Other than Vieques, my life only consisted of finishing up the last week of med-surg clinical and studying my tan booty off for exams. I don't want to be cliche, but i can't believe we're finally done with med-surg. I passed! And i did a lot better than i probably would have done in Storrs because i was forced to go to every single class and sit in a little room where we were under the close watch of our wonderful professor without being able to get distracted on my phone or laptop. (This unfortunatly meant that i didn't get to spend nearly as much time on tumblr, stumble upon, or pinterest as i normally would in a given semester. sad face.) This really encouraged me not to be hungover for class because i wouldn't have the opportunity to run down to the cafe in the bio building to get my usual hangover remedy- aka a ginger ale and cream cheese muffin or blueberry bagel. Oh well, i guess it was worth it! Anyways, we all did really well and it is such a relief to know that i never have to sit through another med-surg lecture again. I know med-surg is one of the toughest classes in nursing school, but after going through bio, anatomy and physiology, and neafsy, i didn't think it was that bad. I liked having it crammed into seven weeks instead of spread out over 14 because it kept everything really fresh in my mind.
Enough about school! Last night we got back from a magical getaway to the island of Vieques. After a not so smooth ferry ride, we couldn't wait to explore the island. On friday, we walked about ten minutes to a really nice beach and relaxed. While we were walking along the beach, we found a field of horses! It was amazing. There are so many wild horses around the island. That night, we had the amazing experience to go to the biobay. For those of you who don't know what that is, the little plankton that live in the bay glow when they are touched by anything that causes motion, whether it be the paddle of the kayak your hand, or a fish swimming by. There are only a few of them in the world but i would suggest that anyone who has the chance should go see one. I wish i could have taken pictures, but we were told that they wouldn't have come out well. We were told to stay out of a certain part of the bay and not go swimming because there are shark nursery's!! Yikes!! Luckily we didn't see any, but i did see a pretty large fish swim by. Kayaking was also fun- i had never done that before. Overall, it was the highlight of the semester thus far.
On saturday, we rented "scooters." I put that in quotes because they were actually small motorcycles. I can't believe that after a short "training" period, the islanders who owned the little rental place let us go off around the island by ourselves. I had never been on any type of vehicle like that and it was so much fun driving. On straightaways, i would think i was going so fast and look down at the speedometer to find i was only going 35 mph. It was exhilarating and made me want to invest in a scooter one day when i grow up. All was going smoothly until we decided to go down a dirt road to find a beautiful beach. We found the beach and hung out there for a while, but long story short, one of the girls had a bad fall and wound up getting hurt :( She's such a trooper and said she would rent the scooters again anyways!! Looking back, the day was very dangerous and i would strongly recommend that if anyone rents scooters to stay on the paved roads.
That night, we had a delicious dinner at the hotel restaurant. I had BBQ ribs which really brought me back to summer nights at home. After dinner, we hung out and ventured out to the bars near the restaurant. Island life is so relaxed and fun. I wouldn't want to live on such a small island, or any island for that matter, but i did enjoy my time there. The best part is that along with all the stray dogs, everyone brings their dogs out at night. I made some furry friends! I can't wait to adopt an island dog when i'm older. There are so many dogs here who need homes.
The island was supposed to get hit by a tropical storm, so there was a chance that we would get to stay an extra night! Unfortunately, our wishes didn't come true and we were forced to return to reality as originally planned. Before leaving though we got to see another amazing beach. The water was crystal clear and the bluest i have ever seen. I also got to try fish tacos at a local bar for the first time. Delish!
So now, here I am again, back in San Juan. In my mind, before arriving to Puerto Rico, i hadn't pictures my life to be the way it is now. I though the whole island would be like vieques or even old san juan. I didn't expect our neighborhood to be run down and, for lack of better words, crappy. Don't get me wrong, I like it here a lot and am so glad i decided to study abroad, but the area we live in is very inconvenient. We have a walgreens and supermarket nearby, but other than that, getting anywhere except the hospital is a process. Like i said in a previous blog post, it can take up to two hours just to get to the beach or old san juan. It would be so much easier if we had a car, but i know that's not allowed. Doing things in a big group is also a process. I love all the students that i'm down here with, but doing something as simple as going to the beach or going out for the night can take an incredible amount of time. It sucks to have to split up, but a lot of the time, that's the only way to keep things as stress free as possible.
Speaking of stress free, our new psych professor's goal is to keep our stress to a minimum for the rest of the semester. I like her already! We had our first lecture with her today and it's so nice to have a change of pace. I know that psych will be tough to get through for me because it's so abstract and the material is very heavy. I am interested in the topic though because no matter what kind of nurse you are, you'll always patients with psych problems. I'm just hoping and praying that this part of the semester will be a lot less work than the first part. I want to take advantage of the next two months and really explore the island, including jet skiing, paddle boarding, zip lining, and having tropical drinks on the beach.
As usual, i'm missing everything fall about home. I would kill to be able to have 45 degree weather! I know everyone back home thinks i'm crazy for complaining, but the hot weather is just annoying. It's nice to be able to sit up by the pool and read, but i'd be okay with just doing that in the summer instead of year round. This trip has solidified that i could never stray too far from a place that has four seasons.
Well, until next time!
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