Hello, Welcome! - Why I write this blog

Greetings!
Welcome to Doctor Muggle.

If you were like me during medical school, you were overwhelmed with the amount of advice, books, websites, information, studying, and frusteration!!! The utter unfamiliarity of the whole experience slapping you in the face at every turn. Well, I decided to start this blog to chronicle of all things medical school, focusing on studying, what resources to use, and keep track of online websites that helped relieve some of the frusteration of the unknown.

Everyone does a lot of work during medical school to figure all these things out... and it's too much I think. My intention was to make the blog public so that others could benefit from the hard work of many people with less effort.

The articles are here to help you save time, money, and peace of mind, and I wish the very best of success to all of you, regardless of where you come from, or what school you go to (but mostly SGU :)
I have to represent!

Cheers and Great luck to you all!

Medical Books Shipping cheap for Students with Amazon Prime!

If you order your books on amazon, you surely pay a lot in shipping.
Also, sometimes it takes days and days to receive your items, correct?
And you're a student with a .edu email account?
Perfect.

You can get a free year of FREE 2 day shipping with amazonstudent. Its amazon prime free for a year.

The catch? They start charging you $80/year after 12 months. So, just remember to cancel it before that time comes, I've done it and cancelling is easy as a click of a couple buttons. just goto this website and sign up. 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/student/signup/info
 
Annnnd, you're done. Enjoy!

Fax your Medical Records, Health Insurance Waiver, etc for FREE

If you have an ipad, you can just fill out those pdf files on your computer/ipad, and goto this website:

http://faxzero.com/

Enter the fax number, and zoom! free fax. No need to have a printer, fax machine, stamps, or have to wait for the thing to arrive. This is a pretty sweet service.

Especially nice when you are overseas in England or Grenada and don't have access to a lot of these resources. You can even do it at the beach, Garfields has free wifi ;)

Cheers!

Baggage Fees Flying to and from US - Carribbean

This website is AWESOME! such a good find. Had to spread the love.

Updated details about all the baggage fees, meal fees, Fees for children, Pets and seat assignments for all Airlines. How you can bring so much stuff with you to this island? I never know.

www.kayak.com/airline-fees

SGU Bus Schedule

http://etalk.sgu.edu/contribute/sgubulletin/BusSchedules.htm

don't get on the wrong bus. its not fun.

SGU Grenada - Things to Bring *updated*

Packing:

• #1) Don't forget your Passport
• Unlocked phone - Those Cheap SkypePhones from England won't work, sorry. You can buy a cheap one here, but its cheaper to bring one
• Sunscreen*
• Sunglasses, Bathing Suit, Towel  :)
• bring a sweatshirt (for the study hall and lecture hall)
• bring an UMBRELLA, jacket, poncho or whatever you need for a monsoon. The weather here is incredible, but it tends to rain quite hard for a short while, then right back to blue skies. Everything dries in the next hour or two, but be prepared for when you might need it. 

• bring DRESS CLOTHES FOR CPD + if you plan on going to Unity Ball - Need button down shirt, tie, slacks, socks, shoes. Laidies, smart-formal wear is fine. It's formal clothing for dealing with patients, and eventually when we start going to the hospital in 5th term you'll need clothes. 
• bring your Labcoat
• ATM Card
• get familiar with the SGU post, you can find whatever you forget on there (Link above)
• Bring atleast $100 for your laptop fee at customs and your first couple meals. 
• Bring a flashlight
• A Fan (if you live off campus) - if youre in Newcastle, buy one there or get one from someone when you get here
• your favorite hot sauce (in your checked luggage)
• Anything Expensive (it will cost you 50% tax at the post office to have it shipped here, yes they look up the price of stuff)

• **IMPORTANT UPDATE**: for your appliances. There are PLENTY of USA and UK style plugs on campus, so if youre on campus you can ignore this I guess. For those living off campus, you will need A Step Down Converter (basically a huge resistor) to keep your high energy USA appliances from exploding. You must get one of those here, trust me, they are at least 20 pounds of metal. Those of you coming from England, BUY YOUR HIGH VOLTAGE STUFF THERE!! They work perfectly here in the UK outlets without any additional plugs. That includes hair clippers, fans, microwaves, blenders,  For low energy appliances like phone chargers, laptop chargers, etc make sure you pickup a Universal charger or a USA->UK converter at the airport or at the grocery store when you get here.

those are the top essentials i can think of right now...

Banking: 

• You don't need a bank account, just an ATM card. 
• those of you with Bank of America:  ---> Scotia Bank is your goto guy for free withdrawals (like Barclay's was in England). 
• Most places will take USD or ECD as currency (but they usually round up with dollars). 
• I don't think they will take canadian money.. so bring an ATM card. 

******************
updates:
******************

 Cell phone companies

• Get what your friends get. 
• You have two options: Digicell and Lime. Go buy a simcard right away if you want. I recommend getting what your friends get because its cheaper with In-network charges. They have been offereing top-up matching, but the matched minutes they offer are only good for in-network calls and only for 2 weeks. I would say, about 50ECs worth will give you your best value for that offer, but most people just put a ton of money on there (a couple hundred), and never worry about it again. 
• It's easy to fill up on minutes, you can do it at the store, or easily online with a credit card. 

to be continued... 

Don't Forget a JACKET!

So, it's been raining quite hard, and it occured to me I hadn't stressed the importance of having a waterproof jacket here.

The weather is incredible, but there are moments where it is a monsoon for about an hour, then right back to blue skies. So... DON'T forget to bring a poncho or umbrella or Jacket!!!!!!!!!!!!

Shipping + Tipping *updated*

•  So far, if you want something shipped here, be prepared to pay 50% tax on imported goods. Yes, they will look up the price online at the PO. The trip to the post office is a 5-10 min drive from campus and the number 1 bus, I believe, frequents the route, which only costs a couple EC.

• ***Where is the post office??***  ... If you take the number 1 Reggae bus towards the Carrinage, Its right across the street from the Texaco that you pass just before you get to the water. If you pass the Fire Station, you've gone too far. 

• You can alternatively pay a lot of money for Fedex and it will come straight to the school/your address.
• Postcards sent out from Grenada seem to take a week or two.

Frustrating, I know. The best way is to just make friends and have people coming to the island bring items in person through customs. People fly in and out often enough, if you ask around.
That's the fastest/cheapest way. Or... try your odds at seducing the folks at the post office.

Rules of Thumb:

1. BRING EVERYTHING YOU NEED WITH YOU IN YOUR LUGGAGE  - feel free to ask what things are not available... most everything is (see: LIST TO BRING)
2. Don't plan on having anything expensive shipped to the island (you will pay 150% of the price)

----------------

For GSPers: 

• Put as much expensive stuff on the cargo ship. That includes Microwaves if your apartment won't have one, Fans, Bicycles, big stuff, books, Cameras, etc (plus the airlines in England will charge you A LOT for extra weight so don't risk it. (I had to leave all $800 of my Term 1 books at the airport to avoid a $200 charge)
• Unlike England, you should tip here.

-------------------------

Tipping:  It seems to be customary to leave atleast an EC per drink at the bar. Restaurants will pick up/add their tips to your bill so be aware.

Cheapest Flights to and From Grenada

I've seen CHEAP ONE-WAY flights on here from NY or Miami Half price of what Kayak/American shows.
Check it out.
http://www.onetravel.com/


For round trips I suggest using Kayak.
http://www.kayak.com/flights

Also a great site because you can search with non-specific dates, multiple airlines, and it will mix and match different days and airlines to find the cheapest ones.

BY THE WAY!! you can get a 5% discount on flights with American Airlines if you call 1-800-433-1790 or in Grenada call 473-444-2222. The star number (for student discounts on American Airlines) for 2011 is "3911TT".


**** CONTACT THE FINANCIAL AID DEPT for the 2012 number code. 

Goodluck! and don't wait till the last minute to buy your flights, the December flights go FAST!

SGU Post: Find Everything you Need in Grenada

You might think theres a shortage of resources here, but you can find just about anything in town, asking around, or on the post. Here's the link:

LINK: SGU POST

(btw, you need your SGU login information to access this)