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White Coat pictures: http://brookeroebuck.shutterfly.com/action/
Monday, May 19, 2008 6:20pm
Well, it’s the first day of my second week of classes and I am taking a break from reading about back problems (although I should probably master this information for my Dad’s sake….). So, let me recap this past week, as it’s been a while.
So I had a horrible day of classes last Wednesday (I believe), and updated you all with a pretty bleak blog. Sorry about that. That day was extremely stressful, but you all should know that things are getting better. Classes after that day seemed more manageable and I’ve had some extracurricular activities to take my mind off some of the classroom stress.
Extracurricular activity #1: My parents came to visit!! They came from Wednesday until this morning (Monday), and we had an excellent time together. Against my advice, a car was rented and my parents, all by themselves, navigated their way to my campus. Now, this is quite the accomplishment, as there are really no road signs to tell you where to go or which street is which. Luckily, if you drive far enough around the perimeter of the island, you are most likely going to find me at some point. Regardless, major props to my parents for finding me! So anyways, they got to stay in a wicked cute little cottage right on the edge of the ocean. My mom complained about the music from those damned med students until 2-4am and the sound of the waves bashing into our black sand, but other than that, I think they enjoyed their little abode. Lizards/iguanas (a three foot one) and all. So what did we do? Okay… let’s see… besides my parents fixing things and buying me stuff… we… drove around a lot, which was great. We went back and forth to the capitol, Roseau, a few times and went to the fresh market there, as well as the world renowned Kentucky Fried Chicken (more on that in a moment). We started in Roseau at this place called Astiphans, which is supposed to be akin to a Walmart - it was alright, not nearly as good as Walmart. Then we went out to the fresh market, which was pretty great. This is basically a place where vendors set up and sell fresh produce like veggies, fruit, and fish. I must mention here that I bought 12 bananas for 1 EC, which is about $0.27 US. That’s AMAZING!!! I also bought a pineapple for less than $1 US and a bunch of veggies. All for about $15 EC (which is a little more than $5 US). It was pretty great. The only downside is that there are a bunch of vendors there, but they all have the same thing!!! So there’s really only so much you can buy there. Okay, now about KFC. So, there is one KFC on the island and two Subways. That’s it for American food. I had heard that this KFC was amazing, but…. we had a bit of a different experience. First of all, the beggars are awful when you are not with a group of people. Not only were we approached going into KFC, but the children come and sit at your table and ask for food. Now, these kids are not poor - they are well kept and well fed. It seems that they have just become accustomed to begging. So, don’t go to KFC unless there are a lot of other foreigners there, too. Also, my mom was very upset that they did not have the “KFC bowl.” Personally, I don’t know what that is either, but it was a big deal to her. Food - it was alright. Not amazing. Will I return to KFC? No, most likely not. After that, we did things like hang out at the pool, go to dinner, and we also spent a day doing some sightseeing (I should mention that when going to a restaurant, just skip the entrée and go right for the banana split - they desserts are generally amazing and the entrees are NOT). This was on Sunday and we went to the Northern Link road where I took my parents to the Sulfur Springs (I included pictures of me at the springs about a week ago) and then we went to Fort Shirley, which is an old British fort here on the island. That was alright - not a lot to see fort wise, but there is a great view. We also had a little adventure of me driving… heh heh heh. There is a story that I will talk about separately, look for it below under “The Death Story.”
Extracurricular activity #2: I’m part of the Ross EMS team!! WOOOOO!!! That means I get to wear a pretty sweet jersey that says “Ross EMS” on the back and is embroidered on the front. No, it doesn’t have my name on it, which is a slight bummer, but hey. I’m only a firstie. There’s still time to make some changes. :P So some of you may know this, but I think many do not - I have wanted to be an EMT for a long, long time. I just never had the chance to pursue it. Coming from a background in RT, I am somewhat of an adrenaline junky, so I love emergencies and I’ve always wanted to be the person flying around the streets in an ambulance to something interesting. This may sound kind of pathetic to you, but know that I don’t wish for anyone to be hurt, but if they’re going to be, I want to be there person to turn on those sirens and rush to the scene to help. Unfortunately, Ross doesn’t have their own ambulance, but we can ride in the Portsmouth Fire Department’s ambulance, which, I am reassured, has at least bandaids. Heh heh. So we bring all of our own supplies as we sit in the back and get tossed around on all the up, down, right, lefts of this island to the hospital. I can’t wait!!! So, just my luck, I am assigned to the first night of EMS call, which means that I am currently typing to you from our wonderful EMS office (oh yeah, that’s right!). It’s pretty great in here cause we can do whatever we want in our wicked cool jerseys until we need to see a patient, and this room is awesomely air conditioned (to the point of being chilly), but I do have one thing to complain about: I don’t have internet here!!!! I don’t know if it’s down or what the heck is going on, but I will be migrating somewhere else in the near future, as being without internet is like being without water. I am parched! :P
Extracurricular activity #3: Well, I’ve signed up to do a bunch of things like Women’s Health, AMSA, PACE, and two different soccer teams. None of these things have really started yet, but they are some of the things I will be involved in in the coming weeks. I can’t wait for the sports to start!!!
The Death Story: Okay, here it is. My parents and I had a near-death experience on Sunday, no lie. Okay, so, as I said, I was driving. Now here, the driver’s seat is on the right hand side of the car and you drive on the left hand side of the road. So I was going along for a while and all was well and dandy - there is a custom here to honk at the passersby, other motorists, and especially cows and goats (I may have included that last part), as a friendly way to say hey how ya doin from your car. So basically one hand is on the steering wheel, another hand is on the shifter to go between drive and second gear on all of the ups and downs in the road, and then one of the hands goes to the horn every five seconds to say hi to everyone. So I am driving, dad is in the passenger seat, and mum is in the back of our little trucky thing. We come to a really narrow part of the road that on one side is surrounded by ocean and the other side if surrounded by tall cliff. When you imagine this, think of your average Hollywood windy, narrow road with ocean on one side and cliff on the other. Sounds amazing, doesn’t it? Now, insert into this picture a mac truck with tanker coming at you full speed. YEAH. So, I saw this truck coming and stopped our car before the narrow part of the road because it was clear we weren’t both going to fit. So up to now, everything is fine and dandy. And like the custom here on the island, the mac truck is honking at us. Except that his honk is a little different from most - it’s more of a blaring honk that a friendly “what’s up.” So this guy is essentially barreling along toward our car with a big ole gas tank attached to him blaring on his horn. You might be like, well, Brooke, that doesn’t sound like such a good situation, however, it’s pretty customary to honk, so my initial thoughts were that this mac truck was exceedingly excited to see us. Until he was very close to our car and moving EXTREMELY fast towards us. Oh, did I mention the smoke coming from his tires and his flashing headlights while he’s coming?? Yeah, so with a few seconds left to our life, my dad shouts “back it up back it up!!” as I throw the car in reverse and pound on the gas pedal. Needless to say, the mac truck missed us by inches. Literally. No joke. It was a lot like one of those 3D movies you watch where this thing is coming RIGHT at you and you’re like oh CRAP and then all the sudden at the last moment it misses you. Well, for me, this was real life. Our little trucky thing would have been blasted over the edge of the road and right into the ocean. Thankfully, our little angels were there and we are safe and sound and I drove us back home.
So as I said, it’s Monday and my parents have left. I’m sad that they’re gone, but I had a really, really nice time with them. You should all know that my mom baked me my favorite oatmeal cookies on the day they left and brought them, as well as purchased my favorite foods. My dad fixed a bunch of crap in my apartment, sawed open my coconut, and taught me how to drive on the “wrong side” of the road. They also bought a bunch of crap for me and worked around my crazy med school schedule. Not only that, but they offered all the support and never said anything negative or saddening the entire time they were here. In essence, I have the best parents ever, and I can’t wait to come home again.
Alright, now it’s time to give a shout out to all my BU peeps. We had our graduation this past Friday, so CONGRATULATIONS Pri, Jess, Lenie, and Holly!!!! I wish I could have been there!!!
So what was I doing on Friday instead? Well, Friday also happened to be my White Coat Ceremony, which was great. I remember sitting at my friend Devang’s white coat back in September and thinking how exciting it would be to do that some day, and mine was awesome. My parents were there and got to watch, as well as a bunch of new friends. It was an awesome experience and everything I could have wished for in a white coat ceremony. The president of Dominica was even there! Pictures are to come as soon as I get back to a place with internet….
Well, I stopped to take a little break from the back and now I have written a four page book. I am going to leave this here for now. I’ll write again in a few days!!
I love and miss you alllllll!!!!
Xoxo,
Brooke
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jessy
non-member comment
wow
i mean, wow. glad you're still alive. good writing there, you tell a good story ;) congrats on your white coat! :)