend, my bro and my dad saw me off, which was very nice. Right before leaving my dad gave me a nice card signed by himself and my step-mom Lillian, although she wrote my name JOHNathan, Grrrrr, I still do not know how many times I have to remind my own family, that there are not TWO H's in my name, but oh well, c'est la vie, maybe when I finally have a doctorate in veterinary medicine they will finally write it properly. My dad gave me a beautiful trio of gifts, one a gorgeous pen to write with, the next, a beautiful bracelet that I have worn much since getting it, and a bad ass watch, which to be honest, I would not dare wearing here in St. Kitts, as the last thing i would want to locals to think is that I actually have some money.
Apparently Kittitians have this view of white people that we are all rich, and have lots of money, which is understandable as that is all they see on tv, and that is all they normally see when a bunch of white people come off of those massive cruise ships and dock here for a couple of days. What they do not realize is that most students, have ZERO money, so its hard trying to bargain with them sometimes, but if there is one thing I will be extrememely good at by the time I leave, it is bargaining. As it seems you can pretty much bargain over anything over here ;)
So back to my initial departure, well I can of overestimated the amount of time needed to get through baggage claims, and we arrived way to early at the airport, so I then spent the next 2hrs and a half lounging around the airport, waiting for my plane to leave. Finally the time comes, and I get boarded onto my plane, and take a nice little flight to JFK which at night is not very impressive, but it was nice to fly over the city and see all the lights as we landed. Then as I land, and this is what I see.........
Booo, one of my bags missing....waited a good 30mins, did they ever show up? Nah ah! So one 2hr flight, and one 75lbs giant blue bag missing :S
So after spending the next 13hrs here!!! annoyed by the fact that I was missing a bag, not able to really sleep on the UNCOMFORTABLE chairs in the airport, plus the few cots they did leave out were being monopolized by people who were not even sleeping. Then after a few hours, I finally asked, excuse me, will you be using that, as I could get some rest, they decide to finally lie down, and sleep....grrrr. Finally, tired as shit, I got boarded onto my plane to St. Kitts; which I have to say thankfully, I had my Ipod, because the music helped in passing the time, plus I brought the Cleric Quintet, a series of books I have been wanting to read for quite some time, but never had the chance. Although I think the rest of the book may have to wait until after this semester :P
Once on the plane, i pretty much pass out, for like 3hrs, and then spent the rest of the time staring out of the window. Which I have to say the view was beautiful, this was view as we were intially coming in, what a nice way to greet me to the island.
The view of the island as we approached.
Us landing!
We landed!!!!!!! A small airport, but I guess it does the job!
I get off the plane, and it takes about a good hour and a bit to get the 200 something people through customs, which they warned us about, everything here on the island moves veeeeery slowly. You will just have to get used to it they say, which I have say, I am quite thoroughly enjoying the pace of things over here.
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| Our bitchen OL! |
So once through baggage claims, with one bag still missing, I met up with a group of Ross OLs (orientation leaders) and a bunch of other students, and they greeted us very warmly and began to show us around. They had a lovely pre-programmed schedule for all of us, with some free spots for us to do as we wished with our OLs. We got grouped together according to living areas, and I have to say our Orientation group rocked!!! Not to mention, I have to say our OL was probably one of the better ones around. He infomed us thoroughly of everything, allowed us to discuss and make decisions as a group as to which activities we felt like doine, although of course some of them were mandatory. Which I have to say, our first week here was a real pleasure, they took excellent care of us, and made sure we at least felt somewhat comfortable in getting to know our surroundings, so that way when the first week of school hit we did not feel lost or too lonely. Not to mention the groups helped build some minor
friendships which Im sure will last til we leave this island :)
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| My first real picture of the island :) |
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| My OL group!!! =D |
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| Trying on our white coats, so what size we needed. |
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| One of the group of turtles kept at school, one of them is a bully :P |
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| An Egret, there are lots of them awesome birds! |
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| Mmmm subway anyone? There is also a Dominos! :O |
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| The lovely pink Insurance building |
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| The local police |
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| A local dog, there are soooo many just roaming the streets! :S |
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| A lovely garden in the middle of the city. |
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| One of the many churches on the island more per capita than any other state! |
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| The volcano!! Bah Bah Baaaaah! |
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| The boat we spent the day on for our first saturday on the island, a beautiful catamaran trip! Plus I got to go snorkeling!!! :) |
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| A sign telling people about Diabetes and HIV |
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| Black Rock - made by volcano! |
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| One of the many goats roaming around |
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| I liked the positive nature of it! |
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| Brimstone - this bad boy sunk close to 500 naval ships |
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| View from Brimstone to the ocean |
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| Our day of ziplinning, was a lot of fun, but I think tourists are getting giped; $85 US = Dang! |
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| Our cool ass Taxi driver that we had for the week......SHOWTIME!!!!! |
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| A cute monkey, there are more monkeys than people on the island :S |
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| The oldest tree on the island, close to 250yrs old |
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| A couple of buddies of our OL, I have to say they made the week, all that much more interesting, plus they enjoyed giving out free beer!!! Thanks Jimbo; thanks Whin! =D |
There you have it, my/our first week on the island in a nut shell. I have to say that first week was awesome!!!
Hopefully from this point on, I can post daily to help keep things flowing a little better, although I will post some pics of my kicking house later on ;)
Cheers! =D
Getting up to date........
The last time I left off, I was finishing off the last of the little details before my departure.
In the end I was able to sublet my apartment to a lovely couple who were very friendly and who also decided to buy my appliances from me for $1500. Although sadly, even though we had an agreement between us, that they were supposed to have paid me most of it before the end of 2010, I never received a payment. Then right before leaving, they told me they would have all of my money by mid-January, but most unfortunately they just gave a small payment to my brother of $300, which just sucks, because I calculate their money into my total income, so its making my life a little more difficult over here, as I can barely afford to cover my expenses at the moment.
I am going to give them a call most likely today, to discuss what is happen. Albeit that there were some complications before I left, but these were unforeseen complications and I gave my apologies before leaving, and apparently they told me they understood. Now it seems they were actually quite upset about the whole charade.
The day i was supposed to be moving out of my apartment, I got hit with another kidney stone (for those of you who do not know me, Ive had multiple episodes since 2000 with multiple stones, although the last episode was over a year at that point). I personally believe it was the stress involved with the move, my animals, finding someone to sublet, getting financial aide, worrying about my personal finances, packing, and so on. So the night before, I got slammed with a kidney stone and ended up staying in the hospital until about 5pm, I was supposed to be out of my apartment by midnight. Although the new tenant began moving in some of his stuff at around 7pm, which just added another little kink in the smooth plan I had, since initially when I meant I would be moved out by the 28th of December it did not mean, they were to be moved in by the 28th, but meant I was supposed to be out by the 28th of December at midnight. I agree I was not totally clear, but when the new tenants called to say they rented a truck for the 28th in the morning, I was like shit! at the point there was nothing I could do, as they reserved their vehicule and it seemed like it was quite difficult to get one at that time of the year apparently.
So while I was in the hospital jacked up on morphine, my brother and a good friend began moving stuff from my apartment, but to add to the dilemma the truck we were supposed to get, never came, which meant we had to move everything in a car, which would not have been so horrible if I was a healthy individual for most of the day. So finally I get out of the hospital and still with the remnants of the catheter I just had in me, I begin to aide my brother and my friend to move whats left of my stuff, initially I wanted the salvation army to come and pick up most of my stuff, but because of the holidays it seems they had quite the back log and did not get back to me until after I left, which was thoroughly disappointing. In reflection I guess I should have called them a couple of months in advance, but I was so preoccupied by everything else, that it did not really occur to me; plus I was always under the assumption that we were getting a truck and Id have a couple more of helping hands.
Since, i needed to be out by midnight, my only option was to chuck everything that was not salvageable onto the grass, so the new tenants could get their belongings into the apartment, as their truck was showing up at 9am, although it seems like it did not show up until much later, as I forced myself to come back in the morning to pick up the little odds and ends; even though the new tenant was adamant that his truck and his movers would be at the new place by 9am!
I then spent the next couple of days immobilized pretty much, nauseous, popping hydromorphone every 4-6hrs along with some powerful NSAIDs and a medication meant to relieve swelling in my prostate, which I guess aides in passing all that grit in the urinary system and in aiding to make the individual feel a little more comfortable. Luckily all of my bags were packed already so I pretty much just laid on my brothers couch trying to rest as much as I could. Although the morning I had to leave, I decided hmmm perhaps I should weight my bags, and unfortunately to my surprise my bags both weighed in at about 90lbs, 20lbs over the allotted limit, so in a last minute storm, I chuck out a bunch of stuff from my bags and got them down to about 75lbs. Luckily for me the airlines let the extra 5lbs slide, as they were supposed to charge me an extra $100 per bag if over 70lbs, the lady was kind enough to say it was at 70lbs exactly, so thank you to the lovely lady at AA ;)
Even though I mentioned this to my new tenants, and apparently according the wife she was very understanding, saying "no worries, we understand", apparently they did not, as they started having a back and forth with my brother, saying they were going to withhold my money until we came and threw out all of the junk left on the grass. Which I find ridiculous, because if I was in that situation, and it happened to someone else, I would have said, I understand, and truly understood and would have taking care of the job of slowly putting things to the curb on a bi-weekly basis. Not to mention on the first of every month the city would come and pick up heavy objects, and if you called them, they would give you an exact date when they would come and pick up everything. Did the new tenants do this? No! They left EVERYTHING on the grass, and had a back and forth with my brother and my ex-landlord. My ex-landlord saying he would get a fine if we put everything on the curve, which may be true, but the city never does it, as I have personally done it on many occasions. Then my new tenants, telling my brother it was not their responsibility and until I picked up the trash I wouldnt get any money. I agree my junk is my responsibility, but what ever happened to come kindness in this world. I swear sometimes I believe my brother and I are one of the only truly kind hearts out their, I was leaving to a new country, I got kidney stones, and yet they couldnt even move one piece of broken ass furniture to the curve once every 3-4days. They actually had to have multiple conversations with my brother and ex-landlord about the junk. Just ridiculous I think.
So in the end, I ended up using 1-800-GOTJUNK, to come and pick up the rest of the junk, which apparently cost me close to 500$ and since my budget is very tight and I have not received any money from my new tenants, this makes my life all the much more difficult at this point :S
As for my cats, well finally I decided to use a professional shipping company which would ship my animals for me and make sure they arrive safely to island, although that cost me a pretty penny of about $3000, which to be honest is something I really couldnt afford, but I really did not have a choice. So hopefully my cats will be arriving in the next couple of weeks...yay! :) On a side note, I thought my work was going to make a very generous donation to the shipping company I was going to use, but I just found out today that apparently all that was donated was $200, which I am still very appreciative for, but when you were initially hearing rumours that it would be well over a $1000, well, it was quite disappointing to hear that only $200 was given. Although I am double checking with work, just to make sure, who knows, maybe the rest of the credit just never reached Manoir Kanisha yet, or perhaps their is an evelope sitting at work, maked Manoir Kanisha....hope hope hope. If not, well atleast i can slap this bill onto a credit card, and worry about the payment slowly over time, or just let my credit card close my account at some point :P
Well I think that pretty much puts everything up to date, Ill be posting a new one very shortly, about my initial week on the lovely island of St. Kitt and my first week of school here, then hopefully I can finally post on a regular day to day basis, which is something I have been wanting to do for a bit.
Thank y'all for ready, Cheers!
Jonathan =D
In the end I was able to sublet my apartment to a lovely couple who were very friendly and who also decided to buy my appliances from me for $1500. Although sadly, even though we had an agreement between us, that they were supposed to have paid me most of it before the end of 2010, I never received a payment. Then right before leaving, they told me they would have all of my money by mid-January, but most unfortunately they just gave a small payment to my brother of $300, which just sucks, because I calculate their money into my total income, so its making my life a little more difficult over here, as I can barely afford to cover my expenses at the moment.
I am going to give them a call most likely today, to discuss what is happen. Albeit that there were some complications before I left, but these were unforeseen complications and I gave my apologies before leaving, and apparently they told me they understood. Now it seems they were actually quite upset about the whole charade.
The day i was supposed to be moving out of my apartment, I got hit with another kidney stone (for those of you who do not know me, Ive had multiple episodes since 2000 with multiple stones, although the last episode was over a year at that point). I personally believe it was the stress involved with the move, my animals, finding someone to sublet, getting financial aide, worrying about my personal finances, packing, and so on. So the night before, I got slammed with a kidney stone and ended up staying in the hospital until about 5pm, I was supposed to be out of my apartment by midnight. Although the new tenant began moving in some of his stuff at around 7pm, which just added another little kink in the smooth plan I had, since initially when I meant I would be moved out by the 28th of December it did not mean, they were to be moved in by the 28th, but meant I was supposed to be out by the 28th of December at midnight. I agree I was not totally clear, but when the new tenants called to say they rented a truck for the 28th in the morning, I was like shit! at the point there was nothing I could do, as they reserved their vehicule and it seemed like it was quite difficult to get one at that time of the year apparently.
So while I was in the hospital jacked up on morphine, my brother and a good friend began moving stuff from my apartment, but to add to the dilemma the truck we were supposed to get, never came, which meant we had to move everything in a car, which would not have been so horrible if I was a healthy individual for most of the day. So finally I get out of the hospital and still with the remnants of the catheter I just had in me, I begin to aide my brother and my friend to move whats left of my stuff, initially I wanted the salvation army to come and pick up most of my stuff, but because of the holidays it seems they had quite the back log and did not get back to me until after I left, which was thoroughly disappointing. In reflection I guess I should have called them a couple of months in advance, but I was so preoccupied by everything else, that it did not really occur to me; plus I was always under the assumption that we were getting a truck and Id have a couple more of helping hands.
Since, i needed to be out by midnight, my only option was to chuck everything that was not salvageable onto the grass, so the new tenants could get their belongings into the apartment, as their truck was showing up at 9am, although it seems like it did not show up until much later, as I forced myself to come back in the morning to pick up the little odds and ends; even though the new tenant was adamant that his truck and his movers would be at the new place by 9am!
I then spent the next couple of days immobilized pretty much, nauseous, popping hydromorphone every 4-6hrs along with some powerful NSAIDs and a medication meant to relieve swelling in my prostate, which I guess aides in passing all that grit in the urinary system and in aiding to make the individual feel a little more comfortable. Luckily all of my bags were packed already so I pretty much just laid on my brothers couch trying to rest as much as I could. Although the morning I had to leave, I decided hmmm perhaps I should weight my bags, and unfortunately to my surprise my bags both weighed in at about 90lbs, 20lbs over the allotted limit, so in a last minute storm, I chuck out a bunch of stuff from my bags and got them down to about 75lbs. Luckily for me the airlines let the extra 5lbs slide, as they were supposed to charge me an extra $100 per bag if over 70lbs, the lady was kind enough to say it was at 70lbs exactly, so thank you to the lovely lady at AA ;)
Even though I mentioned this to my new tenants, and apparently according the wife she was very understanding, saying "no worries, we understand", apparently they did not, as they started having a back and forth with my brother, saying they were going to withhold my money until we came and threw out all of the junk left on the grass. Which I find ridiculous, because if I was in that situation, and it happened to someone else, I would have said, I understand, and truly understood and would have taking care of the job of slowly putting things to the curb on a bi-weekly basis. Not to mention on the first of every month the city would come and pick up heavy objects, and if you called them, they would give you an exact date when they would come and pick up everything. Did the new tenants do this? No! They left EVERYTHING on the grass, and had a back and forth with my brother and my ex-landlord. My ex-landlord saying he would get a fine if we put everything on the curve, which may be true, but the city never does it, as I have personally done it on many occasions. Then my new tenants, telling my brother it was not their responsibility and until I picked up the trash I wouldnt get any money. I agree my junk is my responsibility, but what ever happened to come kindness in this world. I swear sometimes I believe my brother and I are one of the only truly kind hearts out their, I was leaving to a new country, I got kidney stones, and yet they couldnt even move one piece of broken ass furniture to the curve once every 3-4days. They actually had to have multiple conversations with my brother and ex-landlord about the junk. Just ridiculous I think.
So in the end, I ended up using 1-800-GOTJUNK, to come and pick up the rest of the junk, which apparently cost me close to 500$ and since my budget is very tight and I have not received any money from my new tenants, this makes my life all the much more difficult at this point :S
As for my cats, well finally I decided to use a professional shipping company which would ship my animals for me and make sure they arrive safely to island, although that cost me a pretty penny of about $3000, which to be honest is something I really couldnt afford, but I really did not have a choice. So hopefully my cats will be arriving in the next couple of weeks...yay! :) On a side note, I thought my work was going to make a very generous donation to the shipping company I was going to use, but I just found out today that apparently all that was donated was $200, which I am still very appreciative for, but when you were initially hearing rumours that it would be well over a $1000, well, it was quite disappointing to hear that only $200 was given. Although I am double checking with work, just to make sure, who knows, maybe the rest of the credit just never reached Manoir Kanisha yet, or perhaps their is an evelope sitting at work, maked Manoir Kanisha....hope hope hope. If not, well atleast i can slap this bill onto a credit card, and worry about the payment slowly over time, or just let my credit card close my account at some point :P
Well I think that pretty much puts everything up to date, Ill be posting a new one very shortly, about my initial week on the lovely island of St. Kitt and my first week of school here, then hopefully I can finally post on a regular day to day basis, which is something I have been wanting to do for a bit.
Thank y'all for ready, Cheers!
Jonathan =D
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