The Girls

The girls made it and that was a relief. I took them out over the weekend to check out the island.

Here we have the atlantic side on the left called north Friar's beach. The Carribean on the right called south Friar's beach. This day was very windy as you can see by the looks of our hair. This is a great out and back ride for me with some brutal 18% grade. Sharie is freaking out about the whole right sided steering wheel and what not. We started anatomy lab and got our dog whom we named Stag after the local beer.

right now we are studying the forelimbs muscles, nerves, arteries, veins and bones. It's a ton of information; but the way I look at it is that I'll be doing this for the rest of my life and I want to be damn good at it!

Here are my lab partners Juli from FL and Chris from SoCal with Stag:

I'm starting to feel 100% acclimated and I'm enjoying learning about the vet profession....it's truly a privelage not only to study but to have my girls here.

Focus

Getting distracted on the Island is a big obstacle. The beaches, drinking, classmates that I have to keep reminding I'm married, or the shady local who tried to sell me weed and paid my car wheels his compliments (translates into I want to lift your wheels!), views from the classroom like below in the lower amphitheater:

I've decided routine is the way to go, so this is how I start my day:

Go to school all day

Then go home to some cheesy dinner (until Sharie gets here) and serious books.

So the way I see it is there is too much on the line to try to match my classmates Stag Stacking technique.

We'll I better get to learning because distractions are around and second chances are on leave.

Slim Pickins'

Getting a car on St. Kitts is rather comical. The trick is to buy a car that will not fall apart on the way to the mechanics'. Here's a fine example:

or better yet this one here:

I settled on a $4500Nissan Sentra that wouldn't get $1500 in the states. Electricity is super expensive. I heard of a student that left their a/c on night and day. At the end of the semester they had a bill of $8000! Slow service with an attitude. Lanes wide enough for 1 1/2 hatchbacks. And of course it took me about two days to get used to shifting with my left and driving on the left side of the road. The first few days I kept getting in the passengers side of the car, using my wiper instead of turn signal. As a matter of fact one student almost killed us as she drove off the lot thinking she was still in Kansas.

Some dissolusioned classmates at the car lot

School starts tomorrow and I'm set to go. Appartently there is a 40% failure rate at Ross. It was a sobering thought to look around during group outings and think that some will bite the dust. May the force be with me!

Good Company

2 layovers, 2,886 miles, and 18 hrs later I arrived in St. Kitts. The group that arrived at the same time consisted of JP from FL, Cuban Chris with wife Wendy from San Dimas, Katie from somewhere, Kathleen with mom from West Palm beach, and myself. Most of us are from a neighborhood called Camps. Since this reminded me of a rough gang infested neighborhood in Visalia we let that theme play. So now were the Camps Crew! Our mascot is a flock of white birds that claim the neighborhood corner. As a matter of fact the directions to our place are as follows: Get to St. Kitts, ask how to get to white birds, make a left, at "v" stay left, go to end of road and hang a left, we're the last corner house on the left (only 3 houses on street). The group is really tight. We've been doing many things together. As a matter of fact we've adopted a few stragglers without a group like 48 yr old Peter from Mountain View, Leah from NY, Julia from OH, and Molly from NY, oh, and Rachel from WA. Anyways here are a few pics

New Years Eve/Day

Alright I better get going to the orientation. Later!