So… Monday, we finally got to go down to campus… where we had a lovely day of “setting up the basics” that they called the One-Stop. Got our IDs made up, submitted the paperwork for the visa, and all that lovely clerical junk. Then, we had a few lectures about the island and Ross University itself and went up to Brimstone Hill. Don’t let anyone fool you—there are a LOT of stairs for those of us out of shape. It was a British fort that was built on top of a huge sulfur vein/mountain… hence the name. And, of course, this was followed by dinner with the group.
Tuesday was more clerical junk—bank accounts, drivers licenses, insurance, etc. And then we got a tour of the campus. They’re doing so much construction and everything is such chaos on there right now. I’ll be surprised if I can find everything alright come the first day of class. It’s a nice campus though—good sized for how many classes there are going at once, but honestly, a bit smaller than I expected. Then we went to Shipwreck Beach… where most of us sat there watching the monkeys and mongooses a good chunk of time. They’re cute little buggers. It’s unfortunate to me—I’m not a beach person, so I just hid in the shade and watched everyone out there.
Wednesday was nothing but lectures—health services, security, housing, just to name a few. And when that was all done, Lindsey and I went out to look at cars and found a pretty good deal for one—a 2000 Nissan Sunny for $6000. (I wasn’t expecting that expense, but the apartment was a tad bit further from campus than we both expected.) We’re still bouncing name ideas around… but since we both have dogs named Kami/Cami, we wanted to incorporate that into her name. Thursday was full of more lectures, all surrounding the curriculum and leadership. Boy do I hate leadership exercises—we had to draw posters in small groups about the values that we want to incorporate into our studies and ridiculous things like that. Once that torture was done, we finally made our ways to the bank… and I finally have money! What a relief. I have so many bills to pay off now. -_- And then, we got the car insured, paid the wheel tax, and transferred the ownership into our names. So, it is ours! Hooray! Then, Ross took us off to see Iron Man II. It was ok—the last half hour caught my attention, but it was long otherwise.
Friday, we went on a catamaran from Port Zante to the sister island of Nevis. I ended up getting a mild sunburn on the backs of my arms, which led to me also getting a headache and all those lovely problems I get when I’m out in the sun too long. I honestly was also hoping to see more of Nevis than a beach and 2 bars. It was honestly a disappointing trip for me. I sat there and wrote up some postcards and letters instead.
What a relief it was yesterday to do nothing. I got to sleep in till 8:00! (I’m naturally waking up around 6:30 from the sun down here and it’s really annoying. :P) Went grocery shopping… so it finally looks like someone lives in this apartment… and waited… and waited… and waited… for the internet people to come to install it. Urgh. I wanted the internet so bad… I had so many things to do on there. So, instead, I watched the wildlife outside on the porch—lizards… huge centipedes (which then proceeded to be eaten by the lizards)… some goats passing by the yard… I’ve been thinking about what clubs I want to join… and I’m leaning towards quite a few—Holistic Medicine, Exotics/Wildlife/Zoo Medicine, Pathology Club, and assisting with the research of the leatherback turtles that nest on the island. We’ll see though… still have to meet with the organizers of each club.
It’s still kind of frustrating how they don’t recycle much down here—only aluminum and plastic. I’m so surprised that the students haven’t worked out a paper recycling program yet. Hmm… gives me some ideas. :P
I love reading the blog! It is cool to keep up with you and see the beautiful pics! Love you and so proud of you! Xoxo
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