Happy Halloween!

Halloween is not really a Grenadian holiday. Or at all. The only reason the word is mentioned on this island is because there is a university here and most of the students come from a culture that celebrates Halloween and therefore continue the tradition down here.

Walking around Grenada, you would never know it was October. For one, it is still 85 degrees out every day :). But Grenada also lacks the iconic Halloween decorations that I am used to seeing during this month. Although you buy chunks of cut pumpkin at the grocery store to eat, the only signs that Halloween was coming soon was a few more bags of candy on the shelves of an end of aisle rack, 4 large and un-Halloween pumpkins in the produce section, and Halloween cupcake tins in the baking section. I have yet to find an image online of what these pumpkins resembled, but they were large and highly unattractive, sort of like the white one:

I'm sure that so far it sounds like I don't really care for Halloween, but I actually enjoy it quite a lot. I just happen to prefer the cute kids version with pretty pumpkins, innocent fun, and the candy (duh!). Trust me, my classmates made sure to enjoy Halloween weekend! I'm actually quite impressed with the costumes they made with such limited resources (because not only are there no party shops with costumes, there are very few with clothing, props, or any other creativity items). I refused to cave and buy any candy because although it is name brand and delicious (in the US), I know that here it is absurdly over priced, melted, and likely stale. I will make up for my lack of treats now in December : D.

So Happy Halloween! Just not in Grenada haha. But they've already begun preping for Christmas over the last few weeks (cut them a break though, Thanksgiving was last week and isn't a big holiday here, there are no holidays in November, so the next big thing for this extremely religious island is Christmas). 

Stamps in Grenada

Okay so when this is published, this story will actually be a few weeks old, but I don't want to ruin the surprise. I mailed a few postcards to my friends today. All I knew about this process was that I could by stamps at our campus bookstore.

So I wrote my notes and went over to by stamps. Seems simple enough and no different from something I would do in the US. I tell the lady how many stamps I want and she counts them out for me. They look like ordinary stamps just a tad larger (like the collectable ones in the US) and then she hands me a glue stick!! Apparently there is no adhesive on the stamps! I was highly amused. So I glued each stamp to the cards. I wasn't expecting the more sophisticated adhesive stamps where you just peel the backing off, but I was expecting to have to lick my stamps to apply them! Oh Grenada :) Highlight of my day!

Something New Every Day

They say you learn something new every day. So far in my life I have found this statement to be quite accurate. In addition to learning new things all the time, in Grenada, I seem to discover or see new things frequently.

Today's discover was how to get on the 2nd floor of our school library and how to get into the arch between the library and computer/IT building.

The library is on the right of the arch and IT, the computer lab, and offices are on the left. I have wondered for a long time where the staircase is to take you to the second and third floors of the library. When you enter the left side of the building, you immediately see a staircase that takes you up. I have been to the second floor of this building several times to go to the computer lab for class. Before you enter the lab area, there is a set of glass doors leading to the archway, but they are locked and do not permit access to the library. I have also been into the library a few times and have always wondered where the staircase was hiding! To enter the library, there are two sets of double doors. You have to go through the left set to enter, and there is a glass wall that separates the area between the double doors. As soon as you go through the doors into the library, you are in the library. I have never really paid much attention to entering the library before.

Today, my friend and I discovered that the 1st set of doors led to the staircase! If you aren't looking specifically in that spot for it, it's easy to miss. The tricky thing is that the 1st set of doors is locked. In order to get to the staircase, you have to enter the library, and make a U-turn back into the other area to go up the stairs. Once we got to the second floor, the entrance to the archway was apparent and easy to get to. Much to our delight, the space was empty so we sat down to study undisturbed (we left our other spot because we were fed up with the people talking about their ipads next to us-they were loud!).

The only downside to the archway is that it is un-air conditioned (so it's a bit hot and stuffy!). But the views on either side are gorgeous, peaceful and relaxing :).

The other thing I saw today on my way to the Small Animal Clinic was a pair of cows just randomly grazing on the side of the road. Only in Grenada!!

A Veterinary Student Saturday

My Saturday consisted of two things: a volunteer shift at the Small Animal Clinic (which now has a new name but I can't remember who it was dedicated to this week) and lots of studying for my histology exam on Monday. Isn't my life exciting? Haha! This is what veterinary students do folks, we spend all day every day in class or studying (particularly when exams fall 1-2 days after the weekend). The remainder of my semester is packed with boring weekends because every week from here on out I have an exam on Monday or Tuesday and sometimes a second or third later in the week.

My shift was very quiet again today. I'm beginning to think that I'm just cursed (or blessed in the clinicians' eyes). I've seen on emergency come in during my shift since I started back in August. I guess I'm not complaining too much though because I haven't had any overnight calls (PLEASE don't let that change tomorrow night!!!!!) and I have had a lot of time to study, relax, and get to know other SGU students.

Our histology exam on Monday covers the entire digestive tract, the urinary system, and the male and female reproductive systems for both mammals and birds. Curse birds for having to be unique :-p. I won't bore you with any further details other than I really don't care what type of cells and glands can be found in each part of all of these haha.

Grenadian Rainbow!

I finally saw a rainbow today!!! I was very excited and it was good positive reinforcement for getting up and going to lab at 8a instead of skipping my section and going to the later class at 10a.

As often as it rains here spontaneously when it is sunny out, I am surprised that it took 2.5 months for me to see my first rainbow here. I must just not have been looking in the right direction the other times? Who knows! There was a very faint second one arching over the first too :)

A Post About Classes

I don't think I've really talked about my actual classes much lately other than to complain about exams or how much they annoy and stress me out from time to time haha.

Today I had 5 classes (but animal nutrition went for 2 hours so it was technically 6). We started the day off with radiology lab. It only took more than half the semester, but we are finally actually learning relevant material that is interesting (the history and how it works was interesting for about the first 10 minutes, but 3 hours was a bit much-particularly when he told us he wasn't really going to test us on it). Today's lab covered the thorax (chest). We get an online presentation in our computer lab and go through and identify various structures in radiographs (x-ray images) and a CT series. I actually learned something today! I know most of the basics from spending so much time in hospitals and with boarded radiologists, but occasionally I do learn something new!

Next up was Introduction to Research. I tend to call it "class where I study for other things because attendance is mandatory but paying attention isn't." We've had a few more interesting speakers lately, but a lot of the time they make you want to fall back asleep. Attendance is 20% of our grade though, so skipping isn't really an option. Today's lecturer was a researcher who studies all things fish. He had a bunch of rather gruesome pictures in his presentation, but I was busy studying for my histology exam which is Monday, so I'm not really sure what the presentation was really about. To be fair, most of my classmates either nap or study too though haha.

After lunch was histology. We finished off covering the material that is on our upcoming exam and answered some questions. This exam covers the whole digestive tract, the urinary system, male and female reproductive organs, and those four topics in terms of avians (silly birds having to be all different from everyone else). 

Our current topic in nutrition is equine nutrition. We had out last two equine lectures this afternoon covering feeding horses of all ages. It has been a really interesting unit and I have learned A LOT about horses. I can't believe that I know how to appropriately create an equine diet now. Next up is an exam and then we will start small animal nutrition. 

The last class of the day was Animal Welfare and Behavior. Even though we're in week two, I'm really not sure what to think of this class yet. We have a different professor each week-one who lives here and two from UC Davis. I have learned a bunch of little random facts so far. Today's was what type of cat breed I want to own someday based on this professor's research study that asked veterinarians to rate the breeds based on a variety of categories. I'll post them when we get the notes packet for the class because I don't remember them all off the top of my head. Anyhow, I would like a ragdoll cat. They sound like a cat that is basically a dog haha.   

Another AVMA Celebration

This morning after lab, the SVM students returned home to find an invitation to attend an accreditation celebration. All the the invite was a little bit last minute, a few of my classmates and I went out of curiosity (and the promise of free food!).

The Chancellor of SGU was not in Grenada at the time of the AVMA accreditation announcement because the feedback from the AVMA was quick and unexpected, so this was his way of congratulating all of the students, faculty, and staff on the our new status. There was lots of food and socialization and a couple of brief speeches by the Chancellor and Dean Sis (the Dean of the SVM).

As my classmates and I struggle to get through these last 6 weeks packed full of exams, it served as a good reminder as to what we are ultimately working for and what we have spent many years trying to achieve. Although it is nearly the end of October, some days it feels like the next month and a half are going to take forever. I think most of us are just ready for a break from the stress of exams and being stuck together all day every day. Tonigh also renewed my sense of school spirit, although I'm not sure SGU will ever beat out VT in my heart haha.