End of First Exams

I finished up the last exam of my first round last Wednesday and am happy to report that I am currently passing all of my classes and am feeling confident about passing my first semester. Some days it feels like all I do is study, but I know that it is necessary and I keep at it. No exams this coming week, which is nice, but the second rounds of everything starts the next week.

When I opened my bank account here, I used a cashier's check from the bank and learned about a week ago that the money would not be available for use until October 14. Luckily, I had brought down a good amount of cash, which got me through the first part of my time here. On Thursday, my money became available for use, which is really great because I was able to go grocery shopping and buy food.

Food is probably the thing I miss the most. There are a lot of American brands here and are not ridiculously overpriced. The problem is the meat is questionable at best, and anything that is brought in is very expensive. I had been eating a cheeseburger on campus once a week in order to get a little protein and help my meat craving. Last week, after my anatomy exam, I ate my last cheeseburger because I ended up with a case of food poisoning. Unfortunately, I had a physio exam on that Wednesday and I did not end up with the 24 hour food poisoning, instead, I was sick for about four days, which made studying awful and basically nonexistent. I didn't do as well as I had hoped on physio because of this, but I still passed and have some time to improve the grade. I'm just happy not to feel that awful anymore.

I learned that my dislike of llamas could come in handy. For my nutrition exam, we had to learn properties of vitamins and minerals. I learned that llamas are susceptible to copper toxicity, which I remembered by the fact that I hate llamas and can poison them with copper. Fortunately, on the exam, there was a question about llamas and why they were sick, which I instantly got right. I'm glad they are useful for something, but still think they are not necessary.

Next weekend is our midsemester break, which means I get a three day weekend. We are planning an overnight trip to Nevis on the ferry and renting a hotel room overnight then doing some site seeing. I am looking forward to a nice break and I'm excited to see Nevis. I hear there is some good horseback riding there and would definitely like to check that out.

Last week was very rainy and lots of people lost power. Where I live, we very rarely lose power, which is really nice when I don't have to study by candlelight. The rain has let up now and the wonderful Caribbean tropical weather has returned. I enjoy looking at the weather at home online and it being freezing there while I enjoy the warmth.

Tomorrow we are going to try out a cafe for breakfast and then spend some time on the beach without bringing along my books. It will be a nice change. I also have to work on getting Rory a vet appointment so she can have her first check-up. All in all, staying busy and not missing home too much. Back to studying because the minute I stop I will be behind.

Rory sitting on my physio because she didn't want me studying