Author: Benji Ho

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… Continue reading

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… Continue reading

Are there any student adjustment support services on campus? As med school and living abroad in a new country is a drastic change for most of us, the school offers support to help us in our adjustment. We have a dedicated wellness counselor on campus, Dr. Adams, who helps us in our stress management, as med students often need. We… Continue reading

Throughout my time at AUC, I’ve never received more than 3 things in the mail: A care package from Irene, a wedding invitation from my old roommate at Wash U, and a book that my friend from Taiwan sent to me as a gift. If given a choice, I prefer sending and receiving things paperless, and unlike Irene, I don’t… Continue reading

Since I enjoyed it so much last time, I have volunteered again this time to be an orientation advisor for the new upcoming September 2010 class! The school is expecting about 225 new students coming in next semester, and they will soon be the largest class in AUC history. Because of this, a lot more of my friends and colleagues… Continue reading

Canadian students have always been a integral part of the AUC community. Some of the brightest students here are from Canada, such as CW, who received the Student of the Semester Award earlier this semester. As the largest minority here, they make up about 9% of the student body. Just a few weeks ago, the Canadian Medical Students Association became… Continue reading

  Parvo is a single dude, 19 years old, and a perv. He likes to get naked, and travel the globe for children to stalk. He likes to breathe on them and put lacey things on them. After the fifth incident, one of the kids’ mothers finds out, slaps Parvo on the cheek. Parvo gets mad and… Continue reading

Today in Introduction to Clinical Medicine (ICM), we had our physical examination “check-off” in which we were tested on performing all the physical examination skills we learned this semester in front of the professor. It went well, and I can now say that I am finished with ICM 3! Onward to ICM 4 next semester! About ICM Intro to Clinical… Continue reading

This semester, my schedule has become quite packed, with lectures, ICM, TA duty, pathology tutoring, med micro tutoring, SGA meetings, blogging, working out, and on top of all of that, the ever increasing amount of material we have to learn as med students. But no day of the week is as busy as Wednesdays for me: 7:00am – 8:00am Wake… Continue reading

About: Diving at night is an adventure. How awesome it is to descend into the darkness with a group of your friends with flashlights in your hands, not knowing what's underneath! Highlights: Seeing marine life that come out at night. Seeing the real color of ocean life, without all the blue that's around during the day, Seeing fish that follow the light of your torch, Seeing glow-in-the-dark bioluminescent microorganisms. Continue reading

Last Tuesday, AUC held one of the best and most helpful events I’ve been to here on campus… the Clinical Symposium!! As our school’s affiliated teaching hospitals are spread across the United States from California to New York, and across England, the school makes an effort to bridge the familiarity gap between the Basic Sciences here in St. Maarten and… Continue reading

This Saturday, several of my classmates and I in Basic Sciences will be supporting our senior AUC schoolmates by volunteering for the most important ceremony in a medical student’s life, graduation. After 4 strenuous years, these 150 and more students have finally achieved their dream in becoming doctors, and their journeys have only begun. Two years since they left the… Continue reading

Hello everyone! Every semester, AUC brings in alumni to come share their experiences with current Basic Science students here in St. Maarten. This is a great opportunity for us to learn about what’s in store for us and give us a guideline on how to pursue what we want. Thanks MEAS for sharing this flier with everyone. I’ll definitely be… Continue reading

One of the first things new AUC students (and spouses) do when we arrive on the island is to fill up our new homes with new groceries and supplies. But, where do we go? Here, I’ve compiled a list of some of the more popular grocery stores both near and far from AUC’s campus. Within Walking Distance:

Tung Yuen Supermarket

… Continue reading

Here I've made a list of affordable, relatively-affordable, and not-so-affordable yet fun things you can do on this island and beyond. These activities are perfect for the AUC student who's strapped for cash but want to take a break from studying for a few hours, a day, or a weekend. A must-read for any traveler to St. Maarten!!! Continue reading

About: Scuba diving is amazing, especially with St. Maarten's hard-to-beat clear blue waters and outstanding marine life. Once you dive for the first time, you'll never want to go back to snorkeling. Your relationship with the ocean just got deeper. Pun intended. Highlights: Swimming with a huge school of fish, getting close to a sea turtle, swimming right above the coral and the sea grass, Blowing air bubbles. It's an absolutely beautiful world under the sea. Continue reading

One thing wonderful about going to school in another country is the chance to be immersed in a different culture, get to know its people, and witness its traditions. With concerts, festivals, street parties, band competitions, pageants, and parades, Carnival season came to St. Maarten this past month, a holiday celebrated throughout the Caribbean, Latin America, and New Orleans (where… Continue reading