Author: Benji Ho

Within the past two weeks, we’ve gotten to know our first patient (our cadaver) to a more personal level. After dissecting the back and arms, we finally met our patient face-to-face. We explored the nerves and muscles that make her smile, frown, cry, and express herself to us. We explored the components of the eyes through which she saw the… Continue reading

Since the last block, I have changed my note taking habits dramatically. During the last block, I wrote everything down in lecture in a little notebook. I found it useful to take notes because in order to write a summary of the main points, I had to integrate and truly understand the information in my brain. Writing everything down onto… Continue reading

AUC has a strict mandatory attendance policy for every class, and so far, I have not missed any classes nor have I been tardy. I showed up yesterday and surely I will show up tomorrow, but today, even though I signed the attendance sheet and sat through all my classes, I was in practice absent. After studying til 2am every… Continue reading

As I sat looking over the sunset while studying on the second floor balcony of campus, I wondered if a couple of years ago I would have ever known that I would be destined to become a doctor. Then I realized, yes, actually. I made this decision. I worked to get to where I am. I persisted, despite difficulties, mistakes,… Continue reading

About: Maho Beach is probably the most famous beach on St. Maarten due to its proximity to the airport. Highlights: Seeing a Boeing 747 land just feet above your head on the beach. While I do not recommend this as it hurts, a lot of people like to hang onto the fence when an airplane is taking off to feel the powerful force of the jet engine blast. Another highlight is sipping on a drink with some friends at Sunset Beach Bar while watching the airplanes come in. Just to clarify, the bar is called "Sunset Beach Bar" while the beach itself is called "Maho Beach." A lot of people see the beach bar's name and assume the beach is called "Sunset Beach." Continue reading

Today marks exactly one month from when I first landed in St. Maarten. When I first arrived, I was feeling all sorts of emotions: anxiety, amazement, worry, happiness, tenseness, and wonder. Much of what I was feeling stemmed from all the questions I had about St. Maarten, AUC, my next four years, and the choices I have made. There was… Continue reading

Throughout my life, I grew up speaking English in public and Mandarin Chinese at home. They are my first languages and I speak them both fluently. In middle school, I started learning Spanish at school, and since my brain was still going through lateralization at that age, I retained a good bit of it. During high school, I became a… Continue reading

This coming Monday is our first block exam. Unlike in undergrad, in med school we take the exams of all our classes on the same day, back to back. The reasons for this is threefold:

1. To ensure we are studying for all of our classes at the same time, and not just focused on studying one subject at a time

… Continue reading

American Global University is not accredited by any medical school accrediting association and not even FAIMER-listed, yet still advertises itself as the “Best Caribbean Medical School” and claims graduates can practice in the states when in reality they cannot. Milik University turned out to be one-man team running the whole show. Dr. Nagy Milik is the founder, the admissions committee,… Continue reading

So the ulnar, median, and radial nerves are three of the many branches of the Brachial Plexus. They start from the arm, then extend all the way to the hands and innervate the areas I have indicated. The ulnar nerve is otherwise known as the “funny bone.” It feels funny because when the ulnar nerve comes around the elbow, it… Continue reading

White Coat Ceremony on Flickr… Continue reading

It is funny how many of my friends from back home would now greet me with “hey! how’s the beach life?” or some variety of that. Even my dad said goodbye to me with “have fun on your vacation!” It is true. I do live in “paradise” now. But in reality, med school makes me busy enough to forget this… Continue reading