So this weekend has been very eventful and unproductive (meaning a lack of studying). Friday night, I went to a Bonfire with the church members I met an that was really fun. They fattened me up with chicken wings, very sweet watermelon and some sandwiches. It was really good. They also had some games including musical chairs and such but I was just watching. It was still a lot of fun I would say. Going on that night was also a White Coat party that I didn't have the energy to attend.
Saturday, some students picked me up to go eat brunch at a restaurant called Gerardo's. The food was tasty but not cheap in my opinion. Maybe I am just too cheap. Probably so. But I think of breakfast as less than $5 and $9.77 made me break a $20. I'm just saying. It was fun to hang out with my classmates. The food was pretty good although the service was sub-par. I'll explain later. After eating, we went looking for a store to buy our classmate a backpack since hers broke. Well, first stop was Zazaas outlet that was more of a boutique. Then we were informed of an Indian store across from the El Dorado mall. After going there, we all purchased something because it was a pretty cheap store for toiletries. Needless to say, when I got home, I attempted to study at 10:00 at night but I only got an hour in. And I will also say the the third season of Orange is the New Black attracted my attention for the remainder of the night.
Sunday, I got up and got ready for church. The minister picked me up and I came back home after service to cook some lunch and watch some more Orange is the New Black. To be really honest, I went to sleep around sunset after talking to my boyfriend for an hour. So, no production there either.
Monday, since it is the Queen's Birthday, we have no class. Not a problem with me but why did I wake up at 7 am this morning? This is torture to myself I would say. Either way, I got up and studied anatomy and histology for two hours like a good little medical student but after lunch, I did not study hence why I am writing this now. I tell all of the future students reading this, you probably should study every waking moment. Who am I kidding? At least live a little while you're here but that does not constitute partying a lot either.
Okay, so back to the title of this post. So the general consensus is that people wished they brought more food. I will say the same. I do wish that I brought more food although I don't where I would have put it! It also seems that a lot of people brought a lot of items on the suggested list from admissions which it doesn't even appear we need. This is all information based on the Anguilla campus which cost an additional $2000 compared to the other campuses. The items such as the dissection kit, shoe covers, gloves, and face masks are all provided by the school. I'm so glad I didn't buy that stuff. It is useful to have more than one pair of scrubs and I brought 2 pair. The stethoscope, blood pressure cuff and other instruments used for patient assessment are not used until MD 4 so it is no point in having them now. The stethoscope and blood pressure cuff are useful if you plan to join Red Cross.
The organizations that are present include the Red Cross, AMSA, Cover 2 Cover and Student Government. Red Cross is just like the Red Cross organization we have in the United States but for the school, they are involved in having health checks for the community. It is also an easy way to start learning basic patient care. It costs about $25 the first semester and you are expected to have 25 hours worth of activities completed by White Coat which is held in MD 4. They also have initiated a pin that you can earn to put onto your white coat. AMSA or American Medical Student Association is club that has a one time fee of $75 for membership of an organization that offers discounts for USMLE preparation. I am not too sure how useful it is but that seems to be the only benefit in my opinion. I will try to learn more about it. Cover 2 Cover is a club that takes books donated by previous students and rents them to students for a charge of $10 of which you receive back in MD 4 after returning all books. Student government is just like any other student government at any other school. I would say that ours is really effective because we have many other amenities that other campuses currently don't have that I've heard of. These are all my perspectives and in no way can be used as complete knowledge of these organizations. (Just covering my butt!)
All in all, I would like to leave with scripture about doing good even when no one is looking:
For we are taking pains to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord but also in the eyes of men.
-2 Corinthians 8:21, NIV
