I thought I would take a turn

Another Dominica holiday has bought me some free time. The Dominicans have a lot of holidays that I don't think they know the real reason behind. One of my favorites is Beach Day. Which, as I understand it, is the first Monday of the month. Pretty nice, huh? Any who, much like banks in the US, it does not take much here for them to shutdown everything.

I would like to give my review of the school for the first two weeks for all those who are actually interested in the school aspect of living. This will be of course my opinion and the first thing you find out here is everyone has an opinion.

First off I have been busy. I have not only been studying but I have a interest it what is in the future for me and what I want to do here. I have joined 5 clubs and hope they don't interfere with each other and my studying. My theory, at least for me, is that the busier I am, the more productive I am. So leaving few gaps in my schedule is my goal. Plus I have a interest in each of the clubs I have joined. I will start by going over the clubs.

Salybia Mission Project
-This is the first club that caught my eye. This group big thing is providing care for the indingenous people of Dominica. They do this by making biweekly trips to the Kalinago territory and staffing the clinic they established there. This creates a opportunity for 1st semester student to go and take patient history, present the patient to the physician, and learn how the physician takes care of the patient. Hands on learning has always been the best way for me so I hurried up and signed up for this rather soon. They also host the Salybia 5k run for their clinic, a Dodgeball Tournament for it too. They have an intubation clinic and phlebotomy clinic for improving your skills there too. They also have a Women's Health Initiative too. All these are available for students who want to get involved. The cost of joining is 120 EC and you get the club t-shirt with it too. More info can be found at www.salbyia.org

Ross Emergency Medicine Association (REMA)
-Emergency Medicine has been an interest for me so I joined this group to learn more about it. They do a lot of cool stuff and the faculty advisory is real cool too. They also do some training like the Splinting Lab, IV Lab, Intubation/Airway Lab and EKG review. The advisory also talks about his experiences with lectures about Helicopter rescue and Parachute Medicine. They also are promoting weekly lunch meetings to go over Clinical Case Studies. I am pumped for all these activities.

Oncology Club
-I joined this one just because. I am interested in learning more and I think they had cookies at their table. Regardless, this group has some interesting stuff coming up for it too. They have plans for a Bone Marrow Clinic, Cancer cell staining and identification from the cadavers, a trip to another island to visit their cancer treatment facility, and they go talk to the 5th years, high schoolers, and teach them about cancer and what it is. I look forward to participating and learning a lot from here. This comes out to 40 EC for your time here to join.

Ross Neuroscience Society
-I joined this club because I need the help with the subject. Neuroscience does not start until the 2nd semester but there is no problem with starting early. They host a semester health fair in Roseau allowing the students the opportunity to practice some clinical skills. They also do several things to help students become better with the subject. Its cost is 40 EC for your time here. I don't have too much details of what is happening yet but will soon.

Collegium Aesculapium
-This is a group that focuses faith and medicine together that supports a clinic too. They are rather new but I thought it rounded off my extra-curricular activities nicely.

I also signed up to play volleyball to get some energy out. I know this sounds like a lot of activities but I like being busy. I get to the school and little before 8 am and get home around 7-8 pm. Then I study until 11 and watch a bit of tv before I fall asleep to repeat the performance. If I can hit the beach once a week to swim around that will be great too. In another post I will talk about the classes perhaps after the first Mini but this will give you a glance into a little bit of Ross life. Hopefully when I get time and some motivation, I can post a bit more on here and give you the other perspective of what is going on here. I have to get a bit more studying in tonight before the Lost Finale tomorrow.