Another exam down!

So yesterday we had our last Mini examination of the semester! Now there are just a couple more days of studying and a final in the way of me getting home for Christmas! I did pretty well overall on this exam though I wish I had done a little better in both pharmacology and microbiology. Hopefully we will get a few questions grieved and I can get some points back to my grade! After the exam, some friends and I went to Batibou beach for the afternoon and then Pagua Bay for dinner to celebrate December birthdays! The beach was gorgeous...it was this secluded place that you had to walk 10 minutes through a path in the rainforest to get to and it was nice because we were the only ones there. I wished I would have brought my camera to get some pictures. For dinner, I got some chicken tacos and fried calamari which was really good. I then had a chocolate chip strawberry cheesecake slice for dessert which was also really good! Today I spent the day relaxing and getting my stuff organized and am going to hit the books again tomorrow and do that for the next 5 days before our final on Wednesday. Then after that, it's one day of relaxing and then HOME FOR CHRISTMAS!!!! I am so excited and can't wait to be home!
Love you all!!

Jess

Old pictures and Thanksgiving!

So, I am a slacker and didn't post the pictures from our day off after our exam like I said I would so, here they are now (better late than never right!)

These three photos are the view from the deck at Pagua Bay which is on the other side of the island from me and it is gorgeous! I was going to get pictures of my food but I forgot...







The day after going to Pagua, we went to Red Rock and enjoyed a day at the beach and then a nice dinner.

These next few are the view at Red Rock from the beach...








These next few are of some of the dogs at Red Rock...the short hair one was trying to catch crabs but was getting scared of the waves and then the long haired one was just super cute and super friendly!







This next one is of my food at Red Rock...filet mignon with mushroom sauce and mashed potatoes...really good by the way!



Then last weekend, I stayed in my apartment one afternoon before practicing some clinical skills with some friends and was out on my patio enjoying the day when I saw an iguana climbing up the coconut tree outside of my room so I decided to get a few pictures of him...




Lastly, I was able to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner here with some friends which was nice! We first went up to a local bar and had dinner up there and then some of us went to another friends house where they had two turkeys, mashed potatoes, homemade gravy and more. Their turkey was AMAZING and tasted just like home!! The only thing I missed, besides being home with family of course, was dessert. Everyone had pumpkin pie which I am not a huge fan of so I am looking forward to having some French Silk Pie when I get home for Xmas break! Here are some pictures from Thanksgiving night. I wasn't able to get a lot because my camera was dying but these are all from De Champs, the bar that we ate at!










That's all for now. We have 3 days of class left, 2 exams, and I am home in 19 days!! Can't wait to be home for the holidays!!!
Love you all!!

Hurricane Tomas

This weekend was fairly event filled! On Saturday, the weather it was cloudy and rainy and the wind got stronger and stronger as the day went one all due to Hurricane Tomas. We missed the eye of the storm but we got a decent amount of rain and it was very windy out which lasted all night and finally ended Sunday mid-morning. Power went out on campus twice and my power at my apartment went out twice as well. Definitely added some spice to a weekend that was already stressful as we were all studying for our second exam of the semester which was today. I feel like I did pretty well on my exam so we will see in a few days when they send our scores out to us. We have the day off on Wednesday as it is Dominica's Independence Day. With it being post-mini and having Wednesday off, my friends and I have some fun stuff planned for the next few days. Tomorrow afternoon we are going back to Pagua Bay for drinks and dinner and then Wednesday some of us are going to Red Rock to hang out at the beach and have dinner there. I am really excited for the tasty food and just to be able to relax for a bit. I will take pictures and post them later this week (hopefully!)
I am glad to be done with my second exam of the semester and can't believe I will be home in 7 weeks! All of a sudden, it's November and I have less than 50 days until I go home for Christmas...crazy how time flies!!

Love and miss you all!!

Pagua Bay

So last night, I went to Pagua Bay with some friends as it was two of their birthdays. Pagua Bay is a nice restaurant past the airport here that has really great food so it was nice to get away and eat some good food and just have a good time with some friends! I had a butterscotch martini and an apple martini and then had some fried calamari for an appetizer. My meal was a filet mignon served with mashed potatoes and it was delicious!! For dessert I had a strawberry chocolate swirl cheesecake homemade by the woman who runs the restaurant. It was all so delicious! We had a great time getting away from school for a bit and enjoying each others company. Today was filled with studying and tomorrow I will be doing more of the same. UGA looks like they are finally getting themselves under control as they won today against Vanderbilt. Georgia State also won which is awesome! That's all for now...enjoy the pictures from last night below!!






These next photos are when I bought a guava and tried it a few weeks ago. It was pretty good but you could definitely tell it was early season because the seeds, which are supposed to be edible, we still really hard and if I had tried to chew them, I would have probably broken a tooth! But what I could eat of it was really good and I need to remember to buy another one soon as they are probably more ripe by now.







Love and miss you all!!!

Update!

So, we just had our first mini of the semester last Monday. I was really worried about how I would do in pharmacology but surprisingly I ended up getting my highest grade in that class which was a real confidence boost especially since it was only 4 points from being an A! My other grades were pretty good as well...definitely a lot better than first mini last semester. Between that and hanging out with some new awesome friends, I have noticed less headaches as I am not nearly as stressed out as I was last semester. Classes since the mini have been going fine so hopefully this next mini won't be bad either. Tomorrow, I am going out with some friends as it is two of their birthdays. We are going to Pagua Bay for dinner which will be nice...they have filet mignon on the menu so I plan on getting that and I'm sure it will be amazingly good! That's about all I have for now...I don't have any new pictures to post but I will try and remember to bring my camera tomorrow and take some pictures and post them this weekend. Love you all!!

Jess

Update!

So, it has been quite a while since I have updated. Things were really busy towards the end of July and throughout August because we had three weeks of exams which required a lot of study time. Luckily, I made it through that period fine and ended the semester with pretty good grades...1 A, 4 B's, and a C. After that, I can home for about 2 weeks which was incredible! I got to see a bunch of people, enjoy some great food, have a bachelorette night for Tita, and just relax and enjoy being home. I have since come back to the island and began my 3rd semester. We have our first Mini of the semester coming up on Monday so I am trying to prepare for that as I don't want to get off on the wrong foot with grades this semester.

Oranges are back in season here which is awesome as I can now get fresh orange juice at the shacks every day which is SO much better than the stuff you get at home. I am going to have to invest in a juicer when I get back to the states because I am not going to be able to convert back to drinking orange juice from a carton! I also bought some guavas which were not quite ripe yet but were still decent as well as a sugar apple which I haven't eaten yet but will probably do so soon and post a picture of it as it is a very strange looking fruit.

That is about all for now. Love you all and I will try to update this more often!!

Red Rock

This past Sunday a big group of us went to Red Rock for the day. It's a beach about 25 minutes from here on the other side of the island with a hotel and restaurant on site. We had an awesome time and the beach and had some awesome food. For lunch I had a garlic shrimp burrito with a drink that was guava juice and Bacardi limon (delicious!!!). Then for dinner, I had a filet mignon served on a bed of mashed potatoes with a shitake mushroom sauce then a slice of key lime pie for dessert! The filet was delicious--perfectly cooked and soooo tender! I was going to take a picture of it but I was too excited that I didn't get one! It was nice to get away for a day before things get crazy at the end of the semester. We have 2.5 weeks of class left then a week with 3 practicals, a mini the following monday, and three days of finals the next week. It's going to be crazy and I will be so glad when it is over and I can head home for two weeks! Enjoy the pictures below!!

Love you all!!! Home in 38 days!!!