FRIDAY!!!!!!!

Well, I have successfully completed 8 of the 9 exams to wrap up my second semester. I figured I would write one last post from Dominica and waste a little time. I am beyond burned out (which is still an understatement) and we are both DYING to get home.

Here is our/my "life schedule" for the upcoming future:
tomorrow: study ALL day
Thurs: mini 3 at 1p
Friday: depart Dominica forever!! 5p; reservations at Ruths' Chris in San Juan, Puerto Rico to celebrate!
Sat: Get to LAX around 3p; Colby leaves for SB; I just want to eat Chipotle, go to Nordstrom's Rack and Target and sleep (and eat more mexican food).
Sunday: shopping day with mom
Monday: Burke Williams massage with Mom; Colby's getting his first haircut since July!
Tuesday: hair, manicure/pedicure appointments
Wednesday: Colby comes back down to Lake Forest; Wood Ranch for Christmas eve steak dinner :) with Mom, Matty and Colby
Thursday: MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Friday: Wine tasting with my girlfriends from high school in Temecula!
Saturday: heading up to SB with Dania, and an exciting little stop in Ventura!!
Sunday-Tuesday?!?!?!?
Wednesday: SB for NEW YEARS EVE @ Stateside
Jan 1-7: no idea! How fabulous :)

That just made me so much more excited (if possible) to get home! This time Thursday we will be 100% packed and hopefully having a few celebratory drinks!

Love you all and SEE YOU SOON!

A picture of me and Colb at Alta's Christmas Party -2007

by Marissa ♥

18 days!

cat and her fabulous first turkey

me and colb at the powder puff game :)


bad bad brown && bad bad black :)


lily, lissett, devin & me


cat, tracy me and linds


the girls after the game ♥



me and joana (my cheerleader)!


char, linds, priya, maria, me and tracy at thanksgiving dinner


dinner!



and more!



and even more!!!!!!!!


the girls :)


watching the all star football game

I don't have time to write, but I will post some pics. We had Thanksgiving dinner twice, at two different friends' houses and they were both amazing. Last night we both almost died from over eating but had an amazing time with good friends. I will post some Powerpuff Pictures too :) Can't wait to get home! Yay! by Marissa ♥

God bless the Pittsburgh Steelers!

Well well well, if things ended the way they SHOULD have, the Steelers would have won 17-10 but due to some crap call about an "illegal forward pass" - Monster-malu's fumble return and touchdown were called back! Colby said it well though, "A win is a win!" SORRY CHARGERS FANS!




I only got to watch a little bit on TV while I was eating dinner and the rest I watched on NFL.com - which is totally not the same! I did cheer and throw my hands in the air in celebration when Jeff Reed kicked the game winning field goal with 0:05 left! Season record of 7-3 sounds pretty sexy if you ask me :)

As of tomorrow, there are 31 more days until my very last test. AHH! I am soosossososososooo excited to come home! .. but also a little nervous about my 2 1/2 weeks of HELL at the end of the semester. Cross your fingers that 1) I do really well and 2) that I maintain my sanity and 3) Colby still loves me when we get home!! hahaha

This coming Friday is the semester POWDERPUFF GAME! I am a receiver and although not the best, I am having a ball and can't wait for the game. I told one of our quarterbacks that there is my "glory play" and all I want is this ONE play and I will be happy! Pictures to be posted next weekend :)

Hope all is well and the fires calm down soon .. I can't believe it! Poor Souther CA!

Love you all, see you soon!




by Marissa ♥

36.5 days!

As of tomorrow, there will be 36 days until my very last test on Dominica, but considering its midnight - I figured I would add the 0.5.

Not a whole lot going on - like usual. Last Friday Colby bartended at a new bar a Dutch couple opened up above our old apartment and I went up for a double-birthday party. It was so nice to be somewhere new and to relax and have one good night out before the final stretch. No one would ever envy a 2nd semester - our schedule, like I have said a million times, at the end of this semester is nothing to be jealous of. I am working my ass off, starting yesterday, to learn as much as I can as efficiently as I can and to get as much reviewing in as possible in between.

Colby is going to keep working both jobs through these last 5 weeks to stay busy and make some extra money and to keep himself as entertained as he can - since I won't be able to offer much in that department. We usually bump into each other during the day and eat lunch and dinner together and then 11p or later I come home and we hang out for a little before I pass out. Time is definitely limited right now.

Speaking of that, I am exhausted. I miss America and my mom.

Keep in touch.

by Marissa ♥

For my Uncle Dave & Uncle Larry

A friend of mine showed this to me today.. and I love it. It is crazy to me how 51% of CA fails to see what they are doing to so many friends, colleagues and peers by voting to remove gays' right to marry. I swear, this is ridiculous. Read below, as it is well said by Melissa Etheridge.

Singer Melissa Etheridge rails against the passage of the gay-marriage ban in California—and she won't be paying the state a dime.

Okay. So Prop 8 passed. Alright, I get it. 51% of you think that I am a second class citizen. Alright then. So my wife, uh I mean, roommate? Girlfriend? Special lady friend? You are gonna have to help me here because I am not sure what to call her now. Anyways, she and I are not allowed the same right under the state constitution as any other citizen. Okay, so I am taking that to mean I do not have to pay my state taxes because I am not a full citizen. I mean that would just be wrong, to make someone pay taxes and not give them the same rights, sounds sort of like that taxation without representation thing from the history books.

Okay, cool I don't mean to get too personal here but there is a lot I can do with the extra half a million dollars that I will be keeping instead of handing it over to the state of California. Oh, and I am sure Ellen will be a little excited to keep her bazillion bucks that she pays in taxes too. Wow, come to think of it, there are quite a few of us fortunate gay folks that will be having some extra cash this year. What recession? We're gay! I am sure there will be a little box on the tax forms now single, married, divorced, gay, check here if you are gay, yeah, that's not so bad. Of course all of the waiters and hairdressers and UPS workers and gym teachers and such, they won't have to pay their taxes either.

Oh and too bad California, I know you were looking forward to the revenue from all of those extra marriages. I guess you will have to find some other way to get out of the budget trouble you are in.

…Really?

When did it become okay to legislate morality? I try to envision someone reading that legislation "eliminates the right" and then clicking yes. What goes through their mind? Was it the frightening commercial where the little girl comes home and says, "Hi mom, we learned about gays in class today" and then the mother gets that awful worried look and the scary music plays? Do they not know anyone who is gay? If they do, can they look them in the face and say "I believe you do not deserve the same rights as me"? Do they think that their children will never encounter a gay person? Do they think they will never have to explain the 20% of us who are gay and living and working side by side with all the citizens of California?

I got news for them, someday your child is going to come home and ask you what a gay person is. Gay people are born everyday. You will never legislate that away.

I know when I grew up gay was a bad word. Homo, lezzie, faggot, dyke. Ignorance and fear ruled the day. There were so many "thems" back then. The blacks, the poor ... you know, "them". Then there was the immigrants. "Them.” Now the them is me.

I tell myself to take a breath, okay take another one, one of the thems made it to the top. Obama has been elected president. This crazy fearful insanity will end soon. This great state and this great country of ours will finally come to the understanding that there is no "them". We are one. We are united. What you do to someone else you do to yourself. That "judge not, lest ye yourself be judged" are truthful words and not Christian rhetoric.

Today the gay citizenry of this state will pick themselves up and dust themselves off and do what we have been doing for years. We will get back into it. We love this state, we love this country and we are not going to leave it. Even though we could be married in Mass. or Conn, Canada, Holland, Spain and a handful of other countries, this is our home. This is where we work and play and raise our families. We will not rest until we have the full rights of any other citizen. It is that simple, no fearful vote will ever stop us, that is not the American way.

Come to think of it, I should get a federal tax break too...

Melissa Etheridge is an Academy Award-winning and Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter.

Pics!

Not much to report -

Mini 2 was hard and everyyyyone thought it was terribly hard so we shall see how that turns out =/

Last night was our Halloween and we had tons and tons of fun.

Enjoy the pics below :)

me & Linds (oh, and Colby too)





Tracy, Charlottle and me



yay!


Cat, Linds, me, Tracy and Nikki



Tarzan and his jungle sprite


me & Joana


Colby & Nima's mustaches



the girls :)



Jane, Fern Gully, Garden of Eden, bouquet, flower pot ... whatever you want to call me


Jell-O shots!

by Marissa ♥

its go time, baby!

Not much to say! My life has been pretty uneventful the past few days. I had a realization on Friday night that it would be much to my benefit to stop being sad about not being in CA and to get my ass in gear for the Mini on Tuesday. (Sounds simple, but easier said than done!)

I have been kicking out 16+ hour days consistently for over a week and have two more full days of studying before an 8am Mini on Tuesday. Colby will watch football all day (his favorite day of the week, hands down!!) and he works tomorrow from 3-11:30p. He is hanging in there .. anxious like me.

After Tuesday we have 1 full month before out next test but from December 4-Dec 18th we have 9 or more. Should be fun, right?? NOT!

Hope all is well!




by Marissa ♥

Happy Halloweeeenie!

I am very upset at the fact that 1) I have a Mini on Tuesday and, therefore, will not be partaking in any Halloween festivities tonight, 2) that I am missing Halloween in Santa Barbara, 3) that I don't even have a costume for Tuesday because Dominica sucks, 4) there are many more but those are a few.

Colby is working tonight and I am, guess what? STUDYING! Mini 2 is Tuesday and although I am not behind with my lectures, I don't quite know ANYTHING just yet. I usually learn a lot in the last few days before my tests, so lets hope I am productive.

We have officially found an apartment in the Bahamas! Look on Google Earth at these coordinates: 26.505799, -78.658136

The complex is new, all the furniture and appliances are new and it is RIGHT on the water of a channel. Its walking distance to the beach and to a gym. It is gated with a pool (on the channel) and a tennis court. The landlord told me they are going to arrange transportation to the campus (which is a 10-ish minute drive away). See pics below! I am sooooo excited and am currently trying to recruit friends to move in there too :)









Colby and I are dying to get home! I have officially made plans for when I am back! Dania is going to drive me (& Colby to see his friends) up to SB and we are going to spend the day shopping and frolicking and Christina is going to be driving back from the Bay to San Diego and is going to make a pit-stop and we are all going to go out for the night downtown! They don't know each other but I know they will love each other because I love both of them :) DECEMBER 27TH! I think Colby will probably stay up in SB for the next few days and I will go home on the 28th, spend a few days in Orange County and then head back to SB for New Year's Eve!

Colby's parents have postponed their plans for coming, but hopefully something will pan out and they will still come visit. Lots of people have said they want to come, and since its so close and so much cheaper, I am hoping we will get some visitors :)

Back to it, Embryological Development of the Gastrointestinal System is waiting for me.

Loves to everyone :)

49 days!!!!!!!!!!

by Marissa ♥

Nothing much to report here..

Hey y'all -

Not much to say here. Just came off a very busy and productive weekend. I got myself VERY CLOSE to caught up just in time for another crazy week to start. The only good thing: Friday is full of dissections for the other lab groups, therefore, no lectures and Monday is Dominica's Independence Day so I will end up having a 4 day weekend to prep for Mini 2 this coming Tuesday. Hopefully, things will go as planned and I will be good to go!!

Joana and I are still tutoring first semesters which has its pros and cons. It is kind of time consuming, but I know that at the end of this semester when we take our shelves (cumulative tests covering all material from Semesters 1 & 2) in each subject, having reviewed this stuff throughout the semester will come in very handy.

Colby is counting the days until we get back. He is going to "Creole in the Park" on Wednesday which is part of the Independence celebration. I think its food and music at the Botanical Gardens in Roseau from 12p-6p to hang out and enjoy. He is going with a group of other spouses, I will post pics after :)

The housing website for the Bahamas is up tomorrow - so hopefully we will soon have an apartment to look forward to soon!!

Take care! 53 days :)



by Marissa ♥

fancy beans!

I don't have much time to write but I thought I should let y'all know we are still alive... and kickin' .. barely. After school was closed down last Thursday due to the "aftermath" of Hurricane Omar - we have had one hell of a week trying to play catchup. I am even more pissed now that they closed things down due to a little rain and wind but what are you gonna do? We have had class all week from 8-5p and have our first Neuro practical on Friday afternoon. Rumor has it that the test itself isn't too bad so cross your fingers for that one.

I don't know if I wrote on here yet but WE ARE OFFICIALLY GOING TO THE BAHAMAS! I booked our flights on Monday night and we are all set to fly out of LAX on January 8th at 6:37a and arrive in Freeport, Grand Bahama before sunset :) With all the money we are saving on flights, I could buy 1 and 2/3 pairs of Christian Louboutin pumps! *not a bad idea, if I do say so myself!!!*

Colby and I have both been in really good moods the last two days. He informed me last night that he "loves me more" .. I asked why and he replied, "For getting me out of here.." hahhah sweet, eh? :) I am stoked to get out of here too .. I honestly don't know if I would be able to handle it if the positions were switched. Its rough here. Colby hates "the countdown" because there are "too many days left" but I love it .. as it just keeps dwindling ... 57 days. YAY!

Halloween is falling the Friday before a Tuesday (11/4) Mini so who knows what will happen with that .. but it is my favorite holiday and will be the first time in 4 years I haven't spent a ridiculous amount of money on a cute little costume to prance around SB in .. makes me miss that place a ton. Colby and I had an awesome Halloween last year and anyone who knows (even my PopPop and Grandma Ronnie saw in the paper in Orange County!) how crazy SB Halloween's truly are. *I think my mom had to do damage control after that, assuring them that Matt and I really were going to a fabulous school hahah*

Colby made an amazing dinner tonight. He marinated chicken breasts in greek dressing and BBQ's them... and BBQ'd plantains seasoned with salt, pepper, cumin and chili powder... and he cooked green beans and onions in a butter/soy sauce mix with salt and pepper. I told him the meal felt sophisticated .. maybe because of the "fancy beans" - hence the name of today's post.

I am fat and happy right now and trying to get back into study mode for a few more hours. He really is an amazing cook. I am luckyyyy. He is way better than I am on 99% of our meals! .. shoooot works for me! I think my grandma said once, "he's cute and he cooks, keep him!" :)

Hope all is well and that everyone is gearing up to vote! We sent in absentees that we are supposed to get via email -- so hopefully it will work because we both really want to be able to get our votes in.

Much love from the rock.



by Marissa ♥

2 months from tomorrow...

... we will be back in CA! Yayayay!

So my anatomy practical was on Friday and although we don't have our grades yet I think I did okay. Not fabulous, but I always set my expectations really high - so even if I didn't get what I wanted to get, it usually means by most peoples' standards, I did just fine. I guess that attitude is what got me here and will get me to where I want to be one day, so I am perfectly fine with it :)

The Steelers are playing today but the game isn't on TV here, so I am faithfully watching evey play on NFL.com while studying. I am actually doing well playing the catch up game before yet another insane week. We have our first Neuro Lab Practical on Friday afternoon. Tomorrow my friend, Joana, and I have our weekly tutor session for first semesters - which we both really enjoy. It just sucks because they had a lot of class last week which means a lot of prep work for both of us. I have to outline 8 hours of lecture for them, and she has 6. CRAZY! It is at times like these that I am so thankful that I did all my own outlines to study last semester because I just further condense from there and try and give the firsties the most condensed, most informative info that I can in the time allotted.

Tomorrow we have a meeting about the Bahamas campus with the President of Ross, a guy that I have become fond of over many emails back and forth. I plan on being quite the "bulldog" tomorrow in getting info for everyone. I am no longer going on my trip next weekend. It may be rescheduled for later, it might not happen. I am pretty bummed, as is Colby, but we will see. Anything will be better than Dominica, although I would like to have had a chance to check it out - and on Ross's dime. :) We will see.. Housing info got postponed from last Friday until the 28th, which sucks, but hopefully there will be some good apartments.

Colby and I are doing well, counting the days, as always. I can't believe week 7 starts tomorrow -- as much as I hate it here, the time is going fast. Second semester has proved to be more hectic, like I have said before and with that, the time flies. Colby had a football game yesterday, the team lost due to a shit-tastic call but the definitely out played the 3rd semester team. Oh well - Colby got kneed in the thigh and can hardly walk. Should be a pretty bruise in the next few days. We went out on Friday and had a good time relaxing and having a few drinks :)

More to come soon!!

Nikki, Tracy, me
Lindsey and Charlotte

As you can see, Colby is boycotting shaving his beard!

That's Colby with his arm in the air in the yellow shirt, he totally blocked the pass!!

Colby defending .. in the middle of the pic pushing the guy in black

the boys.. Colby in the front on the right .. muddy messy boys

by Marissa ♥

Sorry its been a few days =(

Well, this past week, second semester has been on a mission to prove that it is indeed much more work and much harder than first semester. My days have been jam packed with no time for dilly-dallying and no time to breathe (or so it feels). Monday was a good 15 hour day and yesterday was 13 or so. Crazy. We have our first anatomy practical on the head & neck this Friday so I have been spending time in lab with a few (smart) friends trying to master everything. *PS. the head and neck SUCKS*

The following Friday we have our first Neuro Lab practical and Mini 2 is about a week and a half later on Nov 4th. After that we have a little break from tests and have about 4 week until Dec 4th when we have our 2nd Neuro Lab practical and then on the 5th when we have a Histology practical at 8:00a and an Anatomy practical at 1:00p. That will be the end of our 13 weeks of class and then hell begins. We will then have 6 tests in 10 days and then Colby and I are outta here for good! My final is the 18th, we fly to San Juan on the 19th, stay the night and then LAX on the 20th.

We have friends that went and checked out Freeport who came back glowing about the amazing island and apartments *although expensive* that they found. Real grocery stores, paved roads, the works. At this point, I am ready to book flights, I am just waiting for a true "ok" from Ross before I do so. We can hardly contain ourselves. The apartment we are thinking about moving into has granite counters, dishwasher, washer/dryer in the unit and a walk in closet! (I totally get to bring ALL my shoes now!) Colby's parents have mentioned coming to visit us once we are settled in the Bahamas, which would be really awesome (since we haven't seen them since early this year - well, I haven't, Colby did go home in July)!! Hopefully that will work out :)

Other than that - I feel like we are just counting the days (65 if you were wondering) and I am just trying to keep my head above water with school. I should get to that now, actually. Hope all is well, write soon.



by Marissa ♥

Grand Bahama Island

I am getting SO excited about the Bahamas, especially after Colby and I took showers with virtually no water pressure today and a toilet that flushes and refills with water dirtier than what you sent out. Oh! and we can't forget to bring our water bottle to the bathroom - no way in hell are we (or would you) rinse and swish with the dirt water that comes out of the faucet. Being hungry for lunch today, I evaluated my choices: Chinese, Chinese or Chinese, overpriced "American food" from Colby's former job, Tomatoes, Subway, which hasn't been stocked in weeks or the shacks, most of which probably wouldn't come close to passing health inspections in America .. I ended up getting an old piece of pizza from the bookstore - simply because it was free and everything else sounded less than appetizing. A grocery store that had what you wanted when you went there? NO WAY! I don't even remember what the feels like .. Yesterday we were told our laundry would be picked up at 1pm. Colby ran home from work to grab his iPod at 6p and no one ever showed up, except the stray cats our stupid neighbor feeds who had ripped the bag open, pulled our clothes and made nests of our clothing items.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Anyways, check out this website. I looked at flights to book for January 7th .. $517- round trip, LAX --> Freeport, 7 hrs 2 mins. YAY! GRAND BAHAMA ISLAND

Miss you all!




by Marissa ♥

"He was a big mother-beep-beep-beep"

Good news or bad news first?

I say bad. So tonight I didn't feel like going out but Colby did, so he got off work, came and said hi to me in the library and went on his merry way. I studied before just a little time had passed when I was at my breaking point. 12 1/2 hours was plenty for me today. My friend, Joana, and I decided we would walk home together and go to her house. We got to talking (which was so nice and so much fun) and before I knew it, hours had passed and I decided to head home. I come home, in a great mood, and get ready to sit down at my desk when I see a HUGE COCKROACH SITTING ON MY MAC COMPACT! I went crazy and called Colby insisting that he came home. He told me I was nuts and to kill the bug. I tried, but it got away and I went crazy and called him DEMANDING. He eventually decided he would - and when he got there, agreed with me it was a HUGE MOTHER*****ing cockroach! Now I feel like things are crawling on me and don't wanna lay in bed. =(

Good news? The Bahamas campus is officially accredited in California. I am closer than ever to telling you all for sure we are moving there in January. Hopefully you will be hearing that sometime soon. Yay!

I am already behind after 4 days post-Mini, but hopefully this weekend will change that and I will be able to get back in the game. We have our first Anatomy practical this coming Friday, and neuroscience practical the next Friday. Life is getting busy. 69 days til home! Week 5 just ended!

Take care! Time to watch some girlie TV while Colby is out doing manly things aka drinking beer with the boys :)


by Marissa ♥

Freedom (for now)...

Not much time (or patience) to write but the Mini is over. We went to the Beach Bash and are now home waiting to go out. I think I am going to make bean and cheese quesadillas and go hang out with everyone in celebration (of at least the freedom - not necessarily success) for a while tonight before its back to the books tomorrow.

GOOD NEWS! The Bahamas campus got accredited! What that means? We are one (very big) step closer to us moving there in January! They are launching a website for the housing on 10.17.08 with all the available apartments, locations, prices, pictures, etc. which is another really big determinant. They are also considering "financial compensation" to make up for the fact that we would be shipping stuff there, flying there - all costs that wouldn't typically be incurred. We shall see! Big developments in the next few weeks.

Okay, thats all for now, I am gonna make dinner and get ready (not that there is much to do since I didn't wash my hair or my face because the water was too dirty! bah! BAHAMAS HERE I COME!)

73 days!

xoxox




by Marissa ♥

One day 'til go time.

Well, I am feeling a lot better - minus the minor stomach ache, but those who know me well know that I am perpetually dealing with stomach aches, so I am doing pretty good. I am not exhausted today like I was yesterday and will hopefully have a very productive next 14 or 15 hours.

Yesterday started with a few reviews given by a professor and a 4th semester and and ended with an anatomy/neuro study session via Gchat with my friend Jharna. It started with a quick anatomy question that I had .. and then a quick neuro question she had and then we just went back and forth all night long (well, for at least an hour+) with questions and figuring things out and making jokes that will make it so neither of us ever forgets things like the important of Glycine during REM sleep =) *Jharns I hope you see this!* Hopefully she and I will do it again today for other topics. She was a Neuro major at UCLA *woot woot* and so she may become a valuable asset today for me as I try and catch up and get ready for tomorrow.

Colby has been a trooper while I have been hiding out studying and thankfully football is on all day today so he will keep plenty entertained :) The Steelers have the night game, and I will not be watching .. MUCH to my dismay. I pray they have a good game - it will put us both in a good mood.

Just wanted to let everyone know I am alive and no longer hugging the porcelain!

ONE MORE DAY TIL FREEDOM! At least for a day or two :)

Love from the rock.

by Marissa ♥

Gastroenteritis .. damnit.

So after Colby and I got home from a fabulous and delicious dinner at Sunset Bay where we stuffed ourselves with lobster - I started feeling sick. It just progressively got worse and worse through the night and after I puked my brains out at 3:30a I finally got some sleep. I woke up feeling like death and went to the Health Clinic were the diagnosed me with "gastroenteritis, possibly a bacterial form." So I had my blood drawn, a shot in my "gluteal muscle" aka butt cheek to make sure I wouldn't have to keep making bathroom trips and prescriptions of Cipro (a wide coverage antibiotic), an anti-spasmatic for my stomach cramps and an antiemetic (aka anti nausea). I slept ALL day yesterday with only a few hundred calories ingested and only because you have to eat when you are taking Cipro. I woke up today feeling much better than yesterday but still pretty crappy. Good thing my Mini is on Monday!!!!!!!!! Damnit. I can't believe this.

Luckily Colby isn't sick too, he has the immune system of an ox. I have only seen him with one stomach ache in the 1+ years. I have quite a few friends who are also sick - so its pretty depressing around campus right now.

Back to studying, hydrating and wanting to die.

Unbelievable.

Countdown to California: 2 months and 18 days.


by Marissa ♥

HAPPY BIRTHDAY COLBY!!!

Hi! Just wanted to write a quick update before I aim to have one of my most productive days in a while. Today is Colby's birthday so in attempt to be a fabulous girlfriend, I bought him a piece of cake last night before I left campus, got home and cut a tea-lite up to make it smaller and sang him "Happy Birthday" at midnight, no decibels spared :) The cake ended up being old and stale .. he was cute and ate a few bites anyway, but stopped after about 3 - for any one who really knows Colby, he doesn't pass up anything sweet - so it was terrible. I almost died, but what else could I have done at midnight in Dominica 6 days before my Mini? I have some tricks up my sleeve - so today should be better.

Monday night Colby made a deliiiiiiicious dinner of BBQ porkchops and roasted potatoes and corn - topped off with S'mores for dessert just in time to watch the Steelers get to 3-1 in overtime against the Ravens. We were sitting at our kitchen table, which we moved into our bedroom since we were watching the game on the Slingbox on his computer (since ESPN never works for Monday night games! grrr) and he was like, "This is about as good as a Dominican day can get .. pork chops, tatoes, corn, the Steelers and my girlfriend." *I may have had to prompt him to add in the end, but he did say it :) hahaha It was tons of fun and we were crazy when the Steelers won by a field goal in overtime.

Mini 1 is Monday and I am chugging along. Second semester is crazy. I can't even begin to explain. I am getting there though. We had a quiz in physio yesterday and I missed 1 question only -- because it was a stupid question -- but whatever, not bad! Hopefully things will stay that way :)

Countdown to CA: 2 months and 20 days. Not bad!! We have had clean water and running water for the last few days which has been fabulous. Laura and Mikella got to come home from the hospital. Sam and Andrew are engaged. Meredith got into Grad School at the University of Aukland. Amanda got a fulltime job. Erin is moving into the marketing department at the Ivy. Zach is safe in Ecuador starting his new job. My Nonnie is well enough to write me a letter, which is a lot better than how she was when we had to leave. Everyone seems to be doing well back at home :) Miss you all! Sorry if I didn't write about your exciting "life news" - its early.

Write soon!

Time to get cracking! Pharyngeal arches, nutritional biochemistry and dorsal column medial lemniscus here I come!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Woo hoo!

by Marissa ♥

So much going on!

Well, this week has flown by - which is both good and bad. It means that Mini 1 is a week from Monday which is bad (kind of) and the countdown to getting back to CA is slowing disappearing (which is obviously fabulous)! I am pretty on top of my stuff - but this semester is indeed harder than last. This weekend should be a good chance to get good and caught up and start some reviewing (hopefully).

This week was quite hectic at home. Laura (my mom's surgery scheduler and my carpool buddy) and Mike had their baby on the 24th. It was a bit scary but everything turned out great. Mom just sent me a picture of Mikella and she is now the background on my computer :) Andrew popped the question to Sam last night and she said yes, obviously (goooood friends from UCSB)! So they are getting hitched in 2010 sometime. I just talked to her on the phone which was fabulous since I haven't had her phone number in months and messages back and forth just aren't the same.

This is one of the hard things about wanting to become a doctor... knowing that the next 10 years of my life are dedicated elsewhere. Not to say that Colby and I are getting married anytime soon and we DEFINITELY are not making babies - although they would be adorable - 10 years is a long time and it is so fun to see everyone else creating lives that they can enjoy with their loved ones back in CA, where Colby and I can't wait to be again. Although, I am really excited to hopefully end up in Chicago, I have always wanted to spend some time living in a big city :) It will all work out, I know it will.

Colby played a football game today, pictures to be added later. They lost to the 4th semesters but put up a good fight and Colby played so well. He is an animal out there. Unfortunately he got cleated in the face and his eye will probably be swollen shut tomorrow morning. =( We went to the EMS office to have them clean out his wounds on his knees since we didn't have running water and he washed himself with bottled water out of the refridgerator and soap/loofa in the shower. Interesting, eh?

Colby and I are great, his birthday is on Wednesday and hopefully some surprises will be coming in the mail soon :) My mom is so awesome, she got him some good ones! He doesn't even know and since he doesn't read our blog (haha) he probably won't until the box gets here!

Hope everyone is doing well! 2 months and 25 days until we are home!

Love from the rainiest place ever.


by Marissa ♥

Goooooo Steelers!

So, the day is here - Sunday that is. What I used to consider "Football Sunday" is now an emotional battle between the sports fan in me and the medical student. I have been on campus for 5 hours, so the medical student is winning - but with G-chat updates from Colby and NFL.com auto-updating with plays. One of the best days of our week was laying on the couch and eating munchies and watching football from the moment we woke up until we had stuffed ourselves silly and went into a food coma. I love Sundays with Colby.

Life has been better the last few days - thank god. It is definitely a roller coaster ride -- ups and downs. My first Mini is two weeks from tomorrow, eek. I can't believe it. Hopefully motivation bites me in the ass real soon. I need it! Especially with football weekends!

Tomorrow will be a LONG day, but its kind of exciting - its my first day as a peer tutor! I got asked to tutor the first semesters so my friend Joana (who went to UC Riverside) and I are doing it together :) Mondays 5-7p. It will be such a good way to study for our cumulative tests that we have at the end of the this semester, and the Step 1 (which I take after 5th semester - which covers EVERYTHING from the first 4 semesters!).

Okay, I need to get some spinal tracts done before the Steelers play the Eagles at 4:00p! Go Big Ben! :)

Hope all is well in America. Eat Chipotle - and savor every bite!



by Marissa ♥

Like a band-aid..

So its has been a rough last few days down here for both of us. We are both dying to go home, and we aren't supposed to be there for another 3 months and 3 days. Although Barbados was amazing, I am starting to think that we should have gone home. Oh well, nothing we can do about it now. Thank god Colby loves me because at this point, I think he plans on sticking it out with me. He and I are fabulous, its just this shitty island!

Why is it shitty? A few examples for your reading pleasure:
1) yesterday, we were going to make a taco pizza for dinner and wanted to garnish it with fresh, diced tomatoes - but they don't have tomatoes right now.
2) it rained, the hardest rain, for hours on end yesterday - everyone was soaked, because no umbrella could hold up to how hard it was raining.
3) because it rained, there were puddles, which I stepped in. So I went home to rinse of my feet and lo and behold, the water was a darker brown than my muddy sandals and my feet.
4) because the water was so brown, we couldn't do the dishes, take showers, brush our teeth (we did, we just used listerine), etc.

Imagine that - no Ralphs to go get what you WANT to eat for dinner. No clean, running water. Yes, Dominica sucks. And although I am from the "OC," I definitely didn't grow up a spoiled brat - but yes, we always had food and water.

I am leaning more and more towards moving to the Bahamas as the days pass - so continue to cross your fingers. Like I said before - hopefully I will know for sure by mid to late October.

Colby's birthday is coming and I think we are going on a boat trip to Les Saintes with some friends next weekend for some eating and drinking for the day. Should be a good time!

Semester 2 is proving to be a lot harder than Semester 1 was, so its time to get to it. Hope you enjoyed my rant! :) Pictures to come soon.

Email us if you love us. HA! Now you have to! :)

by Marissa ♥

I hate brown water.

Heellloooooooooooo!

Week one - check!

One week has officially passed and so far, not too bad. I know the worst has yet to come (or anything even close to it) but I feel good. I am getting back into the swing of things and am actually starting to feel like I am learning tons of stuff. Colby and I were watching a House marathon and I got super excited because they were talking about all sorts of stuff I understood!

Friday was our first anatomy lab. We got our new cadavers and mine is a MASSIVE man. Last semester we had a dainty, old woman. The difference? First and second semesters share cadavers and there is a lot of flipping back and forth from back to stomach involved. =/ The bonus for me? My lab group consists of 5 guys and me! Guess who does the flipping? NOT ME! But still - when we do the abdomen, it will involve digging through a lot of fat, which is disgusting.

Back to Friday's lab.. We did the interior skull and cranial fossa - translation: the grooves and holes within the skull. How do you get to examine these things? Well -- you take a scalpel, cut anterior to posterior and from ear to ear, peel back the scalp, take a Stryker saw, cut circumferentially around the head and use a hammer and chisel to break the top of the skull (the calvaria) off!!!!!! Thennnnnn you take scissors and cut, anterior to posterior the attachments of the dura mater (the outermost covering around the brain) to the skull and the nerves and LIFT OUT THE BRAIN! Oh yes, yours truly held someone's brain in her hands. It was unreal. Honestly, I probably won't ever do it again, considering I definitely won't be performing autopsies. It was really freaking awesome. Colby walked by and I showed him, proudly, my brain .. he turned around and walked away. hahahahah

The weekends are kind of hard this semester considering Saturday and Sunday are filled with football games. Thankfully, the Steelers play tonight at 8:15p and so I can have a productive day of studying. Colby is working today 2:30-9p. Yesterday were the first intramural football games and Colby played all of them .. he earned himself a starting spot :) He kicked butt and was an animal. It was great! He is super sore today though, its kinda funny - -he could hardly get dressed this morning!

Time to get back to the flow and production of cerebrospinal fluid :)

Oh! Bahamas update -- things just might fall into place!!! We should know for sure, hopefully, by mid-October!

Love from the land of brown water, yuck.


by Marissa ♥

Our new life with me as a 2nd semester.

Sorry sorry, I know I have been kind of a slacker in the posting department for the last few weeks, but like I said, over break, there was nothing less I wanted to do than type/post/be sitting at my computer. Well, I am officially 3 days back into it and so I am going to be better at updates.

Today we had our 3rd day of lecture and so far we have started neuroscience, one day of anatomy and lots of biochem. Neuro is supposed to be the doozie this semester, so I am doing my best to keep on top of everything. I am having trouble getting back into the swing of things - I definitely work better under pressure and we haven't done anything too tough yet - so I am working my way back into it. I had a friend on Monday say, "It is like a band-aid, I am just ripping it off, and going to start studying today." I didn't study Monday but today I did and I am right now. It will come back to me soon, I am sure (or at least, I hope).

Poor Colby is a little bored because all the med students are back to it. He is doing his classes online though, working about 4 days a week and is going to play football with the 2nd semester intramural team. Their first practice is today, I am not sure when games actually start though. There are 6 teams total (semesters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and "free agents") on campus, and the games go until after Mini 2, if I remember correctly. It will definitely make it more fun for me to watch, although nerve wracking is probably a better term. The last thing anyone (especially me) wants is for an injury down here - because most mean flying to a different island or home for care - and that is the last thing I need.

Life other than that is good, Mom's bday is tomorrow if anyone wants to call her! I mailed her present from here so lord only knows how long it will take.. this mailing from Dominica thing seems a little sketchy. It has been really hot here, and not too rainy the last few days - we aren't in any hurricane paths as of now.

For all of you who Colby told to come read "our blog" - let me just make a note: Colby has never ever posted a thing and I don't even know when the last time he saw this webpage was. hahahahah =) enjoy, nontheless!

Much love from the Rock.



by Marissa ♥

All of the Barbados pics :) and more

Here they are! All of them! I am so proud of them, they are amazing. We were in the airport looking at some books of "Amazing Barbados Photos" and I swear, lots of ours were way better!

Enjoy - we had an absolute BLAST! We landed back on the Dominica airport and an immediate mini-depression set in. Dominica is NO Barbados.


Barbados Pics #1
Barbados Pics #2
Barbados Pics #3
Bardados Pics #4

So an update on life:

Colby is going into work today to see when he works next.

Registration/check-in is on Sunday for me and we start full force with Neuroanatomy at 8am on Monday. I am so excited that I passed! (and did so well!) It is really comforting for my future endeavors.

As for today and tomorrow - just relax. We have some TV to watch (Project Runway from last week) and Entourage starts on Sunday! And plus, its football season! Lots of that will be going on. Especially with the Dominican rains currently letting loose.

We went out last night with all the friends and had a really good night. We bought some Duty Free alcohol in Barbados an enjoyed our last few good drinks before its back to cheap, Dominican rum.

Colby and I are doing fabbbbbbulous. Its been more than a year - and one semester down. Life is good. I can't WAIT to come home for Christmas, so that is definitely something we are both looking forward to ----- Countdown starts NOW! :)

Hope all is well - write people! Write!

by Marissa ♥

Barbados pictures!!

Here are the first three albums from our trip to Barbados! Two more days :)

Enjoy!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2274172&l=b9df2&id=3615266
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2275678&l=e418b&id=3615266
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2275684&l=d9975&id=3615266


by Marissa ♥

Barbadosssssssssssss

woo hoo! I love Barbados!

Hotel #1's beach

On the beach at Coconut Court Hotel :) aaaamazing!

View from our balcony of our 2nd hotel

Little turtles that just hatched crawling out to sea for their first time!

Sorry I haven't written anything in a while, life has been far too enjoyable to be sitting at my computer "blogging." Today was day 4 in Barbados and we hired a taxi driver we had yesterday to take us around the island to see all the sights. It was awesome. Our cab driver, Juel, was super nice and took us to lots of good places to take awesome pictures. He also taught us about local restaurants where Colby and I went for lunch today for $30 BDS (Barbados dollars) = $15 US instead of the $50 US+ we have been paying for every meal. The food here is terribly expensive, but has been pretty good. Tourist traps, they get you every time. We decided to come early, so we got here Saturday (instead of Monday) and so we moved hotels yesterday and will spend our last night (Thursday) in a reallllllly nice hotel on the Southern point of the island. It is unbelievable here. The water and the sand are gorgeous. The weather the first few days was impecable and has been getting a little worse the last two days. Hopefully, it will perk up for our last few days.

I can't believe it, second semester starts in 6 days. I don't know if I am ready!!!

Be jealous and enjoy pictures .. lots more to come!


by Marissa ♥

Life, NOT as a medical student ..

Hiking to Bense


Us at Bense Pool

Scott's Head - the southern most tip of the island

Us up on Scott's Head

Caribbean Sea to the left, Atlantic Ocean to the right

Button & I at Scott's Head

Us at a lookout point on the Atlantic

Bense Pool (Colby rock jumping!)

Button & I swimming!

Toucari Bay

Driving to go get Button and Warren

Button is here!!!!!!!

all of us at dinner their 1st night here

my Button ♥

Button & me at the lookout

Hi ya'll - So Button and Warren arrived safely on Saturday around 3pm. Colby and I rented a car and drove a scary road (mind you, their steering wheels are on the right and they drive on the right) to the airport, which is on the northeast side of the island. We basically drove straight through the island to the eastern (Atlantic) side. The weather was gloomy and I was terrified! But Colby did great and we made it just fine.

We stopped at a few little places along our way back to Picard and once we got back, we got them settled, bought groceries and just hung out for the night. We went to a restaurant in Portsmouth that was delicious but overpriced with terrible service to boot (typical Dominica).

Sunday we just hung out at the beach near campus since most things are closed on Sundays. The weather was mostly cooperative and we all got a little color. =)

Monday we rented the car again and drove to Bense, and went to a freshwater pool. It was AMAZING. So refreshing, freshwater is totally different than salt water. I jumped off my first rock and had a blast. The Dominican weather rolled in and we bolted out of there because the rain forest gets dumped on and we didn't want to get stuck in the mud in our shitty little SUV.

Today, we kept the car and drove allllllllllll the way to the most southern point of the island to Scott's Head. Its a small strip of land that separates the Atlantic and the Caribbean. After we all snorkeled and took some fab pictures, we drove back up to Roseau to show Button and Warren what the capital was like. We grabbed some lunch and some groceries and the boys took a shot of rum with a dead grasshopper in it - EWW! It was a good trip. I didn't feel well tonight so we are all taking a relaxing night off, being lazy and hanging with our respective lover. hahaha.

Tomorrow, I don't know what we have in store. I am guessing beaching maybe a bit north of us at Toucari Bay.

More to come soon.

Oh, and PS. I got 4 A's and a B this semester, we got our grades today! WOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


by Marissa ♥