So after a long and tiring selection and application process you get accepted to the best foreign medical school in the Caribbean. After months of paperwork back and forth, plane tickets, travel arrangements, and trying to figure out if you'll actually get half the things you personally find essential to life down there you hop on a plane. The flight is long, possibly with layovers, and when you get off the plane and step right onto the tarmac of the runway since the airport in Grenada is so small they don't actually have terminals you look around. Wow. I finally made it.
Then you find half your luggage is missing, the customs people don't believe the price you claim you paid for your laptop and charge double the tax for it, the humidity is making you sweat so much you think you can start a public pool facility in your armpit. You arrive to campus, drop your stuff in your room, and then the school treats you to several days of free time with little orientation lectures here and there.
Those few days are like a vacation in a tropical paradise. Then class starts. Anatomy slams you in the face like some huge guy smacking you with a sock full of quarters, Biochem isn't bad if you had it already in undergrad but if you didn't be comfortable with the idea of crying fairly often, and the upper termers fill you with dread as they tell horror stories and rumors about things they heard that are being changed in the curriculum this term.
Take a breath. Step back. Look around. Everyone else around you is in the same spot as you. Oh and by the way most of those rumors aren't true.
After three weeks I've figured alot of that out. My study habits are forming. My group of friends/study partners is evolving. My mindset has now switched gears from "Oh crap, I'm dead." to "Bring it on, you don't scare me." I'd be lying if I said nothing scares me here, but if you keep repeating it sometimes it feels true. Denial can be a powerful tool. The advice from upper termers? Take it, but filter it. Everyone has different ways of learning. One persons gold book of review could be another's kindling for a beach fire pit.
Groceries are expensive, the cab drivers/bus drivers are easy to haggle with, and try the blackened chicken 'cause it's damn good.
Oh, and at least one day a week take the night off. Go to a bar with friends, hit the beach, watch a movie, whatever. Do something to unwind. Otherwise you just might end up losing your mind all together.
And now...lyrics...cause I like them.
"Golden arches risin' above the next overpass
These horizons are endless
Americans abroad! Americans abroad!
Profit driven expansion into foreign markets
And while I hope I'm not like them, I'm not so sure
This is the best summer that I've ever had
European Vacation, me and my best friends
Americans abroad! Americans abroad!
Whatever there is to be said is said in English
And while I hope I'm not like them, I'm not sure
Here we are, a rock band looking for new audiences
Wherever we go, Coca-Cola's already been
Americans abroad! Americans abroad!
And I just can't help but think that there's nothing in sight
And while I hope I'm not like them, I'm not sure"
Against Me! - Americans Abroad
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