3 challenges of living on an island I’m expecting

While there are some things that I’m looking forward to about living in Grenada, I also expect there to be several difficulties. Here are 3 challenges of living on an island that I’m expecting.

Challenges of living on an island #1: Being away from family

The biggest challenge of living on an island is going to be the isolation. Being so far away from my family. The flight to Grenada is about 5.5 hours and the flights aren’t that frequent, like they would be to New York for example.

While I usually prefer being at home or doing things on my own, my husband is usually around. Even though he’s always working, there’s a comfort in knowing that at the end of the day, I get to see him. And that I can rely on him if I need help with anything.

And although my parents are about 2 hours away, I’ve been able to see them almost every week during my summer break.

In Grenada, I won’t have the luxury of hanging out with my family during my down times, which always helps me de-stress. There are no breaks during the term that are long enough for me to come home. So I’ll be relying on video calls a lot. It can’t compete with being together, but at least it’s something.

And hopefully, I’ll be too busy to notice the time flying by. My first exam is at the end of August and the 2nd one is at the end of September. Which just leaves October and November. And those should be hectic times too because of the complexities of the neuro block, prepping for 3 final exams, and the cumulative exam for the end of 1st year.

Challenges of living on an island #2: Attending live classes

Another challenge is going to be attending all classes in person. During term 1 when classes were online, I was able to use that time to get other things done. Like cook or workout during lecture time. I didn’t pay attention during lectures because there are more effective ways to learn. Professors typically tell us the information from the lecture slides rather than explain the how and why. (It’s not entirely their fault, there’s not enough time.) And you can’t speed them up. YouTube videos on the other hand, are far more explanatory and I can speed them up and stop as needed.

Unlike lectures, tutorials were smaller groups and required active participation so I had to be present. But after making my contributions, I was usually able to get through several Anki cards simultaneously.

I should be able to regain some time because of less cooking and cleaning. My rent includes weekly cleaning services and I’ll only be cooking for myself. But it’ll take a few weeks to find out if that’s enough to offset the time I lose by attending live classes, plus the time going to and from campus.

The most I’ll be able to manage with in person lectures is getting through my Anki reviews. So I’ll have to find some creative solutions and be diligent with my time. I want to find a similar balance between school and non-school activities like I did in term 1.

Challenges of living on an island #3: Not having the same amenities

Finally, it’s going to be a challenge not having the same amenities I have at home.

I won’t have a car on the island so I’ll have to take the bus. As someone who used public transit for most of undergrad and the first year of my job – I don’t look forward to going back to it.

Depending on how hot it is, I might be taking the bus to and from campus. And I’ll definitely need it to get my weekly groceries. The struggle will be planning around the bus schedule rather than being able to run errands when it’s most convenient for me. Which matters since time is of the essence in med school.

I’ll also miss having an air fryer and rice cooker, plus their convenient and relatively mess-free cooking. I don’t have enough space in my luggage to take them with me. I’m going to try to find these items on the island, although I’ve heard that most things are more expensive there. Maybe I can buy them from upper term students who are moving off the island. Plus, I’ll also need to buy a converter since my apartment only has 220V outlets.

On a positive note…

Fortunately, there’s a work-around to most of these challenges. Some things are not as convenient as back home. There are extra steps involved in doing simple things that I normally don’t have to think about. Like using a power outlet. So perhaps this experience will force me to think more creatively and become better at problem solving as I encounter hurdles along the way.

Have you lived abroad before? What were some challenges you faced?

-M

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