La Familia <3

Posted on April 3, 2015 by annathomassen

Ahh, I can’t believe it! I get to see my favourite 4 people in just under one day 🙂

They arrive Saturday afternoon and I just can’t wait!

It’s very strange to think about that I haven’t seen these guys for 3 whole months. I went through this when I was in South Africa as well and thought about them every day. When you’ve lived in the same house as someone for your whole life and then suddenly you leave for 3 months, I think it’s just very natural that you’ll miss them a lot. When I was in South Africa it was quite a challenge to be away from them and I would keep a constant count down until they came. It’s been a little different here in Grenada, where I have missed my family a lot but I’ve been more okay with being away from them. I think it’s a combination of me living with a family that I knew slightly from before and also the social group I’ve developed here – lots of friends all around 🙂

These 4 people mean the absolute world to me and I am so looking forward to spending the next 2 weeks with them here in Grenada and showing them all the great places I’ve seen and people that I’ve met.

The first day they came to South Africa – it was a little too good to be true!

Have a safe flight you guys! See you soon ❤

Spa Day at LaLuna

Posted on March 27, 2015 by annathomassen

Ahh, LaLuna!

Although you might be thinking that all I’m doing in Grenada is lying on a beach, lying on a beach, and more lying on a beach, my weekdays here are not usually spent on the beach, despite the fact that this post might make you really not believe me at all, haha!

Last week Carly, Jason and I spent our day at beautiful, stunning and gorgeous LaLuna Resort. We paid for a day-pass which meant we could use all their facilities and also get a 30 minute massage *oh the good life!*

LaLuna was an experience itself with picturesque views. We spent the whole day enjoying life, by not doing much at all and letting our muscles relax during our spa! Actually, Jason and I did try some stand-up paddling and fortunate for us, we don’t have any pictures because we didn’t really master the task. Well, I stood up, but the wind was quite strong so I ended up wayyy out into the ocean and had to swim my way back with the board, haha!

Unfortunately we didn’t get a chance to participate in the yoga lesson, but I think Anna will come back very soon (rumour has it her family is arriving in a week 🙂 )

So I would recommend everyone books their tickets to Grenada right this second and spends a day at LaLuna, because it was pretty great 🙂

For now, I’m off to the Bel Air Children’s Home and then I’m meeting up with some friends tonight!

Have a great weekend everyone! x

Living the Grey’s Anatomy life

Posted on March 26, 2015 by annathomassen

A couple of weeks ago I spent a Monday at the General Hospital in Grenada (It’s the building in the picture above). Dr. Ameci, who I had been shadowing previously, worked at a private hospital in Grenada. Of course at the private hospital the standards are better, equipment is more professional and everything runs a bit more smoothly. Therefore I was curious to see what the public/general hospital was like. I was put in contact with a surgeon who worked at the General Hospital and was allowed to shadow him for a day.

Quite the view from the hospital!

As I approached the hospital and stepped inside the reception area (at 7 am!!! Early start for surgeons!) I was a little bit confused whether this was a hospital or an abandoned building, haha. I’ve seen a lot of primitive and things in-not-so-great-state during my travels, but the General Hospital did initially give me a bit of a shock.

I met Dr. Campritus who I was shadowing for the day and I put my scrubs on and was ready to observe some surgeries! Everything around me was very simple, very basic, and very ‘old-school’. The beds were almost falling apart, everything is done by hand, there were cracks in the floor… But after I saw the first surgery I saw that those things weren’t really an issue – everything worked just fine. It was actually quite strange, because by the end of the day the hospital didn’t seem as simple and basic as when I arrived. Although it looked older and more primitive than what I was used to, none of those had any implications on the surgeries themselves.

I saw about 6 surgeries in total – busy day! The surgeries I saw included:

Umbilical hernia repair
Thyroidectomy (removal of half a thyroid)
Appendicitis (removal of appendix)
Lumpectomy of a benign tumor (Benign breast tumor removal)
Lumpectomy of a malignant tumor (malignant breast tumor removal)

It was a long day in the operating theaters, but very very interesting. I got to stand just up close to the patients, right next to the surgeon and he was very good at explaining the procedures. Surgery is definitely something that would interest me in the future, but first – get into med school, haha!

(The pictures below might be a little too much for some people – just beware…! 🙂 )

Here’s the thyroidectomy procedure!

And here’s half a thyroid!!

I’m very glad I’ve gotten the opportunity to do as much medical shadowing as I have done here in Grenada. It’s been a really great experience that I know will benefit me in the future.

The plan for my Thursday is:

Meet 3 students who are traveling from the UK with the Jason Roberts Foundation. They have been involved in a project and were the final candidates who got to travel to Grenada and are going to help out at a special needs school.
Beach Workout!
Head over to the Children’s Home for a couple of hours
1 hour of yoga
Meet up with friends! On Thursday there is a Salsa Night at one of the restaurants – we thought we would check it out 🙂

Busy and fun day ahead! I better get going 🙂

A Sunday on Hog Island!

Posted on March 26, 2015 by annathomassen

Hello everyone!

I’ve been slow with my blogging, but I’m prioritising experiencing rather than writing about past ones! So today I’m sharing with you something I experienced a couple of weeks ago.

Lindsay and I had met two people during our hash who asked if we wanted to come to a small island, Hog Island, which is just a quick boat ride from Grenada. As keen adventurers we thought, why not! We took a small boat to the island and as we approached, our ears filled with beautiful acoustic music! On a small stage out in the water, two very talented girls were singing beautifully and it was just as if we were in a dream – a little bit too good to be true! The sun was high in the sky, we were around great company and the music completely set the mood!

I put together a short video as pictures just couldn’t explain the great experience we had! Unfortunately the sound isn’t so great, but I hope you enjoy!

We ended the night with a beautiful sunset! Oh Sundays in Grenada I will miss you ❤

And look what I found on Hog Island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean!!! An Ingrid boat! *missingmyfavouritegirl* ❤

5 Sisters at 7 Sisters

Posted on March 19, 2015 by annathomassen

Happy Thursday everyone!

Hope everyone is doing well! Yesterday Lindsay, Laura and I organised another bonfire night and lots of people joined – we had such a great time! Chill music in the background, ghost stories, marshmallows, and a midnight swim under a sky full of stars made it such a perfect night!

Just wanted to share some pictures from a hike I did a couple of weeks ago. We were 5 girls who decided to do a hike to a waterfall called the 7 Sisters. We took the bus from the city towards the north.

Met some Swedish people on the bus!

The hike wasn’t very challenging at all. It only took about 30 minutes to get to the waterfall.

The waterfalls weren’t extremely majestic, but they were a pretty sight and it was lots of fun swimming in the water!

Happy girls in Grenada!

One of the girls who came with, Annabel, was actually a girl who I met at the Carriacou Carnival. I was watching the parade in Carriacou and I got in contact with some people standing next to me. Annabel was amongst the group of people and we started chatting. She’s from Australia and goes to university there, but is taking a 6 month leave to sail with her father, who sails around the world (as you do, haha!). Annabel and her father were sailing down to Grenada just as I left Carriacou so completely out of coincidence I met Annabel at a restaurant in Grenada! A fun little story of how easy it can be to get in touch with people!

It was a really great outing to do and it’s days like these that I will remember when I think back on my gap year!

– See you soon !

Grenada Hash House Harriers

Posted on March 12, 2015 by annathomassen

On Saturday last week I did my first HASH! (and no there was no hasj (hasj = marijuana) involved for those worried norwegians, haha)

You might have heard of a hash before, but I heard of it for the first time when I came to Grenada. So for those who don’t know here comes a little explanation.

There is a community of people known as ‘hashers’ and they organize hashes every Saturday here in Grenada. The hash is a running/walking trail that they organize and there is a lime (barbecue and music) after the hash. The hashing community is world wide, but it is very big here in Grenada because… well Grenada is small and people need things to do 🙂

I did the hash together with a girl called Jess, who’s from the UK and she did some shadowing with me at the hospital and Lindsay was there too. Jess and I walked it because we had no idea how long or hard it was, and then we got to take some photos too, but next Saturday we think we’ll run it…

The hike started with ‘Grandad’ having to drink beer out of a shoe…… Grandad is an elderly man who is crazy fit and does the hashes every Saturday and whenever someone has new shoes, he has to drink beer out of them, hahaha (crazy people – but makes for good fun 🙂 )

Lindsay, Jess and moi 🙂

The hike was only about 40 minutes, which we heard was unusually short so hopefully it will be longer next weekend – it was lots of fun though 🙂

And theeen this happened….

The people in charge told all the people who hadn’t done a hash before (virgin hashers) to group together for a group photo and then – we were splashed in beer, haha!

They also punished people who had picked fruits during the hash, people who went the wrong way, and even the people who planned the hash, because people thought it was too short. And of course, all the punishments involved beer 🙂

Haha – it all made for good laughs. After the hash, we went to Galaxy Night Club (after we showered and everything of course….) to see the launch of the carnival costumes for Grenada’s carnival in August 2015 – more on that later 🙂

Just as a little update in terms of what I am spending my days on (I’m not just lying on a beach all day haha!) After 4 weeks of shadowing at the private hospital with Dr. Ameci, I feel I had learnt a lot, but I was curious to do something else on this island as well. So today, I visited an orphanage that the Jason Roberts Foundation has been involved with and I will be volunteering there for the next 3 weeks – very excited about that 🙂 We are also planning an event for the JRF foundation, which will take place the the 18 April here in Grenada. But we’re still in the process of planning so I’ll update you as we go 🙂

Ciao for now!

MORE PARADISE <3

Posted on March 11, 2015 by annathomassen

Sorry sorry for not posting this earlier, but I’m in the Caribbean – we’re on island time here 🙂

Today I’m going to show you lots and lots of pictures from one of the most incredible days of my life, where I saw more turquoise water and whiter beaches than I have ever seen before; Welcome to the Tobago Cays!

I swear I didn’t steal any of these photos from Google – but it looks just a little too good to be true!

Lindsay, Ryan, Meg, Kendra, and myself all went to Carriacou on Saturday morning and we all went together on this day-trip on Sunday. The ‘Mostly Harmless’ boat (in the pictures above) took us from Carriacou out to the Tobago Cays, which took approximately 40 minutes and we were greeted by water which had the most beautiful colour!

Kendra, Lindsay, Ryan, me, and Meg : enjoying life in the Caribbean ❤

– I want to make memories all over the world –

The boat made about 5 stops throughout the day in various places around the Tobago Cays. During the first couple of stops we got to go snorkeling – and we saw TURTLES!!!

Still not a google picture – I swear!!!!

Next stop was a stunning island where we also got some local lunch.

So so so beautiful!

Waah – our lunch is alive!

Local lobster and local fish was on the menu for the day!

And of course we had to take some compulsory jumping photos 🙂

We carried on to another drop-dead gorgeous island! I had no idea places like these actually existed. I’ve always seen photos on google of beaches this beautiful and water that clear, but I never thought I’d actually get to see it – but here I was, surrounded by all this beauty! Felt very lucky to get the opportunity to experience this. Mother-nature – you did well 🙂

– I just want to go on adventures. Be around good energy. Connect with people. Learn new things. Grow.–

Next stop: Happy Island! Haha – yes there is such a place, and this place is a very very small island which consists of one, and only one bar, haha!

Welcome to Happy Island!

While we were sipping our rum punches, the kite surfers who were just across on Union Island (where I was the day before) started showing off their incredible skills and we got the most amazing kite surfing show while we were enjoying the sunset, on an unbelievable day in the Caribbean – life was so much more than good 🙂

We even gave one of them a beer!

HIGH five (literally high though, haha!)

Two very happy girls on Happy Island ❤

What a day! A big thank you to Dave at Carriacou Cottages for great rum and lots of amazing memories!

Oh and here we’re just waiting with some cows for our taxi, hihi!

A Little Flashback

Posted on March 3, 2015 by annathomassen

Bonjour!

I have had an absolutely aaaamaaaazing weekend in Carriacou and visiting the Tobago Cays. I don’t really have any words to describe how beautiful it was, but 1,500 photos of beach and blue water might tell you how stunning we thought it was. It’s taking some time to go through all the pictures, but I will post them as soon as possible!

Here’s a little sneak peak 🙂

In the mean time, I just wanted to share a quick flashback to last year with you!

During the weekend I was thinking of how incredibly lucky I feel to be experiencing all the things I am doing and to see all this beauty around me. Being able to lie on a beach with no stressful thoughts going through my head, nothing that has to be done by 8:00am Monday morning, it’s quite a big contrast to last year at school.

About one year ago, I was … BUSY! Final exams were coming up in May and I had one million things on my plate; assignment after assignment, essay after essay. My days started at 6:30 every morning, school was from 8:20 – 15:30, followed by volleyball to 18:00, a quick dinner and then studying from 19:30 to around midnight – every day, week after week! The weekends were always busy with school and to be honest, I’m not quite sure how I did it; it definitely feels like a long time ago right now.

This was usually me every evening for hours and hours … fun times!

Study notes were my room decorations…

Last year in March, I also participated in the Global Issues Conference that my school organises every year. I wasn’t as active this year as I was the year before because of … school, but I felt very honoured to be asked to introduce the Duchess of Luxembourg.

Introducing Her Royal Highness

Her Royal Highness Marie Theresa speaking to an international audience of high school students from around the world

Getting a chance to speak with HRH after her speech! A great experience 🙂

Later on that same week, I actually gave a presentation to a very large audience (600 people!!) when I received my Gold Award for my Duke of Edinburgh. The Prince and the father of the Grand Duke of Luxembourg were present, it was a little nerve-wracking but it was another great experience.

Cracking some jokes with Luxembourg Royalty as I receive my Gold Award 😉

March was also when we took our graduation photos!!

My favourites ❤

Missing these girls so much this year!

As I was going through some old photos, I found a slightly older one as well that I thought you might enjoy, haha!

There was a lot of hard work last year, but it eventually did pay off and I feel it was all very worth it as I am spending this year re-energizing and learning lessons that I couldn’t learn from textbooks 🙂

Kite Surfing on Union Island

Posted on March 1, 2015 by annathomassen

Not really sure if I can write this here, but let’s hope no Grenadian government officials read this, haha! Because today, Lindsay, Karys, and I were somewhat illegal immigrants. Let me start from the beginning 🙂

There has been another student who has done an internship with the doctor I have been shadowing for the past couple of weeks. His name is Ryan and he will be a qualified doctor at the end of this year. The other day Ryan told me that he and some friends were going to Carriacou for the weekend and were doing a day trip to some islands known as the Tobago Cays. He wondered if I wanted to come with, and although it is highly unusual to visit Carriacou twice in such a short period of time, why not, haha! I also asked Lindsay if she wanted to come and so this morning Ryan, and his two friends, Lindsay, Karys (a friend of Lindsay’s), and myself, all left for Carriacou (on what turned out to be the rockiest ferry ride ever, I promise you everyone was sick)!!

Karys, who Lindsay knows from before was also coming with because she was taking a kite-surfing lesson on an island called Union Island, which is not too far from the coast of Carriacou. Lindsay and I decided that this could be fun, so we agreed to join Karys to Union Island. What did not cross our mind about Union Island is that it is not part of Grenada (Carriacou is), it is part of a country called St. Vincent….. So, we were actually going into another country (buuut we had no passport or stamps). Therefore, quite illegally we got into a little speedboat (the pictures will show you that speed boats have a quite different meaning down here), and voilà, we were in St. Vincent (well, on Union Island…) as slightly illegal immigrants, haha!

Let’s just say that the ratio of boat size to waves was indifferent. It was an interesting hour-long drive over from Carriacou to Union Island but we survived, just soaked from top to toe 🙂

We were met by great hospitality on Union Island as Karys knew the people working at the resort where we came. After a delicious lunch, it was time for our kite surfing lesson!

The view from where we had our lunch

As we walked over to where they do the kite surfing I was completely blown away. I’ve seen videos and pictures of kite-surfing before, but never in real life – and it was so amazing to see people actually taking off and doing tricks.

Lindsay with the kite surfers

The kite surfing place had such a chill and great atmosphere

Karys and I just had a very basic introductory course to kite-surfing, so we didn’t actually use the board at all, we just learned to control the kite itself (which was hard enough!!). Unfortunately Lindsay and I had to leave back to Carriacou in the evening so that we could go to the Tobago Cays the next day, but I hope I’ll come back and have some more lessons!

We had a beautiful sunset in Carriacou when we came back. This time we were staying in a little more upgraded place than where I was last time, the Grand view Hotel.

It had been a really great day and hopefully today will be even better!! Google ‘Tobago Cays’ and this is what comes up:

So excited!!!

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy (I’ll explain later!)

Posted on February 27, 2015 by annathomassen

Yesterday I watched a laparoscopic cholecystectomy (in normal language: a surgery where they remove the gall bladder using the keyhole method (in norwegian: kikhulsoperasjon av galleblæren).

So today, you’re all getting a little introduction to biology/medicine 🙂

I have been shadowing a doctor at the private hospital every day for about three weeks now from 9-12. He is a general practitioner and it has been very interesting to sit in on the consultations – I feel like I’ve learned a lot! In the hospital where he works there was a surgery yesterday, which he said I was allowed to watch!!

The goal of the surgery was to remove the patient’s gall bladder. Here’s a little background info on the gall baldder (woohoo – exciting!).

The gall bladder (9) stores something called bile, which is produced in the liver (10 + 11). After bile has been produced in the liver it goes through a ‘tube’ (4) to the gall bladder where it is stores before it is needed. Bile is a kind of liquid filled with substances that help break down fats in your small intestine (15 + 16). The bile then passes through another tube (5+6) to enter your small intestine.

The liver is the big brown structure, the gall bladder is the small green one, the small intestine is number 15+16, the stomach 14, and the pancreas is the large orange structure (17,18,19).

Sometimes, people get a stone that is stuck in tube 5 that prevent the bile from entering the small intestine. It’s not possible to remove gall bladder stones, so whoever has these stones have to have their gall bladder removed through a surgery called a cholecystectomy. It is a very common and a fairly simple procedure as it is done using a laparoscope, which is when you make four small incisions in the body, rather than a large cut. You then go in with a camera in one incision, and instruments in the other three.

This is what a laparoscopic surgery looks like from the outside

During the surgery I watched, there were some complications when they were trying to remove the gall bladder. The surgeon decided that they had to open up the patient with a large incision. This was great for me as I got to see even more! Once they opened up the patient they were able to remove the gall bladder (it just took 4 hours and my legs were tired…).

Want to have a look at what a cholecystectomy looks like? Have a look!!

The surgeons hard at work! This is what the operating theatre looks like

After a pretty long surgery, my legs where aching, but it was of course extremely fascinating to watch. I’ve seen a couple of surgeries before, but this time the doctor was very good at explaining and showing me various organs.

A tired, but excited Anna!

So that was your biology lesson for the day! Hope you learned something x

Anna Thomassen

Follow me on my gap year abroad!