Day 2 and 3

Day 2
A crow woke me up this morning. I was wide awake at 6am. This has to be a first in my books. I have never been a morning person, and I was convinced that in medical school my limits of getting up early would be tested. But maybe it was a fluke. Or it was the rooster that woke me up.
I made some Starbuck’s Coffee, reminding me off home and prepared for the day. We set out to campus, which was a short one minute walk down a relatively steep embankment. Upperclassman had set out their “wares” are we went down to purchase some books and hang out a little before orientation.
Orientation was a great experience, and we heard from the Dean, Dr. D, and several professors who were also administrators, Dr. S and Dr. S. We heard about the school, how it was run, how the student affairs were handled and about the Hyperbaric Medicine program. I started to feel like there was a lot to look forward to. We also heard from the President, who made a great impression on me, and to whom I later spoke with. He spoke well, was engaging and seemed truly passionate and caring about the students and school and wanted to keep improving what was currently being done. We had a great Q and A section where we discussed Saba’s eventual transfer to part of Netherlands (meaning the possibility of being a European Medical Graduate!) to the opportunity for clinical rotations in California to research at Saba.
Later, we did more administrative chores, got our pictures taken, signed up online and registered our laptops. It’s funny how as soon as you arrive on the campus everything is organized. But from afar, as an applicant, everything is a mystery and difficult and you have so many questions! Well, at least I have most of my administrative questions answered now! I also picked up a BRS Anatomy and a set of Netter’s flashcards too from upperclassman! Super exciting!
Finally, the highlight of the day, we took a free tour around the island. All I have to say is “Wow.” I think we were all excited and shocked by the spectacular views, the quaint feel of every hamlet on the island and the breathtaking heights and valleys that “The Road” took us through. We went to pretty much every corner of the island, saw the shortest commercial landing strip, went to Booby Hill, saw St. John’s, Windwardside and Hell’s Gate. I was really happy I waited around for a bit to catch a bus! I went with a couple of my roommates and we had a blast snapping pictures. We also took some necessary photo ops in front of the school.
We got back and went grocery shopping at My Store. To my disappointment, since it was Monday, there was little available in the way of fruit and veggies and I took what I could get to make a salad and food for the next couple days. I am still trying to get used to the island slowness, and trying not to run and bustle around everywhere like in Toronto is pretty tough! Waiting in line and being patient is a fact of life here and I am adjusting slowly and I think it is helping my stress level too. It is high enough as it is!
I bought a bottle of 4 dollar Vodka (Yes you read it right!) and my roommate and I went back and had a couple coolers of vodka and Kool-Aid. Yum! And with such a fantastic view from our balcony it was great to enjoy. We spent the evening Skyping and very briefly looking over a few stray pages in our anatomy texts.

Day 3
Rise and shine today at 6:30. It wasn’t so easy today. No rooster, just my alarm clock this time and hearing my roommate showering. I needed to get up. We all got ready pretty quick and got down to the Histology class early in the morning. From what I heard from Upperclassman it was important to arrive early for the first lecture to stake out your seat, if you will. We were there at about 7:30, and class did not begin ‘till 8. Dr. S started on time and took the roll call. We had a pretty relaxed lecture covering mostly and introduction and basic cell membrane details with some information of freeze fracture techniques. We also formed our own group for class presentations, and I will be presenting Histology of Alzheimer and Affected Neutrophils later in June with a couple buddies. Sounds like a good topic!
Then Anatomy came. At first it was OK. But the slides kept coming and coming. I didn’t even think it was ever going to end. I had no idea there was this much material. And this is just the introduction. Oh dear. On the break we all felt pretty stressed out at the prospect of studying all the material thrown at us we trudged back to dorm for a quick lunch. In the afternoon, we had a lecture introducing parts of the nervous system with a different professor, Dr. B. He was great, giving us time and asking questions during lecture helped me more clearly understand the material. But it was still a lot more information I did not know much about.
I completely forgot today was the first day of Hyperbaric I. I didn’t explain above, so I will now. Saba offers an MSc in Hyperbaric Medicine as well for MD students. It is one class a semester and a research project later, in semester 3. I thought I would check it out, as the price is right too, at only 1200 USD a semester, it adds up to less than 4 grand for a Master’s Degree. Not bad. The class was good, and Dr. S was a great lecturer. The subject matter was very interesting and clinically focused which was enjoyable for me. By 5 I was dead. Too bad I needed to review all the material learned in the day.
I ran up to residence for dinner, and then studied until late in the night. Now I am writing this entry.
Interesting things learned today:
1. Only bone connected to no other bone: the hyoid bone (it’s surrounded by muscle)
2. The human body has fat everywhere, especially superficial fasica or Camper’s fasia everywhere except the eyelids, scrotum and penis.
3. There is a ridiculous amount of different names for a part of a bone that appears to be a “/ridge for muscle attachment”: epicondyle, tubercle, crest, tuberosity, trochanter...
4. There are 13 conditions proved effective to treat with HBOT (Hyperbaric Medicine – pressurized oxygen treatment)
5. I think nerves are really interesting.
6. We are sharing one cadaver between 16 people in anatomy lab.
7. There is never enough time to study everything.