Hello World,

It has been a while. Why don't we reacquaint ourselves?

My 4th semester of vet school is half over. Plus, my time spent on St. Kitts is also halfway over! Can you believe how quickly it has gone?

This term is going well, it is much more interesting than previous semesters. The courses include: Pharmacology 2, Pathology 2, Clinical Pathology, Epidemiology & Public Health, and finally Mechanisms of Disease. Yes, you counted correctly, that is FIVE classes. Ooooooooof. Two midterms are down... only... a billion more to go. I exaggerate from time to time.

Let's see... what else is new.

The island survived hurricane Earl with no problems at all, but then a few weeks later, with no warning, a tropical depression formed directly over us and stayed for about 6 days leaving the island a little less inviting. Houses flooded, roads flooded, roads washed out, roads became covered in a couple of feet of sand and had to be dug out, and the beaches eroded away quite drastically. Luckily everyone seemed to come out unscathed none the less. Most things returned to normal within a few days, some activities will take longer to rebuild. Most noteworthy to the students is the lack of space for our Friday beach volleyball league. Only 2 of our 6 courts were salvageable leaving 50+ volleyball teams with no where to play. Luckily we have one awesome volleyball league "director" who has been doing everything he can to get the games back in play. Hopefully the oceans will return some more sand and we'll be able to rebuild more courts for next semester.

BIRD UPDATE! Matt reports that 2 doves came back to our porch and sat on the chair where the nest used to be. I saw the fuzzy picture he was able to take, but we still aren't sure if they are the babies who are now adults, or the parents checking out the site for nesting again. Time will tell! I'll keep you all updated. 

Back in school land, things are going well. I'm learning lots of fun clinically-relevant things, which makes school more fun. I can now tie THREE knots in suture using instruments. Pretty cool, right? Oh, and I can read blood work results and make a few diagnoses from the results. It is like solving a puzzle with lots of rules. (If this is high, but that is low, then check this, if it is high then it is this, if not, check something else, if that is low, then it is this.... see how confusing it can get??)

I really should take more pictures. The island is a beautiful place, I just keep forgetting to take my camera out of the drawer. One day....

In other unrelated news, I am going to Europe!!! In between next semester (5th) during the break, so it will be the last week of April and the first week of May in 2011. I am very excited to go have an adventure with my friends. We're planning on going to: London, Venice, Florence, 2 undetermined cities in southern France (possibly Lyon and Nimes, or Marseilles, or somewhere), then to Barcelona. Lots of planning still to come, but I think it will be a lot of fun. I haven't quite figured out how I'll manage without seeing my family or visiting home during those 8 months (because I'll be in St. Kitts for 2 straight semesters, using the break to go to Europe) but we will see. Lots of skyping will have to suffice!

Speaking of home... Zoe and I have devised a list of activities to complete when we both get home. She would have been away for 6 months in India by Christmas, and only 4 for myself. There are lots of good things on that list though. Like going to Ikea for breakfast. And Grocery Outlet. and Sushi. Yes, most of them do revolve around food. We know, we like food, a lot.

And, to create a new section to my blog, for those of your with the attention span long enough to still be reading... the St. Kitts-ism of the week! (aka Joy of St. Kitts of the week, or an Only In St. Kitt's of the week, they will all fall into this category)

So, for the 1st time ever,
Laura's St. Kitts-ism for the week!
..... finding live larva in your applesauce! (bought in sealed containers from the grocery store)

ahhhh island living....

To be fair, it could have been crawling on the packaging and crawled in when I opened it. But still! Larva should not be in your applesauce. Ever.

Pathology is calling my name!! Or maybe it is the midterm on Wednesday.... wish me luck!