It seems that once the faculty saw that we could make if past the first block without suffering spontaneous implosion, med school really began. The amount of material being fed to us easily doubled or more starting Tuesday morning. In addition to the increased pace of education in the classes we were already attending, someone found it necessary for us to begin another class just to make things interesting. So now Histology takes up another hour of precious review/understanding time. But it is all working out, every hour of my day is scheduled so I know where I am at all times and don't get lost in this sea of lecture notes, flashcards, and enormous molecular biology textbooks.
We started studying the neck and face in anatomy, which is notorious for driving people mad with its intricate detail and framework. The sheer amount of muscles,vessels, and nerves and how they all connect in such a compact area is mind boggling. All of this calls for careful and tedious dissection requiring extra long hours in the lab hovering over a formaldehyde infused body all the while suffering through an aching back and aching hands in order to understand it all. I am definitely not complaining, this is all fantastic. If it was easy, then everyone would do it, right?
see what i mean and this isn't all
After the week flew by in a series of 18-19 hour days, a few of us that live in the apartment complex decided that it was only fitting to spend Saturday away from such things as textbooks, and cadaver filled rooms. A much more open and inviting environment was severely desired, an environment named Baie Rouge . It is just across the border onto the French side of the island.
It is so named because the coarse sand that lines the beautiful turquoise water is slightly pink in color. The mixture of the colors are intensified by the bright Caribbean sun and are just spectacular.
In addition to being fantastically beautiful, the beach is renowned as a superb snorkeling spot. There is an enormous well protected reef just a few yards off the beach that runs for several miles along the cliff lined coast. We swam about 2 miles of the reef and the underwater wildlife was intensely diverse. There were butterfly fish, blue and yellow tang, needlefish, and several different species of grouper just to name the ones whose names I know. But most amazing was the school of cuttlefish that we came across. They were just hanging out in intensely clear water drifting along with the ebb and flow of the tide, when I got close to one they would fan their tentacles out in a defense mode just ready to attack. But it was all a bluff, any time I would reach my hand out to give one a little pat on the back, they would change color into a bioluminescent display of blue and silver and shrink down the the shape of a bullet and would be gone.
Just past this cliff 2 hawksbill turtles appeared out of nowhere to check out what all the commotion was, they just lazily swam along just happy to be there enjoying their surroundings. I followed one for a long while before discovering that I had swam halfway to Anguilla, but I had the tide at my back for the swim back and it was very enjoyable.
Baie Rouge snorkel crew
Driven to thirst and hunger by our aquatic excursion, we made a collective executive decision to get some nice food to end such a nice day. And there wasn't a better place to enjoy a nice tuna steak burger and an Amstel than the Sunset Beach Bar where the sun put on another magnificent show for all to enjoy......
till next time...
planes landing at PJIA, next to the Sunset Bar, I got this standing by the fence that separates the road from the runway
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