Thank god for music

I thought that I wouldn't have anything to write about for a while, mainly because I haven't left the compound for two weeks. Last weekend I didn't even leave my apartment once, other than to take out the trash. Pharmacology consumed my life. I know that Optometrists like the dark, but I seriously need some sunshine before I go all out vampire. I think we are going to take our notes to the beach this weekend for a few hours. Once next week is over, I will be able to have a bit of breathing room. I am going to need it. Dr. May told me before I ever left, that I had to get out and have some fun every once in a while or I would go crazy in Optometry school. He was right. This month is really testing the limits of my sanity. I mostly blame Pharmacology for that. It is extremely hard to memorize lists of words that you have never heard of and don't know how to pronounce. I had to take a little break on Sunday after studying for 10 hours straight because my neurons were a bit wore out. I picked out a movie with the intentions of watching half of it and going through flash cards while watching the second half. I ended up streaming what I thought was going to be a cheesy chick flick staring Betty White and Jennifer Love Hewitt called "The Lost Valentine". I really needed to watch something that didn't require much thought, and a Hallmark Original Movie seemed about perfect. It was a little cheesy, but I have a soft spot for all members of the Golden Girls cast. By the end I was a sobbing mess. I'm either becoming a softy in my old age, or the stress got to me a bit. It may have been a combination of both.

The one thing that has always kept me sane (ish) is my music. I found a new band the other week that I fell in love with. They are called Needtobreathe. Don't ask my why there aren't spaces, still haven't figured that one out. They used to tour with Will Hoge and they are extremely talented. I looked up their tour schedule and was really excited to see they were going to be in Milwaukee this summer. Unfortunately, I clicked on the ticket information and realized that they are opening up for Taylor Swift. As much as I love them, I don't know that I could sit through that kind of torture again. I saw her once at the state fair before she became ultra famous and she was awful, like I wanted to take an ice auger to my ears awful. Not to mention I'm sure the tickets are going for something way out of my price range and I would have to listen to thousands of screaming adolescents. Needtobreathe is going to be on a cruise called the "Rock Boat" next year over my x-mas break. Will Hoge, Sister Hazel and Marc Broussard do it every year too. It is a week long cruise with a ton of bands. I told Dad that I would give up presents for xmas and my birthday for the next five years if we could go (plus it would be some good father-daughter time) but he didn't respond, so I'm gonna take that as a no. Damn, I wish I had Brett's ability to talk Dad into stuff. I would probably even enlist his help, but he isn't old enough to go. I hope it is still in operation by the time I can afford it by myself.
Here are a couple of links to Needtobreathe, if you are curious.
Something Beautiful
Said to Much

As Promised.

They all actually put their prescriptions in the trial frames. Jeanna is my favorite because she is a +6.00 in each eye so her lenses make her look like Bubbles from the "Trailer Park Boys." Hahahaha!!!!! Go Packers!

One Memorable Weekend!

Well this was a weekend I am sure I will never forget. Friday was entirely uneventful. Lots of studying, which is also what I did all day Saturday. Saturday night we went out for Simran and Cathleen's birthdays. First we had dinner at an Italian Restaurant called Sofia's. The food was amazing. I had a steak risotto with a mushroom barbera sauce. It was in Old San Juan and any restaurant in the tourist parts is over-priced, but it was one of the best meals I have had on the island. There were 19 of us for dinner. It was crazy and it took forever. We thought we were going to miss our boat, but we made it. We took a boat called La Rumba into the bay by Old San Juan. It was a double decker boat with two dance floors and a DJ. It was a bit weird because some people brought their kids. And not like teenagers. There was a kid who was sucking his thumb and another in a stroller. I think it just seemed weird because we didn't get on it til nine-thirty at night and the boat had a bar on it. I think that views on drinking are different here. The drinking age is 18, but they serve people who look younger than that to me without ever checking IDs. They are also very open about drinking and driving. People will drive their cars with a Medalla in the cup holder and not worry about taking a sip in front of a cop. I guess it is more weird because the laws against drinking and driving do exist here, they just don't enforce a whole lot of their laws (especially driving laws) as far as I can tell. Anyway, we were on this boat for a good long while when all of a sudden people stopped dancing and I turned around to realize that some guy was lying on the dance floor having a seizure. I grabbed my friend Steve O and took him up to the DJ to have him shut off the strobe lights. I didn't know the word for induce or seizure. It is amazing the words that you don't think you are ever going to need. Anyway, the DJ wouldn't shut off the strobe lights or the flashing lights on the dance floor. Steve O got so mad at him and they were just screaming at each other. I heard some words that I did understand in Spanish and knew it wasn't going to be good. Simran saw Steve O yelling at the DJ and came over to help. She told the DJ that we were all doctors and that they needed to shut the lights off immediately. They actually listened to her. And to be fair she never specified what kind of doctors or whether we were in training or not, Hahaha! We all got a kick out of it. We don't know for sure, but I think the guy is going to be ok. I saw him sit up when they pulled into port. They got him down the stair and off the boat, but his seizure lasted for about a minute and a half. It is amazing how fast you can switch gears when you have to wonder if you are going to put CPR training into play. Yikes. After the boat there was a short visit to Señor Frogs. They made the girls go on stage and sang them happy birthday, but the guys who worked there pushed the cake into the face of the girls and spilled a red drink on Simran's dress so we decided to call it a night. We were actually snug in our beds by 2:00 am. Considering that most of the night life is up and going until 6am, that was pretty good.

I was up studying again at eight and hit the books hard so I could enjoy the superbowl. Steve O had us all over. Steve O is a friend of my classmate, Liz, that lives here with his family. He and his dad own 14 Domino's pizza's on the island and his dad is a gourmet chef. Steve O had us over one other time for the Pacquio fight, but not nearly this many of us. His dad went all out. He made us steak and veggie kabobs, burgers, hotdogs, corn on the grill, home made mango salsa, and flan for desert. It was absolutely amazing. We were so spoiled!! Their house is really cool too. It is in a gated community where you have to go through two manned gates to get to their house. Once you are in the gates, it is like you just stepped off the island into somewhere else that is not even close to the rest of Puerto Rico. The best part of the night for me was that all of my closest friends were rooting for the Steelers. We had a class bet that you had to pick a team, and if your team lost, you would have to wear trial frames to class all day. Most of the Canadian's don't watch American Football, and didn't know any better, but my friend Phil is from just outside Pittsburgh and he convinced them to all root for the Steelers. They decided to stick together so that if they had to wear trial frames, they wouldn't have to do it alone. Only Steve O, Mohit, Roble and I were rooting for the Packers. Roble was so funny about it. He borrowed one of my Packer shirts and was telling everyone that he was born and raised in Green Bay, Somalia where he has been a life long Packer fan. He is actually from Somalia, but he has lived in Buffalo for a lot of years and is a Bills fan (and you have to be a true fan to love the Bills). We were loving it. I couldn't sit still. I was on the edge of my seat. I'm so glad we pulled it off. Only about 10 of the 50 people in my class chose the Packers to win, so I can't wait to see the rest of them in their trial frames tomorrow. Don't worry, I'll take a picture. It was an amazing win, but a little more suspenseful than I would have liked.

Oh and to follow up from my last post, this is a link to an article about what is going on at the UPR campus. Our Spanish Prof. sent us the link.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/maritza-stanchich-phd/violence-against-student-_b_817297.html?ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=uopx

Calm before the Storm.

To follow up my last blog, most of the perogies were a success. A few of them lost their contents, but I think we are pretty impressed with ourselves. I tried to call Grandma Nielsen because I thought she would get a kick out of the perogie making.

I am so excited for this weekend. I've been studying like a madman all week in preparation. Today is my roommate, Cathleen's, birthday. We are going to go to dinner at an Italian restaurant called Sophie's and then on a cruise through the bay on double decker boat with live salsa music. Another one of my classmates, Liz, was supposed to teach us how to salsa in preparation, but we just haven't had time. Liz is Colombian and knows how to salsa, meringue, and some other type of dance that starts with a B. (Baracha I think. Apparently that one is hard). I guess we will have to take the crash course. It ought to be a blast. I'll take pictures.

Last night our downstairs neighbor's threw Cathleen a surprise get together. Mike made a cake from scratch and had some appetizers. It was really fun and our Spanish professor came too. She is about our age maybe a few years older. She is super interesting. She is Puerto Rican, but she has lived in Brazil, been to most of Europe, and did part of her master's program in NY. Currently she teaches us Spanish and IAUPR, and at UPR she teaches a Spanish class. She speaks four languages. She was working on her PhD in Literature here on the island, but she was telling us about all the rioting and problems they are having on some of the other campuses. It was a really interesting conversation. We knew that some of the students were boycotting other colleges. There is a general feeling that the Puerto Rican government is pretty corrupt and that most of the people in power are either drug or mafia related (or both). It has gotten so bad that the police plant undercover cops into the campus and have them try to start riots and damage things. I guess they also severely cut funding to most of the programs, took away most of the academic and athletic scholarships. Many people here feel that the government wants to encourage the more educated people to leave the island, and they are leaving because their programs are being cut. The people are leaving here by the thousands and the ones who are staying are the ones who aren't educated or don't have the money to leave. It is pretty sad that the government is encouraging the dumbing of a population, but I guess that will make the people easier to control. Wend if you are reading this, skip to the next paragraph because I don't want any worried phone calls from you, but Puerto Rico has has 122 murders so far this year. Its only the 5th of Feb. Most of them are gang/mafia/drug related, but still. We had no idea that it was that bad. It is crazy. For the most part we are safe because of where we live and where we are. I'll try to keep you all updated on that situation, but we are so cut off from the news that updates may be few and far between.

This weekend is going to be the last chance to do anything fun for a while. After this week, we will have two exams every week all month. Ick. We may take our notes to the beach, but there certainly won't be any exploring the island for a while. March is a much better month. We have our annual "Eye-Ball" party on March 25th. We are all pretty excited. We love any excuse to get dressed up. There is also a chance that my cousin, Bri, will come visit me over her spring break. I would love it. I don't have any exams near her visit, so it would work perfect. It would give me something to look forward to since Dad and Brett are going to make a trip to Texas to see great-grandma this year and won't be making it down to visit anymore.

On an entirely different note, GO PACKERS!!!!! They have to pull this off. I don't want to wear these to class.

Back in the sand.

Holy cow, so much has happened. I actually wrote a blog entry last week, but somehow it got deleted and I was frustrated and didn't have time to write it again. First off, classes are great. I really like this semester so far. We are learning things that actually have to due with the eyes. I am taking Pathology, Pharmacology, Ocular Anatomy & Physiology, Spanish, Optics of the Eyes and Instruments, and Primary Eye Care. Primary Eye Care is cool because we are in the clinic learning how to do procedures every week. So far we haven't done anything that I haven't done as a tech, but it is still cool. My equipment also showed up this week. We were so excited to play with everything. Having the equipment makes everything feel more real. And DAMN is medical equipment expensive. We only have the equipment that we need for this semester and it was over $3,000. At least they spread it out over a couple of years. Some of the stuff is not worth what we paid for it either. The stereo book and 3D glasses go for $150-175 alone. And I know they are regulated, but I bet they cost less than $3 to make.

Last weekend was convention. We stayed at the Gran Meliá which is a Trump International Resort. It is supposed to be the nicest resort on the island and I believe it. It is amazing. Cathleen, Jeanna, and I stayed in a "bungalow". We had educational classes on Sat morning, but most of the convention was about fun. We had beach games in the afternoon on Sat. There was a dance competition which we still think we dominated. A girl in my class is a choreographer and put together an awesome dance with a most of our class as a flash mob. Right now the only video of our dance that I know of is on fb and it is locked by privacy settings. This is a video of the Third years who beat us. Our dance was better by a lot, but they beat us with cross dressing. Its actually pretty funny though. http://il.youtube.com/watch?v=lGHWDGjsjSE We also did a tug-o-war, beach volleyball and a relay race. We ended up in second place, but it was really close and we have video of the 2nd years cheating. So we tell them they have a win with an asterisk. There was also another presentation and a formal dinner at night. We all go dressed up and had fun. After we danced for hours. My feet hurt so bad for two days, but my shoes were pretty!!

I also learned something really bizarre in Spanish class. Our professor told us that it is completely normal to marry your cousins here. It still happens all the time. I understand why that might have happened years ago since this is an island with a limited number of people, but it seems weird at this point. She asked us why we were so weirded out by that and we tried to explain birth defects and other factors about why it isn't legal in the states. Hmmm.

Tomorrow Jason, Krista and I are going to make homemade pierogies. I might have to call grandma for the recipe. Most of the Canadians here are Polish and Urkranian. They all love pierogies as much as I do. Hopefully it will be a success. Jason has made them before so I'll let you know how that goes.

Another random thing. When I got back from break, Russ, the guy who was taking care of my hermit crab found a whole bunch more and put them in my container. Another kid from my class gave me three more. I didn't really want any others, but now I have 10. I meant to take a few of them back to the beach when we went today, but I forgot them. When I got back home I added the three new ones and watched them a bit. I also added a couple new shells. I actually saw one of them change shells. It was cool. One of the new ones just molted and he is still soft. He looks a little funny and the other ones seem to pick on him. I hope they don't kill him.

Sorry this isn't my most cohesive blog. I've been thinking about things that I wanted to put on here and none of them really have to do with each other.

Christmas Break

I wish I could say that I enjoyed my break, but I didn't. I want a re-do. The problems started before I even got home. My flight from Chicago to Madison was canceled, and that wasn't near the worst of it. There was a car accident, a lost suitcase, a death of a distant relative, and a crazy emergency heart surgery of one of my best friend's dads. I could keep going, but I'm kind of sick of whining about it. I just wish I could have spent more time with my friends and done more that I hoped to do while home.

There were a few highlights. The biggest of which was Nicole's engagement!! ...and the subsequent bridesmaid dress shopping. There was a good day with Aunt Donna, one hell of an '80s New Years Eve party, and an awesome week spent with my family in Racine.

I spent about three nights a week working with little man on his homework. He was struggling a bit, but I think we have him on the right track again. I'm just a little worried that he doesn't show all that much interest. We will see.

I left this morning at 4:15 am. It was 5 degrees outside. It was 82 when I landed. That I can't complain about. It happened to work out that Cathleen and I were able to share a cab back to school. We wanted to rent a car to do some shopping but both Hertz and Enterprise were out of cars. We will try to get one tomorrow. We were a more than a bit worried about what state our apartment would be in when we got back, but were pleasantly surprised that it wasn't bad at all. (We heard some horror stories about mold growing because the air conditioners weren't run).

I am going to miss my family dearly, but having such a crappy break made it a little easier to go back. I'm ready to dive into another semester. I think knowing that Dad and Brett are going to visit me over my spring break will keep me going.

Here Goes Nothing.

Well, Monday begins finals week. My biggest two finals are first. Monday is Anatomy and Wednesday is Physiology. Those are really the only two I am worried about. Cumulative finals are insane especially with the level of detail we are expected to know. My strategy is to study as much as I can and still get my sleep. It is just an enormous amount of material. Between the two classes I have to know every organ, muscle, artery, vein, and nerve in the body, how they work and how they are connected. The brain is the hardest because all of the nuclei sound the same. I struggle with the inferolateral geniculate and the inferomedial geniculate kind of stuff. I guess my job is just to study my butt off and put down everything that stuck onto that exam.

I shouldn't even complain. I don't have it nearly as bad as Molly's 8 hour exam that was 100% of her grade from last year. That is insane pressure.

I will be flying home on Dec 11th!!! I can't wait. I miss everyone soooo much. Puerto Rico is amazing, fun, and beautiful, but I haven't seen much of it lately. I haven't had the opportunity to leave our little campus except for a little x-mas shopping. I think that is just adding to my being antsy about getting home. It is going to be quite a temperature shock. Right now it is 80 degrees and sunny. I hope Nicole doesn't forget to bring my coat when she picks me up from the airport!

I better get back to at least 8 hours of studying today!