By Benji Ho - August 31st, 2010 | Updated November 8th, 2011
After our second night staying on campus, we woke up from the patient examination tables we were sleeping on and found everyone else in the other ICM rooms gone. It was 9am and the hurricane alert has ended. We walked outside to a sunny blue sky and nice breezy weather. Yet, all around us laid the evidence of the storm…
By Benji Ho - August 31st, 2010 | Updated March 9th, 2011
As the center of the storm approached us, Hurricane Earl’s fury heightened, bringing gushing wind and rain across St. Maarten. As Earl decided to slow down and grow in strength, the school decided to open the campus one more night as a shelter. Here is some video footage of Hurricane Earl that I took when it came through AUC.…
By Benji Ho - August 30th, 2010 | Updated February 20th, 2011
As I counted the islands below me — Andros, Grand Turk, Anegada — I couldn’t imagine that in less than 20 hours, this vast blue ocean and clear sky I see out of my airplane window will soon be engulfed by an encroaching storm. I was flying into Hurricane Earl.
I had spent a wonderful nine days with Irene in…
By Benji Ho - August 26th, 2010 | Updated March 25th, 2011
So this break, I am staying in Miami with Irene. She had just moved down here last week to start her Physician Assistant master’s degree program at Barry University (which by the way is the same university that our current Dean of Basic Sciences at AUC, Dr. Testa, came from). She’s very excited to start and I’m very excited for…
By Benji Ho - August 25th, 2010 | Updated May 2nd, 2014
**Updated 5/1/2014**
Medical school is an expensive investment especially in the United States as well as the top Caribbean medical schools, and like all schools, tuition is subject to change every year. This is definitely true at AUC where tuition increases every September. When I started Basic Sciences in 2009, the tuition was as follows:
By Benji Ho - August 19th, 2010 | Updated July 10th, 2016
Grades are out, and I’m happy to say that I have passed all my classes and I am officially finished with third semester and on my way to my fourth semester of med school!
I cannot say this enough times… TIME GOES BY FAST IN MED SCHOOL! I can’t believe I’m a fourth semester already…. it just seems too fast.…
By Benji Ho - August 17th, 2010 | Updated March 5th, 2014
There's lots of places within walking distance of campus to eat. Here I've made a list of them. Most restaurants around campus give student discounts and have student specials after block exams. Just ask.
By Benji Ho - August 16th, 2010 | Updated February 20th, 2011
Yesterday, we lost a loved and respected member of the anatomy lab, and the AUC community. Jack van Dijk had been struggling with pancreatic cancer the past few months and passed away on Sunday morning. Most of my class and I who took anatomy in September 2009 (and all the classes before) knew Jack, as he ran the lab and…
By Benji Ho - August 14th, 2010 | Updated February 20th, 2011
Last Tuesday after the fourth block exams, the anatomy TA program held our end-of-the-semester TA dinner, a final celebratory get-together for everyone who have made the Anatomy TA program possible. This semester, we made certificates of recognitions for the 24 TAs who have completed their 2-semester voluntary commitments to the program, and organized the dinner at Bonita’s Cantina in Simpson…
By Benji Ho - August 5th, 2010 | Updated March 5th, 2014
This past Tuesday I received a message from the Van Wormer Student Judiciary Committee informing me that I had been selected as the Summer 2010 recipient of the Dr. Karl Stockhausen Student of the Semester Award. I am definitely speechless after hearing the news as it caught me off-guard, and I feel very honored (and humbled) to receive this award…
By Benji Ho - August 1st, 2010 | Updated March 25th, 2011
I remember when I was a first semester student, I had always marveled at the TAs and Head TAs. They all seemed so senior to me and I looked up to them so much. Now, just half a year later, I have become one of them, and I still can’t believe it. Today, we held the last mock exam of…
By Benji Ho - July 24th, 2010 | Updated February 11th, 2014
One thing that’s really nice about AUC is that there are so many opportunities to get involved at school and get leadership roles. Not only is it fun and personally enriching to get involved, leadership positions will also look great on your MSPE letter sent to residency directors. Here, I will attempt to estimate the number of leadership opportunities available…
By Benji Ho - July 18th, 2010 | Updated March 9th, 2011
Rainy Season has dawned upon us in St. Maarten, and today it has been raining most of the day. Nevertheless, we students continue to do what we have to do… Phi Chi continued to have their “A Day in the Park Event” but held it in the Rotunda and Cafeteria rather than on the field, and I continued to study…
By Benji Ho - July 16th, 2010 | Updated March 5th, 2014
It’s the first weekend of the fourth block, and the last true weekend before the end of the semester where we can have fun without worrying as much about exams. Everyone knows this, and so that is why it is not too surprising that there are seven student-run events going on this weekend, squeezing in the last bit of fundraising…
By Benji Ho - July 15th, 2010 | Updated March 18th, 2011
Yesterday was quite a busy day for me. I sat through classes from 8-11:30pm. With the hour and a half before I had to go into the anatomy lab to fulfill my TA duties, I quickly ate lunch at the cafeteria and completed my notes for the day. From 2-5 I had TA duty in the anatomy lab. We continued…
By Benji Ho - July 12th, 2010 | Updated February 20th, 2011
Hello friends, family, and future colleagues! I made a video tour of the apartment I live in currently in St. Maarten to let you see more of what my life is like here. I’ve been living in Aventura Inn since second semester, and I like it so far. It’s about 8 minutes walking from school and 8 minutes walking from…
By Benji Ho - July 6th, 2010 | Updated March 24th, 2012
On forums, blogs (including this one), and word of mouth, we keep hearing that things in St. Maarten are pricier than in the states… but what exactly does “pricier” mean? Isn’t it subjective? The only way to truly answer the question is through objective means. I normally throw away my receipts after I come back home from grocery shopping, but…
By Benji Ho - July 6th, 2010 | Updated February 20th, 2011
The hurricane season is upon us! Year after year, AUC prepares by doing a number of things: boarding up the larger windows at school, stocking up on food and water, and preparing students to know what to expect and do in the event of a hurricane. Every year, AUC acts as a shelter for those students (and their families and…
By Benji Ho - July 6th, 2010 | Updated March 25th, 2011
Now that I am less than a year away from leaving the island, I am starting to feel the Basic Sciences version of the mid-life crisis. I do not want to leave the island with regrets of not doing the things I wanted to do. I want to meet some great people and make some lasting connections. I want to…
My name is Benji Ho and I am a family physician and graduate of the American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine (AUC), located on the Dutch side of the beautiful island of St. Maarten. My time at AUC has been quite a worldwide adventure, studying two years of Basic Sciences on the island, then completing my clinical rotations in the US as well as the UK. I completed my family medicine residency at Mercer University / Navicent Health in Macon, Georgia. Today, I am a board-certified family physician practicing outpatient family medicine in Macon, Georgia. I hope you enjoy my site as I share with you my journey. Thanks for visiting Diary of a Caribbean Med Student!
After our second night staying on campus, we woke up from the patient examination tables we were sleeping on and found everyone else in the other ICM rooms gone. It was 9am and the hurricane alert has ended. We walked outside to a sunny blue sky and nice breezy weather. Yet, all around us laid the evidence of the storm…
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Benji