I'm pleased (and only slightly surprised) to report...

That I have successfully completed my first year of medical school!!! It's a beautiful day! Although, that means little here in Grenada where every day is a beautiful day. Even so, it was particularly gorgeous outside last week when I took the above picture. It's hard to see but there were a dozen or sailboats in the harbor and the color of the ocean was jewel like. I never tire of this view walking down the hill to the shuttle stop. But I digress.

Back to me passing all my classes and moving on to be an MS-2!! Whoho!!! My feelings are best represented by this youtube clip (which also indicates that I probably should not be allowed free reign on youtube).



Basically, HAPPINESS and RELIEF! I spent the afternoon (after speed taking my bsce I) sitting on my balcony with my roommate being all contemplative about the past year and the future and the fact that we are one step closer to actually being doctors.
I then meandered down to BBC and floated in the water (had it all to my self, well, besides the fish) and was contemplative on my own. It was very relaxing and awesome to watch the sun set on the horizon while being in the water.

I will type up an in depth analysis of term 2 tomorrow. Today I just wanted to say, I MADE IT!!!! ^_^

It's True

I realized today...

Also, ready to go home now. Studying hurt brain. Need vacation.

Listening to: pink monsoon シェリル・ノーム starring May'n

Erk!

Help! I'm a D2 receptor expressing striatal cell and I'm dying a horrible death!

*bzzz* What is Huntington's Disease?

200 pts for the girl on the left!

Now. Describe to me in detail the indirect basal gangliar motor loop!

*crickets* ...hello? Anyone here?

-----------------

Finals are close. The above illustrates the types of thoughts that play out in my head lately. These random flights of fancy are interspersed with daydreams of getting on a plane and escaping. I spend more time fantasizing about how I'm going to pack my luggage than is probably healthy.

Immunology finally finished (with a resounding kick in our class's collective ass on the way out; thank you so very much Dr. Stanley for writing a test that contained more double negatives and excepts than I've ever seen before) leaving me with neuroscience, physiology and the BSCE I to worry about. Well, I'm not so much worried about the bsce per se. It does however ensure that I can't completely relax even after finals are over. *sigh*

The BSCE I is the 'basic science comprehensive exam I' that will cover everything from first and second term. I can't decide if I should just hand in a blank scantron and be done with it or not. I almost don't want to know how badly I've forgotten everything. Especially anatomy. *shudder* Neuroanatomy, yes, but ask me about the brachial plexus? That's looooong gone. Which is bad. I'm going to have to engage in some hard core review over the break.

Anyhow, there is no real purpose to this posting other than to delay my studying of choreoform disorders. Even though I need another study break like a need a hole in my head.
...aaand I immediately starting thinking about the ways in which I could gain said hole and what the implications would be to my personality depending on where the damage was. And what my breathing rhythms while I was in a coma (which are different depending on where the damage is) would be like.

Today's thoughts brought to you by studying neuro and watching too much NCIS at the same time. Thank you and good night. Remember, our programs are made possible by viewers like you. Please send your pledges to "poor SGU student, Grenada, 5th level of hell". Thank you for watching PBS.

@,@

Exam Policy... gone too far?

Yup, 2 blog entries in one day! I've meaning to write this entry since midterms but it was lost in the haze. I'm halfway to finals and have only just completely recovered from midterms. :D Kidding! (sorta)

In my humble opinion the exam policies at SGU have perhaps gone right over the edge. I mean, on top of the stress of taking exams and considering how close to a psychotic break I was right before my physio exam it was a bad, bad, idea to try and tell me I couldn't take my backpack into the building.

Let me go back a little. Last term as well as during our one credit wonders (genetics, parasitology, CMP) this term exam policies have been fairly straightforward. You come in, any bags or phones have to be left in the back of the room and you're not supposed to cheat. No problem. Now though they've instituted a whole new set of freaking annoying policies.

1. No bags, phones, hats period allowed in the building. You must leave them outside.

WTF? Look, many of us live off campus and can't just walk around with nothing but our ID and a pencil. At an absolute minimum I need to carry my poncho and keys around. Right? What should I do, hold them in my hands and leave them by the side of the road and hope no one steals them?
SO. Picture me, about five seconds away from murdering someone, somewhat spastically going over EKG's in my head, and some power tripping proctor tries to tell me I have to leave my backpack outside. Um. So, putting it in the back of the room (like we've always done)... the back that all of us have our backs to and is lined with like six proctors is unacceptable?? *twitch* I'm not actually a confrontational person. Really. But I about snapped and started arguing with her. I had my ipod, credit cards, money, id's, fifty billion irreplaceable note cards I'll be using to study later for the usmle, my poncho and camera in my backpack. I WAS NOT LEAVING IT OUTSIDE.
SO.
She finally relented and put it back into the A-V room behind the lecture hall (multiple people quietly filed in behind me with their backpacks as well). Were they worried I'd be able to use my X-ray vision and hidden eye under my hair to cheat or something? There isn't exactly a place to store things on campus and most of us don't have cars, we have to use the shuttles, so they are really tying our hands here.

2. For Immuno we weren't allowed to use out own pencils.
?? Am I the only person who thought this was patently bizarre? What did they think we were going to do? Etch the interleukins into the little clear plastic side of our pencils? Again, proctors stood at the doors confiscating pencils and erasers and handing out approved pencils and erasers. It was like a pencil grave yard in front of the lecture hall! Now, I'm most certainly not the only type A here. I don't know about others but I was downright annoyed to have to use some stupid pencil belonging to someone else. Grr.

3. Assigned seats.
I kid you not! And with several hundred people, and not revealing said assigned seats until half an hour before the exam starts, you have something of a logistical nightmare. And the best part? They did it alphabetically! This is highly amusing to me since our lab groups are also assigned alphabetically, thus, the assigned seating only served to make sure people who knew each other were sitting together! I've never sat so many tests next to people I knew before than those midterms. Pointless endeavour on behalf of the school? Hell, yeah.

Stress by exams + ridiculous new regulations = twitchy me

Hn. Apparently I still have a lot of resentment still simmering over all that. *wry grin* I guess I'd better get used to it though. I doubt they'll rescind all their new rules. No doubt they feel it will cut back on cheating. *rolling eyes* I never did understand people who cheat anyways. What could it possibly accomplish in the long run? Especially here. It's not like someone won't notice later on that you don't know how to perform a basic neurological exam or can't describe the myotatic reflex arc. We have to know what we're learning. Period. I wonder what the actual incidence of medical students cheating actually is? I would sincerely hope that it's a negligible number.

Ah, sorry for the ranting. This post turned out more 'angry' and I was trying more for 'funny commentary on stupid policies'. Oh well. No helping it. Just laugh at the Mr. Bean clip. :D Life is better with humor added in.

Post-midterm pre-final's slump

As the title indicates I've entered into a slump of a sorts. I'm far enough away from midterms that the 'must study or die!' feelings have dissapated but not close enough to finals to re-enter the pre-test freak out. Historically this is the time during which I study the least. >_>' Which is probably bad. Ah, well. I will attempt productivity after this procrastinating by writing this blog entry.

The second half of the term is turning out to be the carbon opposite of the first half. In physio we already finished the behemoth that is pulmonary. Can we say graphs? It turned out to be surprisingly workable though. I was worried since many people I'd talked to were really making it out to be difficult. The professor who taught the module though, Dr. Clunes, did an excellent job in helping us understand the material. I was sad to the see the module end. We since moved on to renal which is proving to be a tad less interesting. More to memorize and less to understand I suppose. What I'm really apprehensive about is endocrine. Mainly since it will be the last module we do and will involve quite a bit of memorization. Bleh. I hate that. Give me a complicated graph to work out any day over a list of hormones or muscles to memorize! Suffice to say, I've spending most of my time making sure to keep up in physio since I know endocrine awaits me at the end so I won't have any extra time to go back.

In contrast Neuro has slowed down somewhat. The first week or so was pretty dense, what with going through the major motor pathways (complex and integrated, hardly a part of the brain not involved in movement somehow) but since they we've transitioned over to 'softer' topics such as as metal diseases, emotions, memory and the like. I say softer since we really only have ideas and theories about all these things so there are less concrete things to memorize. All in all though it's been extremely interesting.

As predicted immuno has kinda picked up. We did a brief overview of immunodiagnostics by one of the micro professors and now have moved on with a guest lecturer to talk about autoimmunity, hypersensitivity, tumor immunology and the like. This past week in immuno was the first that I felt like I was actually learning something in that class! Which means that I should probably start studying immunology so I'm not killed by the final. Hm. Right. I'll do that in my free time.

At any rate, things are moving along at a decent clip these days. I'm just ready to go back to the states. MUST GO HOME! I've fallen to the isolation of this place. I absolutely cannot wait for winter break. And winter. Since you know, it has remained hot and sunny here. It's the neverending summer!

Listening to: はじまりの日「テガミバチ」

*sheepish* I liiiive!!!

Hi!!! *waves* I'm alive!! Sorry for the blog abandonment (again)! All I can say is that I'm in medical school and it's darn time consuming.

I just finished midterms in one whole piece though and I feel like this rainbow as a result:
Midterms being over is just a pretty awesome feeling. Really. It's been a tough couple of weeks leading up to them. I thought last term was hard. It doesn't hold a candle to this term. Granted, things have been 'easier' but that's more of a reflection of me learning to study better than the actual material which is way more comprehensive and much larger in volume. And term 2 is supposed to be one of the lighter terms (supposedly). Term 4 (aka, path) is where things are really going to get going.

Anyways. I've been thinking too much about term 4 these days. I should focus.

Here's a run down of my impressions of the midterms (probably will be the most useful for those reading this blog in the future).

Physio: One word:TRICKY! I was expecting this test to be fairly straight forward. In fact, it wasn't. *_* All I can say is make sure you not only know every single little detail but understand everything very well. For example, we went over several different valvular issues (aortic stenosis, mitral incompetence, etc) and what they would sound like/look like on a pressure/volume diagram. But the question on the test was over a mummer that we hadn't been taught. So you'd have to apply your knowledge of what an ascending crescendo during systole with an increased atrial pressure or whatever could possibly indicate. As I said, tricky. That, and GI was just out of left field. I don't believe it's a difficult subject per se but having it crammed in as the last seven lectures right before midterms was just cruel. So as an advisory warning, do not leave any major studying/comprehension for the end. You simply won't have time to go back. Something will suffer. I thank my lucky starts that cardio was taught so darn well otherwise I believe we'd all have been scrambling there at the end even worse that we had to. Still though, my overall advice for physio is not to get caught up in a false sense of confidence because the teaching is done so well. You still need to study!!

Immuno: Very straight forward and easy. It was exactly as we were told. 1 hour for 100 questions of pure memorization of cytokines, interleukins and characteristics of lymphocytes and myeloid cells. I was having flashbacks to my elementary school days. Remember when you had to memorize your times tables and they'd give you a worksheet of them and you'd have to finish it in five minutes? It was like that. Only immunology style. So. Make sure you know your IL's and CD's better than your own name and you'll be fine.

Neuro: What can I say besides "O.O". Hard! But I'd have to say fair. If you'd asked me that twenty four hours ago (before I got my score) I'd have had less kind things to say. But I did remarkably well even though I had convinced myself walking out that I bombed the thing. It was very detail oriented. I mean, you can't just know how the gate control theory for pain works in the dorsal horn, you had better know the transmitter too! You can't just know the red glass test, you'd had better know how to predict a result if a particular artery in the visual cortex is occluded. Detail! Application! Integration! After that midterm I will be devoting even more time to neuro the second half than I did the first (even though neuro has already managed to consume the majority of my study time).

All this said. Midterms went surprisingly well. It was a stressful week but I managed not to lose any significant amount of sleep and kept it together better than last term (which consisted of multiple meltdowns). All in all not bad. I do plan on tweaking my studying for the finals though. The main point being not to underestimate physio again! Immuno too will pick up now that we're actually going to start applying the knowledge (interesting) rather than just memorize cytokines (incredibly boring). And neuro is integrating more and more as we go on. We're starting off this coming week with motor pathways which, if my prereading is any indication, is incredibly complex. No rest for the first year!! Onward!

Listening to: 今宵、月が見えずとも

Welcome to My World

Welcome to my world. It is a world of tracts and cardiac performance curves. It is a world that is really really too close to midterms for comfort. @_@ Midterms are T-12 days people. That's just... frightening. Truly. All in all though it could be worse (really). I've been much more on top of the game this term than last (understatement of the year). I haven't missed a class and have only been mentally absent for a few. hehe Seriously though. Going to class = win. Also, with the except of the new professor who is teaching the GI module the people teaching physiology have been absolutely awesome! I've been blown away by the excellent lectures, powerpoints, handouts and presentations. I hardly have to do any outside studying for physio since the classes have just been taught so darn well it's almost unbelievable. Unfortunately I can't say the same for neuroscience. In fact, I'd have to say that I've been singularly underwhelmed by the teaching. Granted, it's better than some of the more pitiful professors from last term but I think some of the lectures could have been explained a little better. Especially the neuroanatomy and cellular sections (rushed though and read in monotone respectively). On the other hand though the textbook and atlas for neuro are fantastic and have been my constant companions. Here's hoping they don't let me down! Anyways. I was just looking around for a study break and this turned out to be it. Later!

SGU on You Tube

I'm crazy busy (immunology started today! free time just dissapeared like smoke~). But SGU created a youtube channel and some of them are quite nicely put together. It's mostly new footage I think so I know a bunch of people in the videos. :)

www.youtube.com/StGeorgesU

Central Sulcus

...because I couldn't think of a pithy title so I just used the foremost thing in my head (although, it's not actually the formost thing in my head since you can't even see it in a frontal view and would need a lateral..... .... right. Stopping now.)

As you may have guessed I am seriously deep into studying neuroscience. We had our first small group this afternoon and I thought to report on it. My first impressions are very favorable. With only four people per table the groups are smaller than anatomy groups. It also helps that I happen to like the other three people in my group and managed to avoid (narrowly, thank you last name!) a few folks that I'd rather not have been in a group with. And the sessions are only two hours each which is just nice. We had a list of structures to locate on models for about half an hour and then spent another hour on a hypothetical case. It was a little less pressure since there was only one clinical tutor for two tables so half the time we were self-mediated (which worked out just fine). The case study did serve to remind me though that I can't forget my anatomy (err, the nerves through L5 mediate, uh, and if the ankle jerk reflex is normal that means....). *wince* Anatomy is going to be my albatross for a while longer I think. I'm hoping that over this term and the next few it will all finally sink into my long term memory piece by piece. I did remember though that veterbral discs tend to prolapse in a posteriolateral fashion (since really, that's the only way they can go; nerve impigment = not good times).

Neuroscience aside, CPM continues to be very straight foward and easy. Physio is picking up a bit but still remains mostly review of concepts I've had multiple times before. I hope it stays that way for a good long time (even though I know realistically it won't).

I would also like to say that the wet season here in Grenada is brutally hot. I mean. I grew up in Texas so I'm not exactly a stranger to heat but the sun here is just so...close. It's like a physical force trying to squish you into the hot pavement as you slave up a hill (since everything in Grenada seems to be up a hill).

Just thought I'd say that. On the other hand the intense heat has been burning off the rain before it can hit the ground or something since it hasn't been raining as much as it was the past few weeks (better? worse? you decide).

I have had excellent luck with my bird watching though! I've seen several really georgous herons in the mornings while waiting for the bus. I then of course drop everything and promptly run off after them with my camera (much to my roommate's distress). Here are the pictures!

Yellow-crowned Night Heron (Nyctanassa violacea):Juvenile Striated Heron (Butorides striata):
Listening to: Mad Surfer (浅井健一)

It's the Pirate's Life for Me!

Arr mateys! Aw, well, you all knew it was only a matter of time before PoTC showed up here. And no, the pirate references are, surprisingly, not due to the fact that I live in the Caribbean. No, sadly, this time it is a reference made... by the course director for Neuroscience. And perhaps even more disturbingly is that he was making a reference to the pirates code. That is, "If you stray behind, you get left behind!" O_O

Thus begins my new set of classes! We started a new set of classes yesterday (hot on the heels of the genetics and parasitology finals from monday and tuesday).

Drumroll please? Neuroscience, Physiology and Community & Preventive Medicine have entered the proverbial building!! I'm already knee deep in neuroanatomy so I thought I should write my 'first impression' entry on term 2 classes before I lose said impressions in a haze of terror of neuroscience (this haze is slowly inching over my field of vision).

First off, I would like to say that I think this term is going to be vastly better than term 1. This is for a multitude of reasons, primary of which is that I know how to study now. Yes, it was something I apparently needed to learn.

The second reason it will be better is much simpler. No Anatomy. Good riddance I say. Unfortunately though, I have not escaped studying anatomy. But at least I'm spared the egocentric professors and the lovely eau de cadaver every week.

Physio so far has been pretty easy. We've started out with really basic cell bio type material but we've been informed this grace period is just that. A grace period (that will end). I'm determined not to get caught being behind and having to scramble to keep up like I did last term.

Anyhow, sorry this is short but I must get back to memorizing gyri and sulci!

(here's hoping I end up in a better state after my second term than Jack did at the end of his second movie!)

Term 2! ....started last week

*sheepish* Hello all! I'm writing this entry at the not-so-subtle threat of a friend of mine who recently was accepted to SGU and wants more blog entries! So. Congratulations J!!!!! And here's another entry so you don't have to look at the turtle pictures any more. :)

That said, I've been seriously neglecting my blog lately. Sorry guys! Things have been pretty crazy. Let me recap. Summer = awesome times with friends and family and over all too fast. I came back to Grenada early to participate as a volunteer in an excellent programme called Ocean Spirits that does sea turtle research up on the northern end of the island (hence, the turtle pictures on my last rather short entry). A massive entry on leatherbacks will be forthcoming, however, today I thought I'd focus on more school related things (read: still need to sort through my many hundreds of pictures from my Time with Turtles).

Term 2 started last tuesday and it's proceeding at a frighteningly fast pace. I have finals next week! o.o This term starts out with only two classes, parasitology and genetics. We have a whirlwind through each course and then finals next monday and tuesday with the bulk of our classes starting on wednesday.

So far, parasitology has been incredibly interesting (as I knew it would be) and genetics has been a review. For that matter, parasite is a review as well since I had this truly awesome eukaryotic pathogen class in undergrad. At any rate, the classes are not difficult but, as usual, the amount of material is large and is being crammed into a tiny amount of time (ah, med school, how I've missed you). I've been keeping up for the most part but I need to hit the notecards hard the next few days so I'm not scrambling sunday night. <--me turning over a new leaf and not procrastinating (hey, it's happened! ....once or twice I'm sure)

I've moved back to GrandView and it has been wonderful living here again. I very much enjoyed my time last term and now I have a really nice roommate and have adopted a cat (post on him forthcoming as well) so All Is Good in the world of me. Here's a picture of the sunset over BBC beach that I took from my balcony my first night back. ^_^
And here's the view from my bedroom window. Pretty nice yes? Consider this my cessation of blog silence! More later, reciprocal translocation and giardia are calling me~

Listening to: 狼と香辛料サウンド

Leatherback Sea Turtle (Dermochelys coriacea)

In case anyone is wondering what I'm doing..... They say a picture is worth a thousand words yes? Well, here's two. The adults are 1-2 meters long people!

Hirschsprung's and Orotic Acid

*sheepish* Hello all! I've been firmly on vacation the past few weeks and I'm afraid that I've let my blog slide completely. I didn't even put up the pictures from the Rum Factory as promised! Which, by the way, feels much farther in my past than it actually is. The sounds of the ocean and the paper cuts from my notecards seem...faint at the moment. I've reintegrated in my old life all too easily. Although, interestingly enough, even though I'm back to working full time, helping my family pack and move, driving my younger siblings around everywhere and still finding time to get some good reading in and study occasionally I still feel like I'm on vacation compared to my time in term 1. *wry grin* I wonder why that is.

So, to explain the title of this post. I am ridiculously pleased to report that I've already had knowledge that I retained from term 1 pop up in my life. First up is Hirschsprung's. The story is as follows. I was out with my sisters to watch a movie and we met up with some of their friends:

Friend 1: *notices my t-shirt with hospital name on it* Oh, hey, I spend quite a bit of time there as a kid.
Me: "Yeah, most of us in this city have."
Friend 1: "No, *pulls up shirt to show rather large abdominal scar*, I spent a significant amount of time there."
Sister: "Did you have your appendix removed?"
Friend 1: "...along with a bunch of other things."
Me: *thinking that the scar was way to large for an appendectomy* "What did you have?"
Friend 1: "Something called Hirschsprung's. "
Me: *the voices in my head perked up - we know that!!* "Oh, that must have been tough."
Friend 1: "You've heard of it?! Wow. You are the first person ever that I've met that knows what that is."
Me: *grin* "I'm in med school."

Oh. Yeah. And in case any of you were wondering, Hirschsprung's Disease, or congential aganglionic megacolon is a defect in which neural crest cells fail to migrate to parts of the colon and so the areas proximal to the defect become enlarged and so children tend to have to undergo multiple surgeries.

I, sadly, spent most of the movie reviewing embryo in my head and generally being pointless happy that I remembered the disease.

Next up on "I Know That!" is orotic acid. I work in a lab and happened to be around when some people were discussing an organic acid screen. When it was mentioned that there was a large orotic acid peak my biochemistry saturated brain managed to supply me with information. Elevated orotic acid levels, accompanying by high levels of ammonia, would indicate a defect in ornithine transcarbamoylase - the second enzyme in the urea cycle - since the buildup of carbamoyl phosphate would be shuttled in the pyrimidine breakdown pathway and lead to the increased orotic acid. And sure enough, the next phrase was "we don't have an ammonia level on this kid though". ^___^

Yes, yes, I know it's silly to be happy about these moments, but hey! I've only had a few months of med school and I didn't expect any of what I learned to show up so soon.

Although, thus far, no one needing CPR as dropped dead at my feet - a fact for which I'm supremely greatful. >.>'

I don't have any new picutures of Grenada so I leave you with a cute picture of my sister's cat.
Now one free cat with each box!!

Yes, she did actually crawl into the box upon her own accord. >.>'
Listening to: 鉄腕バーディー DECODE 02 op/ed

Trip to the Grenada Chocolate Company! (samples included!)

I've been filling my days with Grenada! Today was a day trip to the Grenada Chocolate Company and the Rum Factory. Funnily enough I had things to take pictures of before we even left campus! There was a little herd of goats running through campus. SGU is just like any other school until a herd of something scampers through to remind you you're in Grenada! (the fantastic ocean views also help). ~.^ During the drive we saw a Mona Monkey (not native to Grenada, brought over from Africa way back when and now roam Grand Etang): After an hour or so drive through various towns (I just can't bring myself to call them 'cities') and jungles we arrived at the Chocolate Factory (no willie wonka in sight people, just guys with machetes). To start off the chocolate story, here is the tree where coca beans come from:
Here is a cracked open pod with cocoa beans inside:The place is actually called the Bellmont Estate and is a 17th century plantation. In essence, a functional historical site. The grounds were stunning. They apparently hold weddings there. This bell was run to call in workers from the fields at the end of a day. Here are racks of drying cocoa beans.After taking us through a tour of the factory (shelling, fermentation ,drying, polishing - all done by hand or foot!) they gave us tasty samples of dark chocolate and cocoa tea (which isn't really hot chocolate but is more of a wonderfully delicious hot chocolate with a blend of spices and a really rich flavor). There were a whole bunch of bats flittering around the eves of the fermentation building (don't worry, there were covers for the beans and the bats are totally harmless). It was pretty amusing since I was the only one to noticed them and the guide was trying to reassure me they weren't harmful when I was just trying to figure out their particular species (he didn't know). Naturally I had to stalk them to take pictures (the bats, not the guide).They also had a small museum of things from the early days of the plantation: We took a brief respite from our tourism to eat lunch at a nice little restaurant with a view:More tomorrow (if I have time around packing) on our next stop - the rum factory! Which, while academically fascinating since they run entirely on water power, made me happy that I don't drink rum!

Listening to: Dragoste din tei / 少女S

Post-Finals Sailing Trip

Now that finals are over it's time to enjoy the island! Yesterday I went on a fantastic sailing trip with a bunch of other students. We left from Grand Anse beach around noon and sailed around the southernmost tip of the island (getting a spectacular view of SGU in the process). We then meandered over to a nice spot to snorkel and see a set of underwater sculptures. After that we sailed to Hog Island where we had lunch and hung out a while. Then it was back around and home! Overall, a very nice relaxing day. School seemed very far away (I had to use the zoom on my camera to see it, so I knew exactly how far away it was! LOL).

An adorable sleeping puppy on the beach while we waited for the boat:
The boat we travelled on was called the Shadowfax. Here it is right before we boarded at Grand Anse Beach:Just a few shots I took as we sailed to our snorkeling site:
Do you see the different colored water near the top of the follow picture? That's indicative of a coral reef. Pretty neat huh? Luckily, the captain sailed around the reef.
Here are some pics of the underwater sculptures (created by Jason Taylor in 2006) that I found online:
After looking at the underwater sculptures we headed over to Hog Island for lunch! A few shots of the rigging before and after the sails were hoisted: The wind was pretty strong so we had a good time sailing on the way back. A bunch of people sat near the bow and enjoyed getting soaked repeatedly by the crashing waves and shrieking happily as only a group of semi-sober post-final students can (while the rest of us enjoyed watching them get soaked)! Here are some shots of SGU from the coast! I sometimes forget how pretty the campus really is.The airport (and yes, the airport is significantly smaller than the school...):
Headed home, enjoying the breeze and the setting sun....