New Blog!

Hello Everyone!!

So even though Mike and I have been living in St. Maarten since last September, we decided to start a blog since it is not always easy to talk to everyone back home. (Well I decided to start a blog...and Mike reluctantly agreed! Haha!) Thanks to Gretchen for the idea...I totally copied your blog setup...thanks Gretch!! Like I said, we have been in St. Maarten since last September when we moved down here so I could start medical school at AUC (American University of the Caribbean). We will be down here until the spring of 2010 when I finish the basic science portion of my med school education. Then we will move back to the USA and I will do 2 years of clinical rotations to finish my schooling. We have DEFINITELY missed everyone back home so much but the experience so far has been amazing! I don't know any other time in our lives where we could pick up and move out of the country and have this great experience!

To summarize the last few months (I am sure I am leaving a lot out):

The island life was interesting to adjust to but Mike and I REALLY had a great time exploring the island and all it has to offer...and believe me when I say that the beaches here are absolutely gorgeous...pictures do not do them justice! I spent most of my time over the last few months studying. I had 3 classes last semester: Molecular & Cellular Biology, Histology, and Anatomy & Embryology. The Anatomy course included dissecting cadavers so that was quite the experience! First semester was tough but I am happy to say that all the studying has paid off so far and I made Dean's List! Mike found many different activities to occupy his time over the last few months. As he would tell anyone who asks, he absolutely LOVES skim boarding at the beach and he actually got really good at it and continues to get better. Between skim boarding sessions Mike kept himself busy working various jobs including: substitute teaching at the private school nearby, tutoring high school seniors, teaching swim class, and training to be a fake patient for my school's clinical medicine course (think Kramer if you are familiar with Seinfeld!!). So we both kept very busy during my first semester...but we definitely found time for fun and met some great people!

This semester is off to a great start. I have my first set of block exams coming up so stay tuned on what I think of my classes :) But so far they seem very interesting and challenging. I am encouraged this semester because I feel that my chemical engineering background is really helping me as we are covering a lot of basic concepts that I studied in depth for engineering! Mike is getting to work a lot so far this semester so it's good he is so busy! We are both looking forward to exploring more of our island and the nearby islands in our free time this semester. And we are really looking forward to having visitors on our island!!

Well, back to studying for me :) We miss everyone back home and we hope everything is great in your lives!

Love,

Carly & Mike