Move out, Don't mess around!

Just as soon as finals is finished, there is no break for the 1sties.  Whatever time was spent studying after finals was instead replaced with packing and cleaning.

1st semester students that apply to Ross enough in advance live in the residences that they have on campus.  This helps them with the transition into vet school without having to deal with much of the hassles that can accompany "island life".  However, that's only for the first 4 months on the island.  After that they move out for the next 1st semester class to enter.  So guess what I did over the past 2 days?!  That's right, clean, pack, move, unpack.  Moved from campus to a little place about 15min away in an area of the island called Half Moon Bay.  It's a nice little 2 bedroom place with which I share with my roommate Ryan.  Because we're on the Atlantic side we get a wonderful breeze that blows through the place when we open the front and back doors.

Our place in on the bottom left corner of this picture.

One of my favorite parts of the new place compared to my old one... it's got a real over and stove top!!! That means I can do some real cooking/baking.

Oh! And a full sized fridge.  I can buy bulk sized things now instead of going grocery shopping every 2 to three days, which can really eat into your studying time.

My room is a good size.  Not too big that it costs a ton of cool it, not too small that I can't live in it.

My bed to the right with a wall length window.  My closet ahead with my desk on the right.

And how did I get all my things to my new place you ask?  Why I bought an island mobile!

Got myself a '95 Honda Civic!  It is an island car.  For those of you that don't know what that is... let me enlighten you.  It is extremely expensive to import cars to the island.  So many of the cars on the island are older frankensteins(older shells with newer parts on the inside).  As Ross students leave their 7th and last semester on the island, they need to sell their cars.  Therefore these cars get passed down every few years to another student.  So a '95 like mine could have a little as 5 owners up to this point in time.  Now they aren't the nicest cars, but they get you from point A->B in one piece, and you can usually sell them for around the same price as you bought them for(technically selling an appreciated automobile).  So it's a pretty good deal.

Now that classes are over and I'm almost done unpacking, I'm finding it difficult getting into a "relaxed" state of mind after running 110% over the past 4 months.  Hopefully I'll find that state before my 2 week break is up and I have to start back in 2nd semester.  Monday I will be going on a catamaran trip with some students who are also staying over break and then my Mom will be coming into town next week.  Hope to show her all the awesome and beautiful parts that make this island one amazing paradise...when not sitting as a desk studying.

Round 1 Completed!!!

About three weeks ago I was finishing my last set of midterms and starting the long haul to finals.  I didn't think studying for finals would take all that time... but it did.  In this past 4 months I have studied about 10 times more than the entirety of my undergraduate career.  And it paid off!!!  I will be joining our Blue class as it makes its journey into 2nd semester.

Finals was a very weird time for me.  Spent copious amounts of time studying, very little time eating, and an even smaller time sleeping.  I did get plenty of rest up until the week of finals.  Then, when I did get to sleep, my "dreaming" consisted of canine and equine muscle groups being pulled away from bone with exposed vasculature.  Or mixing of the feed of a dairy herd making sure that the right proportions of nutrients went in to make sure they all didn't get rumen acidosis(too much acid produced in the rumen during digestion).

One other very difficult part of finals is that they do not release your grades until all exams have been taken.  The reason for this of course is to keep you from not performing well on one exam because you already found out you failed another one.  It still is very stressful.  You definitely learn how to compartmentalize your emotions and thoughts about other classes to try and focus on what's in front of you.

Grades are supposed to be posted my noon on the Saturday after exams... that would be today.  We found out yesterday our class grades.  The website to find these grades however, is a little confusing.  At first I didn't know what unofficial transcript I was looking at (pre or post final exams).  But it ended up being post, and I ended up passing.  I also ended up passing with a 3.5, which made me eligible for the deans list!!! A few friends of mine made it on the President's list which is 4.0.  A very large accomplishment considering the stress and copious amounts of material needed to absorb in the short amount of time available.

I just moved out of the dorms on campus into my new place which I will talk about soon once I finish unpacking and getting pictures uploaded.  Bye for now!