Head and Neck No More!

Hi Everyone!

I had my head and neck practical Friday afternoon and I can say with confidence that I did very well. Even though I haven't received an official grade yet, after looking at the answers, I know I didn't get more than five questions wrong. So, worst case scenario, I got an 87.5% I have mixed emotions about this grade. I'm extremely happy with this grade because it's a good grade. I'm also relieved because I'm not satisfied with how I performed on Mini 1 anatomy. Mini 1 anatomy was only worth 10% and it covered the hardest material (head and neck) of the semester. Therefore, my strategy was to focus on the other classes that were worth more. So, I wasn't surprised that I didn't receive a stellar grade on Mini 1 anatomy. With this in mind, I was determined to kill this practical to make up for Mini 1. So, I watched prosector videos over and over again all last week. I spent lots of time on Wikipedia (a great medical school resource by the way!) memorizing muscles, nerves, arteries, muscle origins and insertions, etc. Also, Thursday night, I spent about six hours in the lab going over the material over and over again. So, while I'm super happy that I did well on this practical, I feel that I could have done better considering my preparation. Looking over the answers, I saw that if I had just looked a little closer or thought about the question a little more, I could have gotten those five questions right. A 100% was not out of reach. Still, I'm NOT complaining and I'm VERY satisfied with my grade.

PS: I really recommend watching the prosector videos from this website along with Dr. K's. I feel that by using both resources in conjunction, you get a much more complete picture of what you need to know from each dissection. Just my two cents...

In other news, Mike, Gabe and I went to Roseau last week. We hired Alexis' taxi service to drive us to Roseau and back. Our first stop was Astaphans. Gabe needed to buy an office chair and Mike and I needed to pick up a few things. Gabe found a chair but they were charging an astronomical ~$900EC which is about $337.00US - for a chair! Needless to say, Gabe just ordered one online and had his parents send it over via Amerijet.

The next stop was IGA. IGA, like Astaphans, is a grocery store. However, I much prefer to shop at IGA than Astaphans because they have more US brands and items. They also have frozen items that I haven't been able to find in other stores. For example, they have Hot Pockets, frozen lasagnas, Breyer's and Ben and Jerry's ice cream, Cool Whip, blueberry and strawberry Eggo waffles, frozen vegetables, frozen pies, MorningStar Farm's sausages, pizzas, and much more. We also found cream cheese, cheeses, and yogurts that hadn't expired! (This is actually a big deal.) And, you can buy cold cuts at the deli. We bought a pound of colby cheese and a pound of honey ham for ~$44.oo. This is slightly cheaper than what Tomatoes charges for a pound of ham and a pound of cheese. However, I think Tomatoes offers better quality ham and cheese. Still, IGA's ham and cheese was good and I wouldn't hesitate to buy more the next time I go. You can also buy cakes and cookies. We bought a few other things like Coke, bread, and cereal. The point is that IGA is the closest thing I've found to a grocery store resembling the ones you find in the US. IGA is smaller and offers less variety but, in my opinion, it's the best grocery option in Dominica.

The next stop after shopping at IGA was a coffee shop called Rituals Coffee House. Rituals is the closest thing Dominica has to a Starbucks. And, it's actually not bad at all! They have all kinds of cookies, donuts, and cheesecakes. They have hot and cold sandwiches and they make all sorts of smoothies/shakes. I ordered the cookies and cream cheesecake. Even though it looked like a Cheesecake Factory cheesecake, it didn't quite taste like one. Still, I thought it was the best cheesecake I've found in Dominica so far.

Finally, we stopped at KFC before heading home. Every time we go to Roseau, we pick up some KFC without fail. The KFC here is just like the KFCs back home. They have popcorn chicken, chicken nuggets, biscuits, fries, mashed potatoes, coleslaw, parfaits, etc. The only things they never seem to have are potato wedges and macaroni and cheese. Regardless, the KFC here tastes just like the ones found in the States and they pretty much offer the same items.

Below you'll find the pictures I took that day. I wish I would have taken more but I've gotten a little shy with the camera lately. It just feels a little awkward taking pictures inside stores. People look at me funny. So, this was the best I could do.

Enjoy!

Just Another Day...

Hello!

A few days ago, a reader left a comment asking for more narratives of our daily lives here in Dominica. So, here it goes!

Mike and I headed to the library today at around 12:00 pm. It's been raining cats and dogs here for what seems like weeks now and today was no different. I took a few pictures so you can see how wet and gloomy Dominica was today.

Every time we head to the main campus, Mike and I take the bridge over the Picard River (pictured below). We lovingly refer to this river as the "chocolate river." The river earned this pet name because every time it rains (which has been extremely frequent lately), the river gets turbulent and brown. Hence, chocolate river. What's even more awesome is that sometimes when we turn on our faucets or flush our toilets, brown water comes out.

I remember the first time I noticed this about the toilets. I had gone to the bathroom near the library and every stall I entered had toilet bowls filled with brown water. I remember making these faces of disgust and thinking that there were some dirty, dirty girls here at Ross that weren't flushing the toilets when they were done. Turns out, the blame is on Mother Nature and not on the girls at Ross. lol... oops.

Anyway, once we got to the library, we worked and worked until it was time to grab some Subway at around 5:00 pm. We picked up our subs and sat down to watch a few minutes of the the Dallas Cowboys vs. Arizona Cardinals game on T.V. Pictured below is the kitty that joined us for dinner. After we ate, we headed back to the library where we studied until 8:45 pm. Then, we took the 9:00 pm bus home and that's about it!

So, that was our day. Thrilling, isn't it? :)

Well, tomorrow is the start of a new and hectic week. My anatomy practical on the head and neck is this Friday so I have to put in loooooong hours at the lab this week. It's supposedly the hardest anatomy practical ever so I'm pretty stressed about it. However, I usually perform strongly on practicals if I put in the necessary time. So, we'll see how it goes.

Enjoy the pics below and I'll post again when I get some free time this week.

~ Melissa

PS: I've made it a point to take my camera with me everywhere I go. I'm trying to take a lot of pictures of anything and everything for the blog. So, on the way to Subway, I snapped a picture of a father and son playing on the swings. I also took a picture of some students playing volleyball and of the clouds hugging the mountains in the distance. That's all that happened in the distance between the library and Subway. I hope that by sharing these pictures, you can all feel a little more involved in our daily lives here. :)

Heaven's Best

Hi Everyone!

Gabe's birthday was this past Saturday but we couldn't celebrate it because the Mini was fast approaching. So, last night, a large group of us went to Heaven's Best Restaurant to celebrate his belated birthday as well as our friend Oscar's birthday.

I can't rave enough about this place. The food was BY FAR the best food I've had since I've been in Dominica. I've been to a few restaurants (Tomatoes, Fort Young, Sunset Bay, Blue Bay, Portsmouth Beach Hotel) in Dominica since arriving in January and they've been very hit or miss. Since I don't like seafood, I always order a chicken dish. More often than not, I leave restaurants very disappointed after paying WAY too much for "eh" food. On the other hand, Gabe always orders "the catch of the day" at every restaurant and he always seems pretty satisfied with his choice. I suppose it makes sense that if there's one dish a Caribbean restaurant will get right, it's going to be seafood.

So, imagine my hesitation when I ordered the "Chicken Sensation" at Heaven's Best. Thankfully, I made a great choice because it was soooo good. Mike ordered the same thing. I suppose he enjoyed it as well because I've never seen him eat so fast. Gabe, as usual, ordered the "catch of the day" and had NO complaints. For drinks, Mike ordered a vanilla milkshake and Gabe had the sweet tea. Both were EXCELLENT. They also served baskets of bread that contained butter, white bread, and this delicious raisin bread. Since I'm a big soup person, I ordered the cream of asparagus soup as an appetizer. Just... wow. For desert, we all had the warm apple crisp with vanilla ice cream. Now, normally I don't sit here and write about everything we order at restaurants but I am SOOO impressed with this place that I feel the need to proclaim it to the world. The service was excellent as well. I left feeling so happy because I finally felt that I got what I paid for. Also, this restaurant is locally owned and it felt good to give them our business because they deserved it. I couldn't have asked for a better dining experience.

Furthermore, since it was Gabe's and Oscar's birthday, the owner brought out the apple crisps with candles and performed a little "dance" for the birthday boys. No, not that kind of dance - well, sort of. Just watch the clip below. She also gave them both a small gift. How sweet is that? I have never gone to a restaurant for my birthday and received a gift. The embarrassing happy birthday song, yes, but never a gift.

Plus, the restaurant is near Portsmouth so it took us about 10 minutes to get there by taxi. It's nice to know we don't have to drive all the way to Roseau to get decent (and in this case, AWESOME) food anymore. I know we'll be back soon.

Below are some pictures and a link to their website in case you were wondering what kind of food they offer. If you're here at Ross or are coming to Ross, I HIGHLY recommend Heaven's Best.

Here's the link to their website. Just click on "dining" for their menu!