First Semester (What to bring, how it is etc...)

[HPMD]

What to bring, travel, dorms, about first semester...

[HPMD]

Dorms/Housing: Ok, well Hillside dorms should obviously be your first choice. They are like US Dorms if not better (at least at my undergrad). There is a price difference but it is worth it. Matthew Dorm is doable though if you absolutely cannot get hillside. At Matthews, if you get rooms 1-7, you may have more problems in terms of bugs but not too bad. rooms 8-12 are the best. They are centrally located so the walls aren't against the outside. I stayed in one of those rooms and didn't have a single cockroach or anything in my room all semester (aside from mosquitoes of course when u open the door but those can easily be killed). My advice is when you get to Saba, first thing you should buy (or bring with you) is a can or Raid or other bug spray...1 can lasted me all semester and i was never bit by a mosquito living in matthews. Bottom line, if you can get hillside..do it! if you can't, don't worry too much matthews is fine. Start looking for housing right away!!! Especially if you want to live in the Bottom close to campus so you don’t have to worry about transportation. The apartments go quick and so do the roommates…so find some buddies and find a place soon. Don’t procrastinate it.

Travel: This can be tricky and expensive. On my way there I purchased a one way ticket and payed around $400 for the whole way including my Win-Air flight from St. Maarten to Saba. That was on U.S. Air. My advice would be either win-air or the Edge ferry. The dawn from other classmates i've heard gives you alotta sea sickness problems if you are prone to that. The extra money is worth it i think. The flight is about 10min and not too bad. The Edge Ferry is only 1 hour and goes fast enough to where u don't get sea sick. I get sea sick and i was fine on the Edge. I also took the plane and it was pretty awesome...especially flying OUT of saba. Flight is around $125 - $130 round trip St. Maarten to Saba. The Edge i think is around $50 if I remember correctly. Lastly, book flights for the break soon after you get to the island for first….the ticket prices go up fast and I learned that the hard way and ended up paying $980 round trip for flights that some of my friends paid $560 for. Also, for the August break, expect possibly a few travel difficulties in terms of weather…that’s hurricane season and flights get cancelled on saba and st. marten and even in the states. I’m stuck in New Jersey right now as I type this.

General Stuff to Bring: If you are living in Matthew Dorm, you should deffinetely bring a microwave pasta/rice maker. I managed to get one from a friend and it saved me alot. You can buy pastas and rice from the grocerey stores pretty cheap. You don't need to go crazy and bring all these canned foods...you can bring some stuff that you like that are a little expensive like cookies and stuff if you want. If you can bring any microwaveable meals that do not require refrigeration that would be great. Don't bring too much cuz remember you have to move out at the end of first and for me it was a QUICK move and i left food behind. Bringing food is a better idea for second semester in my opinion. If you live at Hillside, you guys can actually cook on the stove and stuff so you may consider bringing a few cookable things. Some people at matthews brought cookplates etc...you aren't supposed to use them though so that's up to you...Bring a flashlight. You will need one for dark walks in the night from dorm to dorm or from the library or lab. I would suggest 2-3 pairs of scrubs so you don't have to wash them as often. I would also suggest bringing about 2-3 weeks worth of clothing then just do laundry every 2-3 weeks (they do it for you at matthews for about $9.00). If you bring too much it'll make your moving out slower. Bring good 2GB-4GB flash drives and DEFFINETELY an external hard drive with like 60GB or more. There are alot of powerpoints and lab videos that take up alot of space...you don't want transfer to be an issue for you. A good laptop is advisable. If you bring older ones, sometimes you might have trouble and you don't want computer trouble on the island. Your focus should be studying. The grocery stores are a bit pricey but not outrageous in my opinion. you will spend around $60 at the least each time you go. You should try to stick with essentials. The cafeteria is pretty good, they have food around the range of like $5. Also, at matthew's there is a cafe downstairs with pretty good food and is really convenient. range is like $6-13. He opened up late my first semester but when he did everyone went there. There are a few soccer events and basketball hockey etc...so if u have space u might bring some stuff for that. Other than that just usual essentials. You can buy shampoo and soap and toilet paper and all that stuff...so u don't need to worry too much about that. If you're taking Win-Air, they give u problems with big bags cuz of weight so they forced me to buy two small ones at St. Maarten's airport and split up my stuff. It helped with the moving though. Diffinetely bring a Surge Protector or Power Strip!!! There are power outtages every once in a while and even on campus, you should try to plug your laptop especially into a surge or power strip. I had friends that lost pixels on their screen etc...b/c of power issues. If you have an old GSM cell phone bring that to use around the island with either tel cel or chippie. Bring a hoodie or sweater….the classroom and testing center gets cold sometimes. That's all i got off the top of my head...don't get too carried away. ALL my stuff fit in two big bags, a backpack and another small bag. If you got alot more than that then you're probably bringing too much.

Communication: This isn't that bad...three options reall. One is to use skype...if you choose skype bring a headseat with a microphone or get a laptop with a built in mic. (web cam built in makes it nicer too). Skype is pretty cheap and u can pay as you go. There is wireless internet on campus and people use it all the time there at the cafeteria. Option two is you can also get a cell phone activated on the island and you can call the states and canada for something like 50 cents or so a minute. Third option I think is the best one especially for the US folk. You get Vonage service before you come and they'll mail you the vonage modem. You buy ANY normal phone from the store and that is it. When you get to the island, you have to get internet service (for vonage get at least 128kbps which ends up being $108/month with the landline they make you get) and split it with probably no more than 3 guys at your dorm to keep the price down. I paid $24/month for vonage service plus around $40/month was my share of internet. The good thing is they will give you a US number from wherever you are and your family friends etc can call for no cost and you can call them back for no costs other than the monthly payment. It's unlimitted minutes to US and Canada and area code cellphone and landlines! It's a pretty good hook up but sometimes u may have issues if you use the phone alot and ur roommates are internet users too. You gotta work somethin out with them. If you get an answering maching on the phone u buy too then it's cool cuz then if you're not in ur dorm anyone who calls you can leave u a message if you prefer it over voicemail.

Academic Stuff to Bring: Do not bring books!!! I bought my books on campus when I got there. All you need is a Netter's Anatomy atlas and maybe a Histology atlas too with labeled slides. If you are a book person which you won't be when u start even if you are now....you may wanna get the embryo book. I did and used it like once. Netter's Anatomy flashcards help too. For the Anatomy SHELF Exam what you need is a BRS Anatomy book....bring that from the states or canada. All other books get from upper semesters/mentors on campus. I got my Netter's for $10 and all other books ranging from $1-$4. So books aren't a problem. You might want to bring a couple notebooks and a few pens/pencils. That is it in terms of school supplies. If you want to bring a printer you can…bring paper and PLENTY of ink. You can print anything at the library. They sell print cards for $5 and it’s good for 50 pages. Things like printing 2 pages per sheet of paper or 6 slides per sheet of paper helps you save there. I didn’t bring a printer and I just used print cards. A printer would be good for second semester though I think. Also, upper semesters frequently had printers for sale with some ink so you can do that too.

General info about first semester: First semester is quite a change from undergrad. If you have taken Anatomy before then you will have a little bit of an advantage over others who have never taken it. The more challenging course has usually been Anatomy in the past however my semester was the first that we had lower scores in Histology. Histology has changed in the last semester. There was a cumulative histology final for the first time in Saba history and that changed the studying methods a bit and caused us some trouble. Also, they have made the class itself a bit more challenging and difficult. Overall, both classes are doable though but will require a good decent amount of studying. How all previous semesters did was pretty much focus on anatomy until 3-4 days before exams in which they focused on histology and were fine. This worked for us somewhat but I believe it came back to haunt us on the final since we essentially crammed the material. I would suggest focusing on anatomy and maybe on weekends do some histology. You will get into your own pattern once you start and everyone is different but that was my suggestion. In Anatomy you will have a lab exam worth 40% and a lecture exam 4 days later worth 60%. If you do well on the lab exam, it will help you on the lecture and vice versa. What I did was do as well as I could on lab then studied histo for the majority of the long 3 day weekend they give you during exam times and I did just fine when I took both lecture tests on that Tuesday. The lab exam is on Fridays, then you have the weekend and Monday to study, and the lecture tests are on Tuesday. You will find that you need to get your own schedule for studying. Ask around friends and upper semesters and you will be fine. I took anatomy before so if you are in that boat too then you should be fine with what I did. Dissection in the lab can be interesting and can suck. Another thing is you need to try to keep the professors somewhat happy. We had a whole issue with complaints to the dean etc...and it kinda screwed us over. One piece of advice…Dr. Rao is amazing!!!! If he is still here and teaching anatomy then do whatever he says and go along with whatever he does…don’t complain…he is an awesome professor and trust me….You’re exam scores will definitely prove that!! He writes very fair exams. Also, listen to whatever he says for the SHELF Exam!!!! He gave us pointers that were perfect! He saved us on a lot of things!! You still need to study of course but he will do whatever he can to help you. Form study groups but study in advance first…that will help you review. Also, doing BRS Questions before the block exams helps as well. Spend time in the lab but not too much time. In my opinion, Netter’s atlas is your best friend along with Dr. Rao’s word docs!! Read his word docs…even when Pearson is teaching use Dr. Rao’s word docs!!! You will do fine. Other than that…enjoy your time before you get down and start….its pretty demanding and you’ll be pressed on time but you’ll be fine.

Island: Saba is kinda boring but there are a few things to do. Lollipops (local club) was a popular place to go after exams for my class. Also, make sure you get up to windwardside and shop/eat. Also, the beach isn’t too bad after exams…it’s small and but it does the job. You can rent a car if you want and go wherever u need to go. They have sporting events around that you can participate in so make sure you hit those up. A few people went to St. Maarten on a couple weekends and stuff…if you want to you can do that too. Study hard but play hard too…it’s important to keep a good balance.

Anyway, that’s all for now I suppose…it’s a good semester and you will be fine. Just come down ready to study and not to mess around. And when you can, try to enjoy your time as well. The new building is nice (just like states) and from what I know everyone except first semesters will be there in September 08 so I’m excitied…no worries though…the old building is just fine. Meet people and make friends in your class and upper semesters…that will help for sure! Don’t hesitate to ask questions…I bothered soooo many upper semesters and it helped me but it’s ok….we will be more than willing to help. Listen to the anatomy TA’s…they know what’s goin on…at least some of them do. That’s pretty much it…good luck…

[cattyjane]

Thank you so much HPMD for your detailed advice for us new students.

[med etudiant]

Awesome post! Could this be a sticky?

[george25]

Hey, thanks for the information. It answered a lot of the questions I have. I hadn't heard about the vonage service before but it sounds like a pretty good deal. I'm still a little confused about how it works though. Do you tell the company you're taking it out of the country and what kindof a plan do you set up with them? Any additional information you or anyone else that has used this can provide would be helpful. Thanks.

[HPMD]

yah u tell them ur going to an Island in the caribbean. They give you a local number for where u live. U don't really choose a plan. You just get one. It's $24/month plus some taxes for unlimited calls to any area code in US and Canada. You just have to get them to send u the vonage router, then u get internet on Saba and just plug it in and u have a local phone. You also need to buy a regular landline phone. But sound is great as long as no one else is online...and it's soooooo convenient! I had my roommate using it then gradually people around the dorm starting asking too. It's worth it in my opinion.

[lougainis]

hey there. I am starting down there in january. I was just wondering what the ratio of men to women is? I know its a random question. Thanks a lot.