They only said it would be worth it...

It occurred to me today that I have been away from this blog for a while. A long while. Please don't be offended. Shawn tells me after I  apologize for having no time that "It's like you are in a doctorate program or something".  Second semester lives up to it's fierce 19 unit reputation for keeping your head spinning and running on a hamster wheel just to keep up with the sheer volume of material. At the beginning of the semester I took a look at my "published schedule" and thought "Hey, this isn't too bad... Start at 8am and out at 3pm or 4pm everyday... I can totally handle that". Then there came the "extra lectures". You know, all the ones that would have created more than the 5 units worth of work you are given credit for in each class and so they get left off the official schedule. Most days I found myself between lectures and labs in an instructional learning building from 8am until 5 or 6pm almost every day.  Still you think ok, at least I'll be home for dinner. This does turn out to be true, but, you have to consume that dinner while studying the 10 hours of material you had that day as well as trying to read a little ahead on the material for the next day... Oh right, and who could forget about exams?? We have them. Lots of them. I have had an exam every week since about week 3 (this is currently week 8) and will continue to have one a week until finals (week 16).  This includes of course Thanksgiving which is not a holiday in St. Kitts. So think of me on thanksgiving while I am sitting in a lecture room with Dr. Reisch learning more than just "how to pull dystocia puppies from pomeranians".
The good news is that I am halfway through the semester and it really doesn't feel like it's been 8 weeks, it is truly flying by and in just 8 more weeks I will be on a plane back home for a whirlwind visit. I am planning to be everywhere from Santa Rosa to Chico and LA in a short 3 week trip and then it's back to the island.

Shawn has been amazingly supportive reminding me on a consistent basis that he's really only ok with listening to me cry over skype in order to obtain a wallaby after I graduate. I still can't tell if he's kidding but I suspect he really does want one. At least I managed to talk him out of the miniature hippo.

Two weeks ago I recieved an award from RUSVM in conjunction with SCAVMA in "Service Excellence" in honor of national customer service week. my first instinct was to furrow my brow and think "What customers do I service?!" I'm sure you are as perplexed as I was so allow me to attempt an explanation: St. Kitts has only been in the tourism game for about 5 years and I believe as a result the kittitians have no clue what customer service means. After a particularly difficult week I got an email from the student service department that stated: "Hi Good Day, As a part of the Customer Service Week October 7^th – 11^th we the staffs of Student Services have decided to give back to those students who have displayed good customer service within their semester and also to the RUSVM Community. Therefore you have been chosen as that student within your semesters that have shown exemplary Customer Service Excellence. Tomorrow Friday at 12pm there will be a ceremony inside  the union where we will congratulate you in front of your peers. Please not that you must dress appropriately because pictures would be taken to be in the newsletter on Monday. If you have any questions or comments feel free to contact myself or Ryan in this regard. Congratulations. Keep up the good work." 
I emailed back that I was confused (this email was not actually addressed to anyone) and thought perhaps a mistake had been made, after all, I'm not servicing any customers here. I hoped perhaps a better explanation could be made to me regarding this award I had never heard of before. The response I got simply said: "Yes, you are the recipient". Ok, guess I'm getting an award.
I went to the ceremony in the student union the next day and turned out to be one of 7 students (one student chosen from each semester at the school) who were being recognized for contributions to their class and school (this was the first time that the student services department had ever given out these types of awards). So really... Community service :). Winners were selected by their class representatives as students that are making a positive impact on student life at Ross or the St. Kitts community.

On a less scholastic note next week is Halloween, my favorite holiday, and I am planning to attend a masquerade monster ball that my semester class is putting together. When Shawn was visiting over last break I had him bring me a sewing machine and I have been spending a few minutes here and there putting together a costume. Hopefully I will be able to get it finished and will post some pictures when I do! TTFN