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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…Last month for a week, AUC’s camera crew came to campus and shot a lot of footage of life on campus and the island. I’d like to share with you all a video montage that they made from their visit. Given that they were here for only a week, and the fact that it rained almost every day, I am… 
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…
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…Hello everyone, I’d like to share with you all a speech that I had the pleasure and honor of witnessing. It was given by Dr. Jody Sadler who graduated this past May from AUC during his commencement ceremony. He really touches on the experience of a Caribbean med student — the struggles, the stigma, and the inner strength that comes… 
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…Here are some one-liners I made up for this past block (block 2) in Med Micro to help me remember some of the clinical symptoms and characteristics associated with bugs. The first syllable of each phrase is the character or symptom, while each syllable after that represents the organisms. I try to keep the syllables as close to the original… 
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…
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…
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…
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.
|
My name is Dr. Benji Ho and I am a family physician and 2013 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 School of Medicine / 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!
    
If you would like to help me keep this website up and running, any donations will be greatly appreciated! Thank you!
Benji
|
| Copyright © 2020 Diary of a Caribbean Med Student - All Rights Reserved | Site Policy | |
