Remember When....

In 6 days we are officially back in the States and our time here in Grenada has officially come to an end. AH! That's unbelievable. I wouldn't mind if time would slow down just a little bit until then. It won't be too long before all these amazing, hilarious, crazy, ridiculous, and sometimes challenging moments become "remember when we were in Grenada andddddd....." stories.

For instance, remember when we lived in Grenada AND

...When walking to the bus stop a mango fell out of a tree and literally landed on MY head.
...When the "BINGO lady" walked up and took my drink out of my hand and started drinking it herself. OR  when a highlight of your night was being the big winner of a toliet seat bowl.
...When we squeezed 60-70 people on a bus with only 30 seats to drive an hour north for a hash?
...When we lived in a place where it was okay to drive WHILE drinking a beer, but illegal to drive without a shirt on.
...A lizard fell on my head not once, but on TWO separate occasions in ONE week.
... Traffic would be completely backed up due to a herd of goats crossing or hanging out in the street.
... When we constantly had all 5 bus schedules not only memorized, but knew the best time to catch them all in sequence to make it to our destination and back quickly [seriously, it's a skill and like a puzzle putting them all together!]
... There were days when the groceries would be too heavy so I would literally hide them in the bushes, RUN home with some as fast as I could, then run back to gather the rest.
... We had to kill cockroaches by arming ourselves with spear-fishing spears, swim goggles, bop bug spray, and Nick hosting me up on his shoulders to reach a top corner.
...Nick would come home to me standing ON the kitchen table with chairs randomly throughout the house because mice were taking over the floor.

Honestly, I could go on, and on, and on, because Grenada gave us so many funny, adventurous, and challenging moments that all turned in to great stories we will be telling for the rest of our lives!!! We are so fortunate to have lived on this wonderful, tiny island - and it will always be home to us. Thanks for so many great memories, Grenada... even the ones that weren't great until days, weeks, or months later, because now- they make one hell of a story! We will truly miss the beauty of the island, the slower pace living, and simplicity of life here. We'll definitely be back to visit!

A look back a basic sciences

Well I'll show you! This image was being sent around Nick's class Facebook page over the past few days and I think it really does an excellent job of really highlighting all the hard work that these students have done over the past 2 years of basic sciences. So proud of my doctor-in-training and ALL that he has not only accomplished, but excelled in, over these past 2 years! The road to becoming a doctor is NOT easy, takes a ton of work, not a lot of sleep, hours upon hours sitting in the library surrounded by notes and books, gallons of coffee to stay awake, not enough time with significant others/families, and a dedication like no other... but they are the future of medicine, and for that I am thankful that they are willing to put in that much work- because I surely could not do it!

The road to medicine during the first 2 years academically includes:

Cheers to test #51 and Nick rockin' the USMLE!

Leatherback Sea Turtles

Grenada is "home" to the beautiful endangered Leatherback  SeaTurtle. By that I mean that this time of year is when they lay their eggs and lucky for us, Grenada is a popular location for them to do so! The location where the turtles are seen most frequently is located in the north about an hour and a half drive from SGU, located on Levera Beach. 

Last weekend our wonderful SO coordinators this term (Katie and Stephanie) arranged for a huge group of us (about 60 + people) to head north to hopefully see some turtles lay their eggs. This had been on our bucket list of things to do before we left so we were super excited that the SOs would be putting on the event and Nick arranged his entire week schedule around it. There were 2 huge buses full of people and a tiny cab- which we were in and later named the party cab- as there were only 8 of us in it and we were blasting music, playing games, and overall just being rowdy. Our driver was great and cruised along and was willing to make random stops whenever we wanted! The time flew by and we were at the beach before we knew it!

Leatherback turtles are the largest turtles on Earth and as adults can grow to as long as 7 feet and weigh over 2,000 lbs!  They are huge! Leatherback turtles can also dive deeper than any other turtle, going as deep as 4,200 feet and are able to stay down there for up to 85 minutes. Talk about holding your breath eh?  The ritual of nesting/laying their eggs is extremely cool. The mama turtles come to shore (they return to their same nesting area)  in the evening and begin to dig a hole in the sand.  Once the hole is deep enough she begins to lay her eggs (often depositing around 80 eggs- a mix of real eggs and fake/filler eggs.) Once the eggs are safely in the nest she begins the process of covering them back up. THEN as if that wasn't enough work, she will normally dig several "fake nests" and disturb the sand near the nest to make it difficult for predators to detect the nest filled with her eggs. After all that, she can finally call it a night and return back to the water. 

At the beach there are researchers and trained professionals who monitor the beach and scope out the turtles who are making their way onto the beach and then lead small groups to watch the process. It is really cool! Before actually stepping foot on the beach, they give you a little information about the turtles and give very careful instruction of the "dos and don'ts" of turtle watching.  Once on the beach it is a waiting game waiting for the turtles to make their grand entrance! We had been warned that it could take a while before they were spotted so we were all prepped with food, drinks, and things to entertain ourselves. It was a very nice night, although overcast, so this made the beach even darker than normal. It took about 2.5 hours before we  were alerted that several turtles (I think we passed by 6 before getting to "our" turtle) had made their way to the beach to begin laying their eggs.

Each small group was taken to a different turtle where we were able to get quite close and even touch the turtle's shell. When she is laying her eggs, she enters a zen-like state/trance and  therefore is not aware or bothered by people, which allows us to be up and close and personal (literally.) Super cool! The biggest "don't" was that we were not allowed to use flash photography because this can hurt the turtles and take them out of their trance. Luckily however, one of the SOs who is very talented with her awesome camera was able to snap several amazing shots even without her flash being on! Trust me, even though it looks bright in some of these pictures below- it was pitch black out there!

All  photos taken by an SO- Allison Gray! A few of the pictures show the red lights that were allowed on the beach and for us that was what it looked like- VERY dark, with little red lights everywhere. It's so great Allison was able to capture these pictures even without her flash being on! Aren't these turtles so beautiful and amazing!?

The baby turtles will hatch in June and I'm sad we won't be here to go back and see them! How cute would it be to see a bunch of tiny little baby turtles roaming the beach!? Hopefully other SOs will go and I can live vicariously through them! :)

Technology is amazing!

I finally gave in and spent some time yesterday morning setting up a Google Voice number that is strictly my own that I can give out to friends, family, and potential employers to reach me at. Technology is pretty darn amazing! While Skype and my current hotspot blocker have worked wonders by allowing us to chat with people frequently back home and even call cell phones and landlines, the one downside was that besides Skype- no one could call us, we always had to call them. For almost 2 years this has worked fine but with my job hunt currently in full force and thankfully with some hits on my resume the frustration of phone tag with my US voice mail as the middle man became too much for me to handle. Plus, the job I REALLY want offered me an interview and that was the straw that broke the camel's back because I did not/do not want to lose this interview due to being a pain in the butt to reach!

Needless to say, we are now easily assessable with a US (even a Michigan) phone number!!! As of Tuesday afternoon it has officially been synced to my Google account where I can not only call or text phones, but can also RECEIVE calls and have a voice mail set up for any that I miss. YAY! It's fantastic and I wish I had been driven to the brink of insanity and done it sooner!

I've basically ended up on house arrest because WHEN she calls this number, there is no way I am missing it. No joke. If I switch rooms- so does the computer. If I take laundry outside- so does the computer. If I am in the shower- well the computer doesn't shower but it sits as close to the shower as possible so I can hear it ring. You get the idea.

Still waiting on that call.... and hoping it comes soon as I literally haven't left the house in 3 full days out of fear of missing the call. Can you tell I really want this job? And, to friends and family... call me, maybe? :)

Island Adventure- Road Trip 2013!

Sunday was our island adventure day!!! It was SO MUCH FUN! Ever since moving to Grenada we have talked about driving around the whole island and we finally got the chance to do it. Grenada is a very small island so it can be easily explored in one day, even with several pit-stops along the way. We rented a car for the day, packed it up with towels, swim suits, lots of water/Gatorade, sandwiches and snacks and hit the road! Since we haven't had a car down here it was the first time we have really had freedom to do what we want, when we want, where want- and boy did it feel great!! We also both got to drive here for the first time on the opposite side of the car/road and I have to say- we were both surprised by how easy we found it to be! Some of the Grenadian drivers definitely caused us to have a few butt clenching driving moments, but it was fun to be able to check that off our bucket list!

As for our adventure- we headed up the west side where we had the ocean to our left the majority of the ride which was GORGEOUS! We hit places such as: Gouyave, happy hill, ... just to name a few. Our ulitimate destination was to make it to the northern side and the gorgeous beaches there, where we did some sight seeing and lounged at some of the breathtaking beaches. Bathway beach- words can't even come close to describing it! After that we hit up the chocolate factory and pearls airport on the way back down the east side, before cutting through the rainforest and seeing Grand Etang and the monkeys!

Our car had limited radio so we were left to the mercy of each others company and singing songs every time we said a phrase that related to a song that one of us would then bust out singing... we're cool :) Everyone we met was SO nice and helpful- it's amazing how much more laid back it is once you get away from the school hoopla! The entire trip went super smoothly and was just an absolute blast! As for the rest.... I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talkin...

The car we rented! Pretty cheap for a 24 hour rental and drove great! Due to it's amazing ability to conquer crazy
Grenadian streets and drivers we named him Bruce "The Beast." Nick navigated the crazy roads like a pro as well!

The nice thing about being on our own schedule was that we could stop whenever we felt it was a good photo-op!
This is what the scenery looked like the ENTIRE trip North... we are so blessed to have been able to call this
island home for the past 1.5-2 years!

Just a handful of the towns we visited and signs that I actually managed to snap pictures of! How freakin' cool is
the huge one of Kirani James?! What an awesome time to have lived here in Grenada to experience
his success and the pride his country felt/feels on his behalf!

I can't get enough of all the bright colors of the Caribbean. I absolutely love it! We also enjoyed checking out
all the many churches that we passed along the way. Each church was unique but so wonderfully and beautifully
built!We tried to look inside a few, but sadly they were locked so we could only peak through the windows...
but the insides definitely matched the outside.

These pictures were taken at Bathway beach- easily one of the most beautiful and calming places I have ever been
to. The beach itself was so quiet and there were very few other people there besides us. The waves were HUGE
crashing on the rocks, which created the best sound EVER. We ate our picnic lunch here on the beach and both
just laid back and took a mini cat nap to the sound... the sound of the ocean is definitely one of the things I will
miss most... I wish I could pack it up and take it with me back to Michigan!

These pictures were obviously taken at the Chocolate factory. Grenada is one of the largest suppliers of chocolate
in the world (especially of dark chocolate.) We were able to see the entire process, taste the cocoa at various stages,
and "walk the beans." To those lucky people who get this batch of chocolate- you're welcome for my stinky feet that
helped  make it!!! They should definitely charge extra for that batch... ;) Nick was obviously in heaven getting to try the many different kinds of chocolate... I however, had more than enough with one small nibble.... wayyy too chocolatey for me!

Pearls Airport is where the original Grenada airport was located and is still where you can find old Cuban planes in the airfield, which are really cool to see!  The old runways are also still used occasionally for things like street racing- which is not surprising seeing as it is a huge, long, straight road just asking for a car to put the pedal to the metal! We had an absolute blast here! It was like a jungle gym for adults... who doesn't want to climb and explore super old airplanes for hours?! SO.MUCH.FUN!

Climbing up was not necessarily super easy, but it sure was awesome once you were up there!

The ride home was filled with beautiful scenery as well as we cut through the center of Grenada, where the rainforests are! With the ongoing drought in Grenada, most of what is near our house is brown and dead, so seeing all the green was extra exciting! It was refreshing to see healthy plant life on the island and to smell fresh rain! It was also beautiful to watch the sunset through the mountains and over the water on the drive home also!

Such a fun-filled day with a lot of great quality time with the hubs! I sure love having him around and free from the clutches of school/the library! He's been so crazy busy this term that we were long overdue for a day of adventure, fun, lots of laughs and silliness, and to just leave medical school behind and explore the island we call home!

If you're in Grenada, we definitely recommend taking a trip around the island. You can do so with a guide, but doing it on our own made it that much more fun and special, so for what it's worth- we highly encourage renting a car and giving it a go on your own :) Yep... we are going to miss this little island a lot!

Police Station Excitement?

On Saturday we went to the police station so I could get a temporary license to drive in Grenada so that we could rent a car for our island adventure on Sunday. The process itself was very easy although my Michigan license which expires when you turn 25 years old (so for me that will be at the end of June) really confused the police officer working with us. We assured him at least 20 times that we were literally just renting a car for ONE day and are leaving for good on May 18th so if he wanted he could just make the temporary license here in Grenada good until Monday... but this was too common sense and after looking at the calendar and talking to other policemen a lot... I was finally given a Grenadian license that is good until June 22nd ... so I can legally drive our now invisible car until then!

The main story however was not about the issuing of my license, but rather was the fact that our lives could have ended in that police station. Yep, you read that correctly. We could have died.

Okay so maybe I am being slightly dramatic, but here is how the scene unfolded... you be the judge: In order to look at the calendar and check the dates the police officer had to stand up. Thus while debating the dates of my Michigan license he was standing and shifting something in his pants/back pocket. Both Nick and I later agreed that at this point we figured it was his phone. Wrong. He then pulled out his gun! Not in any threatening manner, just simply like it was no.big.deal.  So, whatever we saw that he had his gun but he put it back in his pants and although a bit weird, everything was fine.  But then, as he was writing up my license he pulls it out  again (& again non-threatening, but just in a nonchalant, oh hey I have a gun sort of way) and was literally twirling it around in his hand, fiddling with the safety and I swear at one point it was pointed directly AT ME! When this happened I calmly took a few steps back away from the counter and looked over at Nick to be like "DID YOU JUST SEE THAT!?!?" only to see that he too was taking a few steps back away from the counter with the same astonished look on his face and clearly on the same page as me. All the while the policeman finished writing up my license completely unaware that had his finger slipped he could have shot one of us!

Apparently, gun safety in Grenada is slightly different than that in the States. And waving it around like a toy in front of people is just fine. I can officially cross off "being uncomfortably close to a loaded gun-with the safety off- pointing in my direction" off my bucket list.

TIG.

No more mid-terms!

Nick Update time!!!

Last week was exam week and our experience in 5th term is that exam week and the weeks leading up to it are really no easier than any other term. That being said, when Friday afternoon finally rolled around, Nick, his classmates, and I, were all thrilled that another set of exams were completed!! This was a big round too because it means there is ONLY ONE round of exams to go here in Grenada! WHOA!

Monday was the pathophysiology exam. Wednesday was ICM. And Friday was Pharm. With 2/3 exam grades back, I'm super proud to say that once again- Nick absolutely knocked them out of the park! He continues to work really hard and is really focusing on setting a base for his USMLE study period, yet continues to thrive in all of his classes this term. ICM is now over which is nice because it means a little less to juggle for the last 4 (!!!!!) weeks of classes.

After exams we hit the beach for a couple hours and then went to the Fort bar where other students were hosting a party. The bar is an old mental hospital, that they basically made into a bar with very little alterations to the building. We were able to explore the creepy caves which was super fun!

Looking ahead at the next month- Nick's got his plate full with EMC e-board stuff, classes, USMLE study, and a few fun dinners (EMC and IEA) to celebrate his accomplishments.  It's become quite clear to both of us that the next month is going to literally fly by and we are afraid to blink too much for fear that we will miss something awesome! He still plans to study hard for both his classes and do some Step 1 prep, but is also going to be taking it a little easier for the next couple of weeks to ensure that he isn't burnt out before the big 7 week push even gets here!  I will certainly enjoy seeing him a little more while it lasts and we plan to soak up as much island time and Grenada life as we can before boarding our flight home on May 18th!

Also, despite Nick's birthday being the Friday before exams, we were able to squeeze in a quick little celebration with some friends. Since he couldn't afford to take too much time off from studying we hit up Options for some delicious wings and I brought a pie for dessert. We are pretty blessed to have such great friends here who even in the nights leading up to exams were able to take some time off and help make Nick's 26th birthday a good one :)