I passed!!!! Wahoo!!!!!

Okay, in case anyone's been wondering where I've been, I dived into my books and haven't resurfaced in some time due to a little thing called the "First Unified Quiz". Which makes me feel all responsible and such. The Unified is not a very significant portion of your grade. I think between 3 and 5 percent generally. The thing about Unifieds is that they tell you HOW you've been studying. If you crash and burn on them, essentially that's a wake up call that says "Hey buddy, you need to reevaluate your study methods and start over" and I SO didn't want that. Basically, I was terrified that if I failed biochem, it would mean NO social life for Ishie because I've been dedicating SO much time to it over the weeks. Histo... er... well, it's my lowest unit class. I'm sure I glanced at some of the lectures!

I hadn't left the dorm since Friday night, really, and prior to that was pretty study oriented. On Saturday, it was ALL DAY. I was literally in my dorm room from wake until sleep with the exception of doing my laundry which involved walking 15 feet down the hall. Gah.

Sunday, I studied at the library, requiring a change of scenery, and on the way back, ran into the bazaar for the people running clinical rotations. I feel so WANTED!!! Well, not by California; I saw none of my peeps, but apparently, I'm catnip to New York and England.

I'm not the primary target since I'm only a first termer, but even in the midst of studying, it's not a bad idea to make connections early. These people will own you in your third and fourth year so good impressions are important as are "ins" with people.

So then it was back to the dorm for even MORE studying. Gah. Then, with a brief interruption for some high school shit I'm not sure why I was a part of, it was MORE studying, followed by sleep (I'm getting too darned old to pull study-all nighters), followed by another FOUR HOURS of morning study in the library, punctuated by that realization that I don't know anything! Eek!

As a great omen, it began POURING at about 1:35, just as we were making our way to the lecture halls for seating at 1:45. They check ids at the door and the wind here falls horizontally, and I was in the back of the line, so let me tell you how much fun *that* was.

By the time I got into Bell Hall, I was DRIPPING wet. I had to dry my hands and arms so I could take the test. Water was running down my face. What's also notable is that Bell Hall is wonderfully air conditioned. What wasn't so wonderful is that now, for the first time since I've been in the Caribbean, I have been COLD. Shivering freezing COLD, as one is when you drench them from tip to tails and put them under an air conditioner for two hours.

But anyway... did all the official test stuff with my heart leaping in my throat, opened the test booklet andddddddd.....

Hmm... not so bad. I know most of this stuff!

So I went through and felt pretty good, but it's a multiple choice test with 25 questions in each subject (Histology, Developmental Anatomy {composed of gross anatomy and embryology for a whopping 8 units of your grade}, and BIOCHEMISTRY, my white whale), which means even if you think you did well, one blip in subject matter, and you've got a 60. I prefer more choices on a test.

The results! I knew I hadn't done all that well in Histo because I'd skipped a bunch of middle guy (The one that woefully is NOT Dr. Paparo) lectures, and then hadn't read them through enough because... uh... it wasn't biochemistry.

72 in Histology. Which is passing!!
88 in Anatomy. Which is .5 points from an A!
80 in Biochem. I gotta B in biochem! I gotta B in biochem! Happy day!!!!!

Apparently the trick in biochem is to not attend half the lectures and dedicate 80 percent (a coincidence?) of your study time to it. Who knew?

Naturally, the culmination of our first test meant.... excuse for a party! I got out of the test at 3:40, and ran into some friends, so we made the mutual decision of going to Pearl's/Glover's to grab beers. Hey, as long as it's after 5 somewhere, right? Apparently, we weren't the sole people failing our clinical skills seminar, because we ran into, probably half the class, most of whom were already well on their way to intoxication. I felt so behind. David bought me a couple of beers, and I introduced him to Piton. Ah, Piton...

We all made plans to meet at Banana's for dinner, did so, and enjoyed some painfully bad service, but good food. Ah, Caribbean life. Joie didn't come though. Come with us next time, Joie!

So we walked back from Banana's (as a group this time!) and I had EVERY intention of going to my dorm, maybe putting in a LEETLE bit of study time, and then going to bed, since I had a lab this morning...

Toga parties are fun... right? I've now been to my first toga party, though I regrettably wasn't wearing a toga.

Sej, on the other hand, takes toga parties VERY seriously and had someone run into town to get her special toga and rope material, which combined with her bitchin' sandals to make one hell of an outfit. I felt so unhip in my cargo pants, despite the fact that the models dancing in the Gap commercials assured me that they were Crazy! Sexy! Cool!

We grabbed an airport shuttle (shrug) to Stuart's, which is a beautiful resort bar, but damn, bring your own alcohol! I was leaning over the counter for FORTY-FIVE MINUTES, TRYING to get a vodka lime! Yeesh, I got half sober! Fortunately that was amended, so did a little dancing. Togas do nice things for men, by the way, and my eyes were popping out my head at the number of eligible Caesers. Rowl.

The bad thing about Stuart's (Stewart's?) is since they're attached to a resort, they kick you out at 1, so it was back to Banana's with Lane and Mel (Sej disappeared, which should have been difficult to do in a flaming red toga, but...), with Ryan in tow, an MPH student we adopted at the student store since he'd just gotten off the plane about an hour before meeting him. Welcome to SGU, Ryan! After securing more beer, Ryan escorted me home for the stretch from Banana's. Awww.

And so now I'm waking up and getting ready for class. But I passed, right!? Wahoo! As the title says.