The End Or The Pandemic

Hello dear reader
At 8:04pm last night March 11, 2020. SGU sent out an email that I believe could have been thought out more and worded more clearly, the gist of the this email is that SGU is advising students to leave the island, do to the risk of COVID-19, which has been moving through the Caribbean. This has lead to a panic to leave, mostly in med school (there are just so many of them), most of the vet school is still in midterms, and while we in term 6 finished are midterms Monday, however we also have rotations that for some of us started on Monday afternoon, on top of this there was no wind up to this email, unless you count the email that we received around noon yesterday that informed us that nothing was mandatory anymore. now (7:25pm) we have been told that everything will be done online and no in person classes will be offered, Once I leave Grenada I am gone for good.
This morning I woke up feeling tired and stressed (normal), i got the bus to campus (it was almost empty, not normal), went to class where 3 lectures happened and a Q & A to try and dispel fears (we know what you know and we are trying to get you more information), even though this was handled by the overall university poorly, SGA and SVM are doing an amazing job handling concerns and panic. The small animal clinic opened its doors and is doing everything they can to get all the animals that are leaving Health certificates on short notch, the vet student community also staying on task as much as we can. I am going into surgery this afternoon.(it went well)

I started this blog in 2017 it was meant to help people decide if it was the right school for them, later that 1st term, I was really struggling with classes and ultimately deceled, that is when this blog became a therapeutic outlet for me to talk about the times that I fell and how I was able to get back up. that lasted for several terms, I would write whatever I was feeling sharing more then I would have had I been in person, I always tried to write as if I was talking to one person because I wanted everyone to read it to know that it is okay to struggle but it is not okay to give up. 

Currently everything is fine we where all hit hard, and we are all now leaving the Island, we are sad about the sudden end to our island life and leaving this big crazy dysfunctional family that we have come to love over the years of hard work together. I love all of my SGU SVM family/ Improv family I am so happy that I have had the opportunity to get to know you over the last 3.5 years and I wish we had a bit more time to have fun and learn together, and I know you will all be amazing, and we will all see each other again so this is not goodbye, it's just

Ta Ta for Now...

Sincerely, the soon to get away from vet school student.
Aaron Helms
Thanks Grenada its been fun. 

Term 4 Or, The Ocean is like a Big River

Hello, Dear Readers
another term started last week for me, and the craziest thing is that I am not super stressed Yet. I am sure that before long I will be back to normal (read extremely high) levels of stress will be back, but for now things are going smooth. I have settled in to my new apartment, I am still getting back into the swing of early morning classes/writing, so this will be a short post.
Now as I sit in my hammock looking out at a inlet of a bay, it reminds me of the porch I would sit on in undergrad only then it was the Cumberland river and barges, now its the Caribbean Sea and sailboats/ships. Its amazing that my mind made a 2,324.62 mi connection (I looked it up) but I am sure that if I asked around almost everyone would have something that reminded them of a simpler time in there life. but then again I might just be a bit odd, but I can't be the only person who sits on their porch and listens to sad bluegrass and folk music but maybe that's just the Tennessee in me...
TTFN
P.S. for all the people who read this in the states it's 80 degrees F as I write this.

 

Burning Bright Or, Wave Goodbye

Hello Dear Readers,
The term is rapidly drawing to a close, with finals starting on Friday. This term has been kinda all over the place and I feel like it just started last week, it also feels like a year has gone by. The realty I started this dumb blog a year and a half ago, that is... just wired to think about, 1.5 years since I first stepped foot on to this little island nation. I have manged to learn more information then I would have thought possible, but now I get to experience another unique aspect of island vet school... saying goodbye to friends, yes in state schools you still have to say goodbye to upper term friends when they graduate, but hear there is something happy sad about knowing that you won't see someone around school anymore. We are all happy to see them going to clinical year but when they go they get scattered all over North America, which is kinda sad to think about, also the fact that no matter how much we all say we will get back together. Someday is a awful long way away and time pulls everyone in different direction, don't miss construe my words I believe that at some point I will get to hang out with those friends of mine that are leaving this at the end of this term. I will really miss seeing them around campus, talking to them about vet stuff, improv things, and car stuff (even if they didn't care), thanks for all the support. I can't wait to see how you all change the world my 6th term friends, I know you will even if you don't really want to, because that is the power of this crazy stupid way of going to school has, we are all stronger then we where and waving goodbye to good friends has never gotten any easier for me even though I have more then my fair share of experience at it. I am starting to get a bit of experience waving hello to old friends, and that gives me hope.
Goodbye till next term Dear Readers have a very merry Christmas, TTFN

 

 

Boomerang , Or How we all Stay Sane

Hello Dear Readers, It's kinda getting crazy with only about 4 weeks till finals start, also I have 4 quiz's and a final that will happen before then, a four day weekend for Easter and I alter from feeling like I can't possibly get though, understand and remember all the material for the tests and beyond. and feeling like I might be able to pull off high marks on some of the test, and a confidence that I can beat this term, but we will see how it goes, all I can do is my best and that will just have to be good enough.
On to the core of this post, this last week in physio 2 we have been going over a lot of "review" of bio-chem, at the same time I got a Facebook memory of some notes that I had posted when I was in bio-chem which I promptly used to help complete some homework, I am honestly surprised by how much of my undergrad classes have come back to me and helped me to better understand some of my classes, I will also say that there are also classes and lectures that seem to have nothing to do with my classes, this is mostly since the whole of my undergrad is covered in the first slide set, vet school is hard their is no doubt about that.
Now you maybe wondering with all this stress how does one stay sane (or at the very lest, not go more crazy), well that's a bit of a tricky question mostly since there is a different answer for each individual, the advise I received a long time ago was to be a good vet you need a hobby that has nothing to do with animals, for me it was racing cars but since I can't really do that on Grenada (unfortunately), however I was lucky enough to find Improv Club here and now when I am on island that is how I deal with my stress, the big thing for me is not the actual improv (although I think I am getting the hang of it and it is very fun), the big thing is that I have friends that I can have fun with.
Friends really good friends that you can talk about anything, your problems, your success, the stuff that they don't really care about, someone who makes who makes you go to a beach front restaurant, a Friend, BFF, Confidant, a Best Vet School Buddy. TTFN 

WellnessWeek, Or Quiz quiz go away, Or Smoke roll on by

Hello, dear readers last week was a bit dark so this week i figured I would talk about some good good stuff.
Starting with wellness week a week full of events put on by SAVMA (Student AVMA) which is pretty cool there are loads of different things to do, like free massages, bob rose panting nights, a wellness lunch lecture everyday, I am sure I am missing some events and other wellness stuffs. But the most important one of the events was a collaboration with the Improv Comedy Club, the show we put on was sort of the big week ending event, and as a bones the show went real real well.
In other news I finished up my first round of quiz's which has had it's ups and downs, but at lest I get a bit of a mental stress break for a little bit. Well this was a short one, but before I go I have some interesting news a building in the True Blue industrial park caught fire today as far as I know no one was hurt, but it is wired coincidence considering that a building in my home county's town square just burned down, so just watch out dear readers and remember that fire is great till it's not. TTFN

Second Thanksgiving Or Final Quiz

Hello Dear Readers, It's US Thanksgiving week which means next to nothing when your on an Island but a lot of parties and stuff, also today was my last quiz of the term which is nice but also not so nice since that means there are only two weeks till finals start.

But this week let me tell you about shopping here since I do that about once a week, If you don't have a car then there are two easily accessible options IGA which is in the Spice Island Mail, and food fair which can be found in Grand Anse Shopping Center. The two have mostly the some things IGA is easier to get to and from since the buses run at least every 30mins, Food Fair buses only run every hour, the biggest difference is that Food Fair has more local stuff, IGA has more "name brands" and stays of "stocked" most of the time. 
 In a totally unrelated twist, The last Improv show of the year (not sure if I have talked about the fact that I am part of the SGU Improv Comedy Club) in lieu of Auto Racing which used to be my main destress tactic, I have found Improv to be a good way to relax, and I figured I would mention just how much the club has helped me this term, I just really like having a group of friends that love to make each other laugh. TTFN