It has been kind of a hectic couple of days. Also, because I can. I've taken to staying up late a few nights now to study. Wonder if this will become a habit?
Anyhow, I was walking outside at about 8:30p here the other night, when it occurred to me that there were so many sounds all around me. At 8:30p here, it is long dark. The sun sets very early (we get about 12 hours of daylight each day). So as I walked, this is what I heard:
-chirping frogs (they are very noisy!)
-the hum from some sort of cricket or other insect
-mooing from a cow near by
-a faint emergency vehicle siren (did not know those existed till last night!)
-laughing and conversation from the students waiting for buses to take them home
I did not hear any traffic. No honking of horns, no racing of cars on pavement. All in all, it is very peaceful here at night. The view from up on the hill here is spectacular, and little twinkling lights dot the surrounding community and mountains representing a simpler way of life. There is no traffic, no one is in a rush. The island folk are home with their families, the students are studying. There is little pavement here. You look around, and everything is green and lush and dotted with colorful vegetation. The air smells fresh and pure. Everything just is, and it is very soothing.
Friday, August 31, 2012
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Cells
Not much to report on today. We had our first clinical pathology lab session this morning. The topic for today was RBCs and WBCs. I haven't looked at a ton of blood smears during my career, so it was a good refresher. I am kicking myself for not thinking to do this on some of the pets I saw this summer! How many CBCs did I run a day?? Enough to have gotten some very solid practice, but oh well. Wonder what the heck I am talking about? Check out UPenn's histology site for a quick view of some red and white blood cells!
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Back on the Farm
Today we had our first Physical Diagnosis II lab. This semester is all about horses and large animal medicine, so naturally today's lab was out on the farm with the horses. This week we covered advanced equine physical exam skills and next week we'll be working with cows for advanced large animal physical exam skills.
It is mighty hot and humid here (though I shouldn't complain too much because I suspect it is much hotter and more humid in parts of the US right now!) and being outside in scrubs or coveralls for two hours is a bit of a recipe for becoming caked in sweat and dirt! Ew, my favorite. Thankfully, there is a nice cool breeze that drifts through the farm, so while you're standing around working with the animals, you're not melting. I also have to remember that I would rather be melting any day over freezing to death in some of the chillier climates!
The four clinicians and seven horses we worked with were excellent. We had four stations to rotate through in groups, where we discussed exam techniques, cranial nerves, and applied the physical exam to a case. I enjoyed practicing the exam skills, going through the cranial nerve exam, and impressing myself with how much I remembered both from studying and of the medical terminology we've learned over the last year (it still feels incredibly strange to write the word year, how can that much time have possibly passed already?!).
At the end of the lab, I raced home to take a lovely shower where I rid myself of dirt, sweat, and horse snot. Yes, one of the horses kept spraying us with this lovely opaque-colored snot. Yum. Gotta remember to put some of that in a spray bottle - cologne anyone??
It is mighty hot and humid here (though I shouldn't complain too much because I suspect it is much hotter and more humid in parts of the US right now!) and being outside in scrubs or coveralls for two hours is a bit of a recipe for becoming caked in sweat and dirt! Ew, my favorite. Thankfully, there is a nice cool breeze that drifts through the farm, so while you're standing around working with the animals, you're not melting. I also have to remember that I would rather be melting any day over freezing to death in some of the chillier climates!
The four clinicians and seven horses we worked with were excellent. We had four stations to rotate through in groups, where we discussed exam techniques, cranial nerves, and applied the physical exam to a case. I enjoyed practicing the exam skills, going through the cranial nerve exam, and impressing myself with how much I remembered both from studying and of the medical terminology we've learned over the last year (it still feels incredibly strange to write the word year, how can that much time have possibly passed already?!).
At the end of the lab, I raced home to take a lovely shower where I rid myself of dirt, sweat, and horse snot. Yes, one of the horses kept spraying us with this lovely opaque-colored snot. Yum. Gotta remember to put some of that in a spray bottle - cologne anyone??
Monday, August 27, 2012
Cookie Bars!
Finally another baking adventure in Grenada! Admittedly, this toaster oven isn't perfect, but the results are always delicious, regardless of imperfections.
We are making cookie bars with chocolate chips tonight. I was planning on doing this over the weekend, but never quite got around to it. This is a favorite recipe of mine. We did it with M&Ms first this summer, then I did it with chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, and shredded coconut. The results are heavenly! Since none of those items exist on this island (not true about the coconut but no clue where to get that), we're just making plain chocolate chip bars.
When I went to the grocery store last week, I picked up the missing ingredients. The first thing I grabbed was butter. I wasn't quite paying attention when I grabbed the butter though, so I ended up with a slab of butter from New Zealand (cheapest option), rather than the traditional sticks of butter. Not really an issue, just required us to make the conversion from ounces to tablespoons. New Zealand butter isn't marked with the same quick and easy tablespoon measurements that I'm used to.
The other thing this recipe calls for that is a little bit strange, is 1 whole egg, and 1 egg yolk. So I set my roommate to work separating the yolk from the white, but she initially mixed it up! Just as she was about to dump the whole egg white into the bowl, I stuck my hand out and grabbed (she was very confused until she realized why!). Egg whites are cold and slippery!
The slightly lower temperature (325 degrees) and the fact that this was most definitely not accurate in our oven which has tick marks for 275 and 350, caused it to take a while to cook all the way through, but the result is ooey, gooey deliciousness!
We are making cookie bars with chocolate chips tonight. I was planning on doing this over the weekend, but never quite got around to it. This is a favorite recipe of mine. We did it with M&Ms first this summer, then I did it with chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, and shredded coconut. The results are heavenly! Since none of those items exist on this island (not true about the coconut but no clue where to get that), we're just making plain chocolate chip bars.
When I went to the grocery store last week, I picked up the missing ingredients. The first thing I grabbed was butter. I wasn't quite paying attention when I grabbed the butter though, so I ended up with a slab of butter from New Zealand (cheapest option), rather than the traditional sticks of butter. Not really an issue, just required us to make the conversion from ounces to tablespoons. New Zealand butter isn't marked with the same quick and easy tablespoon measurements that I'm used to.
The other thing this recipe calls for that is a little bit strange, is 1 whole egg, and 1 egg yolk. So I set my roommate to work separating the yolk from the white, but she initially mixed it up! Just as she was about to dump the whole egg white into the bowl, I stuck my hand out and grabbed (she was very confused until she realized why!). Egg whites are cold and slippery!
The slightly lower temperature (325 degrees) and the fact that this was most definitely not accurate in our oven which has tick marks for 275 and 350, caused it to take a while to cook all the way through, but the result is ooey, gooey deliciousness!
Sunday, August 26, 2012
Sunny Day
It was a beautiful day today! The only call I received overnight was from today's day shift doctor wondering who was the overnight clinician and if there were any patients in the hospital. So kind of him to call me at 2:30am! Ugh the sound of that phone just scares you half to death!
This morning I got up and took the phone back, and then decided that rather than wanting a nap later, I would just give in and go back to bed for a couple hours then. It was lovely!
I did finally get to go swimming today. I was glad and it was nice to introduce another person to our little spot on campus. The water was kind of rough and therefore a bit cloudy, but not too bad over all. No rain and it was warm! Lots of fun fish and critters to see today!
This morning I got up and took the phone back, and then decided that rather than wanting a nap later, I would just give in and go back to bed for a couple hours then. It was lovely!
I did finally get to go swimming today. I was glad and it was nice to introduce another person to our little spot on campus. The water was kind of rough and therefore a bit cloudy, but not too bad over all. No rain and it was warm! Lots of fun fish and critters to see today!
Saturday, August 25, 2012
On Call
Whew, first night on call for the semester! I forgot when I signed up that there was a Hash today (and it ended up being super close) so I was bummed that I had to miss it, but oh well. Some other time!
It's been really rainy and gross today! I am annoyed - we were supposed to get some beach time in this morning! Hopefully tomorrow will be nicer.
I am really, really hoping no one calls the phone tonight since I have it. I have to get up early and bring it back for the next set of people tomorrow at 8a. Boo. I hate getting up early! Guess I can consider it good practice for lab this week haha.
On my walk to the clinic this afternoon, I passed a flock of sheep grazing by the entrance to the school! There were at least 14 of them, maybe more! They were just across from the security booth, so obviously the school didn't care that they were there. This is part of what makes living in this country so much fun!
It's been really rainy and gross today! I am annoyed - we were supposed to get some beach time in this morning! Hopefully tomorrow will be nicer.
I am really, really hoping no one calls the phone tonight since I have it. I have to get up early and bring it back for the next set of people tomorrow at 8a. Boo. I hate getting up early! Guess I can consider it good practice for lab this week haha.
On my walk to the clinic this afternoon, I passed a flock of sheep grazing by the entrance to the school! There were at least 14 of them, maybe more! They were just across from the security booth, so obviously the school didn't care that they were there. This is part of what makes living in this country so much fun!
Friday, August 24, 2012
Cakes!
I started off the night with good intentions. Was studying for pharmacology, making a study question sheet. We're currently working on antimicrobial drugs (curse there being so many!!!). And then I got a little bit sidetracked...for a few hours!
My roommate and I ended up surfing the web, sharing pictures of cakes (well, I was sharing my cake pictures because I have a lot!). Then we migrated to pinterest to look at cakes. And from there, we ended up at one of my favorite blogs Cake Wrecks. If you've never been to this site before, prepare to laugh until it hurts! Absolutely hilarious! It's addictive though, so be sure you actually have some time to kill before you check it out ;).
My roommate and I ended up surfing the web, sharing pictures of cakes (well, I was sharing my cake pictures because I have a lot!). Then we migrated to pinterest to look at cakes. And from there, we ended up at one of my favorite blogs Cake Wrecks. If you've never been to this site before, prepare to laugh until it hurts! Absolutely hilarious! It's addictive though, so be sure you actually have some time to kill before you check it out ;).
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Fooood!
Finally went to the grocery store again today. It's funny to see obvious first term students wandering around looking flustered and lost. I'm sure I SCREAMED first term last year when I was in their shoes! After all, I even had a camera out!
I am very excited to have more food in my pantry and refrigerator! I was starting to get very hungry without snack food! Studying means my brain utilizes glucose meaning that I should snack, right?? Haha yeah not quite! I keep meaning to bring something small like carrots to class to munch on and keep me awake. My seat buddy has been bringing chips for us to nibble at the last few days. Definitely helps to keep me awake and paying attention!
I am also excited to have a little bit of food variety in my life. I just get so bored with eating the same things over and over again! I would never survive as a pet! I picked up some pasta, more veggies and bananas, some ground beef for spaghetti, pizza supplies (a solid staple to have here!), and some other things that I can't remember at the moment. Yay for food!
I am very excited to have more food in my pantry and refrigerator! I was starting to get very hungry without snack food! Studying means my brain utilizes glucose meaning that I should snack, right?? Haha yeah not quite! I keep meaning to bring something small like carrots to class to munch on and keep me awake. My seat buddy has been bringing chips for us to nibble at the last few days. Definitely helps to keep me awake and paying attention!
I am also excited to have a little bit of food variety in my life. I just get so bored with eating the same things over and over again! I would never survive as a pet! I picked up some pasta, more veggies and bananas, some ground beef for spaghetti, pizza supplies (a solid staple to have here!), and some other things that I can't remember at the moment. Yay for food!
Hurricanes and Tropical Storms
The tip of tropical storm Issac dumped a lot of rain on us yesterday. Luckily for us, by the time most of these storms are far enough west, they are also far enough north so that they either miss us all together of they simply send a little rain storm our way.
I am kind of disappointed because the last few mornings have either been rainy or looking like rain. I was really hoping to take advantage of having the time off to go and swim! Oh well, maybe next week when we have a lab-free day?
Well, for now, keep an eye on the tropical depressions, storms, and hurricanes for us! I think you'll be surprised to see how uncommon it is for them to come close to us. Yay latitude and longitude! http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/
I am kind of disappointed because the last few mornings have either been rainy or looking like rain. I was really hoping to take advantage of having the time off to go and swim! Oh well, maybe next week when we have a lab-free day?
Well, for now, keep an eye on the tropical depressions, storms, and hurricanes for us! I think you'll be surprised to see how uncommon it is for them to come close to us. Yay latitude and longitude! http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
First Two Days...Check!
I got caught up in being a good friend last night and forgot to post - sorry!
Well, two days down, 16.5 more weeks to go! The first two days haven't been too bad. I must admit, having to sit in class for 8 hours yesterday was pure agony. I am not used to sitting still for that long!
We started yesterday morning off with 4 hours of physical diagnosis 2 (large animal edition). It will be a great class and we are going to learn a lot, but I was not feeling an attention span for that long! The afternoon consisted of parasitology, pathology, clinical pathology, and virology.
Parasitiology is going to be a great class. The professor is awesome and hilarious, and she is going to make learning the material a lot of fun. I am already creeped out by the parasites though! We talked about Ekbom syndrome today, and I'm pretty sure that's going to be me by the end of the semester! Eeek! So many gross fun facts. For instance, apparently there are 1 x 10^6 bacteria per fly leg (times 6!). Ewww!
Pathology...ehh. So far it's kind of boring. The professor is really nice, but not very interesting. To top it all off, I can't really understand him well. We shall see how this progresses.
Clinical pathology. Definitely looking forward to this class. So far it is very interesting. My only complaint might be that he moves a little bit slowly, but much better slow than fast! I'm already enjoying answering the questions he asks the class (I like looking smart haha).
Last on the list (for now) is virology. This class is team taught by three visiting professors. The first professor is here for the 1st 10 lectures. After two days, I am pretty much ready to shoot myself from boredom! He is so dull. He seems like a nice person, but I'd rather claw my eyes out than sit through a 50 minute lecture with him! I am so glad he is only here for a little but, because I am just dying in this class so far! Ugh!
Tomorrow we have pharmacology 2 for the first time. Wonder if we'll get another terror lecture on day 1 like last term! I think we're all sufficiently scared though from last semester and the stories of the current 4th term students! I really hope pharmacology goes well this semester because I really like the subject and the professors. We'll see, fingers crossed!
We are currently being spoiled with mornings off this week. I love it! Nothing to do until 1:30p each day is pretty fantastic! I love sleeping in!
Well, two days down, 16.5 more weeks to go! The first two days haven't been too bad. I must admit, having to sit in class for 8 hours yesterday was pure agony. I am not used to sitting still for that long!
We started yesterday morning off with 4 hours of physical diagnosis 2 (large animal edition). It will be a great class and we are going to learn a lot, but I was not feeling an attention span for that long! The afternoon consisted of parasitology, pathology, clinical pathology, and virology.
Parasitiology is going to be a great class. The professor is awesome and hilarious, and she is going to make learning the material a lot of fun. I am already creeped out by the parasites though! We talked about Ekbom syndrome today, and I'm pretty sure that's going to be me by the end of the semester! Eeek! So many gross fun facts. For instance, apparently there are 1 x 10^6 bacteria per fly leg (times 6!). Ewww!
Pathology...ehh. So far it's kind of boring. The professor is really nice, but not very interesting. To top it all off, I can't really understand him well. We shall see how this progresses.
Clinical pathology. Definitely looking forward to this class. So far it is very interesting. My only complaint might be that he moves a little bit slowly, but much better slow than fast! I'm already enjoying answering the questions he asks the class (I like looking smart haha).
Last on the list (for now) is virology. This class is team taught by three visiting professors. The first professor is here for the 1st 10 lectures. After two days, I am pretty much ready to shoot myself from boredom! He is so dull. He seems like a nice person, but I'd rather claw my eyes out than sit through a 50 minute lecture with him! I am so glad he is only here for a little but, because I am just dying in this class so far! Ugh!
Tomorrow we have pharmacology 2 for the first time. Wonder if we'll get another terror lecture on day 1 like last term! I think we're all sufficiently scared though from last semester and the stories of the current 4th term students! I really hope pharmacology goes well this semester because I really like the subject and the professors. We'll see, fingers crossed!
We are currently being spoiled with mornings off this week. I love it! Nothing to do until 1:30p each day is pretty fantastic! I love sleeping in!
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Another New Start
Where did the time go?? Starting year 2 tomorrow morning at 8:30am! The school officials were kind enough to vote in a new policy moving all classes from 8:00a to 8:30a from here on out! Love it! Would love it more if it had been last term when I actually had 8:00a classes instead of labs, but oh well!
Starting the morning off with 4 hours of large animal physical diagnosis class. I predict it to be exhausting and tedious since we'll be sitting there in the same class for 4 hours, I hope I'm wrong though! The afternoon is filled with parasitology, pathology, clinical pathology, and virology. Certainly will be a long day! I'm ready to get started with classes though, because I'm getting rather bored just hanging out with nothing to study. It feels so strange to have nothing to do for school! I've been finishing up organizing my room at suite. Pretty much done now! I still need to get an extension cord for my lamp, otherwise I'm basically set. I managed to misplace the new pictures I printed up before I came here. There are only so many hiding places, where could I have possibly put them?! Hopefully they'll turn up soon!
Starting the morning off with 4 hours of large animal physical diagnosis class. I predict it to be exhausting and tedious since we'll be sitting there in the same class for 4 hours, I hope I'm wrong though! The afternoon is filled with parasitology, pathology, clinical pathology, and virology. Certainly will be a long day! I'm ready to get started with classes though, because I'm getting rather bored just hanging out with nothing to study. It feels so strange to have nothing to do for school! I've been finishing up organizing my room at suite. Pretty much done now! I still need to get an extension cord for my lamp, otherwise I'm basically set. I managed to misplace the new pictures I printed up before I came here. There are only so many hiding places, where could I have possibly put them?! Hopefully they'll turn up soon!
Saturday, August 18, 2012
Busy Busy!
Another day closer to school - ack!
Last night we went out to the club Bananas and stayed out pretty late! We had a lot of fun, but I haven't been up that late in forever!
We took my roommate's sister to St. George's today for shopping and some fun. They found themselves some nice purses and purchased the homemade, hand painted black wine sold by one of the vendors at the spice market. The guy sells all sorts of flavors (sorrel, cherry, banana, mango, pineapple, etc.), but the black wine is the best and most popular. Even I like it (except for the alcohol aftertaste) which is really saying something! He also sells spiced rum, which her sister bought as a gift for her boyfriend. It is a bottle jam packed full of all sorts of different spices with rum in it. It is apparently quite potent according to both of them! We ate at Subway for lunch in town today - boy have I missed my yummy Parmesan oregano bread!
We made the mistake of dropping by the hardware store and grocery store on our way back from town. I needed to get an extension cord for my lamp (which they didn't have) and some glue to fix the peeling paint on my walls. Since I couldn't find super glue, I opted for some off brand white school glue, which I spread on the peeling spots with a Q-tip tonight (I'm hoping to kind of help prevent further peeling when I redecorate the room). We picked up some turkey bacon for breakfast tomorrow and stocked up on fresh chicken since they had it. Both of these errands were easy, it was catching a bus back that was insane! We were finished at 1:50p and headed out to wait for a bus. Busing on the weekends is rather unreliable, and I try to avoid it at all costs. Today was no exception. At 2:15p, the first bus passed by. Unfortunately it was already partially full and there were more students waiting for the bus than it could fit. Figuring another would be coming along shortly, we decided to continue waiting patiently (after all, what else could we do if we didn't want to find a taxi?). Mistake! The next bus didn't come by until 2:45p! The part that makes this absurd is that in this 55 minute time span, 7 buses passed by the grocery store going the opposite direction. The way the system works is that they go to the end of the route (Grand Anse campus), take a break for a little bit, and turn around to go back to school. It's a little bit ridiculous that 7 buses passed by during that time and only 2 made it back. Like I said, weekend busing is sketchy at best.
The afternoon was spent being lazy. I was certainly tired from being up so late last night, being out in the heat for so long, and melting in the sun. One of my roommate's guy classmates asked if we wanted to go to LaLuna for dinner. It is this gorgeous little Italian restaurant over in Grand Anse. We had never been before and graciously accepted. The food was INCREDIBLE!! I have never had such amazing Italian food before! I ordered fettuccine ragu, which was a yummy pasta and meat sauce dish. My roommate ordered crab claw fettuccine, her sister ordered a seafood pasta dish, and our friend ordered a lamb dish. We had a lovely time and I look forward to going back there again sometime (it was a little bit on the pricey side though for students).
The last thing we did today was go to a few of our classmates' house party. I managed to snag another friend along tonight so that I could drop by and say hello for an hour or so and then be able to come home at a reasonable hour and go to bed. Here I am up late anyway! Oh well. Sleep is for the dead, right?
Last night we went out to the club Bananas and stayed out pretty late! We had a lot of fun, but I haven't been up that late in forever!
We took my roommate's sister to St. George's today for shopping and some fun. They found themselves some nice purses and purchased the homemade, hand painted black wine sold by one of the vendors at the spice market. The guy sells all sorts of flavors (sorrel, cherry, banana, mango, pineapple, etc.), but the black wine is the best and most popular. Even I like it (except for the alcohol aftertaste) which is really saying something! He also sells spiced rum, which her sister bought as a gift for her boyfriend. It is a bottle jam packed full of all sorts of different spices with rum in it. It is apparently quite potent according to both of them! We ate at Subway for lunch in town today - boy have I missed my yummy Parmesan oregano bread!
We made the mistake of dropping by the hardware store and grocery store on our way back from town. I needed to get an extension cord for my lamp (which they didn't have) and some glue to fix the peeling paint on my walls. Since I couldn't find super glue, I opted for some off brand white school glue, which I spread on the peeling spots with a Q-tip tonight (I'm hoping to kind of help prevent further peeling when I redecorate the room). We picked up some turkey bacon for breakfast tomorrow and stocked up on fresh chicken since they had it. Both of these errands were easy, it was catching a bus back that was insane! We were finished at 1:50p and headed out to wait for a bus. Busing on the weekends is rather unreliable, and I try to avoid it at all costs. Today was no exception. At 2:15p, the first bus passed by. Unfortunately it was already partially full and there were more students waiting for the bus than it could fit. Figuring another would be coming along shortly, we decided to continue waiting patiently (after all, what else could we do if we didn't want to find a taxi?). Mistake! The next bus didn't come by until 2:45p! The part that makes this absurd is that in this 55 minute time span, 7 buses passed by the grocery store going the opposite direction. The way the system works is that they go to the end of the route (Grand Anse campus), take a break for a little bit, and turn around to go back to school. It's a little bit ridiculous that 7 buses passed by during that time and only 2 made it back. Like I said, weekend busing is sketchy at best.
The afternoon was spent being lazy. I was certainly tired from being up so late last night, being out in the heat for so long, and melting in the sun. One of my roommate's guy classmates asked if we wanted to go to LaLuna for dinner. It is this gorgeous little Italian restaurant over in Grand Anse. We had never been before and graciously accepted. The food was INCREDIBLE!! I have never had such amazing Italian food before! I ordered fettuccine ragu, which was a yummy pasta and meat sauce dish. My roommate ordered crab claw fettuccine, her sister ordered a seafood pasta dish, and our friend ordered a lamb dish. We had a lovely time and I look forward to going back there again sometime (it was a little bit on the pricey side though for students).
The last thing we did today was go to a few of our classmates' house party. I managed to snag another friend along tonight so that I could drop by and say hello for an hour or so and then be able to come home at a reasonable hour and go to bed. Here I am up late anyway! Oh well. Sleep is for the dead, right?
Friday, August 17, 2012
Sand and Sun
I have been back for a little under 72 hours and have definitely utilized some of that time to go swimming! I definitely missed the beautiful ocean this summer, but I didn't really have a whole lot of down time with working and spending time with family. I think I made it out into the sun (where it required sunscreen) a total of 4 times. Kind of sad and pathetic! Basically what this means is that I am still a pasty pale Irish girl who pretty much glows in the dark!
Yesterday we hung out at the campus beach, swimming around and exploring the reefs. I bought myself an Olympus Tough TG-1 before coming back because I just couldn't go another semester without being able to share the beautiful ocean with you! Great news, the camera works great! I am still learning how to use the various features and when to use certain settings, but I definitely logged a lot of great pictures between yesterday and today! Today we went to Aquarium, a local restaurant by the airport that is well known for having great food and excellent snorkling. I'm not really sure how the place got its name, because it certainly isn't an aquarium! They did have a little turtle pond with a bunch of turtles and fish, and a small tank with a couple of lobsters and lion fish. The food was excellent. The snorkling was great too! Lots of cool finds yesterday and today. The top couple are eel sightings and an octopus!
I haven't really seen any eels in the water here yet, although I knew they were here. Nothing crazy, just a couple of leopard eels. They are quite pretty. We saw one yesterday who was pretty relaxed about people swimming over top of him and staring at him. We were only 4 or 5 feet above him (shallow waters). Today's eel was on a mission and didn't stick around for very long. I took lots of pictures of the various corals and some fish. As I was sorta kinda making my way to shore (getting out of the water is a lengthy process for me as I'm never quite ready to get out and say good bye), I saw a pair of eyes and part of a tentacle staring up at me froma crevice in a rock. The octopus was definitely nervous about me watching him (and snapping pictures!), but he just tried harder to tuck himself into the rock rather than jetting away or inking. Very cool!
I am quickly turning into a strawberry (or cherry or tomato, just pick your fruit haha!) spending so muhc time in the sun. I was quite red from yesterday (just my back, since I always spend my time face down in the water), and I'm sure I didn't do my skin any favors by going back out again today. Oh well, the pictures were definitely worth it! I will just be really tan on my back and pasty pale in front haha.
Enjoy the pictures!!! (p.s. there are 2 more new posts below this one)
Yesterday we hung out at the campus beach, swimming around and exploring the reefs. I bought myself an Olympus Tough TG-1 before coming back because I just couldn't go another semester without being able to share the beautiful ocean with you! Great news, the camera works great! I am still learning how to use the various features and when to use certain settings, but I definitely logged a lot of great pictures between yesterday and today! Today we went to Aquarium, a local restaurant by the airport that is well known for having great food and excellent snorkling. I'm not really sure how the place got its name, because it certainly isn't an aquarium! They did have a little turtle pond with a bunch of turtles and fish, and a small tank with a couple of lobsters and lion fish. The food was excellent. The snorkling was great too! Lots of cool finds yesterday and today. The top couple are eel sightings and an octopus!
I haven't really seen any eels in the water here yet, although I knew they were here. Nothing crazy, just a couple of leopard eels. They are quite pretty. We saw one yesterday who was pretty relaxed about people swimming over top of him and staring at him. We were only 4 or 5 feet above him (shallow waters). Today's eel was on a mission and didn't stick around for very long. I took lots of pictures of the various corals and some fish. As I was sorta kinda making my way to shore (getting out of the water is a lengthy process for me as I'm never quite ready to get out and say good bye), I saw a pair of eyes and part of a tentacle staring up at me froma crevice in a rock. The octopus was definitely nervous about me watching him (and snapping pictures!), but he just tried harder to tuck himself into the rock rather than jetting away or inking. Very cool!
I am quickly turning into a strawberry (or cherry or tomato, just pick your fruit haha!) spending so muhc time in the sun. I was quite red from yesterday (just my back, since I always spend my time face down in the water), and I'm sure I didn't do my skin any favors by going back out again today. Oh well, the pictures were definitely worth it! I will just be really tan on my back and pasty pale in front haha.
Enjoy the pictures!!! (p.s. there are 2 more new posts below this one)
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