Cadavers have arrived!

The first semesters last semester never did get any cadavers for Anatomy lab, which made a lot of people pretty upset. But, they have arrived in time for this semester to start, and it looks like they've got enough now to last them a while! The container just arrived today, so they should start showing up soon on an anatomy table near you. I'm sure the first semesters (and from the looks of it, the January first semesters also) will be very appreciative that Dr. Nash was able to come through for them this semester and make cadavers happen.

Is iTunes' new "genius" really genius?

If you're not as crazy about Apple as I am, you may not know that iTunes was updated to iTunes 8.0 today (along with a couple new iPods). One of its features is a new smart playlist called "genius." You just click a song and it creates a whole playlist of similar music in your library. It also recommends other music from the iTunes store that you don't own.

I was honestly very skeptical of this feature, but it's pretty damn amazing. The music that it find is right on with whatever song you picked. If you want to listen to dance music, find a song, click genius, and you've got a whole playlist of it. If you want something relaxing, click another song and get a new playlist. Try it out, you'll probably be surprised. It's very good to help you find old music that you like, but forgot about, or just never listened to very much. It also has a new view mode that is much better than anything iTunes has had before. If you haven't already, download it now!

Blood alcohol above .08? maybe?

The upstairs neighbors had a big party at our house a couple of nights ago. I don't know for sure whether this is or is not an indirect result of that party. All I can say for sure is that this car was not there the afternoon of the party, and it was there the morning after the party. This is not taken from a great angle (again, shot on my iPhone from my scooter), but the front of the car hit that wall pretty hard. In case you were wondering, the wall won.

The morning commute

So I've definitely done my share of complaining about various things on the island that I don't like. However, there are also definitely some positive things. Take, for example, my drive to school in the morning. I just snapped this with my iPhone, so it's not fantastic quality, but it's what I see every morning as I make my way to class. It will be even nicer when the construction is completed (which may be a while), but it's pretty nice as it is. More often than not, it's nice out, so the scooter ride to and from school is usually a very enjoyable break from everything else.

Best ab workout ever....

Yesterday at the Phi Chi / AMSA Welcome Back BBQ, Kent and Chuck showed up with the AUC Kayak Team's surfskis for people to try out. I've been meaning to do it for a while, and finally got the chance yesterday. When you see people who know how to use them paddling, it looks very easy. However, as everyone who tried them found out, they are incredibly difficult. You basically sit on top of them, with just a small depression to sit into, and they're only about as wide as a normal sized person. They are very possible the most unstable craft that I have ever been in (or on). According to Kent (pictured above), who tried to teach me how to use it, I did very well for a guy on my first try. I was able to get into the boat (which is a lot like pulling yourself onto an unstable pool ledge) and sit up and paddle a little, as long as I kept my legs hanging over the sides of the boat. As soon as I tried to put my legs inside the boat on the rudder pedals, it was all over. For the rest of the people who were able to make it as far as I did, this was the common theme. I didn't see anyone (outside of Chuck and Kent) that could do it for more than 10 seconds, which is about how long I managed to stay upright once putting my feet in the boat.

Basically, the thing has no desire to stay upright once you sit in it. It barely stays upright with nobody in it, so once you get in there and raise the center of balance a little, you better be ready to work! It's a constant ab exercise, trying to keep the thing stable. We were not helped any by the fact that we were in Mullet Bay, and there were lots of waves from the Hurricane that recently passed. When I finally gave up, I barely thought I'd be able to make the short swim back to shore, and pretty much collapsed on the beach. However, it was a lot of fun and I'm definitely going to try and get back out and try again in calmer waters. Kent says that it takes a couple days of practice to get the hang of it. It seemed like everyone else also had a good time trying them out, so thanks to Ken and Chuck for bringing them out! If you're at AUC and want to try, just shoot them a message and I'm sure they'll be glad to take you out.

They're actually training for a race from St. Barths to St. Maarten (I think it's around 28km or so). Good luck to them, but I think I'll have to pass :) I could barely even paddle the thing from 30 feet out in the ocean back to the beach.

What kind of doctor should I be?

Just out of curiosity, I took a medical specialty aptitude test to see what they thought I should be. The results were mostly as I would have expected. Number one on the list was pathology, but neuro, plastic, thoracic, and general surgery were all in the top 10, along with emergency medicine. At the very bottom of the list for me is pediatrics, general internal medicine, psychiatry, and family practice...all things which I could never see myself doing.

If you're interested in taking the test yourself, here's the link: http://www.med-ed.virginia.edu/specialties/TestStructure.cfm

Cheap food of the day: ribs

So I was told about this a while ago, but just remembered today while shopping...Food Express in Maho has a full, seasoned rack of ribs for like $3.50! I have yet to try it, but it looks delicious, and I hear it is. Assuming it is as good as it looks, this may turn into my new save-money-food. I'll be sure to let you know, along with maybe some pictures.

In other news, I am now an SGA class rep again. It didn't go so well first semester when I was a class rep, but all of that is behind me now and I'm giving it another go as a 4th and 5th semester rep. I think it will be a good time. It wasn't exactly hard to get since hardly anyone wanted to do it (it's probably the most work the last couple semesters), but I'm excited to be doing it again, especially since I really like the current SGA exec council.

Unfortunately, it's remained very gloomy looking outside (maybe because we're currently in hurricane season). Tomorrow is the Phi Chi/AMSA welcome back beach party, but I'm not sure that the weather is going to hold out. I hope it does! I guess we'll all be in the water anyway, so maybe it won't matter. If I remember, I'll take my camera and get some pics of the festivities.

Poor Kiwi

Taken from http://nataliedee.com/082208/the-nard-of-fruit.jpg

Today is not a pretty day

Not a pretty day at all! I almost took my scooter to school today, but was glad that i didn't, since it decided to pour for most of the morning. It is hurricane season, so I guess nasty days are to be expected for a while. From what I hear, next week should be fun, with a lot more rain heading our way.

As far as classes go, so far so good. Path is interesting, as it was last semester, but not exactly sure how to study for the new guy we have. I guess I'll have to finally read the path book. We found out that the first half of behavioral, which we take this semester, is mostly about doctor/patient relationships and we don't learn about any of the diseases until Behavioral II next semester. While this part may be important, it is also not very easy to stay awake through. Fortunately, it is easier to study, which gives us a bit of a break to concentrate on the other classes. Neuro seems interesting and I like Dr. D's teaching style. But, she puts all of her notes in Word documents, and relies heavily on drawing on a tablet computer, which is awful for those of us with computers. Since so much of what she does in class is done on the tablet, it's nearly impossible to take notes on the computer, and none of us want to pay $150 for paper notes, which means I have to print it all out myself. I am trying to talk to the dean though to see if anything can be done so that we can just buy notes for that specific class. We'll see what happens.

Other than that, it's just good to be a 4th semester. Time to study to make sure I'm a 5th semester in a couple months!

Welcome to the First Semesters

Today, AUC was filled with almost 180 new medical students. As they do every September, they have taken over lecture hall 1, and my class has been moved to lecture hall 2. And for sure, it has never felt so good to be pushed out of anywhere! With them there, it means that I'm officially a 4th semester and only 2 semesters away from being done with the island forever! I definitely remember thinking, a year ago, that it would be really nice to be a 4th semester, but it was so far away. Well, it's hear now!

To the first semesters, my best advice (which I've given many times before) is just to make sure that you study every day and never get behind. Medical school is not hard, it's just a ton of information thrown at you at once. Fortunately, first semester is the easiest, so you get a little time to sort of ease into it, or at least as much as you can ease into medical school. Also, take what most of the upper semesters say with a grain of salt, particularly if they are complaining. For the most part, the teachers are very good, tests are almost always fair, and just about anyone who puts their mind to it can make it through. I have certainly done my fair share of complaining, and then some, but I'm still here, over half way done on the island, and doing well.

Don't be afraid to ask upper semesters for help or advice. We've all been where you are and most of us are pretty friendly! Good luck to all of you and welcome to med school!