Ryan and Brit in the City

Ryan I just got back to St. Maarten from our 6 day excursion in Manhattan. We had the most fantastic time! The lifestyle there is so different than what we are used to here, so it was hard at first adjusting to the amount of walking that you do there! I realized how sedentary my life is here being that I am always sitting on my tush studying. We were so sore the second day! Embarrassing I know.

So we arrived on Tuesday night and immediately were dropped off at the apt. that we house swapped. It couldn't have been in a more perfect location: 64th St and Central Park West. Beautiful and so close to everything. We went to dinner that night nearby and then rode a horse-drawn carriage around Central Park. Cliche...but we had to do it! The next morning we were up bright and early to have breakfast then visit the Museum of Natural History. We couldn't stay long because we needed to ride the subway all the way to Shea Stadium. We watched the Mets play the Rockies. Sadly the Mets lost, but we had so much fun and had awesome seats. Ry loved every moment of it. That night we went and had Chinese food...oh how we miss Chinese food! After dinner we went to the ice cream parlor Serendipity that is famous for their frozen hot chocolate drinks. Ryan said it was the best sundae he's ever had in his life..which is saying a lot. The man loves ice cream! Needless to say we returned to Serendipity on our last night also!

Thursday we started our day at the Empire State building. The view was incredible. The rest of the day was spent shopping. I quickly came to love all the options..it was truly endless. That night we went to a romantic dinner at a restaurant called One if by Land, Two if by Sea. Then we went to see the Broadway play, Wicked. It is the untold story of Wizard of Oz and was truly fabulous. I've never seen a Broadway play, but I'd be surprised to hear that this one is not one of the best. We both loved it. Friday we had planned to go the Statue of Liberty, but it was raining so instead we rented a car earlier than we had planned and drove to Long Island. Ryan took me to see the house he grew up in, the schools he went to, and his favorite delicatessen. I absolutely loved his old town; very quaint and beautiful. I definitely understood why they lived there as long as they did. That night we stayed at Ryan's friend Tim's house. He took us out in Huntington and we saw a lot of Ryan's old friends. They couldn't believe that we were married. I guess people there don't even think about marriage until they are a lot older. Regardless, we had a great time and I was so happy to see how Ryan lived the first 17 years of his life.

Saturday we brought Tim back with us to the city. We met up with my friend Jenny for some drinks then did dinner and a night out in Manhattan. Sunday we went to see the Bodies Exhibition. This was one of the things I was really looking forward to. They are actual preserved bodies dissected at different levels to reveal muscles, tendons, nerves, arteries and veins. It was remarkable to see disease states that I've learned about. Ryan did well..he found it quite educational. We then visited Ground Zero. To say the least it was heartbreaking. I'm glad that we had time to visit. The rest of the day we finished our shopping and went to the Central Park Zoo. Each and every day was packed with activities. My husband did the best job arranging our itinerary, and we pretty much followed it perfectly! I would love to go back. Now, we are back to reality. School starts Wednesday. Here's to another great semester.

One Full Year of Medical School Finished!

As of yesterday at 10am, I am officially a second year medical student!! Four grueling comprehensive finals later I am done and so relieved. All of my classes ended well except for Physiology. Dr. Blevin's is an asshole. He failed half the class 2 tests in a row so we expected an easier final. It was in no way easier. He put stuff on there that we had never been taught. It makes me so angry that professors like him get away with that. He stands up in front of the class and rattles on about cardiology while we copiously take notes. Then he hands us a test that not even he could do well on. I ended with a C in the class. I don't get C's. I'm angry but somewhat relieved that at least I passed and won't have to deal with him anymore. To make it worse, when I went to check my grade he told me that he didn't think it was a good idea that I was so involved with AMSA (now that I'm the President). That it doesn't matter if everybody likes me. I wanted to say to him: I'm not doing this to win friends. I'm getting involved so that I can be the best possible candidate for any residency I want. Instead, I thanked him and walked out.

Regardless of what any teacher says or what any test shows, I know I am smart. I know that I am going to get through this. I wanted to show that teacher my other grades. To make him understand that it isn't me..it's him and his lousy tests. I receieved a 100% on my cell biology final, a 90% on my immunology final. I wanted to say that to him. But instead I kept my cool..God knows the type of student I am and that is all that matters.

On a brighter note, Sunday was our 1 year anniversary! We spent time watching our wedding video tapes that we are working on getting edited. We watched our dance. I had butterflies watching it..still nervous! Because I had a final on Monday we didn't get to celebrate much. Luckily my husband is the most understanding person I have yet to meet. We are celebrating starting today as we take off for New York! We arrive at 5:45pm and will be back Monday, April 30th! I will fill you in on all the details and send pics. Until then...Manhattan baby!

Easter

Easter came at a perfect time this semester. We got 4 days off school, which meant a long enjoyable weekend for everyone. Friday was mainly just hanging by the pool and taking an easy night. Saturday 10 of us took a high speed ferry to the island Saba. It is basically a volcano stuck in the ocean. No beaches, and only 1600 people! The ferry itself was an adventure. They nickname it "Vomet Comet"! Luckily none of our group got sick on the 1 hour 10min trip over there.
When we got there a cabbie took us on a quick tour before we began our hike. Pretty much all you do is hike and scuba dive there. They have 12 trails to choose from. We chose to do the difficult Mount Scenery hike: 3000ft up climbing 1064 man-made steps into the mountain. At first we were going at a good pace. Then it hit us all..all the hours sitting on our butts caught up with us. We had to take many breaks in order to make it to the top. But let me get this straight. The steps aren't easy..it's a vertical hike straight up the volcano. There are caves to climb through and difficult rocks to maneuver over. The scenery was beautiful. Very untouched and natural. The call it "Cloud Forest" because you are up so high that the clouds go whizzing by. Very neat. When we finally made it to the top in 45 minutes we took some celebratory pictures and made our way down. Honestly, at times the way down was harder than the way up. Our legs were trembling, but all in all we were happy to be going back down.
Sunday, Easter, we had a pool party at our house. It was fun, just a few friends, hot dogs and drinks! The weather was wonderful which was surprising since it's been raining so much lately. Now that I only have one more day before I get back into school I am going to try to enjoy most of it because the next 2 weeks are going to be rough. 4 finals starting next Wednesday and ending the following Monday. Then April 24th we are off to New York! P.S. Can you believe I've almost been married a year!