Diary of a Caribbean Med Student

About: Puerto Rico is a Commonwealth of the United States and it is only 30 minutes away from St. Maarten by airplane. As it is one of the largest islands in the Caribbean, there are tons to see and you can easily spend weeks here and still not see everything. Highlights: Old San Juan, El Morro, Vieques, Bioluminescent Bay, Arecibo Observatory, Heladeria de Lares, Plaza Las Americas, El Yunque Rainforest, Bacardi Rum Factory. Continue reading

Hello everyone! Happy Holidays! It feels wonderful to be home, especially with my brothers and Irene home for the holidays, and it feels great to touch the keys of a piano again, run into old friends at the bookstore, and go out for dinner to a warm place on a dark, chilly night. With only three full days at home,… Continue reading

It was a semester of ups and downs, a semester of past challenges to resolve and new challenges to face. It was a semester where we found out our greatest friends are also our greatest competitors and our greatest collaborators.  No matter whether we struggled to pass a class or struggled to be the top of our class, we all… Continue reading

There’s always a mystery as to what goes on behind the closed-doors of the admissions office. Here at AUC, after the applications are received by AUC’s very own Medical Education Administrative Services (MEAS) in Coral Gables, Florida, they are sent off to the island of St. Maarten... Continue reading

If you're willing to spend money, there's not much you really need to bring, as you can pretty much find anything you want or need on this island. The most important thing to know about packing for St. Maarten is that things on the island can be expensive compared to the State and Provinces (on average about 1.5x more expensive). Whatever you can fit in your luggage... Continue reading

It has been quite an exciting 3.5 months in anatomy lab. First we worked on our first patient’s back, then slowly, we revealed her face, looking back at us. Then as we dissected deeper and more thoroughly we began to unravel the details about her life and her last days, as she left for us to find, all without knowing… Continue reading

“Congratulations on finishing Block 4! We have now officially learned everything we needed to learn for Genetics, MCB 1, Anatomy, Histology, and Embryology………….EVER.” yeah… I wish it were that easy. Now the hard part has just begun.. to remember it all and apply it right off the bat when I see it in my career. Now with no new material… Continue reading

Hello everybody! As you noticed, I haven’t blogged in about four days, and probably won’t have much chance to blog in the next week and a half, and you’ll see why. The next week and a half will be the busiest I’ll ever experience THIS YEAR. First we have our 4th Block exams on Monday for Anatomy/Embryology and MCB/Genetics, then… Continue reading

It was such a beautiful day today. Like yesterday, and every other day before that, it was warm, around mid-80′s, partly cloudy, blue sky. The trees are greener than ever and the flowers are in full bloom. As I walked around in shorts and a t-shirt, I could feel the warm breeze against my skin. I thought to myself, if… Continue reading

The Rotunda is the beating heart of AUC. Every day, there is always something going on here. Every night, there is always somebody around. Whether you are just walking through it to get to class, stopping by one of the booths to pick up something, or simply hanging out, the Rotunda is the place of contact and exchange for the… Continue reading