Hello kiddo's!

So I'm almost halfway through second semester right now, which means that I passed first (yay). And if you guys haven't heard, second semester is literal hell.

But anyways, I will try and give you guys an update on my life for the past few months and not bore you with the mundane schedule of my life currently. So let's rewind to right before the August break.

Apparently, my nightmare of a trip back to the United States is legendary here at Ross, and even halfway into the semester other students will still ask me, "Wait, were YOU the one girl on the Charlotte flight?" Yes. Yes I was. Just so everyone knows, it is common knowledge down here that you need to arrive at the Robert L. Bradford airport 3 hours or more before your flight, and if you arrive later than that, American Airlines can and will give away your seat even if you had booked months in advance. A friend of mine had that happen to her and she literally had to cry before they asked someone else to give up their seat since they had given hers away. With that knowledge in mind, I arrived at the airport at 1:45 for a 4:40 flight. AA has recently merged with US Airways, and previously you had been able to check in and get your boarding passes at those fancy kiosks and skip the line. When I tried it, neither US Airways or AA could find my flight info at all- even though I had been sent an email the night before with my seat number (guaranteed travel, essentially.) So I stood in line to check my two bags......until 4:25. I now had 15 minutes to sprint upstairs with my carry-on and personal bag, make it through security, and get on the actual plane. If I hit any of you readers on my way to the plane...sorry. Anyways, I made it up to the single room with 3 terminals and meet up with people I know who are on my flight who are all nursing various alcoholic beverages. And I hear an announcement, "Now boarding US Airways, final boarding call."

My friends didn't budge. There was a US Airways flight going to Miami which was supposed to leave at 4:30, and that plane was right in front. I saw a British Airways flight, and a Liat (a Caribbean plane), but didn't see my plane. You guessed it again! It was MY plane boarding, the Miami one was delayed, and my plane was actually parked a good 400 yards away down the tarmac. So my friends and I sprinted down and up onto the plane. Whew! 4:39. Made it.

And then we sat there. On the tarmac. For an hour. The pilot's voice came over the night, "Ladies and gentlemen.... St. Kitts radio tower will not answer me and I don't know why we're just sitting here." *Sigh*

Storms over St. Kitts; this happened to be
the day of my first Anatomy Exam

So finally we were able to take off. And 3.5 hours later, we found ourselves circling over Charlotte due to heavy storms, debating between waiting out the storm or flying to another airport due to our low fuel levels. Luckily we were able to land....except there were another 20 planes that had landed first and needed to get their passengers off. Since we were an international flight, we had to wait even longer since we needed to go to a gate to get through customs. Now I had a connecting flight to my hometown that was supposed to take off an hour after I landed- poor planning on my part, since it can take up to 2 hours to even get through customs without any flight delays, which the combo of waiting for an hour and taking forever to get off the plane just filled up. I resigned myself to just taking the next flight out. An upper semester friend of mine was in the same boat (same connecting flight, both from same region, it was awesome!). Imagine our surprise when we got to customs to recheck our bags, and the customs official said, all flights have been delayed due to the storm, your flight has been moved from 10:10 to midnight. He and I almost leapt in the air with joy. But we quickly calmed down and decided just to get to the terminal as fast as possible anyways because with our combined luck, bad things were sure to happen.

It turns out that our flight was delayed- but instead of midnight like the lady told us, it was only delayed until 11:05.

So Steve and I were literally sprinting through the Charlotte Airport, banging our bags into people, yelling at them to move (because obviously, our flight was at the far end of the terminal!). I ended up losing a makeup bag with about $300 worth of makeup in there- whoever is currently using my Naked eyeshadow pallet I HOPE YOU'RE HAPPY WITH IT YOU JERK!#!#$!$#!&@*(#&. Anyhoo. So Steve get to the terminal before me, and I hear the magic words:

"YOU'VE GOT TO BE ******* KIDDING ME."

It was 11:02. They closed the doors early and wouldn't let us on. All 35 of us who were travelling from St. Kitts.

What was funny was there was an AA flight to Philadelphia in the terminal next to us who closed their doors, left, came back and picked up the people from my flight going to Philly. But not our plane. Our plane sat there for an additional 50 minutes while one man screamed obscenities the entire time. Since Steve and I had gotten there first, we were able to be rebooked onto the 7:45 am Sunday flight with only 3 seats available. The next flight out was Monday. That poor man. Oh, and of course due to "weather related delays" AA didn't put any of us up in a hotel. We tried to argue that this was the airline's fault, and additionally it was the same day as the huge computer glitch out of D.C. that affected all flights on the East Coast that weekend. It didn't matter. Steve just looks at me and says, "What's one more all-nighter?"

At least our sunsets are pretty.

So after a long and horrible night in Charlotte (no food vendors were open so we were both starving), we get on the morning flight. Waited for another 3 hours on the tarmac because right before we were about to take off, we were taxied off to the side due to a "faulty parking brake." Steve looked over at me and whispered, "You look like you're about to murder someone." So then I got up to use the bathroom, and AA said, "Just kidding! Go ahead and fly, you'll be fine." While I was in there. The flight attendants wouldn't let me get back to my seat, which was LITERALLY 3 rows in front of the bathroom. I was stuck in there until they turned off the seat belt sign. It wasn't until I got back to Ross that I realized I could have pretended to hit my head, sued, and have my tuition freaking paid for. But I digress.

So I finally landed in my hometown, and all I want to do is pass out at home. I had called my parents, who were picking me up, while I was on the plane in Charlotte telling them to check the flight times as we were delayed. And when I got my checked bags, I walked outside, called them, and heard, "Wait, you just landed? Oh honey, we're still an hour away- we haven't even left yet! See you soon."

And for the next 5 hours I was given tours of the farm and got to see all the beautiful changes and renovations we made to it- all while delirious with sleep deprivation.


Break went as expected- saw friends, ate amazing American food, spent time with family, etc. And then I was excited to fly back to the rock and move in with my amazing.....coconut retriever! Everyone, meet Toothless. She's a 1 year old island hound, who had been hit by a car and put up for adoption by S.A.F.E. Named after the dragon from How to Train Your Dragon (Mom, if you saw the movie, you would understand. It's not a stupid name!).

She literally looks just like him when she opens her mouth. It's creepy as hell!

But thank god she's here. As I mentioned above, second semester is the weed-out semester. We have Anatomy II with Lanning, who is a fan of application Scantron tests with options A-J. It's not just about identification anymore, and the only LRC exam for the semester is the final. Every other exam is a practical, which scares the hell out of me. I was able to pass the first one with a C+, and honestly I'm just thankful that I passed. Currently I'm in Week 4 of a 9 week section of at least one exam per week. And it's only now that I've had an exam for each class that I have a grasp on how professors are going to ask questions.

For those who are interested:

Page 13/35 so far.

Physiology: Reich is Reich. Same as he's always been. His questions are tricky although he doesn't mean to actually trick you. My favorite class.

Immunology: A "dual-taught" class that has been taught largely (with the exception of one lecture) by a new professor named Dr. Toka. My least favorite class.

Parasitology: Frankly, the worst class of all time. Prepare for a level of detail you never knew existed. It's only a 3 credit class, but you easily put in just as much work for it as you do for Anatomy or Physio. Currently they are teaching it by taxonomic groups rather than host species, and we are the last semester out of three to have a different teaching style, so I cannot comment on classes for future semesters. Not my least favorite- I see why it's important, but I just get so bored with it.

Anatomy: It's Lanning. So know everything about everything. I'm not kidding.

I'm also in an elective called Food Animal Production, and if you were an Animal Science major, this is apparently just a recap of those classes. Meets once a week and is a night class, but is mandatory attendance. Provides interesting info but nothing you haven't really seen before, except maybe a few new breeds.

Basically, I'm just putting my head down and trying to get off the struggle bus and onto the studying grind. My day now consists of waking up at 6:30 am, let the dog out, go to class until 5, go home, let the dog out, go back to campus and study until 11/12ish, go home, talk to the boyfriend, and pass out when exhausted.

Although I did win Island Idol on Friday. So I'll be enjoying my first massage in two years courtesy of Red Semester. WOOOOOOOO!