Time flys when you're... having fun?

Not really sure where the last 5 months went, but according to the the title I must have been having fun. :) I did make it to 2nd semseter without a problem. Not as much fun this semester. Second semester is a TON of work, which is fine by me now that I've got my study groove down. Started the semester a little shaky, but now that I've found my groove things are perking up... at least I'm passing everything right now. Just need to keep chugging along for the next 3-4 weeks until finals. I can see the light at the end of this tunnel and WANT to make it through! 3rd semester I believe is setup as a reward for making it through the exhaustive 2nd semester, though I will find that out when I get there. As opposed to the 2nd semester class all day no time to study, with 3rd semester I should be out my 11am most days! It's on a midterm and final schedule for every class, so that will be a challenge but that just means I need to have my study groove from day 1, there will be no time for mistakes.

Yeah, pretty much studying. That sums up most of what I've done the last few months. I did go to two movies this semester, Law Abiding Citizen which I thoroughly enjoyed (think I have yet to see a movie with Gerard Butler I didn't like) and New Moon which was ok but not amazing imo. I've only been to the beach about 1x a month, not that I can complain. That's a perk of studying abroad at Ross, when I do have a little bit of free time, there's excellent places to go relax, get some good food, float on the Atlantic ocean or Caribbean sea and maybe treat yourself to a mango collada (which in true Caribbean fashion is about 1/2 rum because it's cheaper than the fruit juice). :0)

Picture of this post is Shipwreck beach bar and grill. It's by far my favorite beach on the island, with a close second of Reggae beach bar and grill. Only thing keeping them from being equal is the farther ride out on the peninsula and not knowing if my car can make it that far! :) Whenever I go to shipwreck they have some of the best chicken or beef nachos, and amazing fresh cut fries!

And with that I leave this site until who knows went, almost a guarantee I won't post again until after finals sometime hopefully with good news that I'm in 3rd semester! Hope this picture sends some warmth to those in colder climates. :0)

I'm a slacker.

Alrighty, mid semester break and I haven't been tending to this blog as I had hoped. I guess I should have known better, I'm terrible at maintaining anything like this. I've decided I'm probably not going to post toooo many photos here as most people that read this are also on my facebook friends list where all of my photos will be posted. That being said, here's a little eye candy:


Last week we didn't have any exams, thank goodness! Got through my first round of exams as an A/B student and hope to only maintain or improve that! Had a little catch up time to get on an even note with classes and also got a little rest and relaxation. Me and my friend Marika stayed the night over on Nevis last weekend. The picture above from Nevis. The island in the background is St Kitts (to the left) and Nevis closer (to the right). We had some awesome food, ie the best filet mignon I've ever had (maybe that's because I haven't really had good red meat in a while)! Anyways, spent a whole 24 hours away from St Kitts, got to chill in some hammocks, read a little Harry Potter/non school work and got a tour of the island all before hopping the seabridge ferry to get back to St Kitts at 6pm. Met some new people on the trip too, which always makes things nice. Strangely though, out of the 4 of us Ross people that signed up for this trp... 3 of us were from NY (2 being me and Marika), and the 3rd grew up in Lake George and worked in Saratoga a bit before heading here. For those that don't know, Lake George is 15mins from S Glens Falls where I grew up!

This weekend we checked out Shipwreck, which is a much smaller beach just over the first hill on the peninsula. I actually think this is one of my favorite beaches now. Not as many people, a little float in the water to fall asleep on or dive off of. Only downside is the reef being so close to shore with the threat of stepping on urchins. My solution as always, wear my tivas at all times. Worked this weekend, hopefully it will continue to.

I'm excited, Julie Ellis will be here in just about a week! Before I came here she was scheduled through ZEW club to come down and give a talk about her work. It'll be nice to get to catch up with old friends.... we always seem to meet on islands!

Well folks, as nice of a week with no exams was, that only means i have another 3 weeks of exams ahead... meaning very little Holly time and lots of study time. I have microanatomy this week, gross anatomy and physiology next week, and nutrition following that.

Wish me luck and peace out until I return to this page.

or friend me on facebook to get even more updates and photos :-p

I have arrived

Ok, so I actually made it yesterday afternoon but with all the craziness of running around I didn't get to post. This is the view outside my window. There's an entire album which I will add photos too, and will probably have multiple album by the time I'm done. http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=73204&id=746364927&l=9d89907d3f


And that's it for this blog. I'm still tired and have a lot of unpacking to do! I'm determined to be settled before classes next week, and definitely unpacked before my 4 months in the dorm are up (I have been known to not to fully unpack for 6 months at a time)!

Take off...

Finally made it to take off day. I'm killing some time waiting at Albany. I fly from Albany to JFK, then JFK straight to St Kitts. Should be in St Kitts this afternoon assuming no delays! Meant to take pictures of the packing extravaganza just so you could see how crazy all of that was. Lets just say, I think my mother is happy to have her dining room table back from 3 massive suitcases and tons of crap piled all over the place. Surprisingly, most of that junk fit in the bags! I am a master at packing lots of extra unecessary items into bags. Now lets hope I can get the 3 - 50 pound bags up 3 flights of stairs to my new apartment! Ok, computer off... must save battery like for my next 3 hour layover. :)

A little more "real"

Wow...
Yesterday was my last day of work, making this whole going back to school thing a little more real. While I was still working, going to Ross still wasn't in the forefront of my mind, now it's pretty much all I can think of. My packing up to this point was a few suitcases with stuff I wanted piled all around them. My packing is now turning into what I actually need and will fit in the suit cases vs what I want. :) compromises compromises. I've moved around enough the last few years to know what I actually need, although this is the first time I haven't had a large moving vehicle.

I had a big wake up call almost 2 weeks ago now. My dear friend and coworker in Florida passed away on Apr 6th, very unexpectedly. Kris was only 24 and a great person that words can't do justice for. I'm going to try and stop wasting time and try living my life to its fullest. I had thought of visiting him and Ash before leaving for St Kitts (which I now know I don't have time for in this last week) but it made me regret that I hadn't gotten down there sooner. I have to thank you Ash for having so many great pictures of Kris, I barely had any of him and saved a bunch of yours. It has been about 1.5 years since I've been down there and I really wanted to see them again. Even not seeing Kris, I still talked to him regularly online. Catching up on the center and just seeing what he thought about my ideas for my next adventures, which is now Ross U. I'm going miss not having him to update on my vet school adventures, I always valued his opinion. We both were pretty much on the same page or in the same school of thought. I know you will be keeping watch from time to time Kris!
Missing you buddy, October 30 1984 - April 6 2009

I think one of the tougher things with this move is not having my pets with me. I know I'll get into the swing of things with school but I haven't been pet-less as long as I can remember, and now it'll be at least 4 months with nothing furry or feathery to live with. All 3 are staying with my parents. Luckily Keely has taken nicely to my brother, so he's able to handle her most of the time. She'll still try to nip him from time to time which discourages him. It's that little bit of hesitation that lets her know she can be boss. :-P She'll even bite me if I hesitate or show fear when she's moody.

Well, I think I'm doing pretty good keeping up on this blog. Once a month is better success than any other blog I've had thus far. However, I think I need to stop wasting time on the computer and get on with preparations. Checklists here I come!

I fly out April 26th!

I was wondering how I would possibly manage to get everything done in two months, but things are already starting to come together. I think I've ALWAYS made my trips relatively last minute. Australia was last minute and I canceled out a Shoals class, EcoQuest was really last minute and they luckily had a spot open. And I moved to FL 1-2 weeks after I had that job... still not sure how I found an apt that quickly (wait yes I do - it was a horrible neighborhood in Bradenton).

I already have a passport, so that was one hurdle I didn't have to jump. The hardest part I would say is the health certificate... just figuring out what I need! Luckily I already had my rabies pre-exposure series done back in 2006 (which is usually the tough one to get) so all I needed was my titer to be checked. After being stuck 3 times they finally got blood on me for all the crazy blood work that was needed for that health certificate. Now, I just need to track down if I've had my hepatitis A/B vaccines as one "may" have been done when I was a baby... like I would remember when they asked me are you sure you didn't have one. I just need to call the pediatrician and see if the have records from 20+ years ago as my current PCP doesn't really pay attention to stuff like that. They almost didn't give me my tetanus booster or TB test even though I showed them everything I needed on that health certificate. If I actually went to the Dr. regularly I would probably be finding a different primary. Anywho, the police letter stating I have no record took no time at all so that was nice. Just the vaccine and letter from my car insurance company and the bulk of the paperwork is done. I'll then be able to focus on the financial aid which they have yet to get back to me on!

I fly out the 26th of April, really early in the morning out of Albany, connect at JFK and then fly direct to St Kitts. I wanted to make it there a little earlier (one can get there as early as the 24th and get in the dorms) but that meant long overnight lay overs which I really didn't want. Luckily AA has direct flights wed and sunday from St Kitts to JFK so it makes things slightly simpler.

For any that haven't looked it up, this is where Ross University is on St Kitts. I'll be there for 2 years and 4 months, but still able to come back on breaks if and when I want to:


View Larger Map

Well, off to making phone calls so I can get my vaccines on track!

Starting the journey...

I have decided to start posting updates in a single location. There are too many personal profile accounts out there to update each and every one of them, or risk excluding someone in an update or photos (especially when I get to St. Kitts!) simply because the don't have the account. I also wanted something a little more permanent than an email list. So here it is!

For any of my friends that I haven't told, I got accepted into the May 2009 class of Ross University. That means I only have a few short months to get everything in order to start classes. I think the hardest thing, besides the coursework of course, is going to be away from my family friends and my pets. I got my pets when I lived in Florida for company and now I'll have to part with them for at least 4 months (which is bearable), but up to 2 years and 4 months (which will be difficult)! I don't know if I will put Owen & Jade through the flight as they despise travel. Even though I love them it would be for their own good. Jade has decided to curl up between me and my laptop as I write this! And Keely's another story as I need to look into all customs regulations on small parrots. I don't like the idea of not having Keely around for 2+ years and having her become a cage territorial, non-hand tamed bird since she turns into devil bird when I'm not around... right Jamie? But we'll see!

When they had those "what do you want to be when you grown up" assignments in elementary school, I said I wanted to be a veterinarian. Then towards the end of high school and my undergraduate college work, I figured I didn't have a chance of getting accepted and didn't know if I wanted to go that direction. After 4 years of getting jobs working with wildlife medically, and numerous veterinarians over the last couple of years telling me I have what it takes, I finally applied to vet school knowing that was the direction I wanted to take... And got in!

If I'm not too insanely busy, I expect to be writing these regularly. Hopefully I'll have time and enough info to at least post once a month.

So now I'm off to fill out seemingly endless forms and setup appointments for a million health tests. :)