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 ♥
My last year of medical school and less than a year until our wedding.. we have a lot going on!
Friday, September 26, 2008
Sunday, September 21, 2008
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 ♥
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 ♥
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
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 ♥
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 ♥
Sunday, September 14, 2008
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 ♥
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 ♥
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
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 ♥
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 ♥
Saturday, September 6, 2008
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 ♥
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
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 ♥
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 ♥
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
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!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 ♥
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