Into the Wild

1/2 of a rainbow taken from my balcony

Sometimes I forget where I live. Most days and hours I have my nose in my notes and rarely even look up at the sky. Today I had a spare moment (island holiday) to look up and as usual it struck me how beautiful the surrounding mountains are. I sometimes forget I live on the small percentage of land that contains asphalt and buildings. The rest is lush, tropical forest, and it pretty much looms above and around our small town one one side, while the other side ends at the ocean. I can't complain.

Tonight I ended an extremely productive study day (gotta love local holidays) with a movie at my friend Paul's apartment. After several attempts at getting the laptop sound just right and picking a movie we both had remotely heard of at some point...we decided on Liam Neeson. Always the right choice.

"The Grey" is about a group of airplane crash survivors, led by Liam of course, who are gradually being hunted and picked off by a huge pack of wild, super-wolves. Yea it was pretty bad, but also quite entertaining.

After I left his apartment I realized how late it was; midnight. Although it rained on and off today the sky was surprisingly clear. The moon shined eerily bright in the sky; a large crescent hung low on the horizon above the sea. Not an unusual sight here. But what made the night so amazing was the silence. Usually the night creatures--frogs, insects, bats, night birds--sing together in a cacophany of jungle noise that is sometimes deafening. Tonight, nothing. It was unsettling but not ominous. Guess this what I get for watching wilderness survival movies while living on a remote island.

In any case, as I was walking down my steep hill, I happened to gaze up at the sky at the perfect moment. And there, for 3 seconds I saw the most radiant meteor I have ever witnessed. It was low in the sky, just above the tallest trees and I could make out the entire thing, tail to head. From the brightest yellow tip all the way to the orange, glowing neck to the burning rock that tore through the dark sky. It was spectacular. I waited on my apartment step for a few minutes to see if it was one of many in a meteor shower. I didn't see any others. Talk about being in the right place at the right time.

I hate to say it, but I guess I will miss some aspects of living here when I move back to civilization.

Exploring trails with my friend Christian--Fall '11

Rainy Days

We are in the throws of rainy season here on the island of Dominica. Not only has the weather changed but the generally feel of things have shifted somehow. The clouds and periodic down pour have eliminated the need for sun block (although sunglasses are still need to combat the intense UV rays). I'm conflicted about the weather change.
Rainy weather on the island means several things...

1. I now have to brush/rinse my mouth with filtered, bottled water from the Ross water fountains... in the beginning of the season I had some G.I. issues which I attribute to rinsing my mouth with tap water. (In the dry-er season this is okay I guess because I have never found this correlation to be true.)

2. Dressing up in my "doctor clothes"--skirt/suit, White coat and heels--presents a problem for climbing up the steep, gravel hill that I live at the bottom of in the mornings. Rain + mud + gravel=disaster. So far *knock on wood* I have not fallen but there have been clothes calls in proper shoes.

3. Cooler days...makes swimming in the ocean, walking to campus so much nicer. Of course the increased humidity does make you sweat more. But at this point we have all given up the idea of being dry and perspiration-free here. The idea is a joke.

4. Power outages--luckily the generator in my building has proven sufficient so far, but no real storm has hit yet either. My first semester here was filled with constant outages, damaged electrical wires and a broken generator. Oh yes and no Internet. I'm glad I live in a different apartment complex to say the least.

To review, this is the order of disciplines that we have covered so far in 2nd semester:
1. Neuroscience
2. Endocrine
3. Gastrointestinal Physiology/Histology
Next is Reproductive Phys/Anat/etc. I can't believe we are already "done" with G.I. It went by so fast! It has only been 2 weeks since my 1st Mini exam and those week have been hellish. I have had two patient interviews, a visit to the homeless shelter in Roseau to conduct interviews not to mention the hours upon hours of back to back histology/physiology tag-team lectures, PBL and of cours anatomy lab dissections.

On the up side I am almost completely comfortable in my professional clothes and somewhat comfortable with wearing my White Coat--stuffed with exam equipment.

Two more semesters left then I get to feel somewhat like a real Doctor-in-training and am granted the Go card back to the States. Oh the States, the land of queso, tacos, Fresh Milk, good coffee...oh yes and family and friends.

On another note I think I may be going insane. I also have taken to increasing the "zoom" on my web browser to 140%...I think med school may be taking a toll on my eyes.

More to come soon!

The Ups and Downs

I have been feeling a bit "low" lately. Rationally I think this could be attributed to stress from back-to-back exams. However I think not having much of a social life is starting wear on me. Friendship and loyalty have always been things that I hold dear, but lately I wonder who my "true" friends really are. Back home there is a greater opportunity to socialize and of course there will always be best friends and people that I have grown up with. But here, in this strange, isolated, psuedo-home that we have established for the sole purpose of getting through medical school, the same rules do not apply.

Yes it has finally hit me. Missing home, missing family, missing friends. And even more missing people who I can relate to on more than one level (academics). The stark reality is that medical school is difficult. But medical school is even more difficult with out a significant other or strong peer support system.

How do yogis spend years in the forest in isolation? I guess these experiences are supposed to make a person stronger.