30 May 15: 4 weeks down, 98,475 to go!

Happy Saturday, everybody! In an effort to keep up with my own life via blog, I'm gonna write short posts as frequently as I can. Here's a recap of this week:

I had my first vet school exams this week. Number one, microanatomy (the microscopic study of tissues and cells) was on Monday. I studied all weekend, walked in feeling prepared and it payed off-got an A! The post-good grade high lasted about 30 seconds before the Gross-Anatomy-is-sucking-my-soul fog set in. This was the feeling for most of the week:

Despite only being in school for three weeks, the gross anatomy exam covered a ridiculous amount of material. Did you know that the dog has about 33 muscles in it's front leg? I do. Not only was I responsible for IDing all the muscles, but I had to know their origins/insertions, actions, related tendons, bursas, ligaments, bones, and clinically relevant information. Let's not stop at dogs though! Why not throw in horse and cow legs to spice things up? Top off that nervous breakdown sundae with some xrays and you've got one helluva week. I took the test at 7:50 yesterday morning and came out of it feeling confident that I at least passed. Drained of all my brainpower/will to live, I napped for four hours and slept through my afternoon classes. :)

In a moment of stress-induced brilliance, I realized that I could move my desk right on up to my bed, allowing me to wake up and get right to studying. Why waste time moving to a chair? This happened:

I got a little crazy with the scalpel this week and sustained my first vet school injury:

Scalpel cut to my thumb knuckle crack = ouch.

The most remarkable thing that happened this week wasn't almost cutting off my own thumb or getting elected Vice-President of the Surgery Club (Nobody else ran for the position! YAY!!!!), it was this:

What you see here is a ballpoint pen that has run out of ink. This was my favorite pen. I started using this pen on Monday and I managed to run it out of ink by Friday night. What is so remarkable about a dead pen? DO YOU REALIZE HOW MUCH WRITING IT TAKES TO USE ALL THE INK IN A BALLPOINT PEN? Needless to say, my hand has permanently molded into a pen-holding claw. Bandaid and all.

Guess what?? I can receive packages here! They are almost guaranteed to arrive, it costs about $100 less than sending a package to Africa, and they get here in a week! If you feel inclined, here's the address:

If it's hard to see in the pic:

Sarah Stewart

Ross University

PO Box 334

Basseterre, St Kitts, West Indies

(Sending USPS is the best. If you send FedEx, leave off the PO BOX. Everything should be out of the original boxes or I'll have to pay customs taxes.)

If you feel like sending me a long, nosy letter, I'd love to have something to read that isn't a textbook. You can send it to the same address and I'll write you back! Letters, cards, bills, whatever!

Conclusion: This week was hard. Really hard. I won't get my anatomy grade until next week but I have a feeling that it's an A. The stress of vet school is worth it when I see my hard work pay off in the form of grades that I can be proud of. I might complain a lot (the first thing out of my mouth when I wake up is a string of cuss words) but I'm doing well. I live in paradise. I'm finally learning all of the things I've always wanted to know. Everything I've done in my life has led up to this point and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. 

Stay tuned for scenes from next week's episode: two more exams, a beach trip (FINALLY), and tickling cows on Monday at "Bovine Safety, Handling, and Restraint" class. :)

23 May 2015: Sarah's 3% an animal doctor!

After this week, I'm 3% a doctor.

I'm gonna have to keep this short and sweet because I've got...umm...16 hours of studying that needs to be done today. I thought I'd give y'all an idea of what I'm doing now!

This is where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Caribbean Sea.
 Gorgeous

If you're new to my life, I'm in school now to become a Veterinarian. I live on the tiny island of St. Kitts & Nevis (Nevis is the sister island) in a dorm (for now.). The school is Ross University, an awesome AVMA-accredited veterinary medical school. IT'S REALLY HOT HERE. So hot. I keep a thin layer of sweat all day, which becomes a thin layer of dog cadaver smell after I spend 2-4 hours in the anatomy lab. I have 7 classes, including gross anatomy, histology, infectious disease, and physiology, and they are thoroughly kicking my butt.

This is where I eat my lunch (when I'm not spending lunch in a meeting or seminar.)
Isn't it gorgeous??

Some cool stuff:
The school has a "toxic plant garden" to help students recognize dangerous plants in toxicology class.

How cool is this? My friend said "I hear the restaurant there makes a killer salad!" Bahahaha

I've joined the surgery club and I'm running for vice-president/fundraising chair. We have some exciting things planned for the semester including an anastamosis training (how to sew up intenstines!)

I've also joined the Zoos Exotics Wildlife (ZEW) club. I'm not sure exactly what I want to do career-wise so I'm trying to get all the experience I can. I'm going to a training today at noon to learn how to take care of the turtles that live in our turtle pond. I volunteered to feed them for a week in June. When I walk up to the pond, the turtles swim right up to greet me expecting a snack. This club plans that greatest things and I signed up for all of them: Ecotour to see Leatherback sea turtles, monkey dissection, Wildlife Rehabilitation Certification, and...get this...a dolphin physical exam! During breaks, I'll have the opportunity to go on externships to the Belize Zoo and/or to South Africa to work with wildlife vets.

I've already arranged for housing beginning next semester (August.) For the next year, I'm going to live at the Mariott Residences. The apartments are clean and fully-furnished. The most amazing perk is that I get full use of all the Mariott Resort facilities: three pools, private beach, gym, and spa!! Go ahead and book your ticket to come visit me.

Fancy dancy! That couch folds out into a bed...hint hint.

One of three pools!

Moving to St. Kitts and starting all over again has been...exciting, stressful, exhausting, thrilling,etc. I was in orientation for a week when I first arrived on the island, which allowed me to make some new friends. I now have about 6 girls that have become my support system. We study together, complain together, talk about our meltdowns together, and go to the beach together (about once a month when we give ourselves permission not to study for a whole afternoon.) Being in a new place with new people forces you to examine your character, something I've been doing for years now. I was looking for a document this week and stumbled upon this picture below...

Let me tell you a story.

About a year ago, I agreed to participate in a Girls Leading Our World Camp. I signed up to talk about puberty, teen pregnancy, STIs, and other unpleasantries. Did you know that menstruation is the number one reason that girls miss school in Africa? Sometimes they don't have the supplies they need. Often they are too embarrassed and ashamed to go to school when they're on their period. Thus, Mighty Maxine was born.

Mighty Maxine is a character I created for the camp. She proudly wears an "M" on her shirt because she is not ashamed of her body! She is always prepared with her tool belt of tampons, pads, birth control pills, and male and female condoms. She teaches girls that they are in control of their lives and that being on your period is nothing to be embarrassed about. As you can imagine, Mighty Maxine was well-received. After the camp, we asked the girls what they had learned. Because many of them spoke little English, we had to do a post-test to determine our efficacy as educators. The girls said "I don't have to be ashamed! I can menstruate with pride!" They GOT it!

Mighty Maxine is always prepared. Look at that sweet tool belt!

Me and Ashley showing off our dance moves.

Moral of the story: It's been 7 months since I left Africa and I'm finally in a place to be able to reflect on my Peace Corps experience in a positive way. I can be kind to myself about the things that I did and did not accomplish there and about my own personal attributes. Having up and moved a second time and made another group of friends, I am learning to accept that I'm always going to be the eccentric, “crazy” person that I am. I'd love to be a quiet, sensitive woman but that just isn't me. Some days I feel like I must be the most annoying, loud, inappropriate human in the world (we all feel insecure sometimes right?) but then I see pictures like this, think about the young people I taught in Botswana and how effective I was at teaching kids as my plain ol’ “crazy” self. I think I’ll keep me.

My people!!!

Stay tuned for more stories of the life and times of a vet in training! This picture, I just love it. It reminds me of my life. You can't tell where the tracks are going but you know it's gonna be beautiful and wild! :)

8 Mar 15: Sarah comes home, toots a lot, and prepares to move to the Caribbean!

Happy Daylight Savings, everybody! I woke up this morning at a late 9:35 scolding myself for being so lazy. Then I remembered that I gave up an hour of my life for the sake of late sunsets and the instant relief of everyone's Seasonal Affective Disorder and I felt ok again. This blog post is going to be boring at first, then I'm going to ask for your Christmas cash, and then it gets good. Just bear with me.

Hot showers and indoor climate control doing me right!

I've been in America for almost 5 months now. Can you believe it? Transitioning has been an emotional carpet ride (think ups and downs, but mostly smooth, comfortable sailing.) While I don't think I'll ever fully reintegrate into American culture, I've gotten used to my life here. At first I lived with my best friend, Amber, and her gracious parents who had prepared a comfortable room for me. I got and lost a boyfriend, moved into my own apartment, worked at Williams Sonoma over Christmas, re-certified as a lifeguard, trained to be a swim lessons instructor, and enrolled in Biochemistry.

THE BEST NEWS: After all the stress and strife of applying to veterinary school from my teeny weeny village in Africa, I GOT IN!! Ross University, an American Veterinary Medical Association-Accredited school in the Caribbean, accepted me to start in September. I settled in, got comfy, and began planning for spring and summer in the US. I'd work and save up money to buy all of the many things I'd need to take with me to learn to be an animal doctor. Then I got an email from the vet school:

"Hey, Sarah. Don't you want to start school early? Start in May and we'll give you a $5000 grant! We'll even proctor your Biochemistry final!"

Well butter my butt and call me a biscuit! How could I turn down an offer like that? I called my advisor, moved my matriculation date to May, and then it hit me. I'd be leaving America on April 24th. That's a short 7 weeks away. OH MY GOD I'M POOR HOW AM I GOING TO PAY FOR ALL THIS STUFF? I HAVEN'T APPLIED FOR LOANS YET. I NEED VACCINE TITERS AND A POLICE CLEARANCE LETTER FOR MY VISA. I HAVE TO GET A NEW PASSPORT OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD.

I'm moving to St. Kitts and Nevis!!

I got a bill on Tuesday for the first two trimesters (Ross operates on 3 semesters a year.) I hope you're sitting down:

In case you can't see it, it reads Total: First Born Child.

After pooping myself a little bit, I resigned myself to a lifetime of debt and applied for student loans. Having had a week and a half off of school and my swim lessons cancelled for snow, and taking Biochemistry three days per week, I have made very little money the past few months. The list of supplies I need for vet school grows everyday as I read posts on the school's facebook group. Don't forget to bring coveralls and rubber boots to wear in the barn. Don't forget to bring an extra box of scalpel blades for the dog dissection. Make sure you bring a laptop with an extra charger. The money included in the student loans for "supplies" isn't available until a week after I arrive at school, which doesn't help at all. I wish I could be more excited that my dream is coming true but all I can think about it showing up in St. Kitts in my winter coat because I couldn't afford to buy any appropriate clothing.

So here I am again asking my friends and family for help. My animal angel friends and even people I had never met came together to raise $1500 when I was trying to send an abused village dog to America. I'm happy to report that Kali (formerly known as Sandy) lives in New England and is being spoiled rotten by an awesome couple I served with in Africa. I've made a gofundme for myself (even though asking for donations for myself makes me feel incredibly uneasy) because it is the only way I'm going to be able to continue my path, my destiny, to help animals. You can copy/paste the address below and donate $5, or share on Facebook, or send me good thoughts. I'll take any and every positive vibe!

http://www.gofundme.com/oa9yks

This beautiful dog was abused and neglected for years before I found her.
Because of your generous donations, she is now a happy,
healthy, spoiled rotten New Englander!

Now that that's out of the way, I thought I'd round off the blog with some things that I've noticed since I came home.

-Not eating wheat for the last year and a half + binging on mac n' cheese just because I can = TOOTING BEYOND BELIEF. Sometimes I surprise myself with how much I toot now. In Africa, I worried about pooping myself so I never trusted a fart. But here, with very little threat of water-borne illness, I let 'em rip. If tooting is wrong then I don't wanna be right.

-I love to be in bed on a real mattress. Eating cereal in bed. Playing candy crush in bed. Just wallowing around in the sheets. I bought 4 pillows and I perch on them all evening like a queen on her throne. I might never own a couch again because laying on a mattress is the epitome of comfort.

It's 4 pm? Time to get in the bed!

-I love my bed so much that I don't like to share it. I found out that I hate sleeping in the bed with a man. I don't know if I feel possessive over the pillows or I just want to have all the room to stretch out or I need to fart constantly and I can't because there's a man in my bed (see the first point) but I hate it. For two years, I fantasized about having a beautiful, tall lumberjack in my boudoir and now I'm like "Um. Can you sleep on the couch? Or go home?" Forever alone.

My future.

-Speaking of marrying myself, I went on about 10 dates in January/February. Epic fail after epic fail. The dating world is a cesspool of crazy, dysfunctional, weirdos. Case in point: I went on a date with a guy. We ate wings. The following weekend I went to Starbucks with a male friend. The guy I went on the ONE date with found out and showed up at my house yelling at me like this: "HOW AM I GOING TO BE YOUR BOYFRIEND FOR THE NEXT SIX MONTHS IF YOU'RE DATING OTHER PEOPLE??? YOU HAVE NO EMOTIONS! WHY WON'T YOU TRUST ME AND LET ME IN?'' I told him that I wasn't interested in being the first lady of crazytown and showed him the door. I want to take a lover who looks at me like maybe I'm magic because I'm awesome, not because he is hallucinating.

Yep. That pretty much sums it up.

-When I moved to Africa, I was fat by American standards. In Africa, I was perfect. Big tatas, big hips, big booty, most beautiful woman alive. Naturally, it shocked the hell out of me to come home and find out that I was still perfect. I don't know when "curvy" became the new ideal of beauty, but I ain't complaining! Amen and hallelujah to whomever decided that women look good with hips! I've never had so much attention from white men in my life.

Well, I think that's enough nonsense for one post. If you're still reading this after two and half years, I thank you. My blog has had 10,000 views thanks to the faithful readership of my family and friends. I'm not exactly sure what the next 4 years are going to be like but I do know that I'm doing what I am meant to do. Without the constant support of my people (you) reassuring me that I'd get into school, reading draft after draft of personal statements for applications, donating to my causes, sending me kind words and thoughts when I was stressed out about this donkey or that chicken, I wouldn't be watching my dream unfold right now. Thank you!!

Me and my best friend from Africa, Bobby.

<3
Sarah

PS- I'm cheap. This week I spent a snow day making a rug for my dorm room!

Repurposed from an old sweater, torn nightgown, and a towel!