The rumors were true

BOOM!

There have been some changes happening around school, the most notable being the construction of our new building. From all the floor plans it looks quite nice with additional lecture halls, a new anatomy lab, hospital like simulation rooms, and plenty more. They tore out part of the parking lot and basketball court in front of campus to build this thing, so you can imagine it's been somewhat noisy lately (not that I've noticed it myself since I study at home). But I guess things have been so loud that people who study in the library and the lectures halls have been complaining to the administration. I even heard a couple months back that someone suggested for DeVry to buy us all a pair of noise-cancelling headphones. I laughed and said "yeah, that would be too awesome of an idea to ever actually happen" and never thought about it again... until now... duh duh duh! Apparently it was approved by DeVry last week to buy the entire student body (around 600 of us) a pair of Bose noise-cancelling headphones! WOOOO AWESOME right? I went on the Bose site to figure out what we could possibly be getting and there are only two options: the QuietComfort 15 acoustic noise-cancelling headphones valued at $299.95 or the QuietComfort 3 acoustic noise-cancelling headphones valued at $349.95. HOT DAMN. And did I mention that these will be free???? The shipment is supposed to be arriving in 2-3 weeks and I cannot be more thrilled for these. THANK YOU DEVRY, maybe you aren't so bad if you're willing to shell out $180,000 to keep us happy. Ah yes, the perks of being owned by a publicly traded company.


Related Articles:
AUC Campus Expansion (caribbeanmedstudent.com)

The perks of going to med school in St. Maarten--

St. Maarten Restaurant Spotlight: Tahoma Beach Bar [Edit:CLOSED]

This relatively new, unknown gem has no website, has no signs, isn't on a main road and is significantly lacking in the advertisement front. I see no other way for you or anyone else to find Tahoma unless you're absolutely drunk/lost in Beacon hill and you just happen to stumble upon it. Even then it wouldn't do you much good seeing that it's closed every night (open for lunch daily and ONLY open for dinner Friday/ Saturday during tourist season). If you have had the good fortune of trying it out, then you must have heard it from someone else. Word-of-mouth recommendations seem to be the driving force of how Tahoma attracts its clientele or you might just happen to be French, but in either case I'm here to dispel all the secrecy shrouding this place and spotlight this restaurant. AUC students always need a good place to eat that's close by-- this is it and you get 10% off. And for all you other restaurant-goers who just ended up here because there is absolutely nothing else on the net about Tahoma Beach Bar, you're welcome.


 I've always been anxious writing restaurant reviews. I have a habit of trending to the dramatic. I supposed in behavioral science language you can fault me for dichotomous thinking (the tendency of seeing everything in one extreme or the other), because when I do get around to writing a restaurant review I always have very strong feelings one way or another. If a restaurant is awful, I really want people to know about it, and if it's terrific, likewise. So naturally, from being so one sided in my critiques, people are often disappointed or pleasantly surprised in whatever restaurant I'm writing about.

I'll try not to blow this out of proportion, but Tahoma may be the best restaurant you've never heard of. It's a semi-outdoor spot, sandwiched between the beach and airport runway. I know it doesn't sound that glamorous... it does get very loud when planes land or take off, but hey it's all part of the St. Maarten charm.  The kitchen is open from 11- 4 p.m daily, if you buy drinks or food you can get free chairs out on the beach and spend the day. Parking is plentiful enough, but if the lot does get full, you will have to resign yourself to parking along the side of the road.

As for food, I think I've been here on 4 or 5 occasions and I have always ordered the tuna or salmon tartar (photo below) since I'm under the impression that it's the best on the island. Each time I try to order something else, but I just can't bring myself to do it. But then again, it's my own personal preference, so don't go into this thinking it will be the greatest thing you'll ever eat since I'm sure I've set you up for disappointment. I tried the gazpacho soup here and it was pretty good, although the chef may have been a little too generous with the oil. And the burgers here! They are gorgeous! I know some of the guys I've spoken to love the "Tahoma burger". The kitchen prepares it's own patties infusing it with all kinds of ingredients and spices, and the handcut fries are excellent as well. For as good as the food has been, I've never seen more than a 4 or 5 other people at the restaurant, which is a little sad for me. Hopefully I've convinced some of you guys to at least give this place a shot. I just hope you end up agreeing with me. AUC students, don't forget! you get a 10% discount so be sure to mention you're students. I've given you a road map below. Drive as if you are going to Bliss, but before entering the parking lot, turn left and drive up that road alongside the runway. You'll hit a fork, turn left and continue down and you will run right into Tahoma.

 That's all for now. Ciao  (Photo courtesy Daria Z)

Tahoma Burger

Tuna Tartar

Tahoma Restaurant, Beach Bar, Lounge
34 White Sands Road, Sint Maarten
Phone Number: +599 524 1185 or +599 581 2104
Facebook: TAHOMA
Email: newtahoma@yahoo.com
Price- $15-$30
Map:


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quick word of advice to prospective students....

please don't buy all the textbooks before getting here. You will hardly use most of them. Just wait till you arrive and people will let you know exactly which books are worth purchasing.

My "worth it" list:

First Semester:
Anatomy- BRS Gross Anatomy by Chung and the Netter's Atlas of Human Anatomy
MCB I-  none
histo- none

Second Semester:
MCB II- Lippincott's Biochem is useful, but not necessary
Physio I/II- BRS Physio by Costanzo
Immuno- none

Third Semester:
Pathology I/II- I recommend Goljian... love that guy if you couldn't already tell, but the class notes are sufficient
Microbiology- none

Fourth Semester:
Neuroscience- none
Behavioral- none
Pharmacology- none (although the Kaplan videos/book for ANS are awesome)

Fifth Semester:
I'll let you know when I'm done

About time for an update

I'm officially a 5th semester student. Can we just take a moment to let that sink in?

...
....
.....

thanks.

Fourth semester, you tricky tricky son of a gun. Everyone will tell you that third semester is really the toughest of basic sciences, but not me. Not for a second. The only reason fourth doesn't seem as bad at first glance is because the workload is about the same as third and you're already used to it at that point. You fall into a sort of lull when the semester kicks off with Path, Neuro and Behavioral. Path is the same as last semester, Neuro is like the return of anatomy rearing its ugly head, and behavioral is just not a real class. I apologize to all the behavioral enthusiasts out there, but it isn't and don't try to pretend that it requires any real work to do well in it. If you are a human being who is able to communicate and empathize with others, you'll be fine. For all you non-human, socially awkward, emotionally stunted individuals... you will still be fine.  Most of the information you learn is common sense except for maybe one thing--

POP QUIZ: When a patient says to you that he wants to kill himself, as a physician what is the very next thing you say?

a. "Don't do it! You have so much to live for"
b. "Why do you want to kill yourself?"
c. "How do you plan on killing yourself?"
d. "Please don't talk that way."

If you chose option C, "How do you plan on killing yourself" you clearly have taken a behavioral class before. C is the correct answer because apparently, a physician can assess how serious a patient is in committing suicide when they have a concrete plan for HOW they plan on doing it. Makes sense I guess. And then you would ask some of the other questions like why. Gold star for all those who got this right. I definitely got this wrong the first time I saw the question.

Now continuing on with my 4th semester rehash.

It isn't until after block 2 exams where the trouble starts. Behavioral ends and then pharmacology takes its place. And to make matters worse, ICM 4 starts and for the first time in med school your performance in ICM is actually being graded. You have quizzes per usual but then you have to take time outside of class  to prepare for focused interviews and write reports. That's never fun. And then you have a lovely ICM final which isn't too bad, but it does come two days after block 3 exams when people are just so done with studying that they don't even care about the final (like me).

Block 3 might have been the most emotionally and mentally taxing block of my med school career. I came out of it mostly unscathed, but I'm disappointed I had let my Path grade slip. Block 3 is the block to sacrifice your best class for the betterment of the rest of your grades and it just so happens that Path was that class for me. Oh well. Block 4 happened. No ICM there so the three classes were a lot more manageable. And then finals came and went. Although I found fourth semester to be just as hard as third, all and all I did pretty well in my classes and came close again to making Dean's List. One abysmal Neuro exam sunk that ship for me pretty quick, but I like how I came back and responded.
But fourth semester is easily the most sneaky semester when it comes to failing people. I already know of some people who had never failed a class yet they failed one or two fourth semester. Part of the problem is that when you do poorly in one of your classes in the beginning, that class takes precedence and people neglect pharm and end up failing that instead.  It's a slippery slope indeed. May you never be in that position.

I was going to take time here to have a stirring and meaningful reflection on my time on the island for the last year and half, but I think I will save that one for another rainy day.


~I'm not dead,
Andrea