Black Friday

Today is the biggest shopping day of the year! Even though we are in Grenada we are not missing out on the big deals! We have actually ordered a few Christmas presents today! Our Christmas shopping is a lot different this year...we have to order most (probably all) presents online! We are definitely getting ready for Christmas...in the past several days we have watched every Christmas movie we have!


Tonight we had our Thanksgiving meal! When we got home from class I prepared our small little turkey breast and a couple hours later we were ready to eat! We had turkey, stuffing, cranberry salad, and yams! It was delicious, we can't wait to be home to have "normal" food!

Here is our cute little turkey...

...and our dinner plates!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Click on the picture for a Thanksgiving surprise!

I apologize for not blogging in over a month! We have been very busy with our classes! We have 2 weeks left in this semester! Next week is a week of review and the next week is finals...we will be home that Saturday! We are so excited to come home...we need a break from class!

The last blog was during Grenada's Thanksgiving! Their Thanksgiving celebrates when the US came in to help the Grenadian government in the 80's. There is a memorial on campus for those soldiers who lost their lives. The weekend of Thanksgiving is the only time there is water in the fountain of the memorial...so we decided to take a few pictures of the memorial while it was fully functioning! You can go to our Shutterfly site to see more pictures of the memorial!

There just so happened to be a beautiful sunset this day!

Also, in the last blog I was baking pumpkin cheesecakes! They turned out good...they are not so pretty but tastes great! We froze one to have for our Thanksgiving! We will see how it is after being frozen.

Today, for Thanksgiving we had a full day of class! We had 4 hours of Anatomy lab this morning and 4 hours of lecture this afternoon! So, we did not get to have turkey and dressing for dinner tonight. We went out for dinner tonight...I had grilled swordfish and Derek had a fish sandwich...not very traditional food for today! We do have a small turkey breast that we plan to cook this weekend...to have our own little Thanksgiving! However, even though we are here we are not completely missing out on Thanksgiving...Linda is making Thanksgiving dinner for us when we get home! I am so excited for it and I know Derek is too...we both love Thanksgiving!



Last Friday we were able to enjoy a little time with each other! We went out for dinner, which we don't get to do much! There was another beautiful sunset that afternoon!




It is obvious that the Holiday Season is in full swing! The mall, where we go to the grocery store, has decked their halls...it has been decorated for 2 weeks now! Here are a few pictures I took tonight. I think it will be fun to see more decorations to see if it is different from Christmas at home!




We hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Changing Seasons

Wow, the weather is changing...at home anyway not here! Look at the difference in temperatures, between Livingston and Grenada, this morning!

Yes...we were up bright and early this morning, we had anatomy lab. Speaking of weather...it is still the wet season here and it has been so rainy! For example, this morning we had anatomy lab and small groups. These two meetings take place on opposite sides of campus so of course we have to walk from one place to another. Well, it was raining so hard when it was time for us to leave lab and go to small groups that the anatomy department got buses to drive us to our small group! It was wonderful because that meant we did not have to walk in the pouring rain! It did continue to rain most of the rest of the day and the ground is so saturated and even flooded in some places!

This weekend is Grenada's Thanksgiving, that means we have a 4 day weekend! We plan to take a couple days off and enjoy our free time! In fact I am making pumpkin cheesecakes! You know I love to bake and I am excited about having time to cook! I just hope they turn out good...since I don't have a full size oven. I know it will not look as good as my normal ones because I don't have all my things here...but it should taste good and Derek says that is all that matters...I like it to be beautiful and taste wonderful! Here is a picture of one of my pretty ones from last year...

You can also see more of my cakes I have made on our shutterfly page!

I am looking forward to having the time off this weekend for Grenada's Thanksgiving but I am dreading being away from home for US Thanksgiving (and that day is also my Mimi's birthday!)! It will be really hard for me to be here and not home for this holiday! Hope you all have a good weekend! I am sure we will!

Nick Trail

Derek just found an article on UTSports.com about our good friend Nick Trail...aka "Snacks"! Another good friend of our's, Adam Hardebeck wrote the article. Derek and I made friends with Nick while we were at UT, he was an usher in our wedding! He is a wonderful person! Click on the picture of Nick below to see the article!

Here is a picture of Derek and Nick with Andrew and Will during Derek's last game he worked in Neyland Stadium!

Midterms Are Behind Us...

Thank God! Overall, last week went well. All of our exams were relatively uneventful, we should get our results tomorrow! Last week was rather stressful! We have never studied so much in one week in our lives! Here is a picture of why our lives were so stressful this past week, this is our notes for two of the three classes we had exams over last week...
Fortunately/Unfortunatley we only had one casualty during the week and it was our coffee pot. Thursday night our glass coffee pot cracked! So, we had to make something work until we could get a new one in town on Friday afternoon. Here is what we came up with, I had to use toothpicks to hold open the tab so the coffee would flow out...

We found a new one at the hardware store on Friday. It is actually a much better coffee maker than the last one, our coffee tastes so much better!

We have had a much needed relaxing weekend! We watched the Vols play yesterday and are watching the Colts now. Also, I have cooked our meals this weekend (I don't get to cook much because we are always studying) and made brownies last night! We have been trying to rest up so we can start back to classes Monday. I was hoping we could go to the beach this weekend but the weather has been terrible the past couple weeks. We are in the rainy season but lately it has been worse than normal. It rains every day, most of the day, and when it is not raining it is cloudy. Last night it rained so hard and was so windy that it sounded like someone was spraying our windows with a water hose. We had to clean up standing water in the floor this morning.

And as promised a long time ago here are a few pictures from when Mom and Dad were here at the beginning of the semester...

At the fort in St. George's

Riding in a reggae bus

Visiting the nutmeg factory...there were rows and rows of whole nutmeg air drying

Lunch at the Aquarium Restaurant

Lunch at Rituals Coffee Shop

Mom and Dad at another fort...during their parents' tour

Two of my favorite pictures...taken from the beach at Mom and Dad's resort

Dinner their last night here

Lastly, I have created a Shutterfly photo sharing site. This site is in correlation with this blog. It contains pictures from a variety of things! The site allows you to purchase copies of the pictures if you so choose. All of the pictures form Mom and Dad's trip to Grenada are posted on the site. You can find the link to the left listed as "Newlyweds Lost In Grenada Shutterfly Page", under the "Links" tab. Enjoy!

Greetings

I have not posted in awhile because we have been so busy, our classes have been crazy here lately! We actually have midterms next week so this will be a short post because time is short! We are doing well...of course just studying all the time.

Derek had his hair cut this last week...it was his first time having his hair cut here. I think they did a decent job but it is much shorter than he normally would have it. But, Derek says it is a lot cooler and he probably will not have to have it cut again until we come home in December...so that is good!

I think right now is a high season for fruit in Grenada. Our favorite smoothie place has been having lots of flavors to choose from...all the smoothie are made with fruit that is fresh straight from local farmers. Also, the fruit stands that set up on campus have had lots of goodies here lately! This last week I found a big pineapple and watermelon...not just any watermelon, a YELLOW watermelon. One of the fastest ways to my heart is through good fresh fruit...my Uncle Burwell definitely did this when I was young, I always looked forward to going to family reunions because I would always get fresh fruit from my Uncle Burwell!!! I think Grenada is starting to win me over or at least satisfying me with all this wonderful fruit!

This last week has been hectic...our air conditioner is messing up, AGAIN, and our internet is not working. It is Friday morning so we are on our way to the grocery and to the internet store...however it is raining and storming very badly, with thunder and lightning (which is very unusual)...so we are trying to wait out the rain!

Lastly, this past week I found a couple websites I think you might be interested in. The websites are two guys that take wonderful pictures and are both in Grenada. One lives here and the other guy's wife is in school at SGU. Enjoy their pictures...I sure do!
http://www.moderndaygilligan.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/joshy55013/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/grenadad/

Also, we have midterms this next week!!! Please keep us in your prayers!

Happy Fall, Yall!

Quick Update

Hello everyone! I just wanted to give you a quick update. First, I apologize for not writing sooner! I had hoped to post a new entry before now however we have been super busy! Of course we are studying all the time...we had our first kinda exam on Monday. It was called the unified quiz; basically it is a quiz/small exam that we can use to gauge how well we are studying. Hopefully, we will get our results tomorrow! Some funny news (well maybe it is not funny) about the school...some of the workers have gone on strike. We received this e-mail yesterday...

TO: All Faculty, Staff & Students

From: Chancellor Charles R. Modica

Date: September 16, 2008Re: Industrial Action by Union Workers

At approximately 2:00 pm today, the Technical and Allied Workers Union (TAWU) negotiating team walked out of talks with the University Administration. Although we have not been formally advised by TAWU of the commencement of a strike by our workers, it appears that some of the staff have slowed down, stopped work or walked off the job.

Classes will continue as scheduled and we will continue to provide periodic updates about the situation. Expect disruptions to transportation, housekeeping and other essential services. Be advised that study areas, along with the restaurants will remain open. In the interim, we will make every effort to provide services using the management staff, as well as the staff who decide to continue working.

We are pleased that some members of our staff have made the decision to continue to provide much needed services to our community. The University employs over 600 Grenadians in Grenada and of those 600 employees approximately 400 are members of the union. We are uncertain about how many of the approximately 400 Union members will strike, slow down or stop work.

The University will supplement our security officers who continue to work with an outside security firm. Please be vigilant and report any emergencies to the University Security booth 444- 3898 or 777.

The Union negotiators walked out of talks today, when the University expressed concern over derogatory and libelous statements which have been disseminated over the last few weeks. The TAWU negotiating team refused to repudiate these derogatory and libelous statements which contravened the goodwill which exists between the University and the people of Grenada. The negotiators refused to address those statements and walked out.

We are pleased that the Acting Minister of Labour requested and will be hosting a meeting tomorrow at 2:00 pm. We will be represented and we are hopeful that the Union negotiating team will be present even though they walked out of talks today.

I just received an e-mail today with a link to a newsletter that has an article about our White Coat Ceremony from a few weeks ago. Click on the picture to go to the newsletter also check out the picture album...

As many of you know...I am a huge Martha Stewart fan. The new season of her show started this week. Her show today was all about blogging. Click on the images below to check out her show today about blogging and also her personal blog...

It's Football Time In Tennessee

Today is the first game for the Vols this season...Go Big Orange...Beat UCLA! This is a hard time of the year to be away from home. As you know Derek and I love UT football...we are going to try to watch as many of their games as possible between studying! We will be studying anatomy tonight as we watch the game. From what we can tell it looks like the Vols are gearing up for this upcoming season. The band visited practice last week to pump up the team before the 1st game...they do this every year! Also, during this past off season they completed Phase 2 of 3 on the stadium renovations. The renovations are amazing!

Click on the picture below to see a video of the band at practice!

It is well worth watching!

Click on the picture below to see pictures of the new stadium renovations.

When the new screen pulls up click on the tab for Neyland Stadium Renovations.

Friday was College Colors Day, naturally we wore our TN stuff. We actually meet a nice lady at the grocery store on Friday that is from Auburn. Of course we talked to her for a few minutes about SEC football! Her husband has been teaching at the Vet school for 8 years, prior to that he taught at the Vet school in Auburn.

We are obviously excited for the start of another football season! However, it is rather sad because we will not be able to attend any games this year. This is the first time in my life that I will not attend any games in Neyland Stadium, I was 6 months old when I went to my first game. Our only hope would be to go to the bowl game. There is nothing better than being in Neyland Stadium on football Saturday!

Our classes are going well! We are very overwhelmed...but we are making it through. We had our first Anatomy lab this week...that was an interesting experience...and we went back on Saturday morning to get in some extra time!

And to end on a sad note...

If you refer back to the blog from the 4th of July weekend, I mentioned how it was the first time I can remember not being at the lake for the 4th of July. Well, I won't ever be able to enjoy that again because this last week Mom and Dad sold the houseboat. I am very upset about this but I guess I understand their reasoning...even if I don't agree with it. For those you that know me well...you know that I am big on tradition! Call me rigid or OCD...I don't care...I think tradition is very important! For holidays I like to do the same thing each year, go to the same places, eat the same foods and even though these are important I think it is more than that. I believe is the staple of a family and important to keep a family strong. Well, Derek so kindly reminded me last night that most of the traditions I grew up with have just about all been flushed down the toilet! For summer holidays (Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day) growing up we were always at the lake...well no more boat. For Thanksgiving growing up we went to the condo in St. Augustine...well no more condo. But, for the past several years we have had Thanksgiving dinner at Mom and Dad's house...well we will be in class on Thanksgiving this year. For Christmas Eve we always to to my Granny's in Nashville...well this year Dad will not be able to go because his church in Tullahoma has 2 Christmas Eve services. For Christmas day we have it at Mom and Dad's we have the same meal every year...but last year it was different...but I guess it was close enough to count. Let's just hope I still get to wrap Christmas presents this year...I started looking for paper and ribbons in July!

Growing up people always told me that high school would be the best years of my life...well I hated high school...the people who say that must have had a better high school experience than me! My favorite years so far were my years in Knoxville at UT! There is that song "The Best Is Yet To Come", and I hope this is true because I could use some improvements! I hate change but I guess I should expect I should expect it when I am getting older and living in another country! I know things will get better (they have to) but it really sucks right now!

1st Week Over & White Coat Ceremony

Well, our 1st week of class is over and boy has it been wild! Randy & Betsy left on Tuesday morning. They had a wonderful time while they were here and are already talking about coming back before we leave! We were able to show them around the island and we took them to several local restaurants...and surprisingly all of our food we had while they were here was very good! We really enjoyed having them here (and if anyone else would like to come visit we are open to visitors!) but they left at a good time.


We had to hit the books running when classes started on Monday! We know we have only had one week but we have been studying so much! Our daily schedule is something like this...7am wake up and shower, 8am study, 12 lunch, 1-5pm lecture, 6pm dinner, and study till bed at 11-12! We are hoping our bodies will get used to this new schedule and this much studying! Lecture is difficult because we have to keep concentration for the whole 4 hours but we are really enjoying everything we are studying!

Tonight we had our White Coat Ceremony! Which is kinda our initiation into medical school! The ceremony was really nice...much nicer than we expected! The new Prime Minister of Grenada was there and addressed our class (all 400 of us). The Master of Ceremonies, Dr. Randy Becker, gave a wonderful speech that truly seemed to be from the heart. He was a 2000 graduate of SGU so he has been in our shoes and knows how we feel! His message was not to let anyone or anything stand in the way of your dream. The Keynote Speaker was Dr. William Andereck who is from Tennessee! This gave us a little feeling of home! He is from Memphis, did his undergrad at Vandy and med school at UT in Memphis...a fellow UT Alumni (how cool is that)! Dr. Andereck now practices in California. His message was about the White Coat, what is means and what is represents! When we got our white coat they called out our name and hometown...and when on stage they put our coats on us. We think the school video recorded the whole ceremony...we are going to try to track down a copy of it...to bring home to show everyone! After the ceremony the university held a reception in our honor. Luckily, the weather was perfect (unlike the rest of the weekend which was rainy and stormy)! The sun was setting and there was a nice cool breeze! There was good food, drinks, and a steel drum band! Everything tonight was really nice!

Here are a few pictures!

These are all our books, WOW!!

Ready to leave for the ceremony!

The stage in Charter Hall!

This is also our lecture hall for this semester!

Lovely tropical flowers!

School Banner

Anxiously waiting for the ceremony to start!

Dr. Modica, who started the school!

Prime Minister, Tillman Thomas

The Prime Minister's car...nice huh?

The Keynote Speaker, Dr. Andereck

Us on stage getting our white coats!

Sarah is far right and Derek is to the left of her.

On stage after the ceremony...

Sarah with some of our fellow MPH girls!

Lots of our fellow MPH classmates!

This is our personal favorite!

Beautiful sunset!

Close-ups of our white coats!

This is a video of the steel drum band!

It is hard to see but you can hear the music!