This is the view of the Grand Anse beach from my floor of my dorm room. Absoultely gorgeous at sunset! 

TGIF (2-25-05)

Yeah!
It is Friday. I am going out to eat with my new bible study group. I am excited to get to meet some new people. Everyone always has such a great story on how they got to this place in life. God is amazine in how he leads people to places. He is very creative in making his life stories.
I think that we are going to get some people together tonight to just relax. One of the guys in our class has a guitar and he is going to bring it over and then there is like some island party with a bonfire or something going on tonight later. Well see, this island party could be pretty crazy! Needless to say!
Hope all is going well in the States. I looked online and the temperature is pretty chilly that way. The weather has been really cool (Grenadian terms.. remember). It is pretty windy and it has been sprinkling on and off for the past couple of days. My run this morning was fabulous because it was so cool and it sprinkled a little bit in the middle of my run! I can't wait for you guys to come visit!!

Thursday, Feb. 24th

Much better day today. Sorry about the horrible blog yesterday. Life does go on, just like nothing ever happened.
This morning Greta and I went swimming again. This was by far the best and clearest water that I have witnessed since I have been here. The waves were really calm and so we could see clear to the bottom about 8 to 10 feet. There were fish everywhere like ones that you see in the salt water tanks in peoples aquarium. It was really cool. All kinds of sea creatures were obvious. So swimming along the water doing freestyle stroke was the best way to swim today. You definetly did not want to take your eyes off the bottom.
Finished swimming and then decided to eat with the ladies downstairs from our dorm. These ladies cook a meal 3 times a day for the students, tourists, and workers around the area. I got a chicken ceasar salad. It was really good, I have not had salad since I got here and those that know how much salad I eat when I am home, I am sure you are surprized. Salad is hard to get here unless you are going to buy it from the ladies and spent 12 EC each time. 12EC is about $5 dollars US which is not bad but you can't do it all the time for every meal. Just a treat! Mom you would be proud because I even ate the cucumbers.
It was funny, here they have these big black birds kinda like the ones in College Station and they are just as annoying or maybe even more except now I don't have a car for them to poop on. Anyways... while I was waiting on the ladies to make my salad, these birds were getting into everything. They had this huge bucket of raw uncooked chicken breasts sitting out in the open and this one bird was just picking at one of the breasts eating whatever it could tear off. This did not even really bother me, I am in Grenada. We freak out when there are sparrows in the mall in the states... not even to mention having a bird sitting on the edge of a bowl picking at a uncooked chicken breast that is going to be sitting on someones plate in a matter of minutes and they are going to be eating it. Only in Grenada! Sorry if I grossed some people out. It really does not phase me, I ate my chicken salad with vengence!! Yum!!
So tomorrow is Friday. Yeah! Lab in the morning and then in the afternoon we have an anatomy quiz and then 3 hours of lecture. Then I am spending the evening with my bible study group for dinner and drinks at a resturant called The Big Fish.
Tata for now.

Wednesday

Well had my big Physiology test today. I wish I could say that I am happy with the grade, but I'm not.
I just hope that history is not repeating itself. I made a 75. Pretty pathetic since this is the 3rd time that I have taken this class. I know that I passed and things could have been a lot worse, howeever, it still sucks. The reason it sucks so bad is because I knew the answer to every question on the test. It was not like I was caught off guard, I just made stupid mistakes, which is really frustrating. I made an appointment with DES which is like a tutorial place on campus and I am going to talk to them about my problem. One of the girls in my class that I studied with, she did really bad on the test, and i studied with her and she knew the infomation. Then this other girl that I studied with, she made a better grade than me and I know for a fact she did not know the material as well as either of us. She is good at multiple choice though.
Otherwise the day was uneventful. I read in my daily devotional that we should thank God for days that are uneventful. That is pretty true we always want something big or great to happen. Life is enough. Getting up in the morning and seeing the beautiful mountains and getting to school by the university bus without getting in an accident is eventful enough for me!!

So today was one of those days, frustrating indeed, but I need to remain positive and not give up.
Love all and miss all more than you can beleieve

St. George's Veterinary School- White Coat Ceremony 

Feburary 22nd

Okay... this is going to be pretty short. I've got a big Physiology test tomorrow. Of course, I am nervous because this class is the reason that I am here in Grenada today. Not that I am saying that it is a bad thing, but definetly not what I had planned. Though...it is not my planning, I am not in control, God is!! Eventhough I still fight with him on this issue like every minute.
So if you guys think about it, be praying for me around 1pm tomorrow (wednesday). The test is 20 questions and over action potential, muscle types, just the basics all multiple, multiple choice. I just don't want history to repeat itself if you know what I mean.

I played soccer last night and had a good ole time. Went swimming that morning with Greta (one of my classmates) and swam in the beautiful warm water for like 35-40 minutes.
Class was long today but I've got a long day ahead of me so I better get to cracking the book open. Got a study group tonight. We talk about all the objectives and quiz eachother. It was extremely helpful when we did it last night.

Anyways love all of you. Thanks for all your prayers in advance!!
Big Hug.
By the way I am trying to post some of my pictures on this blog also. Give me a little time but hopefully I will get it up and running!

Sunday Feb. 20

So not having internet access is making it hard for me to remember to post these blogs. I forget when I am on campus and then the minute I walk into my dorm room, it dawns on me.....i forgot!

Well Friday was a pretty uneventful day. I got up early and went running at around 6:30am. It was so nice and cool (cool in the Grenadian sense of the word!). I ran toward the ship channel where the tourist ship anchors and lets the tourists off the boat for a couple hours. Then we had lab and class the rest of the day. My anatomy quiz went very well unless I made some stupid error which is possible, but I think I did pretty good. That night Shanti, Kris, Kevin, Lucas, Layla, and I went to eat at this place called Amigos. Amigos serves Mexican food on Friday and Saturday nights. So I was really excited. I shared chicken fajitas with Shanti and it was so much food. Actually I think that my stomach has shrunk because normally I think that I could have eaten the entire thing, but half was more than enough and really too much for me. It tasted good though, definetly no comparison to Rosa's but it temporarily filled my mexican food void. The rest of the night I spent trying to study and get caught up on some things.

Saturday morning I woke up needing to use the rest room very bad, I guess Amigos did not agree with me to well. It still tasted good. I then had to catch the bus to go help the Grenadian relief fund. Two ladies that teach at the med school picked us up and drove us out to this town called Dunbar. The community was very nice but as all the houses in Grenada show signs of hurricane damage. We arrived at the site where they were concreting the outsides of the house. There were several people already helping and so we decided to go work on another house down the road. This house had lost its roof in the hurricane and they had just broke out the top border of concrete with hammers so that they could fasten the roof back on. The broken concrete was everywhere! We had several buckets and so we would fill the buckets up and then lower them over the side of the two story house to the bottom floor and dump it onto this porch type area. Later on they are going to lay concrete over the broken pieces. This took a while but we had a lot of help from the local kids. It was great they are hard workers and we knocked the house out in like 2-2.5 hours. The remainder of the morning the head worker guy drove us around the community in the back of his pickup showing us and the kids the water filtration plant and the spring. It was very interesting and many of the kids had never seen were their water was coming from so they found it very interesting. I had a really good time, hanging out with the locals. It kinda brings you down off your pedestol of veterinary school and medical school.
Check out my new posted pictures(under Grenada relief fund):
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/hjmvet/my_photos
We stopped at a bakery on the way back and bought some bread rolls and a cup of icecream. The icecream was soooooooo good and cold!! To die for!
Got back to campus just in time to make it to the Physiology review. Went to that then went back to dorm room to eat and study. I did not feel well by the end of the night and so I went to bed.
Woke up this morning and we had a mandatory meeting about financial aid. Church at 11am and then I am going to spend the remainder of the day studying. I still don't feel 100% but it could be anything. Soccer is at 5pm, that gives me a goal to study till then!
Have a great rest of the weekend!
Love you guys!! Those of you in Midland eat a Rosa's tortilla or fajita for me!

Thursday, Feb. 17

Hey everyone!
So I am supposed to be studying for my quiz or going over my Physio notes however, I have a meeting in about 15 minutes and you can't really get into anything in 15 minutes right?? Right?
So anyways... had a little adventure today. Greta one of my friends from vet school (she is from Buffalo, New York). Both of us went swimming in the ocean today. It was professional swimming not like the wading type of swimming. Greta went to college on a swimming and diving scholarship so you can imagine what I could have gotten myself into. However, it was great what an adventure. For some reason today the waves were really rough. The waves reminded me of when I was a kid and going to the wave pool at Water Wonderland in Midland or Wet-n-Wild. Now imagine trying to swim freestyle in that kind of conditions. It was great and provided a pretty good workout. All in all we probably swam about 35 to 40 minutes. The way back to shore was a lot easier because you could ride the waves. We had a good time.
After we took showers we loaded up to go to a seminar on how to take multiple choice tests. Not litterally how to take them, but they clued us in on certain tricks and strategies on taking a multiple choice test. I hope that it helps, they had some great pointers.
Then it was the afternoon marathon of classes. Four hours of lecture, 3 being Physiology. We barely made it. But I am still alive. No more Physiology class this week. Thank you God!!
Now we have a large animal society meeting. Free pizza and coke (or soda as they call it here).
It will taste so good!
Love you all have a great rest of the week. Wish me luck on my first quiz in Anatomy tomorrow!

16 Feb 2005

So I survived and we survived the Physiology marathon.
Actually we got out a little early. The microphone went out and he was talking and I could not hear him, so I raised my hand. Asking politely... "could you please speak up, I can't hear you." His reply with a German accent was "I give up, you can go." Yeah!!! I was a hero!!!

It has been raining or sprinkling all day today. I am going to go to the fields in a couple minutes and see if anyone is playing some soccer. I need a break for a little while!!
Friday is our first Anatomy quiz. I don't think it is going to be so bad, except there are only 3 questions and that kinda scares me.

Well better get rolling!

Monday and Tuesday 2-14 and 2-15

So the past two days have flown by!!
Yesterday was a typical Monday I guess. And some of my classmates had a "case of the Mondays" but not me. We normally have Monday morning off which is great, but this morning, they set us up with a library meeting. IT was torture, but everyone made it through, after a few head bobs.
The rest of the afternoon was comprised of lecture.
Because I was soooooooooooooo sore from playing soccer Sunday night, I took the day off from running/working out. Every Sunday night, Monday pm, Wednesday pm, and Friday pm, a group of students get together around 5 on the fields and play a friendly game. I had a really good time, fell a couple times, and definetly felt my age the next day. I am getting old, I would have never been hurting like this a couple of years ago. Oh well... it is not going to stop me. The more I play, the more my body will get used to the torture.
So after hobbling around all day during class, I took a trip to the Supermarket and got a couple things. Then the best thing happened!!! We had a fridge sitting outside our dorm room when I got back. I was so extatic, I moved it onto our balcony(I'll take a picture of it, for you guys). IT is very exciting!!!!
Little things!!!

So Tuesday was pretty non momentus. I got up to run this morning and then the rest of the morning and afternoon was class. I took lunch to open my bank account on campus finally because I am running out of cash. It took the entire time, but I got it done, thank goodness.
Now I am getting ready to head home, eat something, and then get back to the books. Ohhhhh the life of a veterinary student, the studying never ends. I have a secret to tell though... I kinda like it!! Scary thought huh!!
We have our first quiz on Friday in Anatomy. Yikes!!
I'm out! Peace.
Heidi

Weekend (12th - 13th)

Well the party Friday night was a hit. We got there about 8:30ish because we were told their was going to be food. Unfortunately, that was a rumor. Rumors happen very easily here. In fact, one of my better friends in vet school, Chris, asked me this morning if I was married because someone told him on the bus yesterday that I was. I have no idea how that started. Oh well.
Anyways... Friday night was the party that the upper termers gave to the 1st termers. It was a blast. They had very loud music and the first drink was free so that got everyone started. I had vodka with Ting which I think was mostly made up of vodka. So that was definetly my sole drink for the night. The party lasted until about 1pm. After that we got the privalege of catching and waiting for the bus and making sure everyone was going to make it home safetly. One of the guys in our class got pretty trashed and he lived at Grand Beach, so luckily he had a roomate to take after him. Then two other guys that lived at Grand Anse(my dorm) were hurting pretty bad, one of them I actually had to chase into a lecture hall because he just wanted to sleep. But we all made it home safetly. Eventhough the guys and girls in my class might be crazy and irresposible at times, I love them already. I don't mind taking care of them, that is what I am here for.
Then on Saturday... I slept in and got up and went to study at school. At 2pm, we had an equine wet lab and we got to pratice doing nerve blocks on a horse. It was fun and a great learning experience. The lab was at the farm and we had a guest veterinarian from the US showing us everything. His name was Dr. Findley and he has worked in Texas and LA, at Elgin Veterinary Clinic and now he works as a race horse veterinarian out of his suburban.
At the farm a baby donkey was just born on Thursday and he was suffering from septicemia. When we first got to the farm the baby was out in the middle of the stable just laying there not moving or anything. So one of the students picked her up and moved her to a safer spot were at least she would not get trampled. After the lab was over, the baby still had not moved so we rounded up the mother donkey and tied her up. Then we grabbed the baby and got him to suckle a little bit. This made all of us feel a little better. Then the head farm guy came over and instructed us to give the baby some antibiotics and some other stuff to help out with the septicemia. It was fun to work with the animals a little. Got me pumped for the rest of the week.
I spent the rest of the day studying, working out, and then going home to just watch a movie called "Say Anything". IT was a really good movie, my roomates favorite and I know why now!

On Sunday, I got up to go running. I went into this neighborhood that one of my classmates told me about and it was gorgeous. The houses were beautiful and so nice and it went along the water and the beach at points. It was wonderful! :)
I went to church this morning at a Christian Student Association. They did a nice job, we had worship music and then a message. They are going through the book of John this semester. They are setting up small groups right now and next week they are going to give us clues on how to get connected. A neat group of people and I thank God that it is here. The rest of the day is devoted to studying and trying to maybe get a head of the game!!
Love all of you!!! Hope you are having a wonderful weekend!!
Heidi

Feburary 11th

Twenty three years ago....a wonderful person entered into my life. Eventhough at that time I was not to pleased, I quickly learned that it was not too bad of a thing, I now had a slave and could ask him to do certain things for me and right this moment he is taking care of my prized possession. (that would be my dog, Kole). If you have not figured it out yet, I am talking about my brother Trey. Happy Birthday, Trey. I love ya. If you ever read this!!

So today we had our first anatomy lab. The cadavor dogs are not here yet, some problem with the formaldehyde, but they are supposed to be here early next week. We will see! We went over the specific parts of the scapula, humerous, radius, ulna, and manus. I have learned and relearned this so many times in the last 2 years that it is all really familiar to me, but the best way to learn it to teach, right??

Today went I woke up it was raining. Not a hard rain, just a slight drizzle. Now it is clear and beautiful again. Maybe a little cooler than yesterday. It is hard to really tell, a couple degrees does make a diffrence.

The rest of the day is composed of two hours of embryology and 1 hour lecture of anatomy and then we are done for the day. Tonight the second terms are feeding us and giving us a party with free drinks. They are really cool and welcoming to us little first termers.

Class is about to start better get to paying attention.
Love you guys!

Wednesday Feb. 10

It is crazy when I write the date and it is Feburary. It so goes not feel like Feburary right now!! (At least in Grenada).
So we had our big white coat ceremony yesterday. It was really nice. We had Dr. Fletcher, Dean of North Carolina Veterinary School as our guest speaker and he explained the details of the importance of the white coat ceremony and how now we are really treated as coleges<-spelling?.

Then they had a reception for us at the Caribean house. Which is a building just beyond the library. The food was pretty good. I was famished after a long day of classes and not much to eat during the rest of the day so when I got the reception I ate really fast. Not a good idea. I got a really upset stomach that subsided after a little time. I then walked to Superdorm 2 with some classmates and we all walked over to Stewarts a local bar/resort/hotel place. I spent practically the whole time talking to Shawn and David (two of my classmates). It is so interesting talking to everyone and hearing their stories. Everyone has a diffrent background and grew up somewhere diffrent it is pretty cool. All diffrent ages and upbringings to end up all together here.
Last night at the white coat ceremony, they called out our names and also said where each of us were from. We are from all over the world. There is one other girl from Texas, named Becky, and that is it. Many are from New York and New Jersey and then several are from Canada. Very diffrent than Texas A&M where 98% of the people were from Texas.

Tonight we have a large animal society meeting with a guest lecturer talking about throughbred horses. Should be free food so I am there. No eating to fast today!!

Major studying planned for tonight. Other than that.. not much happening.

Feb. 9 2005

First time to ever post a journal on the world wide web. Kinda cool. Please ignore my misspellings and incorrect grammar. I will try and be as carefull as possible, but hey.. give me a break... I am a science major not a liberal arts major!

Today was the second day of classes here at St. George's. Once again the day was clear and just absolutely gorgeous. Could not ask for a more beautiful day. We had Histology lab first this morning at 9am. Got there just in time to start lecture and it was really boring. It is going to be hard totally retaking this class just because it was so boring the first time. And now that I have to retake it a second time, it will probably be even more boring. I am going to have a good attitude about it though and this time around I want an A!!

I was the first person to leave class and then I went to workout. I got information on when and how intermural soccer starts and how everything works. The fields are under repair right now but they are going to set up a 3v3 on tennis courts. Should be fun!

Our afternoon classes start at 1 and end at 4.
Tonight is the veterinary schools white coat ceremony! Free food afterwards, that is what I am looking forward to. ( also to get my white coat!!! Hehe)