It's been a long time...

so I have been really bad about this blog and my new years resolution is to change that!

here is the bit of blog I wrote back on November 21st: My brain is oozing out of my ears or that's what it feels like sometimes. I just finished my last midterm of my first semester of vet school and my brain definitely feels like mush. It doesn't seem possible that I am almost done with my first semester...26 days to be exact! A lot has happened since my last post.

Mid-semester break I did go on an awesome catamaran trip to Nevis. The day was hot and humid! It was nice to lay on the deck, soak up the sun and feel the wind against your cheek. The drinks weren't bad either :) When we landed on Nevis we went straight to Sunshine's to get the signature drink a "Killer bee" No one will tell you exactly what is in it but it was delightful! While sipping my killer bee I met a retired Scotsman who sailed his yacht from Europe to here and who owns a dive shop on Nevis....

So a ton has happened since November 21st. First and foremost I made it through my 1st semester of Vet School!!! I moved into my apartment and officially got my car all before finals ended. Finals was definitely a crazy crazy time, studying and eating and sleeping occasionally it was like undergrad finals but times 10! Then right after my last final (which was Micro, my worst class) I had to get on a plane and head home. My flight to Miami and then on to Laguardia was pretty uneventful just a bit of running through the Miami airport to get to my gate. Then a 5 hour layover in the freezing Laguardia airport before finally getting my flight home to Rochester.

Break was ok, I mean I loved seeing family, my pets and my friends and going to all my favorite places to eat and finally getting to drink good beer, but it was exhausting! I was bouncing between my parents house out in the middle of the boonies and my brothers place in Rochester while not having a car. I dont think I got a really good night sleep once while I was home. The other hard thing was that everyone wanted to see me all at once and it just was not possible! I tried my best, I was even planning on going to Philly to see my college friends but with no car and not a ton of time it proved impossible. All in all in the end being home was great but it definitely was not a break for me.

My flight back to the island was pretty normal, minus having Feisty (my cat) with me. She was phenomenal! I can't believe she pretty much slept the whole time including the six hours in the Chicago airport. As soon as I let her out in the apartment she was strutting around like she owned the place and had lived here her whole life. So needless to say she is adjusting well to Island life.

As for me it has been hard trying to get back into the swing of things. My first few days back before classes started was full of getting the apartment set up, organizing stuff for school, driving my car into a ditch that I couldn't see (long story, short I had to get it towed out but everything was fine!).

Second semester classes took off at what felt like warp speed. Vet school is no joke now (not that it was before), but no more holding your hand it has gotten hard core. I'm trying my best t0 really stay on top of things, but already the information is overwhelming.

Oh the one really awesome thing I am doing is semester is training for a 2.5 mile channel swim from Nevis to St. Kitts to raise money for the St. Kitts Sea Turtle Monitoring Network! Check my page out and donate if you can

https://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/rachelpalis/swimtosaveseaturtles

Well we will see what this semester brings. Alright time for bed since I need to get some hard core studying for Anatomy done tomorrow, quiz on Tues!

"Vet School, its like med school...only harder."

So it's week 7 of vet school and I cannot believe it. It feels like just last week I arrived. So much has happened since my last post including getting ready for next semester by finding roommates (Maddi and Cherie :)) and an apartment (we signed our lease last week :)) and looking for cars. And also we have been through our first round of exams and let me tell you...vet school is hard! I mean it knew it was difficult and I always heard the saying " a C= DVM" and I never understood that till now. Vet school is not like undergrad, you cannot get away with studying at the last minute and still pull a B.

My exam grades ranged from awesome to not so awesome (in my eyes at least) and it is a hard thing to get a grade that you don't think reflects how hard you worked in a class. In some of my classes (like anatomy and nutrition) I get it everything makes sense and if it doesn't I can usually find out the answer and get it to stick into my brain, but other classes (like micro and physio) it takes so much longer to make the information stick. Partly it is because I don't always care for the professor, but also I am a visual and tactile learner. I cannot just read something once and copy it once to make it stick I have to go over it multiple times in different formats before I can remotely grasp my mind around it. Man do I wish photographic memory genes ran in my family! Thanks mom and dad! I don't think that it is necessary that I work harder (because most days I am at capacity) but I think I need to study smarter when it comes to certain classes. I just hope I figure out how to do that sooner rather than later.

In these past several weeks I have learned that it is non stop here. That my life as a vet school student is eat, breath, and sleep school. Don't get me wrong you do need to take a break so you don't go crazy, but you need to find that perfect balance between school and other stuff and I am working on that. If all I did was study I would most definitely go insane. My best study break that I take during the day is with my sponsor dog Diego.

Diego is a medium sized, skinny, tan dog, with giant ears that stick up. He is one of the 39 kennel colony dogs here at ross and I am in love with him. I was first introduced to Diego after joining the Canine Medicine Club and going to their first Obedience meeting. I was assigned Diego and as soon as I met him I knew we were meant to be. A sponsor to a colony dog means that dog gets someone constant in their life to show them that someone cares. The kennel dogs are constantly used for palpation labs, anesthesia labs, and surgery labs (upper semesters spay and neuter them). They are required to be part of the kennel colony for 2 years and then they will be put up for adoption. The sponsor is also to get someone invested in a dog who might possibly want to adopt that dog once they are available. I've already decided that when Diego's two years are up he will be mine without hesitation. Not only is he sweet and adorable, but he is so intelligent! I mean I know I am biased, but I would say he is one of the top dogs when it comes to obedience class :) Over these past few weeks we have bonded so much. He gives me the motivation to work hard so I know I will still be around when he is ready to go in another year. Until then I visit him at least once a day just to work and play with him and also give him a nice comfy lap to curl up and take a nap on oh and he is educational since I get to practice palpating bones, lymph nodes, and muscles (so we help each other out). But besides Diego I do try to do one thing a week that is just for me, like play beach volley ball, go to the beach for a few hours, or go diving. This weekend is mid-semester break (3 day weekend) so I am doing two things I am going on a Catamaran trip to Nevis and I am going on a Dive.

Well I told my self I could go on both excursions if I work my butt off this week. So back to the books.

The White Coats are coming...

Monday was the day I had been waiting for my whole life, what everything has been building up to since I decided to become a vet around the age of five. Since I had my interview for Ross last April and I found out I got in; life has been a whirlwind. After getting together all the appropriate paperwork,the flight, rabies vaccines, supplies, packing up my apartment and moving my life to another country for the next three years I finally made it. I walked into my gross anatomy lab and it hit me, I'm actually here. Classes that day were full of information I knew and a lot that I didn't, but what it came down to was knowing that this is where I am meant to be.

At 4pm on Monday I put on my white coat and recited my veterinary student oath

"At the time of being inducted into the College of Veterinary Medicine at Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine, I solemnly pledge:

To consecrate my life to the service of both animals and humanity;

To give my teachers, staff and classmates the respect that is their due;

To conduct myself at all times with conscience, dignity, and integrity;

To always provide comfort and compassion to both taching and client animals left in my care;

To avoid allowing considerations of religion, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, politics, or social standing to preclude productive and constructive relationships with teachers, staff, classmates, or clients;

To maintain the honor and noble traditions of the veterinary medical profession;

To never use my veterinary medical knowledge contrary to the laws of humanity;

I make these promises sincerely, freely and upon my honor."

And then I was officially inducted into the Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine. It was a huge relief and an overwhelming pressure all at the same time. It was a relief to finally get in and achieve that goal, but at the same time the pressure of the next three years just unloaded on my shoulders. The rest of the week was a flurry of information from all sides. This is definitely not undergrad. Preparing for class each day is like studying for a test in undergrad. I can't wait to find out what it is like to take a test here.

Well I made it through my first week, but a weekend here is not full of hanging out at the beach (especially when there is a tropical storm warning) it is full of studying all the material I learned over the first week and prepare for the next. So enough of a break...back to studying...

A Barracuda named George

The first day of orientation and we were non stop all day long. Sharon (our Orientation Leader) was on top of everything! First off was handing in paper work and getting fit for our white coats. Come Monday at 4 I will be at my white coat ceremony, where I will be fully inducted into the Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine. Getting fitted for my white coat felt so good, like all the hard work I did throughout high school and undergrad was this, for the moment that I am inducted and I become a real vet med student.

The rest of the day and week was filled with various lectures titled "Welcome to St. Kitts" or "Welcome to Ross" pretty much going over the same info that we all got as undergrads. The whole message was you are here for school, but enjoy the island as well. The safety and security lecture told us to pretty much never leave our apartments accept for class or at least they made it seem that way between the break ins that have occurred and the "killer centipedes". Really what it comes down to is just make sure you use your common sense and you are a visitor to this county so embrace it. Well that is just what I did...

One day was an Island tour where we drove around the whole outer edge of the Island learning about the history of ther Island well at least through our drivers (Proper Ting) eyes. We first visited Romney Manor to see Caribelle Batik preformed which is an ancient indonesian process of dying cloth and making patterns by setting wax on areas of the cloth so that it resists the dye. This is done over and over to dye certain areas a specific color. The end product is beautiful! We also went to an old British fort, Brimstone Hill fortress which was high enough that you could see the entire Northern Shoreline it was amazingly beautiful. The rest of the tour consisted of a few more scenic areas and some made up history by Jermaine and Phil.

Later on in the week an OL was looking for anyone who was open water SCUBA certified to go on a night dive. As soon as I heard the word SCUBA I was in! I had never been on a night dive before so I was excited and a little nervous all at the same time. We headed out of Port Zante on the "Lady Peggy" just at sunset. The air was so warm and smelled like that "Tropical Fresh" scent you can find in laundry detergent, but even better. We stopped at the wreck site the River Taw. After a quick review session and when we finished gearing up we were ready to go.

When I first jumped in the water it felt like I was descending into the black abyss. It was a bit nerve racking. Once we were all the bottom and all had our flash lights on it really wasn't that bad...well as long as you didn't think about the black abyss that surrounded us from all angles of our circle of light. It was one of the most most amazing dives ever.

I saw 6 sea turtles (both green and hawksbills), multiple lobsters, multiple sea cucumbers, multiple species of small fish, an octopus, a sting ray, a puffer fish, and a friendly barracuda named George who liked to follow our lights in order to catch fish we spotted. He definitely startled me a few times as he zoomed by my head. At the end of the dive we all gathered in a circle, turned off our lights, and waved our arms in order to stimulate the bio luminescence of the plankton. It was like watching fireflies under water.

The rest of the week was filled with shopping, dinners (anything from local food to fine french cuisine) beaches, parties and a catamaran trip around the Island. All of it was amazing and just felt like I was on vacation. Once classes started I was rudely awakened from my vacation daze.

Yeah this is real life...

The first thing I see when I wake up Sunday Morning is the big, beautiful, blue Caribbean Sea. It's an easy thing to get used to, but It's hard not to think that I am just on vacation. I'm sure reality will smack me in the face once classes start at 8am on Sept. 5th, but until then I am going to enjoy my free time!

Sunday was an adventure day for us, so our group decided to go zip lining or Jungle Surfing as they call it here. Phil (our driver) pulled up in his van "Proper Ting" (named after the delicious sprite like soft drink here, all of the vans are named) we took a winding route along the coast. It make me nervous to think that at some point I will be driving on these crazy roads (which the cars are on the opposite side) where people are zipping by, animals are crossing the road, and the cliff is just a brick or two from the wheels of your car. As we were zooming along I just could not get over how colorful everything is here, the houses, the cars, the lush green forests, and the various animals all against a back drop of the ocean or the beautiful volcanic mountains. We stopped along the coast to take a scenic picture as well as at the Rum Bottle Tree.

A quick turn down a dusty, pothole filled road and we pulled into the Central Forest Reserve National Park...jungle surfing here we come!

The staff at the zip lining place were fantastic and made everything so much fun. We were not allowed to go onto the next stage until everyone gave an enthusiastic "Yea Man!!" Once we were fitted with our equipment and we took a practice run, we were loaded up into a range rover jeep and climbed the steep, rocky, winding road to the top of the forest.

I had gone zip lining before, but this time it was different still beautiful, but instead of just amazing rain forest scenes we got fantastic views of the mountains and the sea. I took plenty of pictures, but I had to take a video as well just to show everyone the experience. I think zip lining should be a legit form of transportation around the island, it is a green way to go!

After a very sweaty and fun afternoon we had some down time before the real fun began with a pizza and paperwork party to get ready for the upcoming orientation week.

Come on Irene...

When I woke on Thursday August 25th I knew that my trip to vet school was not going to be an easy one. Hurricane Irene decided to shake up my plans a little bit. Irene pushed back all the flights out of Rochester so the woman at the ticket counter put me on an earlier scheduled flight to LaGuardia. So after all the hassle I had to go through with my 3 bags and I say a teary goodbye to my mom and sister, I get through security without a hitch. I'm thinking this is too easy. After about a half hour I go to check my flight to make sure it is still on time and I don't see it anywhere. Well apparently while I was going through security my flight was canceled and I was put on an even earlier flight to New York, they were calling my name over the PA System. So I had missed my flight and had to start from the beginning. Thankfully I had a great guy helping me out at the US Airways ticket counter. He not only got me on a flight for Saturday, but I got bumped up to first class for my flight from Charlotte to St. Kitts. The only problem was my bags were sent to Miami on my first flight. I was just happy to get on a flight! Plus it did give me a few more days with the family and my friends.

My flights on Saturday were perfect no problems at all, but I still had no idea where my bags were and if or when I was going to get them. The woman at the counter was awesome and helped my mom get in touch with the baggage people in Miami to see if they could find my bags. The flight to Charlotte was quick and first class flight to St. Kitts was awesome I took full advantage of the legroom, the food, and the free drinks :)

As we landed on St. Kitts all I could see was the big beautiful Caribbean Sea to my left and to my right, green jungles with tin roofs and dirt roads peeking out between the trees. As I stepped of the plane the heat hit me in a wave and as I stepped into the airport the AC did the same. I breezed through customs and went to talk to someone about my bags. A nice guy by the name of Phil showed me a bunch of bags that had been sent from Miami, but none of them were mine. He said that sometimes they magically appear and I should just wait. Well he was right all three of them appeared on the conveyor belt one right after the other. Soon after I was loaded into a van with my OL Sharon and our driver for the week and we were off. We were zooming down narrow roads that look like they could just fit two cars on. Brightly colored houses and lush green forests were a blur as we whizzed by them. We pulled on campus and up to my apartment building where I was given just enough time to throw my bags on my bed and change into shorts before we were off to the grocery store.

It was overwhelming stepping into the small store that was full of people. I knew what the exchange rate from US dollars to St. Kitts EC but it was still hard to figure out prices and everything was pretty expensive. Plus I had no idea what I even wanted to get. I just picked up a few things for breakfast and then we were back in the van zooming back to the school. I had only a short time to change and start to settle in my room before the group was off to dinner at the Sprat Net which was delicious! It is an open air cabana hut restaurant/bar with only Lobster, Chicken, Ribs, or Pizza on the menu it took a while to get the food (everything is on Island time here) but everything was so good. I was exhausted, but the night did not end there. We headed to Ziggy's Bar on the beach and had some drinks and played corn hole under the ridiculously beautiful clear, starry sky. It was a fun night, but as soon as I got home I made my bed and crashed.

Alright time for bed...next post will be all about my jungle surfing adventure :)