Barricade Mentality

Ok, so it's hardly Les Miserable, but I can dream. But the past few days have seen a more barricade mentality here as everyone, in all classes, is readying for exam week. Our class got a jump on it on Friday with the first exam of the block, anatomy lab, but the real "week" started today. The campus is pretty much deserted except for those that like to study here or those taking exams today. I chose to barricade myself in my apartment for the past two days. The rain helped to make that decision for me. No sense getting the laptop wet in transit from home to school. So I studied at home. Fortunately the Internet was up during the entire storm so I could Google questions if I need some instant answers to anatomy, histology, embryology, public health or hyperbarics...the tests du week.  The 20+ hours yesterday and today have really paid off. I feel pretty ready for Tuesday AM at 0800. I'll know for sure after an impromptu review session in a few minutes with some of my classmates. But in general, I think we are ready.

This is an important block to me as it marks the half-way point for the term. With solid scores, the downhill side of the term really becomes more downhill and puts much less pressure on the end during cumulative final exams. Yep...gotta know everything about everything in the term during that barrage in early August. Hopefully I won't forget much, but likely I will. That is one of the great risks of being an older student...KIAS, knowledge instant atrophy syndrome. We shall see.

The rain was long, and hard today...really drenched everything including the cisterns. I have shower water for a little while now, and the plants will look much greener by morning. I love island rain...something really nice about it.  Best of all it'll nourish the many mango trees here (I love mangos!). The trees are absolutely covered with them and what the cows can't reach, I can grab. Yes, the free ranging cows on Statia eat green mangos off the bottom branches. Does the milk they produce then taste like mango? I won't be the first one to try a sample. But I'll continue to fight them for the fruit.