This Weekend In Grenada

After living here for over two months now I can truly say that this island is something else. I am beginning to learn that NOTHING will ever go according to plan and you just have to be okay with it. There is no schedule to follow no matter how hard you try and you just have to be flexible. But at the same time these are qualities that will prepare us for our lives as physicians. No patient will EVER be the textbook case, no day will go completely according to plan and flexibility is key! Life lessons of Grenada.

This weekend was really an experience. After midterms my closest friend and I decided to make a reservation to go to dinner. We picked our favorite restaurant on the island and dressed up and were ready to go. We enjoyed a night of good food and good friends and spent some time mingling with our bigger group later on.

On Saturday we planned on sleeping in and heading to the beach for a day in the sun. We haven’t taken a day off from studying since we got here so going to the beach was going to be such a treat and Saturday was going to be that day. After a torrential downpour in the morning we hopped on the bus and hoped the sun would come out. We stationed ourselves on the beach and made the best of the overcast weather until the sky went from this….

To this….

About 50 yards away on the other side of the beach it was pouring and the rain was going sideways. And within 2 minutes the storm made it our way. We had to run for cover underneath an overhang for about 30 minutes until the torrential downpour cleared up enough for us to even make it outside without being soaked. Our beach day was over.

So I went grocery shopping and headed back to campus and came home to find my dorm completely dark. The power had been out for over two hours at that point. There is no such thing as a back up generator either so you have to wait it out. As you all know when there is no power there is also no Wifi so there is no way to study, no way to contact friends and family (most of my friends on campus do not have Grenadian phones either so you really can’t contact anyone).

Thankfully the power came back soon after and I was able to put my groceries away but wifi never came back… all day long, all night long, and into Sunday. I had planned on spending my one day off firstly in the sun and secondly catching up with friends and family from home who I haven’t been able to because of such a busy schedule. But like I said, nothing will go according to plan and you just have to make it work. Certainly island life is teaching me that you have to roll with the punches, you have to be quick on your feet (figuratively and literally when you get caught in the middle of a monsoon) and you have to be prepared and not phased by anything and everything.  

Just Keep Swimming

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This weekend as well as next week will be study filled. Midterms are already upon us. Just thought I would stop by and share a photo of my view yesterday. I took the bus with one of my friends to one of the local hotels to do some work with a view. We got a ton done, enjoyed the breeze of being by the water and destressed by getting off campus.  I've learned that you just have to keep swimming and to keep your sanity it is important to get off campus and get away from the tense campus environment so I enjoy my time away! 

Now I have to keep swimming away till Friday when exams are over. 

Have a great weekend! 

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Views From the Deep Blue Sea

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I thought I would just stop by briefly to share a few pictures of the beautiful island of Grenada. The one above is of the hotel that one of my friends ended up being placed at. They ran out of rooms on campus so they have students living on one of the most scenic properties on the island! 

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This is the view from my dad's favorite lookout point on the island. The right peninsula is the beginning of campus. 

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Stunning Caribbean sunset... some nights the sky is so pink it is amazing. I was surprised to see the sun going down so much earlier each day, just like at home in New England. 

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The Ants Come Marching In...

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You might be wondering where on earth this post is coming from... well I have yet another funny story for you. 

Before I arrived on the island I would read articles saying that students quickly build a list of "Only in Grenada" happenings and I have one to add for you. And I can assure you my list is rapidly growing each day. Today though was the most comedic of them all. 

As I was studying in my usual study room this morning I noticed little ants crawling around on my desk. They would walk one by one and I'd kill them and keep working away. Then I quickly realized that the ants were climbing out of my computer, from the keyboard, from the hinge... from everywhere. 

Yes, I said it. I had ants in my computer. 

After looking into the hinge of my two month old MacBook Pro I became alarmed. There were ants crawling in and out!! In medical school your computer is your life, all of my lecture notes, study notes and tests and quizzes are on the computer. So I began ferociously killing as many as I could, packed my stuff and ran in the hot caribbean sun to the library IT center. With no help provided there, I continued to kill the ants myself and found a student who works on Macs to take a peak after class. 

Thankfully the ants marched out just about as quickly as they marched in. 

As I was explaining this story to my friends in class one asked what ants even mean. So of course I took it upon myself to look up the symbolism for ants and found the above quote. I'd say those words are pretty suiting for a medical student like myself. I can't help but wonder if those ants came marching for a reason... they didn't cause too much trouble just enough to get my attention and to appreciate the symbolism. 

I truly believe that there are certain people, signs and symbols that come into your life for a reason and my marching ants was one of them. 

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