Surprise!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I am happily writing to you tonight from my favorite place on earth, 30 Park. After keeping my mouth shut for two weeks, my plan worked out perfectly. Yesterday morning early I flew from Cayman to Miami, then JFK, where my brother picked me up and we made the drive home. My mom was shocked, my sisters, my very best friend, and even my little 92 year old grandma today. I will update more on the trip and my blessings when I'm back to the Island, December 2nd. Until then, its family time!

Enjoy your week :)

Don't eat, Don't sleep, and Don't drink water.

Block 3 is the most intense for first semesters at SMU, as it contains the head and neck in anatomy. For those of you who have never thought about it, the posterior triangle of your neck contains 7 muscles, 11 nerves, 4 arteries, 2 veins, and two layers of fascia. The posterior triangle is approximately the size of a large tortilla chip. Think of how many tortilla chips it would take to cover your neck? A lot. I am surviving though, with only 8 exams between the best finish line ever-30 park at only 18 days away. My professor and the dean of student affairs at my school gave us a review for our test last night. He talked straight for two hours with only millisecond breaths. Somewhere in the middle of the talk he says, now listen here: "Don't eat, Don't sleep, and Don't drink water. Just think about anatomy. Just think, what lies superficial to the hyoglossus muscle?"

I met a 2nd semester student here who was a chiropractor for nine years in the states before he came to SMU. He adjusts me whenever I walk to his place, so Saturday night I watched his kids, Seth (8) and Alyssa (6) while he went to a function with his wife. It was rejuvenating to spend time away from the stresses of school, with little kids with the wildest imaginations, who basically put their childhoods on hold while their dad worked towards a better life for them. They were fighting for my attention, and it was a wonderful diversion.

Cayman is starting to decorate for Christmas. My best guy friend here, Prashant and I take daily walks to the coffee shop inside a plaza next to school. Just like everything else in Cayman-it takes forever to decorate! We swear they've been putting the same 10 bulbs on their Charlie Brown Christmas tree for 3 days now! Today, there was a Christmas Day for the kids on the island and they closed off the parking lot, and the kids ran around. (Its very strange, because since there are no taxes on the island, there are no public parks. The kids were literally running around on cement, in 80 degree weather, and some lady was singing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.) Then Santa flew in on a helicopter. I was glad to know he still comes to Cayman.

I'm apparently also talking about school in my sleep. Last night Sajitha said I started to explain anatomy to someone in my dream, then switched right over to embryology. I plan on making something other than coffee or red bull one of my main food groups soon. I can't wait for Christmas cookies and anything but PBJs!

[What lies superficial to the hyloglossus is the lingual nerve, submandibular ganglion, submandibular duct, hypoglossal nerve, in case you were wondering!]

When the day is done...

I feel as if everyone at home thinks I'm in this amazing place having the time of my life, yet I find myself wanting to cry at the thought of having 24 more days in between myself and 30 park. For most of my undergrad, I had a saying, at the end of the day I'm JuSt a girl who misses her best fRienD. JS-Jessica Stackhouse is my best friend from home, and RD-Ruth Deemer my best friend from Brockport. And now, at 2:10am, I can't help but be overwhelmed with my blessings. My siblings and their emails save my every day. Voicemails from BWS, skype/gchats with angels, and blogs about the cutest baby in the whole world continuously save me. And now, my little sister-the best writer I know-has started a blog for me to look forward to. In my two suitcases here, I managed to fit 1 photo album, and I constantly flip through the pictures and special notes I've brought with me. I miss home, I miss my mom, I miss real friends. I haven't talked to my dad in weeks. And still, I'm so blessed. Being 3,000 miles away breaks my heart every day. But being in medical school, living the hard life to live the dream-I know I wouldn't trade this for the world.

At the end of the day, I'm probably a girl who misses you-especially if you're taking time to read about my depressing/wonderful life. And always, thank God, when the day is done my mama's still my biggest fan..
I miss you, mom.

I have a beautiful neck?

The days are starting to get ridiculous again, as we're nearing our final round of blocks. I look forward to the weekend, where I don't have new material to learn so I can study the weeks load. 12 days from no new material until January 5.

My professor for Anatomy this block likes to pick on people in the front row, and I sit about two seats over from being directly in front of him. Today, we were talking about the Sternocleidomastoid muscle (SCM), and he told us all to turn our heads to the side and feel the angular muscle, which has two heads that insert into our manubrium (sternum) and clavicle. He walks up to me, I turn my head for him, and he tells the whole class that my neck is beautiful. I turned about as red as the SCM in that diagram.

Last, I want to give a special thanks to my big brother for making my day yesterday. I'm sure he doesn't read this, but if any of you talk to him/see him, I feel lucky every day to have such a great man as a role model and friend. And, I can't wait to fight him for the spot in front of the fire at Christmas!

I'm still trucking along, and I can almost see 30 park at the finish line! Hope all is well with everyone, any new news I should know about?

Thank God for Grandparents

A few days after I took my blocks, I called home to talk to my mom. She said that my grandma is always asking about me, so I decided to call her and tell her I was ok after my tests. She was shocked to hear it was me calling, and I told her that I was doing ok and missed her. I've seen my Gram almost every week for the past 3 years, and this is still something I can't get used to. I love our Polish-English conversations, and the fact that "I miss you" is bilingual keeps me going every day. December 15, I hug my grandma again.

This past week, I called long island got to talk to my other grandma. The phone was a little choppy, and when I asked her for no pop-tarts, she thought I said no pasta. Like that could even be anything I'd ever ask her not to make. My eyes filled with tears when I told her I'd be home for three weeks, and she asked if I would have time to see her and grandpa. I can't wait to walk up the steps at 52 Sydney Ave. in December. As I said goodbye she told me I'd made her day, and I hope she knows she made my whole week.

Today is nine months since my favorite guy in heaven went home. Its crazy to me how people can leave, and still be so much of every day here on earth. Thank God for Grandparents, I love mine very, very much.

Calm after the storm

Hi all,

I am happy to report I'm safe and sound after quite the scare the past few days! A recap on my first witnessed hurricane:

Thursday, 6:30am I wake up and have received an IM from my friend Kunal "So, theres a hurricane coming this weekend."
Thursday 9:50am, a classmate informs me that Tropical Storm Paloma is coming towards the island, and may be a category 1 when it gets here.
Thursday, 3:30pm, I go grocery shopping for some non-perishables with Sarah, the store is insanely busy.
Thursday 6pm, Paloma may be a 2 by the time it gets here, its time to decide whether to fly to Miami or not. Sarah leaves for Miami, Dana and I pack 1 bag each (computer, passport, electronics, jewelry, & underwear-and all the groceries we bought.
Thursday 9pm, arrive at Residence suites with everything we need to leave the island, and wait for Paloma.

Dana and I stayed at Residence suites with our friends Ashtaad and Prashant Thursday and Friday night. Thursday night was the worst night sleep I've had on the island. The wind and rain woke me up every 15 minutes from 2:30am when we finally went to sleep, until 8 o'clock when I decided pretending to sleep was worthless. The hurricane lasted until about 11:30pm, and was not as bad to the area of the island I was staying (the very west side) as predicted. Friday night around 9pm the internet said that Paloma would be a category 4 when it touched land. Thank God that was wrong, as the suites can hold up against only a weak Category 3. We kept electricity and water the entire duration, and lost internet only last night. I feel really lucky to have had the guys (who are also from new york) to be with, crack jokes, and pass the time.

I have posted a few pictures below from friends who took pictures after the storm. Thanks for all the emails, calls, and prayers. I miss New York every day, but would have never guessed that I'd long for blizzards again!

Hurricane Paloma

Hi all,

Just wanted to let everyone know that I am ok with this hurricane Paloma coming straight for the caymans. I won't write until it passes again as I am going to stay with some friends of mine across the island while I experience my very first hurricane! I am scared to death but will write as soon as its over, and be in contact with my mom if any of you need updates!

love you all

Roomies!

I have been lucky enough to have some really great roommates in my time. Last night I talked to one of my 280 girls, I've lived with angels, Em, and complete strangers who turned into life savers. Don't get me wrong, I've had my share of crazy girls too. Not sure how many of you know this, but my freshman year roommate in college wrote a list of things she hated about me, including that I "hit my snooze too much". Needless to say, we're not very close still. I do hope good things have come of Liz, however.

But I realized today that I have never had a blog about my current roommate at smu. Her name is Sajitha Joseph, and she is from Greenville, South Carolina. She is the third of four girls, and a complete blessing since I have been at school. I can always count on her to ask how my day is, no matter how terrible hers was. She struggles with focusing during studying, but always wishes me luck and cheers me on when you all know-I'm a natural nerd, studying comes pretty easy. We've had a few really good talks, about family life, personal things, friends from home, fears for the future, that end in big hugs and good feelings. I quiz her sometimes before we go to bed on material from any class that we've learned this year. She hates it-obviously-but always laughs and with hints can find the answer I'm looking for, or at least waits until I pass out for the night! The other night we were talking about how President Bush's wife's name is Laura, and she said I've only heard of one other famous Sajitha-Saddam Hussein's wife!

She misses her family and friends as much as I miss all of you, but is very quiet so I worry that she is lonelier sometimes, and apprehensive to share stories. Other classmates ask who my roommate is, and when I say Sajitha I almost always get a comment on how different we are, but I think people are too quick to assume. I like to believe the caring, driven girl I come home to every evening is a little like me, and I'm still trying to push her out of the shyness so others can see how wonderful she is! And, its working a bit, look at the funny face! Although I am excited for Sarah and Dana, I will miss living with her a lot next year, and hope for many, many visits as our apartments are across the street from each other.

After November is...

December! And every day this month is one more day closer to the month I'm coming home :)

Speaking of homes, I've finally seen my newest place to call home for the rest of my days here at Cayman. We are renting the apartment from a guy from the U.S. for the next twelve months, and hopefully extending our stay for a few more months. It is a 4 minute walk from campus, and I'm living with my friends Sarah and Dana. Sarah lives near Detroit, and Dana lives in Scottsdale, AZ. As you can see, we have a view of the beach from our living room. If we can't ever be at the beach, we should at least bring it home to us!

Its been a little hard getting back on track after Block 2. As my friend Vilash told me after Block 1, this is a marathon, not a sprint. I need to keep reminding myself of that! Its been great to catch up with a lot of you back in the states this week, and plan on making more calls/emails over the next week. I started Davenport on Wednesday, so I need to make sure I'm up on that as well! Last, I want to give a special birthday shout out to Miss Emily Lottes. I believe this is her second shout out in my blog, but she really is a amazing friend to me and I found out the other day that she is sad when I slack on writing in this thing. Sometimes I don't know if anyone is even checking! I hope it was amazing, Em.

Dana, Sarah, and I. Our apartment is the balcony behind me on the second floor.

Picture from our balcony, where I plan to eat breakfast every day next year.
Me in the kitchen!