PSA: Gambling is Addictive.

Wow! This is what I get for not updating more regularly: a super long blog entry with lots of fun pictures! :) Let's hope I can keep the timeline in order....

Friday

After completing a ridiculous combo of exams culminating in a [insert choice curse words here] 'pop' quiz in parashit, it was time to go out and leave all our books behind!

First we hit volleyball at Timothy Beach. This has become my favorite past time here on The Rock. It's just so casual, good food, good beer, and good friends. With some volleyball thrown in for kicks.

Arvind lent me his hat and snapped this shot.

Arvind also snapped this shot, which I think is fantastic.

Some of the girls and I went to dinner at Diamond Cut, where I had what was the BEST steak I have ever eaten. I think my body was fed up with all of the pasta and chips/salsa because when that porterhouse came out I swear it was screaming "Iron! Oh Blessed Iron!". And not only was the steak fantastic, but the service was as well!

There was a mound of mashed potatoes as well, but the steak was just too big to show them.

YUM!

After dinner we hit Ziggy's for a night of beer and fun! A bunch of alumni were in town for the veterinary convention, making for an interesting evening of swapping stories and watching people go down memory lane.

(Sorry no pics, try not to take the camera places where I plan on partaking of large doses of libations.)

Wednesday

In the morning we had our last exam of the semester before finals (Parashitology). We were thoroughly exhausted as we sat in anatomy lab listening to a lecture about chicken anatomy. Evidence of exhaustion:

He even laid out his lab coat as a blanket. Note the look of pure enjoyment on my classmates' faces behind him.

I, of course, was fascinated by the lecture. That is, until I glanced over out the window to my right and realized that an absolutely gorgeous day was forming outside and we were stuck listening to a beloved old German man explain the reproduction system of a female chicken. It was like a scene out of Summer School, minus the bikinis in class.

Note the dolphin skeleton framing the top of my pic.

On the days that we have exams, we are not required to attend the lecture for that class later in the day. Parashit lecture is from 1 - 2, with immunology following from 2 - 3. Our wonderful class rep was inspired to have a chat with our immuno prof, who agreed to move our scheduled lecture from Wednesday to next Monday. This meant we were FREE after physio got out at noon!! And what do 89 incredibly worn out second semester vet students going on no sleep do when they get a free afternoon? Why, The Marriott of course.

This view by far outshines the view from the anatomy lab.

That evening I had dinner with Karen and her family at Marshalls. The lamb was superb, as was the company.

Thursday

For Parashitology we were each assigned a parasite at the beginning of the semester that we would have to present in class. Some of these presentations get very creative. A recent example:

Justin's nematode infected chickens. Too bad I didn't catch a shot of Terry dressed as the nematode. There were many tears from laughing so hard.

Thursday night there was an annual wine event called Beaujolais. I did not attend, but was told later that it was a fabulous evening. Instead of attending, I chose to literally sit at home, watch movies, and knit. And drink a 1/2 a bottle of Merlot. It was quite possibly the most relaxing evening I have had here to date.

Friday

This week I've been helping out the dog walking group a few afternoons since they lost a few members. As a reward for all of our sweat and tired muscles, a couple of us went out to dinner at Formosa Gardens, a nice Chinese restaurant near the port. The food was pretty good and the ambiance was nice, but the service left something to be desired. Course, we've also learned that if you have more than four people at a table, servers here on The Rock tend to get a little nervous. But overall, the dinner was super fun. How can it not be with the yahoos sitting at the table?!

After dinner I headed over to the Marriott Casino with some of my dinner mates. Dr. Danny was there, playing Roulette (as always), and he took it upon himself to give me a tour of the casino slot machines to teach me about gambling. At his suggestion, we sat at a machine relatively close to the door with lots of crazy lines on the glass and went to town. Big Players at $10 starting bet, we ended up turning that $10 into $50!

Just in case you needed proof. Or in case I needed a reminder in the morning as to where the nice fifty came from in my wallet.

They even gave me a crisp new $50, not a random crumpled up previously soaked from a pool $50 that some tourist left with them.

Since we three were on a roll, we tried another $20 at the same machine. And wouldn't you know it turned into $75?!

And they say there is no such thing as a Money Tree.

I disagree. There is such a thing, and it is called The Royal Beach Casino at The Marriott St. Kitts Resort.

Which brings us to today, Saturday

Today is a lazy day filled with anatomy lab and library madness. I will be re-entering Hibernation Mode shortly until the end of finals (Dec. 11). So stay tuned, updates when I am able. But don't expect anything super spectacular, since I am grounded until the 11th. Well, with the exception of Thanksgiving. That will probably be a laugh riot.

Hope all is well with all of you, and Happy Thanksgiving for those of you lucky enough to enjoy it!