blogging fail

- I know I have been super-slacking at blogging lately. It's not my fault though. I got lots of rest and managed to fight off my cold, but have also had to deal with 2 exams this week so I haven't had a lot of time.

- I scored an 87% on my physiology exam. B+. I'll take it. I was pretty nervous because the physio midterm didn't go very well. I am happy to say that I am back on track. Hopefully I can end up with a B+ overall if I continue to do well. (I am currently sitting with a B in the course).

- I found out yesterday that I was awarded The Louise McKinney scholarship for my grades last year while attending monkeyschool (yes, I was actually completing coursework while following monkeys for 14 hours a day. yes, I am a machine.) The scholarship is for $2500 which will come in nice. I am thinking of putting a tiny bit into my macbook pro savings fund, and then using the rest, along with my tax return to put a large dent in an old student loan that I have from multimedia school. It would be the smart thing to do.

- I have started to look for apartments to rent for next semester. There was a good/affordable 1 bedroom place that a classmate told me about that I was hoping to look at (her and another girl rented the 2 bedroom suite upstairs)... but I found out that the place got taken already so that's too bad. I have an appointment to look at a different suite tomorrow after class. It is in a really good location, and people that i like would be my neighbours, so hopefully the place is nice and a good price. *fingers crossed*

- Tomorrow I have an exam in histology. I have been working very hard all week but I don't really feel confident yet. There is just so much information to learn. For those of you who don't know, histology is the study of tissues... so the entire class involves going through the body and learning about all the different kinds of cells that make up the various systems, what they look like, and what they do. On this exam, we are responsible for knowing all of the digestive tract (there are a LOT of layers of tissues that do different things and each layer in each part has its own special cells), the urogenital and reproductive systems, and all of the differences between species. it is a lot of work. And the lamest part is, the exam is only 25 questions long. I have 8 stacks of flaashcards for a 25 question test. hopefully i do well.

- Tomorrow after class, some friends that I don't hang out with very often invited me to go see the movie The Tourist with them in the theatre. (movies here are months behind). I have already seen the tourist, but I am looking forward to getting to know some new friends and spending time with them. I am also looking forward to eating popcorn for dinner. On Saturday, my closest friend and I are making a day out of going into St. George's. We are going to go to the spice market, check out the local shops, and walk around and take photos of the city (my idea). I am looking forward to it. The rest of the weekend is dedicated to studying anatomy because I have a test on the abdomen, back, and pelvic limb next wednesday. fun fun.

- that's it for now. back to flashcards.

sickness

I feel kind of like I am getting sick. I hope i can fight it off because I have an exam tomorrow.

hash 2 pics

Here are some photos of the hash from yesterday. I had a great time!

friday

I scored a 97% on my nutrition exam... but before you get all excited, it was a very very easy test. Still, no complaints. After the test, we had our first clinical skills class. We got to go into the simulation lab and listen to different kinds of heart and lung sounds. I loved it. This is the stuff that really matters - in this class we are learning the actual hands-on skills that vets need. Next week we have clinical labs with live animals. It should be fantastic.

After school was over, my closest friend and I took the bus into the city to check out a grocery store where all of the locals shop. The prices weren't that much different - but the selection on vegetables and junk food was much better. I picked up some yogurt and some fruit for my breakfast smoothies. After that, we walked around and had ate some STREET MEAT! Yeah, that sounds dirty, but really, its just this street barbecue that happens every friday night near the shopping mall. We got a thing of BBQ pork ribs and a thing of BBQ chicken - and split the two. We paid $16EC for the whole lot of it - which is a great price. and oh man - it was tasty.

After that, I came home and did my taxes. Quite a way to end the evening. My return wasn't that great but it's better than a kick in the pants. I am thinking about putting the return towards an old student loan or doing something smart with it. I guess I should wait until the money actually arrives. Now I am going to go to the gym and relax before bed.

Tomorrow morning consists of studying histology and physiology and then tomorrow afternoon I am going HASHING again. This one is a beach hash which is great. After we run, we are all going to jump in the water and cool off. I will photograph of course! That's it!

sleepy beach dog

I have been studying for exams and haven't had too much time for blog posts. Tonight I will just share a photo.
This is a little stray pothound that curled up under my leg and fell asleep when we were out one night a while back. He was such a sweet little guy and it made me happy to have some animal snuggle time. I find that I just feel kind of "off" when I don't have animals around me. I wish we could have pets in the dorms here.

update

- not too much to report. It has been raining constantly for the past 2 days. I bought an umbrella.

- things are starting to pick up again - exam wise. I have nutrition this friday, physiology next Tuesday, histology next friday, and then anatomy the wednesday after that.

- I am looking forward to this semester being over. I find that seeing the same people every single day becomes exhausting and makes me irritable. This is concerning since I have to spend the next 3 years with them. I hope that living off-campus next semester will help me to re-charge at the end of the day and be less annoyed with the people around me. Regardless, I need to keep my eye on the prize and just get through this.

- I am unsure of what I will do for work when I get home - I hope to get a job in a vet clinic but i find it hard to believe that any place would want to hire me for 2.5 months. I will just have to convince them how awesome I am i guess.

- that's it for now.

hash pics

So here are a couple of photos I got while hashing yesterday. The moon was really pretty - but I still have to fiddle with the nighttime settings on my camera a little bit. There are also photos of me after I got doused with beer.

virginity certificate

So my first hash was awesome! We hiked some easy trails by the beach and got to check out the crazy full moon shining on the water (tonight, the moon is closer to the earth than it has been in something like the last 18 years). We ran for a while too and it felt great to be super physical and outdoors in the warm night air. SOOO much better than going to an after party at a club (where most of my school was going tonight).

When the hashing was over, the hashers all gathered at a local bar and had yummy local food prepared for us. I got to try Grenada's official dish... its this weird concoction called "oil down" which is made up of coconut milk, bread fruit, dough balls, salt fish, and some kind of tangy cabbage. It was different than anything I have ever tried before, but it wasn't bad. After that, all of the "hash virgins" were rounded up and presented with a "loss of virginity" certificate - but not before we all had about 10 beers dumped on our heads. it was disgusting - but part of the initiation. I laughed and enjoyed myself.

I will post some of the moonlit photos I took tomorrow, but in the meantime, here is my virginity certificate.

click the picture to see the big version. the certificate is quite funny. : )

booze cruise photos

so I finally stopped being lazy and posted the photos from that booze cruise I went on last saturday.
The underwater photos were taken by one of my classmates on a cool waterproof digital camera and are being used with permission.
hope you enjoy them :)

bookstore fail

I was having a bit of an off day today.... feeling kind of like I don't fit in here and am all alone. So I decided to go buy myself a present to cheer myself up. I was hoping to find a new novel since I am nearly finished my last book (Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut). I took the bus to the mall and approached the tiny bookstore. There was a shelf right in the entranceway with fiction books on it. I checked it out, but it seemed only to have grocery store bestsellers, romance novels, and twilight-type teen fiction (i can't even begin to express how lame the Twilight series is). huh.

I moved into the store to check out the other shelves. One shelf was devoted to Grenada-type picture books. Souvenir type stuff. I moved on and surveyed the rest of the place. Every single other shelf in that store had either self-help books, bibles (they had a whole aisle devoted to bibles), books relating to Jesus, or Jesus audio-books. Seriously. 95% of the store was Jesus books. Not cool Grenada - you need to broaden your horizons when it comes to literature.

I can't wait until I get home and start downloading real books on my birthday Kindle.

school

not much to report. just plugging away at this whole school thing.

- I got to be the cutter in anatomy lab yesterday. I got to open up the dog's stomach and intestines, as well as remove all of the skin around the anus so the muscles could be examined. It was fun.

- I keep meaning to post photos of my sailing weekend, but I am just too lazy. Hopefully tomorrow.

- This weekend has a lot going on. Tomorrow after class, there is a talent show on the basketball court right beside my dorm. I want to go watch. After that, the vet school band is putting on a show at this bar called "Old School". The band sucks, but it is a fun place to go and if I am in the mood to go to the bar it could be fun.

- Saturday there is a big "after-midterm" party on the beach called Sand Blast. They do it every year. Everybody in the school goes and apparently sometimes people party a little too hard. Last year 7 people had to go to the hospital for alcohol poisoning and one girl got kicked out of school for getting into an actual fight. It should be hilarious to watch. I will most likely just people-watch in the sun.

- After Sand Blast, there is a Hash. A hash is a kind of Grenadian jungle hike, and they happen every 2nd Saturday. The busses leave from campus and go to remote parts of the island. We hike/run on trails in the jungle, and then have a locally prepared meal. I have been meaning to go hashing for a while now but haven't been able to because of exams. It is probably the thing I am looking forward to most.

ok that's it! time to get some rest before the weekend starts. hah

what you don't know about pet diets

So we started a class on dog/cat nutrition on Monday. So far it has been really interesting.

Here are a few interesting facts and figures (which have come from published scientific studies):

- There is tremendous consolidation in the pet food industry. 25% of all pet food in america is made by Mars Inc (Cal-Kan, Whiskas, Pedigree, Greenies). 23.7% is made by Nestle (Friskies, Dog Chow, ProPlan, Purina). For pet foods, most of the focus is on the marketing (labels), not on the ingredients. Most of the foods made by one company contain the exact same things. The ONLY difference is the packaging.

- There is no regulation in the pet food industry. Companies can say whatever they want about their pet foods. The only things that are required to be printed on a bag/can of pet food are: 1. the company name, 2. the designator that states what species the food is for (dog food, cat food, etc.), and 3. the net weight of the bag/can. Everything else is purely marketing.

- for a food to be called "BEEF" on the label, 70% of the total product when it was made had to be made of beef (keeping in mind that "beef" does not necessarily mean the muscley parts of the cow that humans are accustomed to eating. "Beef" can also mean beef cartilage or beef bone meal or beef organ parts.)

- Adding a modifier to the label indicates that less of the actual ingredient is present. Names like "beef dinner", "beef cuts and gravy", "delicious beefy gourmet" require that only 10% (canned) or 25% (dry) of the total product weight when made had to contain actual beef

- "with beef" is even less. only 3% of the total product weight had to contain beef.

- and "beef flavour" means that the taste needs to be recognized by an animal as beef. No *actual* beef required.

- If a dog/cat food claims to be sufficient for all stages of an animals life (puppyhood, adulthood, old age), then it is actually puppy food. Puppies need more protein and energy to support fast growth than adult dogs. If a food has everything that a puppy needs to grow, it will contain more than an adult needs.

- many humans want specialty diets for their animals because these foods claim to be more "natural". The word "natural" is a term used in food labeling and marketing to imply some sort of organic benefit, however "natural" simply means "coming from an animal, plant, or mineral source". So in fact, all foods are natural foods. Any bag of pet food claiming to be "all natural" is just sucking you in with marketing buzz words.

- pet foods that say things like "100% complete and nutritious", "100% nutritionally complete", and "100% balanced" just means "these foods have sufficient quantities of ingredients to meet the minimum daily nutrient requirements". All pet foods meet these requirements. If they didn't, they would not be manufactured and sold.

- Raw food diets are very popular right now. However, feeding your pet raw meat in their diet is dangerous. In one study, 20-35% of chicken carcasses for human consumption tested positive for salmonella bacteria. 50% were infected with campylobacter. What does this mean? This means that the meat people buy at the grocery store is CRAWLING WITH BACTERIA. This is why we COOK our food before we eat it. When you give this food raw to your dog/cat, there is a very good chance that it will infect your pet. Infections can be shed in the feces, and can be present on a dog or cat's fur for many days! If you pet gets infected with salmonella/e-coli/etc, there is a very good chance that you will become infected as well.

- A vet could lose their license if they recommended a raw food diet, and then a person died as a result.

crazy huh? I have sooo much more to learn. But this gave me some things to think about.

ugh

back to class today. the weekend wasn't long enough. we started a new section on dog/cat nutrition today and went to class right up until 5pm. We also have an exam in less than 2 weeks. it never stops.

Tonight some of my friends invited me to go to this bar called The Owl with them. Every Monday night they have crab races so we were all going to go check it out. At the last minute one of my review sessions got bumped to a later time though so I wasn't able to go. I was disappointed because the people who asked me to go are friends that I haven't hung out with very much yet. I was hoping to go and get to know them better. hopefully they will ask me again.

Other than that, I was meaning to post some photos from the booze cruise this weekend, but I am just too tired right now. I will do it tomorrow. Instead, here is a photo of Dodgy Docks - the restaurant we went to on Friday night.

midterms are over!

So I survived my first week of midterms and I even pulled off an A on my anatomy lab exam (still waiting for the grade from the lecture part).

I am officially 1/12 of the way through vet school in Grenada. It is going by sooo fast.

After my exams yesterday, a couple people went cliff jumping. I filmed them on my camera, but didn't jump myself because the scrapes on my knees from last time finally healed up and I didn't want to get more. We then went out for a drink to a restaurant/bar at a hotel nearby called Dodgy Docks. The restaurant is literally, right on the water and the place is quite nice since it's on a resort. After that the people I was with went to Bananas to go clubbing. I walked them there, and then went back to campus and promptly fell asleep. I was exhausted.

Today, I went on a booze cruise with about 25 of my classmates. It was really cool. We got to sail around on a giant catamaran, did some snorkeling at this neat underwater sculpture garden, and then had a nice lunch on this little island. I didn't think that alcohol and ocean waves would be a good combo for me, so I just layed in the sun all day and drank yummy passionfruit juice. Tonight, there is a vet school bonfire on the beach. It should be a nice night but I am pretty tired from all the sun so I doubt I will be out too late. I will post some of my photos if they turned out ok, but now I have to run out the door!

histology

so histology is not really my bitch. I only got a B, but I guess i'm ok with it. I didn't think my 4.0 would last the whole semester anyway... and i'm still doing really well overall.

This whole vet school thing is strange. I used to be the smart one in all of my classes at my old university. Here, I am just average. All of my classmates had to be just as awesome as me just to be accepted here. So we are all the smart ones, which makes *none* of us the smart ones. I guess its a good thing i'm funny and cute. hehe

Tomorrow I don't have any exams... but on Friday I have both my anatomy lab and lecture exam. There is sooo much information. I am taking a little break, and then I have to go back to the lab and study the cadavers some more. I need to learn all of the parts of the heart (which is kind of tricky) and all of the vessels of the thorax and thoracic (front) limb. plus about a million radiographs and drawings and vocabulary terms. I can't wait until Friday afternoon when it is all behind me. I have booked myself a massage in celebration of getting through this in one piece. It will feel fantastic.

Random fact: I have touched 5 dead dogs and 1 dead cat today.

that is all.

better

well, I survived my nutrition class and came out with an 88% on my midterm. Its only a B+, but i'll totally take it.
Histology midterm tomorrow. i'm going to make it my bitch.

sorry these posts aren't very exciting. my life will involve things other than studying/exam writing at the end of this week and i'll try my best to post something cool!

ouch

physiology: 1
Dayna: 0

that exam kicked my ass. :( I thought I was going to get an A, but the professor really stepped up the difficulty from the last one. It feels crappy but i'm trying not to let it affect how I do on the rest of my exams. hopefully I can improve as the week goes on.

my day

wake up.
study.
smoothie.
study.
move outside.
study.
move inside.
study.
cookie.
study.
gym.
blog post.
shower.
study.
dinner.
study.
sleep.

tomorrow the exam-marathon begins. I hope i kill it.

study study

I have been studying since 9am this morning. I have never in my life spent so much time preparing for exams. I feel like I haven't even scratched the surface yet though. i'll just keep plugging away I guess and eventually some day I will be an actual vet.

My new thing: smoothies. I think I mentioned before that I bought a Magic Bullet blender from a student a couple weeks ago. It is fantastic. I just dump some fruit and yogurt and ice cubes into the thing, and viola! Smoothie in 30 seconds. Papaya goes well with almost everything. My current favorite is papaya and banana with mango yogurt. it's the best breakfast ever. that's it for now. i need to get back to animal nutrition.

dork tan

Our afternoon classes got cancelled today, so I took my flashcards to the beach. I learned all about how the fetal heart develops. It's some pretty intense stuff.

Unfortunately, I seem to have gotten a sunglasses tan as well. I look like a complete dork.


disclaimer: yes mom. I did wear suntan lotion. i'm not actually burnt, i just look red in this photo. love you!

hell week

Midterms are coming. Here is the schedule starting next week.

Monday:
Physiology. I think I can get an A with a little bit more work. I actually like physiology and could see myself becoming an internal medicine vet someday.
Tuesday:
Nutrition. I haven't started studying for this one yet, but I made fantastic notes in class so I hope I do ok.
Wednesday:
Histology. I have been working on this class all week. It is SO time consuming, but I will be angry if I don't get an A.
Thursday:
Day off
Friday:
Anatomy lecture and lab exams. There is just so much to learn. How I do will depend on if I study the correct things or not. I hope to do well again and keep my A.

I really hope I can pull off more good grades. There just don't seem to be enough hours in the day to get all the studying in that I need. The good thing is, I have gone to the gym for the last 6 days in a row. Being physically active really makes me feel good and I haven't really felt stressed out at all. Hope I can keep it up for the next 8 days. Once exams are finished, I am going to treat myself to a massage and a pedicure at this place down by the beach. Can't wait!

bizarre items for sale

So last weekend I had to go into town to buy new shoes because my Converse got this huge rip in the side. Hoping to avoid paying "tourist prices", I decided to brave the shops in the actual city to see what was available. After some searching through many stores selling items that looked like they didn't make the cut at the dollar store, I was able to find a new pair of black converse lowtops for less than I paid for them in Canada. I think I got lucky - the last pair they had was in my exact size. I thought at first they were fake, but the labels all look exactly the same as my real pair. score.

While shopping through the junk stores, I did have the opportunity to peruse some interesting things for sale.
Here is one. Barack Obama shoes? In Grenada? Innnteresting.

eavesdropping

Yesterday, while I was waiting at the bus with a classmate, I got to listen to the funniest conversation between her and some random guy on campus. Transcript below:

Classmate: Hey Dave.
Dave: (looking confused). Oh um...hi.
Classmate: You don't remember me, do you?
Dave: um... no. Have we slept together?
Classmate: no
Dave: well then that makes this less awkward, doesn't it?
Classmate: haha yeah. Why are you carrying around a plastic lightsaber?
Dave: cause i'm awesome like that.

lol. I thought it was totally random and funny. Dave sat down for a while and talked about a time when he went hitchiking while high on all kinds of drugs. Then he went on his way.

University has all kinds of interesting people here. And by interesting, I mean crazy.