Registration Day!!
Orientation Time! This is the time in which I will be trained to become a medical student. Out of all the schools I’ve attended, AUC is by far the most diverse. I am amazed by all the heritages represented in the student body. Just today waiting in line to register, I met a Bahamian guy, a downright Texan, and a Bengali from Canada. There are some people who look tough, while others are more nerdy like me. There are a lot of Canadians here too, something you don’t really see in U.S. schools.
After registration, I went to the school business fair where representatives from local stores come on campus to promote their products. I bought a Chippie SIM Card from the UTS representatives for $20, which is $5 cheaper if I got it at an actual store. It includes $11 of credit. The process of buying a SIM card is so easy here, compared to when I bought SIM cards in other countries. In Taiwan, with Dageda, I had to fill out this long sheet with a carbon copy then have the store mail it off to the phone company. Then I had to wait a few hours for my card to activate. In Mexico, I also needed to fill out some paperwork and activate through a store employee. In St. Maarten, seemingly they just pop in the SIM card, press a few buttons on the phone and within a few seconds, you got a working phone number! Calling here is pretty expensive though, as I have blogged about before, and it is strange to me how it is on average cheaper to call international long-distance to the US ($0.32/min) than it is to call locally ($0.36/min). Texting is $0.15 each and all incoming calls and texts are free. I also found out that there are many places around St. Maarten that offer discounts to AUC students, including Le Grande Marche, Budget Car Rental, and many local restaurants. All I have to do is ask about it.
I also picked up a nifty dissection kit in its own leather carry case, and a lab coat handsomely embroidered with the AUC logo. I will be wearing this lab coat in lab and in the white coat ceremony. Hopefully we will not be dissecting any cadavers before the white coat ceremony!
**UPDATE**
Turns out we did start on dissections for a week before the white coat ceremony. Just make sure you wash it well, and leave no obvious stains!
So in the White Coat Ceremony, you are donning a lab coat you purchase? You are not given a brand new one?
Yes, we are donned an AUC white coat that we purchase.