Monday, December 24, 2007

'Twas the Night Before Kittsmas


Twas the night before Kittsmas, when alongside the boats,
Not a Kittitian was stirring, not even the goats.
The lab coats were hung on the clothesline with care,
So the formalin smell could diffuse in the air.


The students were passed out with books on their beds,
While visions of caruncles danced in their heads.
Those histology slides, I had studied in vain,
Knowing slowly, but surely, they would drive me insane.


When out by the road, I heard a loud sound,
I sat up in bed and looked all around.
To the window I ran, and said "what was that?"
Then went to my closet for my baseball bat.


And what would I see, which I found quite bizarre,
But some local guy, fast asleep in my car.
I was baffled at first, but regaining my wits,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Kitts.


As he woke from his sleep, caring not of my classes,
He opened the glove box, and stole my sunglasses.
He stepped from the car, and out into the street,
Then turned, and dropped a bottle onto my seat.


What was in that bottle, perhaps some magic potion?
Well, no, it turned out to be used suntan lotion.
Then just like a cheetah, he ran down the street,
Now I have no sunglasses, and my car smells like feet.


But at least now I know that I'll get a safe tan
Next week with the sunscreen from that magical man.
And I heard him exclaim as he ran out of sight,
Merry Kittsmas to all, and to all a good night.

Sunday, December 23, 2007

My Miami Visit

Oh boy oh boy I went to the states! For 3 whole days! I went to McDonald's. It was good. And I went to Walmart... spent $300+US. Eek, but I needed things like regular sized tampons (since you can only get massive super sized ones here) and dog treats and a tennis racket.

I stayed with a classmate's really cool uncle who had 2 rotties. Such wonderful dogs. He is a retired orthodontist and kept complimenting my bite since my 2 years of torture turned into a set of chompers that line up. Mom would say "money well spent."

Also saw Eric and Christina who are getting married and have real jobs and bought a new car. I'm posting a pict, but keep in mind it was taken at midnight and I was zonked, especially with the time change. Don't I look tan though!

And been pet sitting this little monster. Salty needs a kitten. She thinks it's so cool to have a toy that moves and attacks her back. I can't believe she hasn't eaten it, but she's been so gentle.

Monday, December 10, 2007

Quote of the Week

OMG, this is so true. I had to share:

"Today we salute you Mr. Stressed Out Vet Student during exam week. As you sit in your lonely cubicle in the library, doped up on double grande mochas and adderall, you think to yourself, am I ever going to need to know this stuff in life? The distractions are tempting and you have suddenly diagnosed yourself with ADD along with advanced delusional schizophrenia with involuntary narcissistic rage. By now you know exactly what everyone is doing because you have checked your buddies' away messages 800 times. Break is just days away, and your Prozac prescription will be in tomorrow. So crack open an ice cold Bud Light, you academic warrior, because you'll be spending break in rehab."

I'm actually just drinking coke, but I am becoming agoraphobic... paranoia set in days ago, starting to hear voices... and the sunshine hurts my eyes and makes me squint. Oh finals, be over soon. I want to be a vet now.

Friday, December 7, 2007

Last day of 2nd sem classes

Today ended well with my last class of 2nd semester spent watching a movie.

Next week: FINALS!

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Earthquake

We just had an earthquake! I'm sitting here typing a report for school and my bed started shaking. I thought the dog was itching herself or rubbing on the bed so I hopped off the bed and realized the dog was still outside (I have the door open).

Then I looked and my door was shaking, so I walked out to my living room and my whole bookshelf-tv-stand thing was waving back and forth! THEN I started to get nervous (I do live at the foot of a volcano) and searched for my glasses. By the time I finally found them, the earthquake was way over.

Phones are currently down and I hear there is mass panic island wide (according to the girl that lives upstairs who just got home). The volcano is not currently spewing magma, but if it does, I'm going to high-tail it!

Yet another fun and exciting day in the life of Karla. Remember about this time last semester right before finals there was a hurricane. This might be too much nature for me to handle!

UPDATE from school: Here is some info from the United States Geological Survey regarding the earthquake today at 3:00pm. It was a 7.4 magnitude quake, and the closest island was Martinique. It looks like it happened out in the water. Details here.

Saturday, November 24, 2007

Thanksgiving Weekend

Rudder is happily curled up next to me... shedding.

We had class on Wed, Thurs, and Fri. Went to a fancy restaurant downtown (Ballahoo) for a spur of the moment thanksgiving dinner. $25US/plate for one tiny slice of turkey, a quarter size of stuffing, and literally a handful of vegetables. Should have known better than to trust the British with Thanksgiving, but had good company.

I cut my hair earlier while watching tv. I'd been meaning to since the ends were so damaged that I couldn't get a brush thru the ends. I just started snipping with scissors and hope I did a good job. Sure swept up a lot of blonde knots.

Yesterday A&M beat the hell outta t.u. It's always a good season when we beat t.u.

Salty is in love with Rudder. He's twice her size with his belly the same height as her back. They are the black and tan duo... my pretend Rottweiler with my pretend Doberman. He's way smarter than her though; he follows my toe when I point to food I've dropped.

The malaria and dengue carrying mosquitoes are after me tonight. I put on plenty of OFF, but they are buzzing in mass around me. Well, to bed now.

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Baby Goat

Found a baby goat... sorta.

I wanted a color change Del Sol bag that they were supposed to be handing out at the beach. I offered the guy in my physio class that lives up the road (Michael) to carpool with me (he got a coupon for a free bag too). He walks to my house and knock on my door to tell me there is a little white baby goat running around bleating. I say super.

We drive past the road where the goat was because I was told we needed to be at the beach at 6pm and it's getting late (sunset is at 6pm sharp). So I need to mention that this guy is from NYC and had not touched a pig or a cow... until he met me. I tell him the goat is fine, let's go. He guilts me into turning around, so we look at the goat. It's a baby goat alright. Still lively, let's leave it! I'm sure someone owns it and it's nanny goat is around the corner somewhere.

We go to beach. No color change bags. We stay for a while to make sure there are really no bags. We leave. I drop him off at his apt then pass by the goat on the way back to mine. I feel really bad for the goat since it's now like 10pm. The goat was starting to fade and cease to be alert so I scooped him up and walked over to the locals that cook on Friday nights.

"Is this you're goat?" I say, "No." they reply. Then I ask, "Know who he belongs to?" They say "No, but if you don't take him home he'll get eaten by dogs tonight." Way to make me feel bad! So I took him home.

I can't believe Salty didn't eat him! He tried to nurse off her too! He would not drink from a bottle, but only weighed 5kg or 11lbs. I ran a Mod McMasters on the goat feces and saw ~3100 epg coccidia and ~2250 epg Strongyloides papillosus (Threadworm). My parasit prof differentiated the Strongyloides L1 in egg from a developing Strongyle L1 in egg based on egg size and shell thickness. (You should have seen the little worm wiggling in the egg!!!) Even more exciting, goat had a pure Strongyloides infection with coccidial protozoa. Usually there are Strongyloides and Strongyles so a pure infection in a kid on the island is new information. Ah, at least I'm learning something.

I had Michael deworm the goat the 0.9mg ivermectin IM since he guilted me into keeping it in the first place. This was the first shot he'd ever given to an animal and I think they both squirmed! The goat started eating grass and forbs, which is good cuz it got him out of my bath tub. He looked healthy so I let him go with some other goats and he's roaming the hills somewhere. I had him for about a week.

Funny, Michael said his mother wouldn't even let them have a parakeet in the house (it was kept in their NY garage). He was utterly shocked that I didn't think twice about bringing a pooping, wormy, baby goat into my apt... and feeding it grass/hay inside too. I think when I grow up, the barn might as well be attached to the house so I can keep an eye on everything.

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Car rolled off a cliff at school

Funny story. So I'm driving to school and I pick up this guy in my class that I see walking to school. We finish driving to school and I go to the parking lot, to park, duh.

He gives me flack for parking on a hill, about how the car could roll off a cliff or something, and what not. I'm like "oh come on, that would never happen!" Ross-mobiles, riiight.

So we go to school like normal, THEN (few hours later) whispers go around in class that someone's car rolled off the cliff at school... let me say that again: ROLLED OFF THE CLIFF AT SCHOOL. THE 50 FOOT CLIFF INTO THE OCEAN. Super.

Anyway, one car (not mine thank god), with a defective parking brake, decided to roll off the cliff. Seriously. It rolled out of it's parking spot, over the cliff, to the ocean. Crashed on the rocks below.

Good thing this is Ross and we're prepared for events like these. (Yet we're somehow not prepared for other things?) Apparently we have a car-picker-out-of-ocean machine that was able to pull the car back up the cliff, back into the parking lot.

The car still works too. Amazing.

These picts are courtesy of Midge in my class. They're so great! Capturing the beauty of the Caribbean and the jungle on the car. (Click to enlarge picts, 1st pict especially!!!)

Rolled off a cliff. Could that even happen at another vet school? Colorado perhaps? Oh, I think they drive real cars there. Cliff, hmmm. Only on St. Kitts. At least the weather is nice.

Saturday, November 3, 2007

Break-in on Wed night

I have some distressing news.

Some guy broke into the upstairs apartment Wed ~11:30pm. The student's mom was home asleep with the dog in the back bedroom. Neither woke up. The guy stole some money and a cell phone then hid behind the porch and waited for the girl to come home. He demanded money and she said 'no' so he hit her and fled.

What's worse is that I was sitting outside watering the plants the entire time and didn't hear a thing! Salty barked, but I thought she was barking at another gigantic land crab that wandered into the yard.

We're all on high alert but we think it coincided with our landlord moving off island. He left Wed afternoon.

Glad I have Salty. She strikes fear in all the locals.

Here's a pict of my new (super expensive) dress. I saw it back in Aug before break and decided I needed it. It would have been nice to have my head in this pict, but I was talking and had my eyes shut, so not knowing when I'd wear it again, here it is. NO boob comments or I'll remove the pict.

Also this is the pony that is usually tethered out by my house, although I have not seen him lately.

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Mid Semester Break 2

Seven weeks left til the semester is over. We just had our much needed three day weekend... celebrating the climax of the semester. I spent it on St. Maarten!!!
On Saturday my landlord highlighted my hair to make the super blonde ends match the super brunette roots. She did a great job blending it so it looks ‘naturally’ Caribbean highlighted.

Took the ferry to St. Maarten on Monday. We were told to be there between 5-5:30am… which means be up and frantically running around the house at 4-4:30am! A group of us had decided to go, but since we lived on other sides of the island, we car-pooled in pairs. This was not a good idea since the other half of ‘our group’ slept in and missed the boat!

The ferry left port at 6am sharp, after charging us $6US exit tax. Leaving the island was beautiful as the sun rose with Nevis behind us. I even was about to see Ross and my unfinished apt house!
(Remember if you click on the picts, they will appear much bigger in a new window.)

Then my nausea meds wore off… PUKE! It was pink cuz I’m a girl. Not really, the puke was pink cuz I ate watermelon for breakfast. I went downstairs and passed out, so I don’t remember any more of the trip until we were docked and everyone was already off the boat.

St. Maarten was so neat! The drive on the right side of the road! It was weird. They also had this great clean grocery store, and nothing looked moldy! So weird! We walked further and saw restaurants; lots of restaurants that served reasonably priced food! Excitement building! Rumor was that there was a McDonald’s on island.

We walked down the wrong road and ended up passing a string of plastic-smelling tacky clothes stores. We ventured and found a hardware store, which my friend later returned to purchase a small vacuum. Realizing how off the beaten path we had gotten, we headed toward the ocean front strip, where of course, the high dollar shops were located.

Then we saw it: McDonald’s! Oh how exciting! It’s been… April since I ate at McDonald’s, and Dec since my friend had. Ordered food, but they didn’t have the buffalo hot wing sauce, so I was a bit disappointed. No matter! Reasonably satisfied, we did the tourist thing and headed for the beach for a nap… after getting an alcoholic beverage. Yes, it was still morning.

With some time wasted, we toyed with the idea of visiting the French side of Saint Martin, but that never came to be. The side we landed on was the Dutch side, hence the weird spelling of Sint Maarten. Venturing into a few shops, I invested in some cool T-shirts, Cuban cigars, and a new white and blue bikini.

Time was inching closer to when we had to be back at the boat, so we started heading back. My friend ran in one last store to look at cookware, and I followed. It then occurred to me that they sold pillows and I needed pillows! I bought 2 super nice pillows for $8US each. A very good buy methinks.

Rushing for no reason now, we plunge into the long line to board the ferry. Not wanting a repeat of the trip coming, I claimed 4 chairs on the bottom deck and sprawled out with my new pillows. I don’t remember the ride back, but I was told that the sea was so rough that at least 3 waves covered the entire boat during the first 30 minutes. Everyone felt some degree of seasickness during that 3-hour trip.

Six hours on a ferry and six hours on St. Maarten didn’t quite equate, but all in all, it was a good trip.

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Car Story

Survived the first round of exams! Woo-hoo. Also did stellar in Physio… the prof is known for making A students cry. (I made a B though.)

I think I’ve successfully learned how to cook. I totally love that I can get fresh real breadcrumbs here. Fried things never tasted so good! I donno why but I’d been craving dove stuffed with jalapeno and cream cheese, especially since they’re flying around here in mass. So I go to the store and settle for the next best thing: ye ole box of breast ‘frying chicken parts.’ I also bought a meat mallet to beat them with (tenderize). Thawed, I ripped the muscle from the bones and separated the pectoralis major and minor. The pectoralis minor makes for excellent chicken strips. The pectoralis major was pounded and then, in chicken cordon bleu form, some jalapeno strips were put in it. Then I took a wad of cream cheese and place it on top. The chicken breast was rolled up around said jalapeno and cream cheese, fastened with toothpicks and battered. I was able to make 7 and let them all bake in the oven at an unknown temperature for an unknown amount of time. Absolutely fabulous. I bought all the stuff for chicken cordon bleu and will make that in the next week or so.

Made mac and cheese to go with my jalapeno cream cheese stuffed chicken. With the botulism contaminated green beans from IGA, you would think I’d know better than to buy something on sale at IGA, but I bought pasta. Sigh, pasta plus chocolate colored pasta beetles. They float to the surface when you add water. I was very tempted to just pick them out and cook the pasta, like no big deal everything is contaminated with something, BUT since I had friends over, they out voted me and made me throw the pasta away. No one but me eats bugs I guess. I think this dates back to when I was 3 years old, sitting in the green chair, when my mom caught me eating a june bug. Crunchy.

So, car story that I had promised to tell: about 2 weeks ago I went to a friend’s house and my car started to smoke out the tail pipe. Never good, so I turn off car. Turn car on 15-20 min later and it’s still smoking. (This is the maroon one I bought for $1000US, while most cars that work are a lot more.) So I decide to park the car and come back when it’s light out. My island AAA is Ross security, so I call them and they pick me up to take me home. I decide to not check on my car (which I can’t lock) until after my test. (Imagine 3 or 4 days passing…) A friend drives me to my car after school. Only problem, car is GONE! I can’t even explain how my stomach was doing flip flops. I just couldn’t believe someone would steal my car, I mean why? It’s so ugly!

We started to search the road and finally found my car down the street and around the corner. Someone had just moved it (pfew). We’re on St. Kitts, that’s not so unusual. So I take the car to my Canadian mechanic at the Marriott and it was like a tiny valve cover thing in the engine that just needed to be replaced cuz the car had been sitting for a while. The local guy putting the car back together accidentally dropped the distributor cap (?) and broke it, so they had to order a new one and my car was MIA for about a week. The part they broke was free to me!

Next car story: so a friend of mine that now lives in the same building as me was living on the other side of the island. One morning she gets in her car and she hears a loud screech-boom-hiss and her car dies. She pops the hood and what does she find? A huge rat! In her engine! Half of it was over on one side, half on the other, and it’s heart had been ripped out of it’s chest was still beating like over on top of her battery. Eek huh!? This came up in conversation because I saw one of the large Kittitian rats get hit by a car the other day. Saw the same thing happen to a little mouse, but it ran off into the bushes rather than being grinded into the pavement like the giant land crabs typically are.

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Leashes anyone?

The first dog of the day met a dirty rasta sock that untied the leash and took the dog running across campus. I was finally able to catch the sock after 15 minutes and lots of laughs from my classmates. Catching the sock enabled me to catch the rouge dog. I can’t even begin to explain how sore my legs are from the 10 or so laps I took around the campus yesterday and today. Did I mention it was situated on a mountain? And I’m an infirm with a heart condition now? I don’t see how everyone else seems to get done quicker than me, but the dog walking is taking me a solid 2 hours… twice a day.

Anyway, I’m going to keep reviewing my Immuno. Got my car back this afternoon too! I’ve driven 100 miles on $50EC. I filled up with $95EC of petrol, so that’s 200 miles right? I’ll give the details on what happened to my car later.

Monday, October 8, 2007

Week of Walking Dogs

I was expecting a visitor last week thru the end of the month. I signed up to walk dogs am and pm this week because I thought I would have had help. We're each required to walk the clinic dogs for one week. Conveniently, I also have 2 exams and a presentation this week. So nice to be stood up and have my life even more complicated. Oh well.

There's a lot of construction on campus. I think they're putting some new buildings in, but they don't tell us these things. This however means that there is no way that Ross will be accredited by the AVMA any time soon. I think I'm going to try to transfer into 3rd year at a state school after my 5th semester. That will be next fall. We shall see how that goes.

Sunday, September 30, 2007

3 Rum Punches and a Margarita Machine

I went to a 7th semester sale yesterday. Got a horse bucket ($26), some mats ($5ea), throws to cover the couch ($5ea), a sewing kit ($5), a batik thing ($10), a hamper ($5), some food ($1ea), a bird cage ($15), and THE MARGARATOR ($130). Actually it gets better. So I'm at the sale and I was like, don't need a margarita machine so I kept passing it, although I talked to the girl and picked it up several times and really wanted it. So I'm walking and shopping and chatting with lots of people I know. I walk over to some locals selling plants.

I was quite enticed by a neat light pink plant called the Devil's Backbone. Stunning. Really stunning. Might be my most favorite plant now (ofcourse with Star Gazer Lillies my favorite flower... ahem, hint hint). Any who, it started to rain as it typically does on tropical islands. Everyone scattered like rats (which reminds me of another story) and I lost the margarita machine. Sadness.

To make up for the sadness, I was going to meet my friends at the beach to go swimming. Water was so nice, but cloudy. I swam out a little way then tried to stand up. PANIC PANIC PANIC! The water was cloudy and I couldn't touch the bottom and there are THINGS in the water like sharks and sting rays and killer turtles and sharks and sea urchins and sting rays and barracuda and sharks and giant killer groupers and monster jelly fish and giant sting rays and did I mention sharks!?

Ok, so I'm a weenie that can't swim, so what? It's not a crime. Keeps me from drowning or being eaten by Tiger sharks or Bull sharks or Whitetipped sharks or Lemon sharks. Now I feel nauseous. Why do I even go in the water?

So anyway, I clammer up on to shore, with a friend following me trying to figure out why I didn't want to swim anymore. Should never have watched Jaws as a kid. I decide to go to Ziggy's and have a much needed piña colada.

Power outage. No power means no frozen drinks means no piña colada. Hm what to get? RUM PUNCH! For those of you who haven't seen how freely the Kittitian liquor flows, oh watch out. To get a picture, when my dad took me to visit Ross for the first time, I had 2 rum punches complimentary from the hotel. I did not remember dinner and was in bed by 7:30pm. So I get a rum punch while I wait for my friends.

It was so good! I had another. THEN the girl that was selling the margarita machine shows up. The 3 other people (other Ross students) at the bar became my good buddies. I offered $100EC for the margarita machine (~$40US). She calls her friend who owns it. All I have is $100 on me. She says her friend says a firm $130EC ($50US). Bummer. Now VERY VERY SAD. I get another rum punch. Yum yum.

My friends have never seen me drink. I don't drink. I'm giggly. Very giggly. They loan me the $30EC and I get the way cool margarita machine! Three rum punches might have been too many. Friends now want to go to Marriott beach and swim in cleaner water. Oh did I mention they ate breakfast while I was sipping on my rum punches? Yea, it was a bit early in the day, BUT the bar was open!

We go to the Marriott beach. I was forced since I didn't drive. At this point I'm ready to crawl in the sand and snooze away. World is definitely spinning on its axis. It's neat how you can see the world spin with a few rum punches. It goes wee-wee-wee around and around. I don't know if I lost my glasses or if I just can't focus. Everything (even my hands) was quite fuzzy. Ok, out for a swim at the Marriott. World spinning in circles PLUS the ocean rising and falling does not do an empty stomach much good. I puked this really pretty salmon pink in the water. Friends don't realize and don't want to leave me behind. Did I mention that they had a few beers and obviously can drink way more than me?

I swim out a little further. Swallow a little salt water. Puke more. Do the same turn around and splash my way back to the beach. Drag myself on shore. Lay there for a while. Eventually made it to a beach chair. Took a nap. Friends got me food and when I was a little livelier, took me home. Blah. Sure was fun though.

Now I have more friends txting me. No one can picture me and alcohol. They think I'm so old and boring. Hehehe. It's sad, but I probably pretty boring. Maybe sometime soon I'll get to use my new margarita machine.

Hm, comparing prices and I think I got a good deal for $50US. It's $80US at Walmart, $90US on sale somewhere else, and $90US on Amazon.com. That doesn't even include what international shipping and import taxes would be. And it plugs into the wall and has an adapter for the car. Gotta love vet school.

Friday, September 28, 2007

Poor horse

Palpation exam was this morning. It was not difficult. The professor tagged the poor horse's clit though. I think my professors are obsessed with genitalia. A big bunch of animal gynos. Creepy. Especially since we know the vessels and innervation of that location, I feel bad for the poor old horse when the tape is ripped off her later today. Ouch!

I have another exam on Monday. Gross anatomy lecture. I'm sure it will be rather challenging.

I decided what I wanted for X-mas. One of Marie Antoinette's set of pearls. They are only $800K. I think I might deserve them. I would definitely wear them. Just showed a friend. Suggestion was made that I could take out student loans and use that money to buy the pearls rather than pay for school. I think it might be easier to just get a sugar daddy. But I would wear them- even to anatomy lab! :)

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Exams have begun

Looking at the schedule, we pretty much have an exam every other day for the rest of the semester... starting 3 days ago. Just got out of one. Tired.

Good news is that my landlord finally gave in and hired a different electrician so we'd have hot water!!! So I have hot water!!! It's warm! I don't think it's possible to get hot hot water, but at least I can get the soap out of my hair now. It doesn't make it all the way to the kitchen, so I still have to boil water to clean my dishes and sponges. Oh well.

The bookstore finally got the shipment of books in that was due last month. I bought a horse anatomy book. It has nice pictures.

Over the weekend I dug up of the two 3'x6' strips in front of my house. I put plastic on them to kill the weeks I missed. I plan to make a garden... but I'm not so good with plants.

Fun and excitiong news: I got my unibrow waxed after class today! It's now divided in two and markedly thinner so I no longer look like a squasch.

Fun and exciting news: I got my unibrow waxed after class today! It's now divided in two and markedly thinner so I no longer look like a sasquatch. I had gone to the Marriott in search of waxing and they wanted to charge a whopping $18US, so I said “uh, no.” So they suggested another place (since I’m now a local so to speak). That place was super (my definition of super is no line and cheap). My 5 minutes of waxing cost $15EC (~$5.50US), which I think is comparable to the place I used to get my pigs and paws painted in the states. I gave her a $10EC tip ($2.70US).

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Plume of Smoke

I do not think it is possible to smell any worse than I did after gross anatomy today. Last week we separated the ass's ass. Today we cut that ass in half. I can assure you it smells like ass.

I have lost all shame and have started to change with the 90 other ladies in my class... wait, there might be five guys... all gay or married. We have all lost our shame; never smelled worse. I can't even wash the smell out of my hair.

Next I stepped out of the anatomy lab and walked up the endless stairs to my next class. I look out at the water, like I do every day. I look left toward Nevis. Such a stunning view. I look out at the Caribbean Sea. Flat as glass. I look right toward my apartment. I see a huge billowing plume of smoke coming from what seems to be my apartment. Great.

I call landlord. No answer. I call landlord again. No answer. Now repeat this about ten more times and imagine my anxiety level at this point. Factor in that my car, which could very well be prone to spontaneously combust, was not in fact located at my apartment, but happily parked on campus.

So now the question is, am I over reacting? Probably. Or could my cinder block house possibly be on fire with 4 dogs and 2 cats trapped inside? That sounds more like my luck.

Did I mention that my landlord does not have the keys to anyone’s apartment? Oh and my front door is padlocked… just in case.

Another girl that lives in my apartment house is in my class. I find her and show her the gargantuan plume of dark smoke that does not smell like the typical sugar cane fires. She is concerned. We run to the guardhouse and tell security. She is not concerned enough to go home to see if her dog has become a hot dog. I am so I hop in the jeep and security takes me the 3 minutes to my house.

The good news is that I know exactly where I live. The bad news is that I had an electrical fire last week. Hm, might need to get that fixed. Landlord knows. Sigh.

But really, there was a huge fire across the street from my house. Man made. Security took me back to class. I wasn’t late, but I have no idea how I wasn’t!

Monday, September 17, 2007

Constitution Day

I've become addicted to the car. It started sputtering last week when I drove it off campus. I went to the petrol station and put $50EC in. What do ya know, it stopped sputtering. I've driven 40 miles on 1/4 of a tank thus far, and today the car rolled over to 150,000 miles. I was going to take a picture, but my camera was at home.

My hot water still isn't working. Maybe soon. Internet has been patchy too. Today and tomorrow are "Double Bubble" where you get 2x the amount you put on your phone. I also got burglar bars on my door. Otherwise, things have been pretty uneventful.

I mentioned that I got fish right? I have a highlighter neon pink zebra fish! I got 7 koi too. 3 are yellow butterfly koi. There are 4 standard koi: 1 yellow with black spots, 2 orange with black spots, and 1 orange-yellow with iridescent scales on its back. They have finally gotten friendly and get really excited when I come home-- more excited to see me than the dog. I cleaned their tank out today so it's all nice. hgjhg

Today apparently is Constitution Day in the USA. I got this email: "Federal law requires all educational institutions participating in federal funds to educate students about the United States Constitution every September 17. Why September 17? That is the date on which the founding fathers who wrote the Constitution signed it and sent it on to the states for ratification." Wednesday is St.Kitts-Nevis Independence Day. The whole island is supposed to completely shut down and turn into one giant party. Should be interesting.

Oh and driving home today I found a kong dog toy. I stopped, picked it up, took it home, cleaned it, stuffed it with a dog treat, and Salty loves it.

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

"Are you Karla?"

It seems that I have already developed a reputation for myself somehow. Our classes are fabulous and we only have one afternoon lab, which falls on Tuesdays. This lab is Parasitology and further divided into 2 sections. The first section consists of those with an even alpha number (me since I am #84) and the second comprised of the odd people in our class.

This semester my lab partner and good friend was put in the second section, thus she can no longer be my partner. Yesterday she decided to ask the parasit prof a question, then another, and yet another, thereby stumping the prof. The prof then replied, "Are you Karla?" to which my friend responded, "No, but she's a good friend of mine!"

Apparently the most nerdy bird in out class is this Karla person, with my friend being the geek. I'm taking it as a complement. The rest of the class thought it was quite amusing. I wonder what the profs say about us, although I truly don't want to know.

The hot water is broken again. My broom broke so I can't sweep up the dog hair. I got the key to my new car! Although I can't take it off campus yet. Definitely a Ross-mobile It is so ugly, see for yourself!

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Virgo

Virgo! About Your Sign... (I love these things. I'm so a virgo, 'cept in a fewspots. Oh, and got hot water today! Life of luxury... or caught up to the modern world at least!)

Virgo is the only zodiacal sign represented by a female. It is sometimes thought of as a potentially creative girl, delicately lovely; sometimes as a somewhat older woman, intelligent but rather pedantic and spinsterish. The latter impression is sometimes confirmed by the Virgoan preciseness, refinement, fastidious love of cleanliness, hygiene and good order, conventionality and aristocratic attitude of reserve. They are usually observant, shrewd, critically inclined, judicious, patient, practical supporters of the status quo, and tend toward conservatism in all departments of life. On the surface they are emotionally cold, and sometimes this goes deeper, for their habit of suppressing their natural kindness may in the end cause it to atrophy, with the result that they shrink from committing themselves to friendship, make few relationships, and those they do make they are careful to keep superficial. (That is so me.)

But the outward lack of feeling may, in some individuals born under this sign, conceal too much emotion, to which they are afraid of giving way because they do not trust others, nor do they have confidence in themselves and their judgments. This is because they are conscious of certain shortcomings in themselves of worldliness, of practicality, of sophistication and of outgoingness. So they bring the art of self concealment to a high pitch, hiding their apprehensiveness about themselves and their often considerable sympathy with other people under a mantle of matter-of-factness and undemonstrative, quiet reserve. They are still waters that run deep. Yet in their unassuming, outwardly cheerful and agreeable fashion, they can be sensible, discreet, well spoken, wise and witty, with a good understanding of other people's problems which they can tackle with a practicality not always evident in their own personal relationships.

Both sexes have considerable charm and dignity, which make some male Virgoans appear effeminate when they are not. In marriage they can be genuinely affectionate, making good spouses and parents, but their love making is a perfection of technique rather than the expression of desire, and they must be careful not to mate with a partner whose sex drive requires a passion they cannot match.

They are intellectually enquiring, methodical and logical, studious and teachable. They combine mental ingenuity with the ability to produce a clear analysis of the most complicated problems. They have an excellent eye for detail but they may be so meticulous that they neglect larger issues. Also, although they are realists, they may slow down projects by being too exact.


They are practical with their hands, good technicians and have genuine inventive talents, Thoroughness, hard work and conscientiousness are their hallmarks, and they are such perfectionists that, if things go wrong, they are easily discouraged. Because of their ability to see every angle of a many-sided question, they are unhappy with abstract theorizing. Appreciating the many different points of view as they do, they find philosophical concepts difficult, and they vacillate and have no confidence in any conclusions at which they arrive.

With these qualities, they are better as subordinates than leaders. Responsibility irks them and they often lack the breadth of strategic vision that a leader needs Virgoans are essentially tacticians, admirable in the attainment of limited objectives. Their self distrust is something they project on to other people and tends to make them exacting employers, though in the demands they make on those under them they temper this attitude with justice. They have potential abilities in the arts, sciences and languages. Language especially they use correctly, clearly, consciously and formally, as grammarians and etymologists rather than for literary interests, yet they are likely to have a good memory for apt quotations. Although they are well suited for careers in machine drawing, surveying and similar occupations, they are better fitted for a job in a library or office than a workshop.

Their minds are such that they need the stimulus of practical problems to be solved rather than the mere routine or working to set specifications that need no thought. They are careful with money and their interest in statistics makes them excellent bookkeepers and accountants. They also make good editors, physicists and analytical chemists. They may also find success as welfare workers, ministering to those less fortunate than themselves. They can be doctors, nurses, psychologists, teachers, confidential secretaries, technologists, inspectors, musicians, critics, public speakers and writers especially of reference works such as dictionaries and encyclopedias. Both sexes have a deep interest in history, a feature recognized by astrological authorities for at least two hundred years. If they go in for a business career their shrewdness and analytical ingenuity could tempt them into dishonesty, though they usually have enough moral sense to resist temptation.
Female Virgoans may find a career in fashion, for they have a flair for dress, in which they can be trend setters. In any profession they choose the natives of this sign readily assimilate new ideas, but always with caution, conserving what they consider worth keeping from the past. They love country life but are unlikely to make good farmers, unless they can contrive to carry out their work without outraging their sense of hygiene and cleanliness.

Their faults, as is usual with all zodiacal types, are the extremes of their virtues. Fastidious reticence and modesty become old-maidishness and persnicketiness; balanced criticism becomes carping and nagging; and concern for detail becomes overspecialization. Virgoans are liable to indecision in wider issues and this can become chronic, turning molehills of minor difficulties into Himalayas of crisis. Their prudence can become guile and their carefulness, turned in on themselves, can produce worriers and hypochondriacs.
(Yup, that sounds like me!)
FYI: Just took a shower, hot water no longer working. It was a few hours ago when I washed dishes, but heaven forbit it work when I need to wash my hair. Sigh.

Monday, September 3, 2007

Second Semester Starts

I'm sunburnt. Bad. Spent too much time at the beach yesterday. Went to bed early last night (11pm) and now up (5am). School doesn't start til 9am, so I have some time. I feel like I'm on the other side of the world. My old apt faced east and my bedroom was completely illuminated not a moment after 5:15am. Now being 5:30am in my new apartment that faces west, the light doesn't seem to want to filter in even as of yet.

I know of three people that I won't see in class today. Not sure about how many others. One brought her kid to our afternoon lectures, so I hate to say that I will not miss it running around screaming at all. The two others were really nice guys. Academically, they had a rough time last semester. I've heard that dozens of the previous semester will be joining us to repeat 2nd semester.

Ah here comes the sunlight. I think I'm going to have some tea and go to school in a little bit to feed the fish and buy books.

Schoo was great. Have class from 9am to 2pm WITH an hour break for lunch AT lunch time! Tthe rest of the week looks like hell though. We have gained litterally 20 students from the semester before (they failed), so there are 90 people in our class now. When we started last semester there were 86 and we got down to 70 something. Last semester my alpha number was 78, and now it's 84. Too many people, and there were some really great people in our semester that didn't make it to this one. They will be missed.

Walking home I was amused to see (this is an only on St Kitts) a little girl swinging with the end of a downed power line supervised by her mother and her older sister. What do you really say to that? I mean, really?! Now I know why we have so many power outages... ZAP!

Still no hot water, although the guy came out to try (he's been trying for 2 weeks). I made him banana nut bread cookies to coax him over today. He's not so reliable in the showing up part of the job... SO my landlord (who would also appreciate hot water) gave me his number and I've sent him harassing text messages. Hehehe. His name is Spoose; never heard that one before.

I also made (FROM SCRATCH) cheese sticks! They need more spice. I think next time I'll use string cheese instead of motzerella squares. Island breadcrumbs are to die for though. This is like the all inclusive boarding school, $10K/semester in tuition gets you a vet degree and teaches bright, attractive young women how to cook fairly decently (or starve). Either way, we look good in a bikini!

Saturday, August 25, 2007

Koi Pond minus the Koi

Koi pond looks great! I have plants and clean water and a filter, but the Koi ... jumped out sometime today. None of the other fish did, so this is sorta a bummer. He was really pretty- mostly white with a few black and red spots.

Did I mention how I estimated the proper measurements for the tub? I measured the diameter
of the tub and divided by to to get the radius (r= 11.38 in). Area of a circle is πr^2, so then I calculated the area (A= 406 in^2).

Next I measured the height of the tub (h= 15 in), and the calculated the volume as Ah (V= 6094 in^3).


One gallon of water takes up (given) 231 in^3 and weighs 8.33 lbs. Therefore the tub can hold a maximum of 26.38 gallons of water which weighs a hair less than 210 lbs.

To complicate matters, proper pump flow should filter or exchange the entire volume of water 4X per hour to keep the tank clean, but not faster or it will wear the fish out. That means I needed a pump that would move ~100 gallons of water per hour, which I had shipped to me.

In other news, I baked at the Marriott the other day and look absolutely fabulous. I am so tan, so to illustrate, I put on a whit shirt so you can see the contrast. Picts of my apt will come later after I clean!

Thursday, August 23, 2007

I'm 25 today!

That is so depressing. Half my life, poof. At least I have my health... no wait, sigh. I'm getting old. Josh's birthday was yeserday. He's 21 now. I never expected we'd be this old, time is going fast!

So for my birthday I got a mattress foam pad so my back doesn't break. I also got a laser pointer to point at things in class (hehehehe). Then in another package I got my fish filter stuff and my koi pond is fully set up with 1 koi and 7 talapia. The talapia I got from school; they've been cleaning out the ponds eek. The koi is tri-colored and looks like a calico cat.

I also got my NEW dog from school. She's a vicious monster that salivates when she sees black men wanting to taste the fear in them. Ok, but really, if she bites one more person she's a dead dog. No one's been nipped in my presence, but her last foster had a wound that took a month to heal. She's a really good guard dog, and I feel really safe at night with her around. Yessirre, a purebred Kittitian mutt... and scared of the ocean, go fig.

What else? Oh the internet is good. Got a modem and plugged it in about 5 min ago. I'm heading out to Ziggy's now though and will be sleeping in tomorrow.

Oh wow, did someone tell Jorge it was my birthday!?

Monday, August 20, 2007

No Internet

Uhuh... anyway, I'm still alive. No internet. Maybe soon? The hotel we stayed at is completely trashed. THE beaches ARE SO different.

I learned how to drive a standard. Very interesting. Will tell you more later.

I am moved... but good thing I was prepared for Dean. I'm living off my hurricane rations since I lack the ability to cook or have hot water. (Very cold showers.) Got good guard dog though who sorta has proved herself already.

Test drove $1500 car. Does not make it to beach. Does not make it half way to the beach. Returned this morning. NOW trying to buy a maroon one for $1000US (asking $1250US). Looks like sh*t but drives great, not leaking, and not overheating. We shall see.

Now, must find food-- starving. Too many Chef Boyardee (sp?) ravioli over the weekend. Also need to get Koi.

Friday, August 17, 2007

During the Storm

It's pretty windy and overcast here. I'm shocked that nothing is closed. (Click on pict to make it big.)

A friend too me to the fire station and I got a drivers license. Then she went to the bank so she could get funds for her Puerto Rico trip next week, while I perused the grocery store. To my surprise they were 1) open, and 2) still had water. They did not have pineapple juice, wheat thins, or lemon juice, which happened to be the 3 things I had forgotten to get Monday.

Then we went to the Marriott to exchange her EC for US. The Marriott is the only place on the island on lock down. Guests are wearing wrist bands and are confined to their rooms! The casino was closed and the shops were closed and I really had to pee so I sweet talked the people into letting me into one of their closed bathrooms for some much needed relief.

Next we went to SNIC which is island insurance. I'm now officially on my friend's insurance so that I can drive her to the airport. The cost- $3.26EC ($1.20US) since I'll be 25 in 6 days. If I were already 25, it would be free. When I get car insurance it'll be $662.00EC ( $245US) for a YEAR. Wow. I think that's the amount that my mom paid every month per little brother. My insurance (as a good driver) was ~$60US/mo, which was cheaper than all my friends. This will be good since my living expenses are going up with my new apt.

After that we went to Domino's Pizza. I'm currently eating a deep dish medium half canadian bacon-pineapple and half black olive- mushroom. Numie numies. Then I think I will nap and start moving.

Hurricane Dean is apparently a category 3 now. Power went out earlier, but now back. Still raining, it's 5pm. I have picts though! Off to another Hurricane Party downstairs.

Still raining, 7:30pm. Wow, compare the water from another pict. I live on a clif 50 ft above the ocean. Those are big waves. It's gotten worse since that pict taken at 3pm.

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Before the Storm

Ross evacuated the med school campus on Dominica. St Kitts is further north, so we will stay. The TS#4 that turned into TS Dean is now Hurricane Dean. The wind here has picked up significantly. Imagine picts of coconut trees in hurricanes without the rain and clouds.

I will tell you more in a min, but right now gots to run down the street and secure an apt.

More fun. Ross closed our school and canceled exams for tomorrow. Unfortunately, I don't have an exam tomorrow, so this does not affect me. It's so neat though! Ross is all hunkered down. I feel like I'm in one of those nature documentary movies. I've also become an expert at the bus system... but I'm the only white girl on the buses, so I get some strange looks... from locals and classmates alike.

I forgot to mention yesterday, when taking my Physio exam, and we all know I'm crazy, I started hearing things. Sounded like someone was trying to get in or trying to bounce a ball on the wall. It's bugging me, but I try to concentrate. As the minutes ticked noise was all around me and above me. So delusions set in and I ask the proctor if she could hear the noise, which she couldn't and I got the 'you a crazy girl' look and was moved to a different room. When I turned in my exam, she said with a big smile on her face, "You're not crazy, and they aren't rats." I look confused and she continues excitedly, "They're crabs!" Only on St. Kitts would giant land crabs invade the rafters of a building. Now that i know this, the SGA president said that from time to time they fall thru the roof when you're studying too. What fun!

Something else happened yesterday... no today, this morning! I saw another ghost. So I stayed at a friends house so that we could study together. I woke up quite early with an everly increasing pineal gland. I had my hot tea, etc etc, was studying. Her roommate came out to the living room and I scared him, then he left for school. She woke up and came out to the living room. We were talking and I turned to go to the bathroom to pee, and I swear I saw a person in black pants walk into her room. She sighed and said she sees him too sometimes. I thought great, just what I need to start an exam with in the morning.

The first official ghost I saw was back in Jan/Feb at my dad's house. Her name is Edna, the late wife of Jean who my dad bought the house from. She was whitish light or cloud and came in the front door of his apartment, checked on me (which scared the you-know-what out of me) and then went into the shower. The shower turned on for a while and then turned off. I was creeped.

Oh went to the movies tonight too and saw Harry Potter. I don't know if I've mentioned the theatre here, but the bottom is infested with rats and the floor and walls peal and it looks haunted. It is an experience and next time I'll smuggle my camera in to show ya'll.

Then went to Hurricane Party at Ziggy's on the beach. Had 2 pina coladas (so good) and then ate a ton of hot wings (craving). And now it's ~3am, very windy, with a very choppy sea. Seems like storm has hit then it doesn't. Is coming in waves or the arms of the storm maybe.

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

They laughed at Chicken Little too.

So what do ya know, there really might be a storm in the Atlantic. Oh did my friends and professors tease me after I sent out the text message that said the sky was falling, on possibly Friday, the last day of our exams. Looks like a hurricane to me. I might be Chicken Little, but I have tons of clean water!

Ok, to be less melodramatic, Ross finally sent an email out stating: "Tropical Depression # 4 is nearing the Lesser Antilles. See news blurbs below. Storm Tracking models have TD4 heading west toward the Lesser Antilles but have its course passing north of St Kitts and Nevis around this weekend. We will keep you updated as more information becomes available. Please take this opportunity to go through your hurricane preparedness checklist to make sure you are fully stocked with supplies."

My sources say, "TD #4 is now Tropical Storm Dean and is making its way towards the Caribbean islands. It is expected to become a hurricane and potentially affect portions of the Caribbean islands towards the end of the week..." Like I said earlier, swell.

So now my friends believe me. Only problem is that they're psyched! They're looking forward to the possibility of being in 140 mph winds, not having clean water nor electricity, and 2 weeks of looting. They're also waiting until after finals to go to the grocery store (which was running low on supplies yesterday) to get prepared. I am going to continue to be pessimistic since my life tends to be somewhat more exciting than most. I'm sure it will hit, but I will continue to hope it does not.

As you can see with the image below taken from the NOAA Satellite, the scary set of clouds on the bottom right have moved a full square closer to the Caribbean than they were yesterday. If it goes the same square per day speed it will be in the St. Kitts’ square on Saturday evening. So I assume the weather people just count the squares and that's how they came up with the Saturday estimate too.

And because we needed more fun, there's something fierce going on in the Gulf now too. I know these aren't such precise ways to describe the weather, but I tend to feel that divining for weather is an esoteric art best done by someone who is 1) not me, and 2) owns a satellite.

On the positive side, while not studying for Physio, I took a personality test from Rebecca's Blog. Here are my results (although it seems skewed):


Monday, August 13, 2007

Distracted

I decided the other week that after finals, I was going to create a koi pond in my apartment. (I can see Nora saying ‘Karla!’) So koi grow like huge, and in 2 years I move off the rock, so what to do with 3 fingerling koi when I move and they are big? They are now officially approved to join the other campus koi in the Toxic Plant Garden! So I feel better about getting them now.

Went to IGA and Ram’s (grocery stores) today to stock up on canned goods and water for the impending doom that might hit us over the weekend. IGA has IGA green beans on sale—half off! Too bad they’re laced with botulism! But no big deal, let’s sell them anyway, right? Swell. Yea, glad campus sent us an email on that one otherwise I’d be sick with yet another jungle/tropical/exotic/Caribbean/misc fever (cuz I like green beans).

Today was the Histo final. Don't feel so good about it, but oh well I can live with a B if I have to. Tomorrow is the Nutrition final. Should be fine… but my prof caught me not studying with the Toxic Plant Garden prof. There are a lot of really great profs here with so many interests and such a desire to teach. Combined with the weather, I'm perfectly content... well...

Weather related, a tropical storm off the African coast looks like it's turning into a hurricane. Time to batten down the hatches! This is so just my luck. No one here really thinks it will hit us, BUT they haven't known me long enough- if it's at all possible to go wrong, it will. So I bought more matches, candles, canned food, and 9 more jugs of 5L drinking water. Yea, who will be the over prepared little girl scout? That's right- Me. Let them laugh, I don't care.

Here are picts. It's on the bottom right. Just swell. It does look very hurricane-ish in the loops, so you should go check them out if you're interested. (And in case you weren't sure, because I got this question earlier today, St. Kitts is on the Atlantic side, and not near Hawaii which is in the Pacific and on the other side of the world. Thanks for playing, try again.)

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Beach Car

Ok all you 66 dirty minded people that visited my blog yesterday, I need to implement a new rule that if you're from someplace cool (ie not St. Kitts or TX) then you need to say who you are and where you're from.

That said, I saw the cheap car today and it drove well! It's a '91 grayish Nissan Sentra with 130,000mi. I was surprised to find that it indeed had 4 windows and doors! The wheel tax is paid thru Feb 2008. It also has 3 new tires, new joint caps things, new brakes, AND starts on 1st try.

The bad news is the alignment or something is off and wearing on the front tires bad. It will need 2 new front tires soon at $80EC each (installed)... $30US each. Any idea on what to do with the alignment problemo? Power steering might be going out too. Needs new window roller on left side and trunk can't open, BUT you can get to trunk thru back seat.

Car comes fully loaded with sand and that old island car smell. She asked what my max would be, and I told her $750US was my max budget (which is true). I think she said she'd take it and it could be mine free and clear. She said she had about $1000US in repairs in it so far and will go find out how much fixing the alignment will cost. I hate that she would be losing the money she put in the car to fix it, but I also worry it might be a money pit. (Apparently the 7th semester that gave it to her was inclined to excessive drinking, so the car definitely has a lot of character.)

I have not see the other car that is $1500US which I hear is in good shape. There will be no guarantee to get someone to go in on it with me to reduce the cost.

Remember the ONLY reason I was thinking of getting a car was to get to Gong Beach (heavenly music) with Rudder and maybe Salty. The buses and taxis said they wouldn't let a dog in their van, but they do drop you off at the airport of $1EC extra.

Saturday, August 11, 2007

Really Dirty Nerve Joke

Straight from the mouth of one of Ross's elderly anatomy professors:

What nerve stimulates the clitoris? Answer.

We were absolutely dumfounded when we heard it uttered. They are such sweet, proper old men, and we cover our mouths if we let a curse word accidentally slip in front of them (but not me cuz I don't swear at school). An upper semester said they have lots of jokes like this and some much worse. They do a good job- we will never forget it now!

And just so you have more "walk around knowledge" the hypogastric nerve is responsible for the male ejaculation, the pelvic nerve is responsible for male erection, and the pudendal nerve is responsible for "it's awareness of it's surroundings." Swell huh? Yea, I didn't need to know that either, but I've been dieing to share it with the world all week.

The Classmate and the Kitty (a true story)

About a month ago, a fellow classmate took pity on an injured stray kitty so she took it home. Problem was that she lived in the dorms, so she gave the kitty to another classmate to watch for her until she moved out of the dorms.

Kitty bolts... thru screen window. Kitty disappears into bushes. We look for kitty. Set traps for kitty. No kitty. Classmate who picked up kitty now overwhelmed with guilt thinking she had ruined the kitty's life by trying to help him. Poor kitty, poor classmate.

3 weeks pass. Classmate sees kitty! It's near the dorms! We move traps from one side of campus to the next. Wala! Trapped kitty! Classmate panicked and excited at the same time. Kitty far from thrilled.

Kitty arrives at my house with my classmate. Kitty is to stay in my room, aka Ft Knox for kitties, until classmate moves out of dorms. Classmate tells me that if he gets out again, she'll have to go into counseling for disrupting kitty's sad little life!

So kitty begun to feel happier since there was food and a litter box around. He's a good kitty and very pretty- white with blue eyes and not deaf (possibly a flame point siamese) about a year or two old. In the duration of these events, classmate also trapped 2 very cute, but wormy kittens! So playful after they realized people = food. These might make better pets than the kitty hiding under my bed with the big big eyes.

Kitty not adjusting quickly and it is decided that maybe he should live outside again. After hiding under my bed for one week, my classmate came to fetch him. Kitty's destination: EXACTLY where classmate found him at Marriott next to pizza stand. Classmate also going to start feeding kitty at the Marriott so he lives happily ever after. THE END

Moral of the story: Don't pick up strays and the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

I should tell you the story about The Kittitian and the Kitten. It's about a guy who tossed a kitten in front of a car and motioned for the car to move forward. Fortunately the driver was another classmate.

Let me illustrate:
Animals : Vet Students :: Flies : Shit