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Earlier yesterday, I received a call from Mr. S of AUC offering any advice or help on any last minute questions I may have had before I head down to the island. I hadn’t had any in particular, so I made one up on the spot. I’d like to commend AUC for having such great communication with matriculants. During these… Lately I’ve been searching and reading through numerous blogs of Caribbean medical students, from large schools like St. George’s University to smaller ones like St. James School of Medicine. I would like to create a comprehensive list, essentially a “blog library” where prospective students can reference to get a taste of what life is like in each school in the… I just booked for us to stay at the Royal Palm Beach Resort when my brothers Jason and Justin, my mother, my girlfriend Irene, and her mother come visit. I found a special deal through hotel.com where if we book for 4 nights, the entire stay is half off, so I took it! The hotel looks much nicer than my… 
Only four more days remain before I fly off to the American University of the Caribbean to begin my medical training. The past few days I have been feeling calm and reflective as I trace back the events of the last four years to find a conclusion to yet another chapter in my life. How did I get to where…Ten more days. I just cannot believe how time has flown by, not just this summer, but these past four years as a post-bacc, and the quarter century that it took for me to realize my dreams. After years of planning, learning, and preparing for my future, reality has suddenly hit me. I am actually going to medical school. Should… Great news! My family and Irene’s family want to come visit me during my white coat ceremony weekend for about 3-4 days, and so the past few days I’ve been reading countless hotel reviews on tripadvisor. I looked for hotels in Cupecoy, Maho, or Simpson Bay, all within 3-4 miles of AUC. As they will be out and about throughout… 
Calling Locally in St. Maarten
Any phone you buy in the United States will be “locked” so that the SIM card is only compatible with the phone company that you have a contract with. The United States is one of the few countries I know that does this. Therefore, if you want to use your cell phone from the states…Moped? Car? Bike? Public Transportation? Which of these would be the best deal in terms of cost, accessibility, comfort, transport, time, and safety?
1. Moped
As AUC students, we are eligible to receive US federal student loans to pay for our tuition and living costs while at school. In a nutshell, basically we request to borrow a certain amount of money every two semesters from the government. The school takes out a chunk of what we borrow to pay for our tuition. Then, they refund…
On my last night in Athens, my friends Roberto and Stefy and I had a nice evening picnic on Herty Field in the historic North Campus, complete with home-made sandwiches and wine. Afterwards, we toured the Founder’s Garden, Latin American Garden, and discovered other beautiful places that we had overlooked during our semesters at UGA. Of course, we rang the…
After four good years in Athens, Georgia, it is hard for me to say goodbye to you all. Today, I will be leaving behind the place where I first made my home, where I grew to become a man, and where my life bloomed. I will be leaving a community that has found a place in my heart, from Habitat,…If you asked me just a year ago, I would have never thought I’d go to medical school in the Caribbean. Throughout my pre-medical years, particularly the first year, I have often heard fellow classmates call Caribbean med schools the “last resort” and scoff that students who attend these schools are substandard, and therefore become substandard doctor. These thoughts sunk… 
As of September 2013, AUC provides all students with electronic textbooks via a platform called Vital Source, which you can access via computer, iPad, or iPhone. These electronic textbooks are convenient in that you no longer need to carry heavy books around, and it is much easier to search for keywords within the book with a simple “Ctrl F”…So today I received my list of textbooks for first semester, with an whopping estimated expense of $747.45! From experience, I know that I will not be using all the textbooks that I usually buy from the campus bookstore, and so I searched the forums of valuemd to determine which books I thought were absolutely necessary. Turns out just about… 
This will actually be my second trip to St. Martin, albeit a much longer trip. I first went to St. Martin back in 1998 when I was 14 years old. I went on a seven-day Carnival Cruise with my family in which we stopped in Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, and St. Martin.
We visited Marigot Market, Philipsburg, a butterfly…
So the island of St. Maarten (or St. Martin on the French side) will be my home for the next two years. St. Maarten is located in the eastern Caribbean, about 186 miles east of Puerto Rico. The island is only 34 sq. miles and so the county I live in now, Clarke County, Georgia, can easily swallow three St.…
After doing much research, I feel that the American University of the Caribbean (AUC) prepares students well to become physicians. It has one of the top medical programs in the Caribbean, and with more than 30 years of history (established 1978), it has a proven track record. Most graduates obtain very decent residencies and some even very prestigious ones like…
When I tell people that I am going to the Caribbean for medical school, the most common response I get is how jealous they are that I will get to spend the next few years in a place as relaxing as a tropical paradise. While I don’t think medical school will be relaxing at all, I can’t deny that the …Hello everyone! Today I create this blog to document my experiences as a medical student and to organize all the thoughts that I may have along the way. I’ve been accepted to the September 2009 semester at American University of the Caribbean, and am very excited to begin my journey. I hope the next few years I can be as… |
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
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