Sint Maarten...

Philipsburg, St Maarten

Yes, this is where I went to med school.

And I loved every minute of it.

For the longest time, my friends thought it was a

prank lol.

How did I focus? Well, I sort of learnt what worked for me. If I had an incredibly strong urge to lay at the beach all day, I just took my books along. 

1st things 1st, some history:

St Maarten is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It encompasses the southern half of Saint Martin island, while the northern half of the island constitutes the French overseas collectivity of St Martin 

Philipsburg

Its capital is Philipsburg. Before 10 October 2010, Sint Maarten was known as the Island Territory of Sint Maarten and was one of the five territories that made up the Netherland Antilles. Now Sint Maarten is a constituent country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, making it a constitutional equal partner with the Netherlands proper. The population of the entire island is about 74,852 inhabitants, with 38,927 living on the Dutch side, and 35,925 on the French side. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sint_Maarten)

What I loved so much about Sxm was its explosion of cultures. A 37 sq miles island governed by two nations-the Netherlands and France. Residents from 70-some different countries. I felt right at home. What you got, French or English? Bring it!!! The French side reminded me so much of Cameroon: zouk love music, the "laisser-faire" attitude and sometimes, the food. And don't get me started on the food. Over 400 restaurants ranging from elegant French cuisine, Thai, Indian, sidewalk cafes, to American fast food.  What more can I say? The place was perfect!!!

Maho beach, Cupecoy

The Cupecoy beach, 5 minute walk away from campus. I came here to relieve the stress. The waves, the waves, the waves...

There was also a golf course nearby, which was to be "avoided by all means" after dark. Lol Silly Americans!!!

So where did I live? I'm sure you remember-in the dorm. Room B!!! I thought maybe you would understand where I came from if I showed you this:

The View (Pointe Pirouette)
Of course, no good thing last forever. Had to move out at the end of the semester to make room for the incoming freshmen. But guess what, my next place was even better,but that's another story.

It's official...omg

I dedicate this piece to my AUC classmates-the nerdy bunch!!! 
Jan 08-May 12

We were so happy to meet each other. LOL. Fellow Americans in far away land. Studying medicine in paradise. Shots to that!!! Just so you know, I never did shots until New Years Eve 2008. But this called for a celebration. We effing made it to medical school!!!
1st things 1st, when I arrived the campus I stopped for a minute...you know, to take it in. Oh surely I had died and gone to heaven...except, I must have pinched myself a million times. So beautiful, and I was going to study here for the next 18 months. No bad consolation for US rejection.
So I proceeded to my dorm. Turns out I was in the A room. No good because 1) my bathroom was separate from my room and 2) I had no view of the lagoon. Once again, the forces of the universe had conspired against me. And how my roommate had gotten lucky with the B room was probably by chance alone, yet I refused to bow to that fate. The advantage of being an early bird is that I could switch a few things with the roommate. But you see, I didn't only switch a few things around...I swapped our rooms!!! Ok calm down, it's not what you think. No cut-throat, sneaky business here; I simply went to the housing office, and explained to them that for (blablabla) reason I had to get the B room. I eventually met my roommate-perhaps one of the nicest people in my class. I often wondered what if she'd found out. Dude, she totally loved her A room.
Bit by bit, the campus filled with freshmen. Orientation-how to succeed in medical school: go to class everyday, study 4-5 hours after class, get a good night sleep 8hours minimum. Hold on a second, you lost me at 5 hours of studying. Yet little did we know that most of this was insanely indispensable for med school, and that some of us would find out the hard way. We were so naive, so happy, but it was ok. It was ok to sigh when orientation was finally over. And it was definitely ok to take shots after our white coat ceremony. Because that was like our honeymoon, which was about to end. It was the only time we would be together-all 81 of us, with the same spirit...let's start this and kick some butt! Yes, it was ok to be merry for little did we know that the following day we would start losing comrades...

Matriculation Jan08...Welcome to Medical Sciences

I must have been super pumped when I got that letter. I had already suffered a severe dose of senioritis and rejections to grad school. But it's like the more "nos" I got, the higher I aimed for. First I had applied for a Masters in Applied Molecular Biology...in my OWN school. Surely, UMBC would recognize my commitment to the community (Resident Assistant; Chem, Cell Biology & Genetics Tutor, blablabla). In fact, there was no way I wouldn't get it; this one was in the bag!!!

So you can imagine my distress when I was politely rejected. Had I known that someday I would be laughing at it, I would have scanned that letter. But seriously, my world came crashing down. A utopia now shattered...is no better expression of that moment captured.

But somehow, I survived that heart-breaking episode. To me, it was a conspiracy. To crush and destroy me. Yet it worked...but only for a minute. After crying my lungs out in my mentor's office, I decided it was time. All I had been doing was run away. Today a Masters in this, tomorrow research in that...I had been sabotaging my path to med school...because I was too afraid to fail. So afraid that I didn't even try to trail. Truth is I was traumatized! Studying for the MCAT 3 months. Taking the Kaplan course yet could never finish the damn test on time. When I saw a 24, I said this is it. No way I was ever going back.

So you can see why it took something as incredible as my alma mater denying a spot to even me, a strong candidate, to realize that I may run on for a long time, but as long as I didn't grab this by the balls it'd yield nothing. It took a lot of kleenex...but I did grab it...by the balls!!!

Before applying to med school, I had to face my demon. The devil named MCAT! There is no way I was going to re-take that test, so I told God: you either made me smart or you didn't. There must be someone out there who can look beyond this stupid test. If not, then I'll go home, get married, and make 10 babies. I don't think He liked the 2nd option too much.

My application process was straight-forward. I'd like to think of it as going to the mall with a specific objective: what shop to go and what shoes to buy. I knew my chances to get into an american school were slim due to my score so I protected my already fragile ego; I didn't even try. Maybe cowardice. I applied to AUC, SGU and Ross-all Caribbean. And left the rest to God.

Just 3 bloody schools. Now that I look back, what was I thinking? Maybe you can understand if you know the kind of faith that I do in God. Or the determination to succeed despite the odds. I had run out of money and out of steam; even if I wanted to, I couldn't have applied to more. What I had left were my lips and knees to tell God my feelings.

SGU offered me a year of Pre-Med, which would cost me over $20,000. Are you kidding me? Why not just apply for a Post-Bac in Georgetown? Ross just made me feel like a piece of meat. "Hey come on over for an interview. If not today, tomorrow, either way we'll be waiting" Just shady! And AUC kept losing my documents. I have 5 names, does that mean I need 5 separate files? In fact, I was giving up again.

Now you understand why I was super pumped when I got that letter...from AUC. In Aug 2007. Even though AUC was my top choice all along, it was because I believed and held steadfast to a dream that came to be. And just like that, the little girl from Yaounde was on her way to med school...

To God be the Glory,

Yours truly

Les Apparences Peuvent Etre Trompeuses

My name is Annie Tedga, and I am a 4th year med student from the American University of the Caribbean (AUC). I was on a bus from Philly (where I had just taken my CS exam) when I began pondering over a few things: what do I represent? Do people really know what I've been up to? Well, I happen to have a busy fcbk account, and sthg I've learnt is that what you see is what you get. Obviously, my fcbk account is highly geared at showing the glamorous side of me...the pics are photoshopped, the poems are edited and the friends are selected. This time I wanted to share the experience unplugged. The real me...raw and uncut!!!
So that's how I decided to start a blog. It would be about my journey through med school (since that's pretty much all I've done for the past 5 years). No more hide n seek with the financial problems-and there've been many. I'm gonna talk about my brutal living situations in New York, the scarce meals, how friends let me down and others took me in. How life can be a mess if you let it, and most especially, how God has always been there for me. I'm gonna spill all the beans!!!
I hope you enjoy my story, and give me the necessary feedback as I embark on this adventure.

Yours truly,

AT