Chicago!

Hey all,

I know it's been awhile. I have been busy setting up my apartment, getting acquainted with the city, and learning. There has been lots of learning. 

The flight to Chicago was a late night one. I sat next to this nice lady and her little boy, who surprisingly to me was a great traveller. Those who travel a lot know what I am talking about. I got into Chicago pretty late so I couldn't move into my place right away, not to mention my furniture that I had ordered online hadn't showed up either. So I stayed with my friend LS at her apartment. It's so nice that we're all so close to each other in Hyde Park.

Is it safe? You live in the South Side of Chicago. Are there shootings every night? Yeah, I can read your minds. Yes, Hyde Park is safe, after all I've been reading from Forum Bonaire, I'd definitely choose to stay here, among other reasons, like being able to get what you want when you need it ('Merica!). Obviously, it's not like a small town, it is urban, but using common sense, it's actually a great place. I walk to buy my groceries, because 1. everything is so close by and 2. free parking on my street, prime real estate. Speaking of parking, Hyde Park has a lot of free parking, just be sure to read the signs properly so your car won't get towed.

Since my car was delivered 2 days late (UGH! Long story short, NEVER, EVER ship your car through Intransit, LLC. Glad I had a broker, Jeff and Ellen are the best.), I explored the city via public trans. CTA bus stops are all over the neighborhood! I had so much fun exploring downtown Chicago. I've been to the Bean (too cold to get a photo), the Macy's on State Street, and I've shopped at Water Tower Place, which is part of the Magnificent Mile. The city is amazing.

The escalators at the entrance of Water Tower Place.  

The first week of classes was interesting. The first day is super long and super disorganized. Word of advice have $279 cash on you the first day of class, as well as a credit/debit card and your ID. The cash is for your Kaplan Q bank, HIPAA, OSHA, and CPR. The credit/debit card and your ID is for your drug test, which is $20. You will be there past 7:30pm, don't let anyone else tell you otherwise, although we could have been done a lot earlier without huge time wasting (disorganized!) and our 2 hour lunch. The second day is when you start class, you will be in class with the previous month's class. How are the professors? Well, we have had 3 out of the four and so far, I've learned a lot, my First Aid has been annotated every way to Sunday. 

Immuno annotations.

With my tiny handwriting I fit a lot into those blank spaces in First Aid. My first section was GI and I took about 18 pages of notes in 2 days, if that gives you any indication on how much you learn. 

So what's the perk of getting your ID ASAP? It gives you access to the University of Chicago Library. It's really nice and quiet, a great place to study either by yourself or in a group. Your ID will give you a 3 month pass to get into the library, after the 3 months, you do have to renew, since the max they can give you is 3 months. 

Onto the fun stuff! Those of you who know me, know that I am obsessed with Landon Austin, who is a singer/songwriter from Nashville, TN. He played a show in Chicago, and the venue only holds about 30-40 people, so of course that has to be my highlight so far. Getting to meet someone that you admire and having an actual conversation with them is pretty surreal. He is every bit as sweet and kind as he is on his vlogs. Yes, I will admit that I fangirled a bit when I met him. In fact, I was standing next to him before he went into the venue I couldn't find the nerve to say "hello," to him, but I redeemed myself after the show. 

Aaron and Landon, whaaaaat?! At least I didn't squeal like the 13 year olds that were there . . . 

So far Chicago has been great. People tell me that I'm a big city kind of girl, and I usually beg to differ. I mean I come from San Fran and Seattle, and most recently Seattle, which is a smaller sized metro than Chicago, but I think that they may be right. I do like city living. However, I know I will be leaving Chicago when my time with it is done. I am a West Coast girl through and through. So, my friends in Seattle don't get too comfortable without me, I'll be back before you know it. In the meantime, I would love visitors, hahaha. 

Anyway, back to the books. Looking forward to next week though. Fabio Viviani of Top Chef fame will be here in Chi-town. My life sounds pretty okay, studying for the step and meeting celebrities. Not too shabby.

Home, Studying, and Moving

We are coming up on being home for 50 days. Let me tell you it's so nice to be home. Surrounded by family, food, and the knowledge of knowing if I need something, chances are if I can't get it at the store (slim to no chance of it here) that I can order it on good ole Amazon and have it here in 2 days. Thanks to Amazon Prime. LOVE IT! Here's a perk for you, if you have access to your .edu email address still click RIGHT HERE for my referral link to Amazon Prime Student. That way you don't have to pay to join Amazon Prime. It's what I used to buy my BRS books, First Aid, you know the deal.

Also, my mom's birthday just past, so here's a picture of cupcakes from my favorite cupcake place. 

Studying for the Step at home was harder than I bargained for. The motivation to get on my laptop and watch videos can be easily trumped by the announcer guy on Bravo TV telling me that there's a marathon of this season's Top Chef (which by the way took place mostly in Seattle, I was stuck on that island when I could have tried to stalk the likes of Tom Colicchio and Padma Lakshmi, HELLLOOOOO!!!!). However, as easy as it is to be distracted by frivolous things, I get a pit in my stomach thinking about the Step and the score I require myself to obtain. 

I'm not saying that SJSM doesn't prep you for it, but you get what you put in. If you decide that you're just going to memorize what they give you on review day, that's great, you'll get outstanding marks, but you're hurting yourself in the long run. The USMLE doesn't run on that kind of a mindset. My personal philosophy was that I have to learn this sooner or later, why not actually spend the time with my textbook and review videos and actually learn the stuff along with class. It makes reviewing all 16 months a LOT easier on you. I started my USMLE prep in MD3, for anyone who wants to know when they should start studying, but that was what I thought I needed for myself.

What have I been using to study? Here's my list of materials (if you're reading this and you're not a medical student, I'm so sorry for an extremely boring blog, but if you've read all my previous posts, I'm sure you know what you're getting into *wink, wink*)

Videos:

1. Kaplan

2. Kaplan High Yield

3. Dr. Najeeb

4. Pathoma

5. Doctors in Training

6. PASS

Books:

1. BRS for physio, neuro, biochem, genetics 

2. Lippincott --> Pharm

3. Clinical Microbiology Made Ridiculously Simple

4. Clinically Oriented Anatomy

5. USMLE Step 1 First Aid (DUH!)

6. Robbins Pathology

Hopefully, that helps you guys out.

In my downtime, when I'm not watching Top Chef or my Step prep videos, I'm looking for apartments. Moving to Chi-city next month! I'm actually not as excited as I thought I was going to be. I really love the West Coast, I mean I was born and raised on the Best Coast. I'm really reluctant to leave behind the lushness of the PNW (Pacific Northwest for those not in the know) and move to the land of skyscrapers and a giant metal bean in the middle of a park. Meh, I suppose I can't judge we have naked people sculptures in Gene Coulon Park.

I'm really looking forward to getting some time in the hospital, it's been so long since I've been behind the scenes in clinic, I'm so excited for that leg of my journey.

In other news, I'm training for the Rock and Roll Half Marathon in Chicago, so stoked. I haven't run in that kind of race in quite some time. Looking to not embarrass myself too much. Alrighty, back to the books we go!

Life After Bonbon

It's been a little over month since I've been home and said goodbye to the little island of Bonaire. It took a little adjusting to get used to the fact that I don't have to worry about going to the store and hoping that they have what I need, multilane roads in good condition (Bonaire makes the potholes in Seattle look microscopic), and most of all I'm not sweating just walking out the door, instead I have to make sure to grab my jacket. 

Something tells me we're not in Bonaire anymore

I've had some time to unwind and hang out with some friends. Las Vegas has nothing on the crazy nights that can happen in Bonaire, but I will choose Vegas over Bonbon any day. I'm enjoying catching up with my friends, seeing where they are in their journeys and meeting the little ones that were born while I was away, so many cute babies in my life right now. Makes my heart full of love.

Along with my friends and shopping, I have been able to bake again. Baking is my therapy and you always make what you love to eat, and I have the world's sickest sweet tooth. If you follow me on Instagram, you will have been privy to all the sweets that I have made since I have been home. Nothing like making a home smell cozy than the smell of baked goodies. Unfortunately, I usually make more than my family can handle, so my parents' coworkers have been gifted quite often in this month baked goodies. We're talking Nutella filled croissants, coffee cake, apple pie, cranberry bliss bars, muffins, cupcakes. The 25 pound bag of flour from Costco, yeah, gone in 4 weeks. I missed having an oven, that is more than obvious.

These Liege waffles were at the request of my mom, after having a sample from Costco. She wanted a homemade version.

Bonaire made me appreciate so many things, that I probably took for granted prior to my 16 months of what I like to call med school mental bootcamp. One of the things I realized is that I have the wonderful friends. I will admit now that I definitely took for granted the amazing friends in my life. While the circle of friends isn't huge, I have friends that are worth more than gold in my life. True people of quality. I am amazed at how much we have all grown up in these last 16 months. 

Looking back at my time on the island, I definitely see growth within myself. I went down to the island being one of the most trusting people, and actually believing the words others would say. Needless to say I was hurt multiple times by people who on the surface looked so genuine, and it turns out they still haven't grown up from their high school years. You would think that medical students would be more mature, but that theory only looks good on paper. Turns out medical school is even more clique oriented that high school. I'm sorry, but I am too old for that kind of nonsense. I honestly have no regrets cutting ties with those fellow classmates of mine. 

Anyhow, now the fun begins. I am packing and getting ready to move to Chicago, which is where 5th semester and clinicals for the most part occurs. The fun of trying to find an apartment, as well as a cargo shipping company that 's going to ship my vehicle to Chicago has commenced . . . 

There's also studying for the USMLE Step 1, I've been studying pretty much since I arrived home, I know NERD. Only because this exam is the make or break of my residency and being that I want to be a dermatologist and I am coming from a Caribbean medical school the stakes are high, but who doesn't like to take a risk in life. Life isn't fun without a little gamble, we can't play it safe all the time. I have been watching so many review material videos and doing USMLE World questions, trying to prep myself for the test of a lifetime. February, I start my Kaplan test. So here's to hoping I'm over prepared for the exam.

Looking Back: Part 4

I didn't go back home the break between my MD3 and MD4 term, which even though I was a bit bummed I was really glad that I got to experience Bonaire in a different way, not as a frustrated student that had to live there, but as a tourist. Now, I get why people come here, Although, it's crazy expensive if you're not a resident to do some of the stuff. I got to go to "Highest Point" known as Seru Largu, the National Park (which if you visit, you have to do the long tour), as well as Aquaspace. Of course, I engaged in the free rum punch offered by Divi Resorts on Tuesdays from 5p-6p, check it out! It's one of the things I miss about the island, along with the beaches, and the convenience of being able to walk to most places.

Last Rum Punch

MD4 was kind of surreal, there were days where I'd wake up and think, "Where did the months go?" Classes for the most part went well, with the exception of Epidemiology, which is taught by Dr. Gugnani. This class he knows nothing about, don't try arguing with him with an electronic version of a book as he thinks that we have written it or have edited it to reflect what we are saying . . . 

The most upsetting thing at least for me was how our AICM was handled. Granted our class is the largest that SJSM has had. To accommodate the large class they had to add an extra month for us. However, there was no strategy on how to place students in their respective months. I had put in my order of preference "January and February," since those were the months that I wanted to start, and wonderful SJSM put me in April. Oh well, I can swing it. I now have the time to do the Kaplan prep class prior to starting AICM and then as soon as that is over, if I am feeling comfortable, I will be taking the Step in August. 

This term was fun. I seriously found the balance between school and fun. This term included the baseball playoffs and Halloween. Since I had no other costume and I refused to buy one. I sported my Buster Posey jersey. The icing on the cake was that the Giants won the World Series so that was even more incentive to go as a baseball fan, haha, even though it wasn't too out of the box. 

2 Giants Fans, 2 Superbowls, 2 World Series

There was also Science Day, in which we present our research project. It was a long day, mainly because our class is so large. Some of us were starving from being in the classroom for so long. We had class (as a whole from 10a to 12p) and then our presentations started at 1pm and we went until nearly 6pm. When the presentations were over it definitely felt like the last day of class, many people were taking pictures and so forth. 

"Class" Picture from Science Day

My favorite thing this term was having my parents come to the island. I loved being able to show them the prettier parts of Bonaire. I'm glad that they got to enjoy it. Taking them around and letting them see all the sites in 3 days was not an easy task while cleaning out my apartment, as well as attending my white coat ceremony. I got to show them Sorobon (the prettiest beach in Bonaire, it always becomes everyone's favorite place), Seru Largu, and took them on Aquaspace, and luck was with us when we went on Aquaspace, in which we saw 3 turtles. It was a great way to wrap up my 16 months with the people who have been there to support me through the good times and the bad. 

My Parents and I on Aquaspace

My White Coat Ceremony with the People Who are Always in my Corner

Looking Back: Part 3

MD3, it started out so great, it was like a breath of fresh air. Bonaire is also beautiful then. I was learning to balance my study life and my fun life, I definitely was feeling a little burnt out. 

Nothing says tropical island like a pina colada.

Then good ole SJSM flipped the script on us. Block 1 was great with the exception of Pharmacology, or shall I call it Sharma-cology. Other than that we were all feeling great, we were so optimistic and we had pretty much full attendance, since the profs engaged us and we respected them enough to attend their class, but then our Dean of Students Dr. Kenue left, Dr. DJ who taught us anatomy and pathology left, and finally Dr. Ashwin was no longer a prof for us either. 

Block 2 aka script flip, or what others would affectionally call "shit show."With all those profs gone they had a lot of shuffling to do. Dr. Aftab was moved to teaching us pathology, Dr. Praveen moved over to teach us psychology, and that left an open position for our microbiology prof. Enter Dr. Gugnani. Now, I should mention here, I actually though about doing a master's in micro as a backup to medical school, so micro is my thang. Here we are sitting in class anticipating the new prof. He walks in coughing up a storm and then starts lecturing. Which would be great except: A. I can't understand him through his thick accent, B. I am trying to figure out why he is yelling at us for no reason, and C. Ew, WTF is that white stuff in the corner of his mouth. 

We quickly figure out that Dr. Aftab doesn't know what he is teaching. He is completely out of his depth. The thing about my class is, if the prof earns our respect, we are a great class for them to teach, if not, we are hell for them to try and control. 

Additionally, many of us, me included, felt that Dr. Gugnani was disrespecting us. So our class of nearly 80 students staged a walk-out for his class, he walked into a class of 6 students, who were hold outs. Allegedly, he apologized, but it didn't really change his attitude much. However, our class quickly learned that Dr. Gugnani knew what he was talking about when it came to microorganisms, and many of us respected that he didn't spoon feed us questions and answers like many of the other profs. So my advice for his class is to pay attention if you can understand him, you're set for the exam, if not, study for that class, if you know your stuff you will do well on the exams. I should know, I made As across the board in that class, and I'm proud of it because I worked for it. 

Path was another story. Dr. Aftab previously taught us micro for Block 1, and for the most part we had a great impression of him from that, but that was short lived once he was moved to teach path. Now, I really wanted to give him a change, however, when a professor will argue with you against a textbook and what a textbook has to say, just because it's be daring to challenge something that you say is correct when there is proof that it is in fact not the case. I lose all my respect for you. During lectures, we started to notice when he said that something was a "bedtime story" (his term for something not that important), it was actually a very important concept and that it was called a "bedtime story," only because he could not explain it to us. Talk about frustrating. By Block 4, I was over it. He came in every day after the exam for 5 days with new ways to insult our class. Saying that we were arrogant, and that we think we know more than him. My favorite was him saying that we relied on Robbins (the gold standard in pathology textbooks) too much and that it was not a textbook, but a review book for when we review for the Steps. WHAT? This book is at least 3 inches wide and is used in US med school and you're going to tell me it's not a textbook. Not only are you going to tell me that, but because I am fighting for points I deserve, you take my curve away except for that one question that I argued with you about? I realize that he was thrown into teaching us pathology, however, he in no way has to the right to belittle the class, nor does he have the right to say that the gold standard textbook is incorrect. 

FYI, have fun learning immunology in 1 and a half weeks. Yeah, a "topic" that is actually a class on it's own we had to learn in 1 and a half weeks. 

This part of my journey also included July 4th, and being an American it was weird to have to go to class that day, instead of staying at home and BBQing with family and friends. Bonaire did have something to make it feel a little like home. They had a FIREWORK SHOW! It was like 5 minutes max, but it was still nice to see made in China things blow up in the sky. Of course everything runs on island time and I thought I had missed it since I caught the glimpse of testers. 

July 4th Fireworks

75% complete, you have no idea how surreal it was, the next 4 months flew by. I also added people to my Bonbon family. 

Looking Back: Part 2

Thank you to all the people who stopped by my blog yesterday! It was fun to see the numbers go up in readership. Shout out to the 3 readers in the Netherlands Antilles, I assume that it is my friends who are still stuck on the rock. Hang in there, you'll get here, it's all about mental stamina.

Memory lane MD2 edition and my wonderful journey for the 4 months that it was. Cue eye roll. 

Christmas break is the longest break that SJSM and most other Caribbean medical school offers, unless you're going to SGU, in which case you get the summers off like US schools. Lucky devils. I had to go home for the holidays, I was so homesick as it was. Now, the wonderful thing about Bonaire is that the only direct flights are offered on Saturdays only, and I thought to myself "EFF THAT!" I was going to risk island hopping again, with oh-so-wonderful DAE. I was supposed to be on a 10:55pm flight to Curacao and then taking American back to the states and home by way of Charlotte and then Seattle. In true DAE fashion flights from 3pm to 10:55pm were all on one flight 8 something at night. Did we have any notice? Did they call us? No? What's the point of asking for our number? Did they email us? Nope. Why ask for our email? Luckily my friend and savior of the day LS came through and let me know that my flight had been moved, as had her's. Most of us ended up meeting up at the airport, most of us SUPER grumpy that no one contacted us. Poor NC had to rush and put his wet laundry in his suitcase and he lives in Canada, COLD Canada which he'd be arriving in with no coat. WAY to go DAE, WAY to go. 

At least lodging was nice. JW happened to call her mom, who then told me about the amazing price that she got for a room at the Floris Suites in Curacao. That hotel is highly recommended by me if you have to stay overnight in Curacao, because the airports close in the wonderful islands, so you need to find lodging our camp outside the airport like a person camping out for Black Friday . . . except it's not as fun as Black Friday and all you'll get is attitude and lip service. UGH! But the Floris Suites Hotel, which is across the street from the Hilton and the Clarion in Curacao was the one bright point in my life that night, never mind the fact that I had to wake up at 5:30am to "make" my flight. My suite, yes SUITE complete with a kitchenette was only $116, JW got her hotel room for $60 for the night. So it's affordable too. I was just so happy to have a HOT shower, you take that for granted. In Bonaire, most places don't have cold and hot water taps, just one tap and depending on the time of day and whether or not it's rainy season the temperature ranges from warm to COLD. Taking a shower during rainy season, which was most of MD2 was my most hated part of the day, anyhow, rambling again. There is no word to describe the amount of joy I had laying down in that king size bed.

The Floris Suites decorated for Christmas, sight for sore eyes!

Break was wonderful, then it was back to reality, and the joy that was physio. Yeah, I've had teachers that tried to intimidate me into believing that their class was extremely hard. So this first day of class speech really just irritated me than made me want to study. Biochem, JOKE! Neuro, the prof is so sweet, and luckily her English has improved and she is genuinely trying to improve her English skills so that the students can get the gist of her lectures.

However, even after all the studying I did for my Block 1 exams, I was pretty upset with how the physio exam went. I left that class questioning myself and how I studied, however the grade was higher than expected. Eye before the storm. Block 2 made me question everything about myself. At first it was the physio exam, but then that Block 2 neuro exam hit. It was so out of left field. THE WHOLE CLASS WAS STILL IN THE EXAM ROOM WITH ONLY 10 MORE MINUTES OF OUR ALLOTTED EXAM TIME! At that point I didn't know if I should cry or laugh, I was trying to figure out some method to answer the questions. It was terrible for the whole class. I believe we got a 25 point curve for our research exam that block as well, the underclassmen now have the knowledge of the website that the exams came from, we didn't have that luxury at the time. The line that they fed us about our neuro exam was that they only allowed her to give our class a 10 point curve. Uh, what?!?! We just got a 25 point curve for our research exam what nonsense are you saying to us now?

I will say February wasn't all bad. The Superbowl happened, and I won some money betting that the Giants would win their game against the Pats again like they did in 2008. Anyone who knows me knows that when it comes to football, I bleed blue and green, SEAHAWKS! Actually, anyone who knows me knows that I love sports. I was the one hooking up all the guys with the site to stream games, and since I am a Seattle fan I have very few games that I can watch on TV over on the island, only when they played Sunday Night or Monday Night Football. So the stream is what I depended on. We had a little Superbowl party, complete with an island style spread. Bonbon kids, you know what I am talking about, we can' find everything we needed to have an actual Superbowl party, but there was beer and MV's amazing fiancee made yummy Giants brownies. I think the most fun I had was filming the last 6 minutes of the game, which was about 12 minutes of footage, for MV's family at home, so many emotions ending with MV's signature, ear piercing "WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!" since his team won again over Luscious Locks Brady. 

Yummy brownies

Having finished out the semester, with the bumps and bruises from the Block 2 debacle mostly healed, I thought that I had survived and that MD3 was going to be the semester that changes it all for me. I thought that it was going to be it, I'd finally learn something in class. Boy, did that turn out to be wrong . . .  

In current news, GO SEAHAWKS, show those Dirty Birds who we are. 

Meet our Legion of Boom Dirty Birds!

Looking Back Part 1

WOW, I definitely fell off the blogging wagon. 16 months have come and gone, and I am back in the states. I'm so blessed to have such a supportive family, amazing friends, and the best mentors I could ever ask for. So how about I recap the last 16 months. I'll break it up into easy to read chunks, so this will be MD1 semester, the first 4 months of my island adventure.

My trip down to Bonaire wasn't a smooth one. Took the redeye out of Seattle to Miami. As I wondered through the Miami airport at 6am local time, which means my body thinks it's 3am, I'm trying ignore the nausea that I am feeling, no doubt from the stress of travelling and lack of sleep. I'm one of those people that can't sleep on an airplane, and when I do it's not a deep enough sleep so that it's restful. I'm carrying my neck pillow, dragging my rolling carry-on, and adjusting my 40something pound backpack. Arriving at my gate, I realize I have 4 more hours to kill. Settling into my seat I pull out my laptop and browse the web aimlessly for a bit, then I pull out a book to read. No, not a textbook, a fun book about Lady Jane Grey, that has nothing to do with 50 Shades of Grey. My dad calls my phone, I think to myself, "THANK GOD I ONLY HAVE ONE MORE HOUR TO WAIT HERE!" He wishes me well, and I struggle to keep the tears from falling, never knew how much I would miss my parents. The flight to Curacao was not remarkable, however, it was afterwards that trouble struck. Apparently my American Airlines flight arrived after my DAE island hopper flight, so I missed my connection. (Any current/future SJSM students, DON'T FLY DAE!). Luckily American put me put for the night at the gorgeous Marriott hotel in Curacao. Then morning comes and I am greeted with the sight of a pink airport. Yeah, the Bonaire International Airport is pink.  Getting my luggage was an easy task, and since I had already gotten the place I wanted to live lined up, it was easy enough to tell the taxi driver, one less stress off my back. I got to my apartment and realized that there was a lot of things that I had to buy. Great . . . 

Bonaire's PINK airport

School was fine, most of us students dressed up for orientation night. It was interesting, 120something of us jammed in a room along with the professors and the dean. Fire marshalls would shudder at the sight of all of us in the room. The bus ride was probably the most memorable things for me. I met some people who still remain friends of mine today. I will never forget the day that MV met SA, hahaha. The Cowboys Giants rivalry lives on even on a little island called Bonaire.

Immigration was a PAIN! I should have gone right after orientation to make the appointment, but silly me I waited until after we did the Dutch paperwork in class. Womp, womp. I almost missed the deadline for my police clearance. That was something that they could have told us, get a new police clearance before arriving on the island since it will probably expire before you get your appointment. Oh and telling us it was going to cost $372 cash would have been nice too. Along with the 4 trips you have to make to the immigration office. Yes, FOUR trips to the immigration office to get your residence visa. That should tell you why I didn't go through the whole get the exit stamp thing before I left. Island time, island logic . . . 

We got to experience what Bonaire rainy season was like. Pretty much torrential downpours on an island that has bad drainage. Getting to the bus stop was like an obstacle course, hoping and praying that the sweet locals wouldn't splash you with their cars. Yes, they go out of their way to splash you. The drainage system, or lack thereof was why the downtown campus looks like a swimming pool during the rainy season. There are certain streets were you'd think it was better to swim down it than walk down it. Now, you're thinking, "Hey. It's raining so it must be cooler." True, it is pretty cool when it is raining but afterwards it gets so sticky and muggy, it sucked the most on lab days. 

I'll admit I was pretty homesick most of the first semester, and it comes in waves. There would be days where I felt okay and I have my island friends/family to thank for that MA, SA, MV, LS, JW, and the small list goes on. MV and SA would give me a hard time about being a Seahawks fan, but who's in the playoffs this season? Hahaha. Other days, it would be bad, all I wanted to do was curl up in a ball in bed and cry, sometimes that's exactly what I did. I do also have great friends at home, and one of them was so kind to come down and give me a little taste of home for a week, as well as be a pack mule for me and my friends. It was fun to have that little break from school and the drama, OH there was DRAMA. 

I think the hardest thing for me even now is to not trust and care about people as quickly as I do. I managed to get my feelings hurt quite a bit in these last 16 months, but they did also help me grow. The drama helped me see who my real friends were on the island, and I'm okay with the fact that my circle of friends isn't that big. Quality over quantity, always. 

You know sitting here and typing this out, I can still see in my head where I sat in the classroom, and where everyone else sat. In one way it feels like such a long time ago, in another it seems like just yesterday. If you have read this far into this blog post I'm amazed, I'm kind of just rambling, but I want to kind of get this out there. I know a lot of my friends at home wanted to know what it was like, and I had all these grand ideas about how I would blog while I was there. Oh well better late than ever. 

Most of us at our pre-semester get together