May 14, 2007, 1 week of classes-2 weeks island life

Hello All,

I just finished my first week of classes, and my second week of island
life. I'm sure everyone is very curious about how things are going.

Things are going fairly well. I have been invited (and accepted the
invitation) to work in the Pace program at Ross. What this is, is as
close as you can get to independent study in medical school and still
maintain your accreditation according to whichever educational bodies
there are. The Pace program works by recording lectures, as well as
their slides, and allowing Pace students to watch the lectures off
campus, and provides us with some slightly different access to
instructors. Also, we get weekly quizzes and small group work that
the rest of the students in our class don't get. In exchange, we're
theoretically not supposed to attend class in the classroom.

There is nothing to keep us from actually attending lectures, except
for the occasional schedule collision. So, I'm certain as I prepare
for various things, I'll have items that I come across that I will
decide to attend the lecture so I can ask a question that the whole
class may get some utility out of.

Yes, I realize that MS and LG may have recommendations that I attend
the traditional side instead of the independent study side. But, when
I weighed the options, I decided that it would likely be better for me
to have weekly measures of how I was keeping up with my studies than
to get to Mini one 5 weeks into med school and realize that I needed
to pick up a lot of slack.

Island life... yes, that is significantly different. Let me start by
saying there are two very stark differences in everyday life between
here and the U.S. First is that I had no idea how good we had it in
the U.S. with electricity. Power here is generally pre-paid--however,
this is minor. Power here is somewhere around 10-15 times more
expensive per kilowatt-hour than in the U.S. To run a window A.C.
overnight will cost something like $3 US. Central Air is a very rare
luxury here, as such. All of the power on the island is generated by
hydroelectric generation, and I'm certain that there is an amazing
amount of untapped hydro potential. Perhaps political will isn't
there to sully more of the recovering rainforest. I'm not sure.
Also, on the Atlantic side of the island, I'm certain that either wind
or tidal action could be tapped, but again there is probably the lack
of will and/or funding. This island is poor and seems to not work on
a credit system very well.

The second stark difference is that I really had no idea how much I
relied on things like refrigeration and tupperware-like things. At
the two stores I've looked at here, they simply aren't available.
There are plastic bags that people seem to use for everything--but
they are simple bags with no ties, zips, or twists with them. There
is so much beautiful fruit and vegetation on the island to be
purchased and eaten, but little of it is in handy individual portions.
And some things--like baked plantains--I would love to make, but I
have big pots to cook in and small bags to store in. It just doesn't
work, and I'm certain you can all understand how frustrating that is!

Speaking of that, I suppose I should let you know how my living
arrangements are set up. My apartment is a little over half a mile
from the annex, where semester 1 lectures are held, and a little over
a mile from main campus, where the rest of everything is. It's a good
hike. My apartment is also slightly larger than our house--square
footage-wise. But, I actually went DOWN in usable counter space.
GRRRRRRR! So, the apartment has a living/dining/kitchen room, a
bedroom, and a bathroom. Total square-footage is supposedly 948, but
I haven't measured it.

The sink in the kitchen is tiny, and has one basin. It doesn't even
have hot and cold water. Just one that is somewhere in the middle. I
have an apartment-sized stove that runs on propane and doesn't have a
pilot. It's also calibrated--sort of--in Celsius. So, baking may be
an interesting proposition. The fridge is full-sized, but sadly
empty. I'm not sure what else to say other than power and internet
are not nearly as reliable as they are back in the states. I didn't
know how well we had it.

Feel free to ask me any questions about stuff you want me to go into
further detail on.

-j