Bazaar

Today was a big day. This morning at 10am we had "convocation". At the University of Calgary, convocation means the graduation ceremony where graduates are presented with their degrees. But here, convocation just means a long boring lecture where all the school officials talk to us and tell us about the different programs and services offered at the school. After convocation, we had 2.5 hours to kill, so a few of us decided to get some power beach time in. We bussed to the beach, swam, lay in the sun, and then bussed back just in time for our next lecture at 2:30.

The 2:30 lecture was an intro to the PAWS program.. which is basically a program where we are assigned a "buddy" student who has been here for a while. That student is supposed to show us around, help us, give us tips for success, that sort of thing. My buddy didn't bother to show up. Thankfully the buddy of another girl in my class adopted me and took me on the tour. She also said that she would give us her notes from last term as well as her practice exams. That should be a great help.

After the buddy program, the school held a big bazaar in the soccer field right outside my dorm. There were a whole bunch of student clubs and merchant tents there. We also got vouchers for $35 EC (caribbean dollars) to spend on whatever we wanted. I bought a passionfruit smoothie and a piece of pizza to eat. I also went to a fruit vendor and spent the rest of my free vouchers on bananas, mangos, grapefruits, and tomatoes. I was stoked because I was planning to go to the fruit market tomorrow and now I don't have to. That should last me all week!

I also joined the following student clubs:

• The emergency medicine club. Members of this club do shifts at the campus emergency vet clinic. We will be able to get lots of great clinical experience here.


• The exotics and wildlife club. This club has a lot of cool events... such as traveling to the north part of the island in the spring to assist with the egg laying of leatherback sea turtles, and whale watching.


• The herpetology club. This is for vet students who like reptiles. Members of this club can foster baby tortoises as well as go to extra lectures about reptile medicine.


• The canadian club. This club is mainly for med students, but they have a Tim Horton's night. nuff said.


• I wanted to join the hiking club, but I got distracted by all the stuff going on and ended up forgetting to go find the booth. I am sure that one of my friends signed up though, so I will just tag along to the first meeting and sign up then.

That is all.
Now I am in bed, trying to think about what to get ready for my first day of actual classes. The first 2 days are just a big seminar on professional skills. I think it will just be a chance to get to work together and really get to know the other people in my class. I hope its fun. Tomorrow, I will show you all the neat things that I got when I went to go get my textbook package. :)
Have a great night!
xoxox
Dayna