Extras

Hello blogsophere!

It has been a little bit since I posted, and I thought it was about time for an update!

Today I had my first exam of the semester--a neuroscience practical exam. We were shown images or samples of actual brains with tagged structures, and we had to identify those structures as well as further questions, such as what would happen if that structure was damaged or what area of the brain did a particular vessel supply. I thought the exam was certainly fair. Many of my friends came out of the exam knowing they did extremely well. I can't say that I share their confidence, but I do feel as if I knew quite a bit. There were definitely a handful that I was unsure of and one or two that I just didn't know. While we don't get our grades back for a bit, you are able to check the correct answers. I haven't done this... I don't know if that's because of a lack of confidence or I just don't see the point when you can't change it. I guess for a little bit I'd just rather not know. Besides that, I am not all that great at remembering the questions or what I wrote as a response and I don't want to be more anxious about it. I guess that is the lack of confidence speaking, but hey. I guess that is who I am. So that's done! One test down! My next exam isn't for a few weeks yet-- my first block this semester is exceptionally long, consisting of neuroscience and the endocrine system. The exam is of course variable in length depending on how long we spent on the unit. So it will be about a 3 hour test, 170 or so questions, over 7 weeks of material. Good thing all I do is study! But for the moment I am back in that low-stress-no-test place. I do really like neuroscience, even though it is hard. I never really thought about another profession other than pediatric oncology... but maybe I should do that :)

Picture break:

This place can be so beautiful. Especially now that I have won the war against the cockroaches. As I say this they are probably amassing their forces and will move on my place tonight. But for now! I haven't seen one in a week or two. The combination of the place being newly inhabited again and the raid must be keeping them away. There is however something that lives on my roof and squeaks... but for the moment I am ignoring it. I have never actually seen the offending mouse/rat so it can carry on. The coolest thing about my apartment though is definitely the bats though! 

(Google Images)

I feel like Batman everytime I come in or out of my place at night; the bats all swirl around in the big old mango tree behind my house. They must love all the bugs drawn by the fallen mangoes everywhere. I can see them out my window at night, batting about in the moonlight. I don't want them too close to me, but all in all I really like them. Plus, mosquito eaters are more than welcome.

The other exciting thing about today was that I saw my first patient! Granted, it was just an actress, but we had to do the visit as if we were real physicians, from introducing ourselves, to doing reflex tests, all of those things. I was quite nervous when I first went in... and it didn't go entirely smoothly, but I think we passed (we did the exercise in partners), and I did it! It took my partner and I a little bit to get settled into trading off on questions and passing off the clipboard to take notes. I did fumble a bit too-- it was incredibly hard for me to hear the pulse for taking the blood pressure, so I know I need to practice that, and I likely got docked points for not turning the lights off for the eye exam. I thought we only had to turn the lights off if we had trouble seeing the pupils... you are after all shining an even brighter light directly in the eye, and I could see the pupils reacting perfectly.... but I guess you have to turn the lights off for routine's sake. My partner had a hard time with the reflexes, and that was tough for me too. I wasn't sure if I should step in (I tried to offer advice, but not directly step in) since we were instructed for one person only to do each set of reflexes and I didn't want to be that partner who showed the other one up. Hopefully I passed at any rate so I will be on to my write up and my second patient! I did grow less nervous as the session went on... and by the end it did feel quite natural. Asking the questions. We did largely get good feedback about our professionalism, our courtesy, our friendliness, and our genuine empathy, which was very good news! My friend asked me why I was nervous going in-- I know how to talk to people right? I guess what I felt was, even though they were an actor, that I wanted to help them! What if I made a mistake or couldn't help them? I guess that means I'll be an okay doctor someday.

Now I'm supposed to be getting back to the study grind... but maybe I will just take the night off. This week definitely had some tough lectures but I've studied more in the past few weeks than I did during probably a semester or even two at college and kind of need a break. The series finale of 30 Rock is on tonight and I got some (really expensive) goldfish so I'm calling it a night in!

Unrelated to school and more pertinent to life on the island....

1) Oh to be a Slayer (Buffy the Vampire Slayer).

(Google Images)

I have never really been concerned about my safety anywhere that I've lived. Growing up I never felt unsafe in my town (among other reasons, I knew my family kept a very close eye on me) and even as I've moved around for college, travel, and study abroad, I have never felt a need to be walked home at night. I have backpacked on my own for weeks, I have frequently exercised by walking on my own or with my dog, I've traveled extensively around the world and do feel like I know how to keep an eye out. 

There was an incident on the island a few weeks ago involving a female student walking home in which she was met by two local individuals with machetes. The student is fine (and I don't claim to know all the details, but I believe she was only minorly injured, her stuff taken, but she is now fully recovered) but that makes me really uncomfortable. There is a shuttle bus for students after dark, but I have honestly never taken it because it takes so long, and for what, an 8 minute walk if I walk fast? But for the first time I don't feel safe walking home by myself. So far I have made it work by studying at home in the evenings (getting home before it is dark) or having one of the guys I study with walk me home. I know they don't mind, but I do feel bad for taking them out of their way or chipping away at their study time. Limiting my actions because of safety concerns is something I've never had to deal with before. I know this would probably be the same if I was in New York City or a "bad neighborhood" in virtually any US city, but it is a rather uncomfortable adjustment. Maybe I will take up some kind of self-defense class. I think being tall is a real advantage, but I still don't want to put myself in any kind of questionably dangerous situation. I mean, machetes. I know I want to be a doctor, but politics will always be one of my passions. Why is it unsafe for female students to walk home alone? What systemic problem has led to that? I am going to have to find a way to do both. 

2) Coffee. I definitely need to get a coffee maker instead of buying it all the time. It is really inexpensive (and the coffee guy knows me as a regular which is one thing to check off the bucket-list) but among other things I hate getting sytrofoam all the time--that stuff will never degrade. Other than flying here and the obscene amount of air conditioning the school uses I'd say my carbon footprint is the smallest it's ever been or probably ever will be again. Which is really cool! It is kind of great that student organizations do beach clean ups and things, I love being a part of that. But coffee! I drink so much of it. Last semester I held off for a few months... but this semester. I'm down to about 6 or 7 hours of sleep most nights (and something like 4 last night, only a few days after the lecture on sleep no less, but it had to be done!). I am ideally an 8 hours a night kind of girl but I really want to get As this semester, and if that means a bit of extra studying than that's what I have to do! The coffee is necessary to get me through a long afternoon of studying and to ward off the inevitable caffeine withdrawal headache that will come my way if I don't. I do know the mechanism of caffeine addiction now though which is cool! (There are also many studies suggesting the benefits of consuming a small amount of caffeine per day, so I guess it's not all bad! I have been trying to get more into tea though.)

3) I CAN GET HOT WATER IN MY APARTMENT. Apparently, the hot water is inversely related to water pressure. I know there is a switch you have to flip to turn on the warm water for the shower, but I didn't realize that with full water pressure the water will still be cold. I had just always turned it to the highest without thinking and grown accustomed to cold showers... but the other day I just happened to turn the pressure down and voila! So it's one or the other; goodbye water pressure. It was nice knowing you.

4) I freaking love shawarma. I had never been to the shawarma restaurant right by my school (or really even known what shawarma was like) until this weekend but now I have established that it is my favorite place to eat (except maybe Bob's Chinese restaurant) in this town. (For those who don't know, I say shawarma is like the Arab version of a gyro--lamb and vegetables in a type of wrap. Similar spice palate as well, an oh man so delicious!)

(Google Images)

It is Avengers approved. 

That's it for now! I might try and go down to Roseau (the capital) in the coming weeks and will definitely do some more hiking behind my apartment so hopefully I will have new pictures to share soon!