One Week

Time is winding down. The cicada songs are in full force. The days of summer are beginning to get shorter. In one week, we'll be boarding a plane for Grenada. We'll be arriving in the middle of the Grenadian Carnival and it will be 16 months before we'll be back.

Academically, term 2 has more classes but it is broken up quite a bit. The first two weeks of class are parasitology and genetics followed by a final. So, there is no easing in to this term with 2 finals during the second week of classes. Community and Preventive Medicine, neuroscience, and physiology then begin. CPM ends after 3 weeks and immunology starts. So, immuno, physio, and neuro continue for the majority of the term and then the immuno final is a couple weeks before the neuro and physio finals.

The classes are all held in the morning and the small groups will be in the afternoon, so I am not sure if my 8pm to 3am study schedule is going to work this term. A definite priority will be to make sure my study group meets more often. While the upper termers assure us we'll have more study time this term, I really don't see how.

The boys are getting a little anxious about our impending departure. There is really no good way to tell the boys that they will be leaving their beloved grandparents and big yard and bikes. No more anticipation of every train that goes by the house. No more baby pool, library, bike trails, and Botanic Gardens. It is much easier to let them know that the rainforest and ocean will be waiting for them and their friends at school have missed them. We'll see how that pans out.

So, I am ready to begin again, with a renewed confidence, one successful term behind me, a familiarity with the island, a family who has adjusted well, and most importantly, an iced blended spiced chai smoothie with my name on it.