Century/2

Yikes. It's officially official: I am not a good blogger.

In my mind, a good blogger is defined as someone who can blog at least twice a week, no problem. If I were a good blogger, I should have probably at least three times as many posts by now. But regardless, I have finally hit the half century mark for blogs (hence my title; no riddles this time). And with this post, I'll mark the end of our time on Dominica; so the next time you see me blogging, it will be from the states! But I'm getting ahead of myself. There are a lot of things that have been going on.

Firstly, in case you missed the news, Melissa officially passed her fourth semester, making her a legitimate 3rd-year medical student! Right now she's gearing up to take the Comp on Friday, which is a test Ross makes everyone take before they leave so they can see where they are study-wise for the USMLE Step 1 class. Also, Ross provided a test prep class these last few weeks that Melissa has been taking. I'm amazed that she's been able to keep studying as much as she has; the temptation is definitely there to take it easy and blow off the Comp, and I know that historically a lot of students do just that. But since Melissa's doing so much work now, she'll be able to enjoy the weeks around Christmas and New Year's much more.

But after that, she's gonna crack down! So before 5th semester, which starts in late February, we're going to stay in Ohio with my parents, and while we're there, Melissa will be back in super study mode. As in, we're going to have my family sign contracts indicating that they will not bother Melissa while she's studying unless it's an emergency. And so I'll be a bouncer of sorts, but a nice one.

In Rosco news, check out what he did a couple weeks ago!

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Honestly, I'm surprised that pillow lasted as long as it did. But as soon as he got one little hole in it, the pillow was a goner. And fyi, that first picture was basically what we walked into when we came home from dinner. He looked so proud of himself. But in the end (heh), all that came out of it (hehe) was that the fluff that he ingested gave him a little constipation for a couple days. Sorry, I'm a little immature sometimes.

Something else that happened this last month was the fourth semester banquet! It's always held at the historical Fort Shirley, which is a couple miles north of campus. Melissa was on the planning committee, so you can be sure that everything went swimmingly! The food was excellent, the weather cooperated, and the emcees didn't swear at all (well, this one guy came up to try and settle people down before dinner, and let an f-bomb slip, but he wasn't supposed to be on the mic...). All in all, of the two banquets I've been to, this one was by far the best.

Melissa with her friends Sarah (left) and Kara

Non sequitur: today there has been a crap-ton of rain. Seriously, it has been raining hard all day. Some places down near campus are flooding! It never floods here! So it's been a little crazy, but I guess the island just wanted to leave us with one last memory before we all leave. Just as long as there isn't any of this nonsense next Monday! Well, the next time I talk to you all, I'll be significantly closer!  Hope you're all getting festive and ready for the holidays!

Take care!

Eric