Today Ralph finally walked! I can't believe it. I was waiting for this day to happen and I knew I wouldn't be there. When I come home in December he's already gonna be running around. I'm gonna try to hold him and he'll just scramble away. He's growing up too fast! Time's flying by too fast.
Welp, at least that means my time on this island will fly by too! I wanna come home to my favorite people!
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Thank You, Philip =)
Philip left at 5am this morning. I can't thank him enough how much he's helped me settle over here. He's done more than enough! Despite the fact that I was going to classes, we managed to fit in some fun before the workload got tough. We went kayaking, snorkeling, and rode on a dinghy. We also went to Fish Friday which happens every Friday in Gouyave (northwest Grenada). It was a long scary mountainous drive on the bus, but when we got there it was worth it! Tons of fish fish fish cooked in all ways possible Fish nuggets, fried fish, fish kabobs, grilled fish, boiled fish, fish fish. There were other seafoods too, as well as breads. They had drinks, local juices, and even icecream! We shared the nutmeg icecream, although the raisin rum sounded appealing too. We also spent time trying out tons of different foods, whether they were nice restaurants to eat out, food court food, food at the Caribbean stands, or local Grenadian food. We both love eating, but we don't like how it makes our body feels so.... we took time in our days to work out at the SGU gym too! The gym's not bad. It's pretty nice with air conditioning too. I hope to make a lot of use out of it. During orientation we also had tours to Annandale Falls and the Grand Etang National Rainforest. We didn't get to see the rainforest though (missed the wild monkeys!) becaused it rained out, but the waterfall was pretty! Despite how badly bitten up Philip got from mosquitoes, I hope he enjoyed his two week stay here. I miss him already!
Didn't get to take pictures of everything we did, but here are some random ones taken:
Didn't get to take pictures of everything we did, but here are some random ones taken:
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| Walk out of class, look over and see the beautiful blue water that makes it truly True Blue, St. George's, Grenada. |
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| We snorkeled! |
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| At Sea Fun Adventure in St. George's, right before we got on the dinghy |
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| Beautiful view |
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| A pool right next to the marina along with a great view of the town of St. George's |
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| Starfruit drink! (local juice) |
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| Soursop smoothie! |
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| Grand Anse beach |
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| Our rental Suzuki jeep, Jimmy. Steering wheel on the right and you drive on the left lane, had to get used to that. |
Grenada! the Good, the Bad, & the Ugly
Well, I'm finally in Grenada! It's been two weeks since I've been here and I don't know where to start.
The Good
I arrived on August 9, the day before the mandatory orientation. Philip came with me to settle everything in. We had a layover in Puerto Rico and stayed over night there. We found a $10 bill on the floor of our hotel. We stuck it in the slots at a nearby casino and after four cranks.... ding ding ding ding (x 1 minute) ... JACK POT! When we picked up that bill, I KNEW it was lucky money! It was $1 slots, so our jackpot came out to be $488. Pretty awesome, I've never won in slots before, it was like on TV! (okay... this has nothing to do with Grenada, so on with Grenada now....)
St. George's University is freaking BEAUTIFUL. It's exactly like how it looks on the website. First step on campus and I looked over and saw the beautiful blue water. It was breath taking. During orientation I found how helpful the students and faculty were. It's an amazing support group they give to all students no matter what term you are. Classes started and my professors are from everywhere, from New York, to Australia, to even a Grenadian himself (the only professor that's a little difficult to understand). There's plenty clubs and organizations here. When I'm on campus, it reminds me that I've made it. I'm finally at a medical school and will become a doctor some day. It doensn't matter which medical school I'm at, even if I'm on an island. This is my chance to be what I want to be. I forget everything else and just put my mind on my goal and focus. I do love everything this school has to offer.
Island life here. You know what that means, beach in between classes! Not that everyone's going to do it, nor would they have time to, but it is possible. You have access to the beach any time you want. You wear shorts, shirt, and flip flops year round. That's great for me, because I hate cold weather. Watch when I come back home for Christmas, I'll be the only one in my family with a nice tan =)
Necessities here. At least there's everything I could possibly need. That is, unless I'm picky with some particular brand. The Real Value grocery store (IGA) is the place to go for it all. They even have plenty places to eat. I've had sushi, Chinese food, curry, local Grenadian food, wraps, pizza, and plenty other variety. They're not that good, but at least it's variety. They even have these sour sop smoothies that are to die for! I was hoping on a lot of different fruits I've never tried, but there's only been two that's been new to me (not sure of their names). Well, there's a third one, breadfruit, which I'm not sure is a fruit, because it tastes a lot like cassava (a root).
My studio apartment is nice. It's actually great considering the location and how nice and furnished it is. The nicer ones closer to campus is ridiculously expensive. I have all my utilities inclusive, including AC, which is all I wanted. It's pretty hot here, so it's nice to be able to keep the AC running. I'm close enough where I can walk to campus if need be and I also have the bus stop right at our drive way.
So basically, everything that I need on the island to survive and attain my goal, I have it. I came on this island for one thing, and I have everything here to help me get it.
But then there's The Bad
Island life is terrible. Maybe that's me speaking from being here for such a short time. I was already homesick my first night here. In general, I get homesick pretty easy. My first time living in a dorm at Georgia Tech my freshmen year had me homesick for an entire week! And that's only 30minutes away from my house, in which I was able to drive home every weekend. But along with that, I DO adapt to my surroundings easily as well, if that makes sense. As of now, I'm perfectly fine with my living situation. The first night, my flight was delayed several hours due to maintenance issues. I didn't arrive to well after midnight and wasn't even sure if my landlord was there to let me in his apartment. He wasn't. Philip and I were dropped off from a taxi in front of the complex. A neighbor across the street said the landlord would be coming back. Philip and just waited.. and waited.. and waited... in the middle of the night. After about 20 minutes, he finally came. Food everywhere is so expensive too. I remember seeing OFF spray in Puerto Rico for $8 and thought that was expensive and decided to wait til we get to Grenada. I see it for $31 EC and I'm like "WHAT?!" The conversion of $1 US = $2.67 EC confuses me a little too. I heard rule of thumb is to take 40% as the US amount, so everywhere I go, I keep thinking a little less than half, which made everything seem so expensive. When really, the correct way to think is a little more than a third which made it closer to the actual amount. I can't easily get eggs because they're not always available. The frozen meats seem like they've been frozen, thawed, and re-frozen again. Even then, they're still all expensive. That's 'cause they have to import everything. I had boxes of my stuff shipped from Amerijet down to Grenada. It costed $250 to have everything shipped. Who knew that picking it up here in Grenada would cost money too? I had to pay taxes on them, which costed another $100 US. It made shipping anything from home to here not even worth it. At least I'll know for next time. One girl ahead of me had 9 boxes to pick up, which were all torn and beat up. She had to pay $800 EC, which seemed outrageous!
The bus system here isn't reliable either. Well, it is, but I've been spoiled by the Georgia Tech Stinger and Trolley, which comes around every 5 minutes, whether empty or not. Here, you can wait anywhere from 5 minutes to even half an hour. Even then, when buses are full, they just pass on by without stopping. The thing is, at the bus station on campus, they don't leave unless there's a good number of people on the bus. So during an odd hour, when no one would be using the bus, the buses would be stationed on campus, just waiting. That's unfortunate for those in Grand Anse (off campus area where the First Term dorms are) who are waiting to be picked up. I've had my share of being impatient. I waited 30 minutes for a bus to Grand Anse for the grocery store and ending up taking a taxi there instead. There's a reggae bus (a van) though, that comes pretty often for pretty cheap. So you're always able to go anywhere you need to go. However, if you're a claustrophobic type of person, this is not for you! A typical van should hold what, 9 people at most safely? Imagine a bus that constantly shoves people in! There's about 15-20 people in a van!
Philip and I rented a jeep for 2 days and it made life so much easier. That's basically the only two things "bad" about this island that I have to complain about. How expensive everything is and not having a good source of transportation to rely on.
and now The Ugly
MOSQUITOS! They're TERRIBLE here! Next thing I'm stocking up on my next trip down would be tons and tons of cans of OFF-Spray. Every single day I'm getting bitten. It's actually not always that bad here. It's just during this time it's pretty awful because the island experienced a drought several months back. I was told that it'd get better, by my God! Everyone's also been told about the dengue virus, which comes from these life-threatening mosquitoes that lays eggs every time they suck blood. ahhhh!
I miss the U.S., being able to just drive to Target if I need anything. Being able to just go to Chik-Fil-A for quick eating. I miss all the authentic good Asian food on Buford Hwy! I miss all my friends and family. I miss Ralphie. I'm gonna miss his first steps. Living here just makes me LOVE USA!
Haha I know, I know, I need to get over it. I'm not really complaining, I actually have an open mind and excited for all the experiences the next two years I have here. I hope to make the best of it and come back proud to have being able to experience studying abroad in Grenada.
The Good
I arrived on August 9, the day before the mandatory orientation. Philip came with me to settle everything in. We had a layover in Puerto Rico and stayed over night there. We found a $10 bill on the floor of our hotel. We stuck it in the slots at a nearby casino and after four cranks.... ding ding ding ding (x 1 minute) ... JACK POT! When we picked up that bill, I KNEW it was lucky money! It was $1 slots, so our jackpot came out to be $488. Pretty awesome, I've never won in slots before, it was like on TV! (okay... this has nothing to do with Grenada, so on with Grenada now....)
St. George's University is freaking BEAUTIFUL. It's exactly like how it looks on the website. First step on campus and I looked over and saw the beautiful blue water. It was breath taking. During orientation I found how helpful the students and faculty were. It's an amazing support group they give to all students no matter what term you are. Classes started and my professors are from everywhere, from New York, to Australia, to even a Grenadian himself (the only professor that's a little difficult to understand). There's plenty clubs and organizations here. When I'm on campus, it reminds me that I've made it. I'm finally at a medical school and will become a doctor some day. It doensn't matter which medical school I'm at, even if I'm on an island. This is my chance to be what I want to be. I forget everything else and just put my mind on my goal and focus. I do love everything this school has to offer.
Island life here. You know what that means, beach in between classes! Not that everyone's going to do it, nor would they have time to, but it is possible. You have access to the beach any time you want. You wear shorts, shirt, and flip flops year round. That's great for me, because I hate cold weather. Watch when I come back home for Christmas, I'll be the only one in my family with a nice tan =)
Necessities here. At least there's everything I could possibly need. That is, unless I'm picky with some particular brand. The Real Value grocery store (IGA) is the place to go for it all. They even have plenty places to eat. I've had sushi, Chinese food, curry, local Grenadian food, wraps, pizza, and plenty other variety. They're not that good, but at least it's variety. They even have these sour sop smoothies that are to die for! I was hoping on a lot of different fruits I've never tried, but there's only been two that's been new to me (not sure of their names). Well, there's a third one, breadfruit, which I'm not sure is a fruit, because it tastes a lot like cassava (a root).
My studio apartment is nice. It's actually great considering the location and how nice and furnished it is. The nicer ones closer to campus is ridiculously expensive. I have all my utilities inclusive, including AC, which is all I wanted. It's pretty hot here, so it's nice to be able to keep the AC running. I'm close enough where I can walk to campus if need be and I also have the bus stop right at our drive way.
So basically, everything that I need on the island to survive and attain my goal, I have it. I came on this island for one thing, and I have everything here to help me get it.
But then there's The Bad
Island life is terrible. Maybe that's me speaking from being here for such a short time. I was already homesick my first night here. In general, I get homesick pretty easy. My first time living in a dorm at Georgia Tech my freshmen year had me homesick for an entire week! And that's only 30minutes away from my house, in which I was able to drive home every weekend. But along with that, I DO adapt to my surroundings easily as well, if that makes sense. As of now, I'm perfectly fine with my living situation. The first night, my flight was delayed several hours due to maintenance issues. I didn't arrive to well after midnight and wasn't even sure if my landlord was there to let me in his apartment. He wasn't. Philip and I were dropped off from a taxi in front of the complex. A neighbor across the street said the landlord would be coming back. Philip and just waited.. and waited.. and waited... in the middle of the night. After about 20 minutes, he finally came. Food everywhere is so expensive too. I remember seeing OFF spray in Puerto Rico for $8 and thought that was expensive and decided to wait til we get to Grenada. I see it for $31 EC and I'm like "WHAT?!" The conversion of $1 US = $2.67 EC confuses me a little too. I heard rule of thumb is to take 40% as the US amount, so everywhere I go, I keep thinking a little less than half, which made everything seem so expensive. When really, the correct way to think is a little more than a third which made it closer to the actual amount. I can't easily get eggs because they're not always available. The frozen meats seem like they've been frozen, thawed, and re-frozen again. Even then, they're still all expensive. That's 'cause they have to import everything. I had boxes of my stuff shipped from Amerijet down to Grenada. It costed $250 to have everything shipped. Who knew that picking it up here in Grenada would cost money too? I had to pay taxes on them, which costed another $100 US. It made shipping anything from home to here not even worth it. At least I'll know for next time. One girl ahead of me had 9 boxes to pick up, which were all torn and beat up. She had to pay $800 EC, which seemed outrageous!
The bus system here isn't reliable either. Well, it is, but I've been spoiled by the Georgia Tech Stinger and Trolley, which comes around every 5 minutes, whether empty or not. Here, you can wait anywhere from 5 minutes to even half an hour. Even then, when buses are full, they just pass on by without stopping. The thing is, at the bus station on campus, they don't leave unless there's a good number of people on the bus. So during an odd hour, when no one would be using the bus, the buses would be stationed on campus, just waiting. That's unfortunate for those in Grand Anse (off campus area where the First Term dorms are) who are waiting to be picked up. I've had my share of being impatient. I waited 30 minutes for a bus to Grand Anse for the grocery store and ending up taking a taxi there instead. There's a reggae bus (a van) though, that comes pretty often for pretty cheap. So you're always able to go anywhere you need to go. However, if you're a claustrophobic type of person, this is not for you! A typical van should hold what, 9 people at most safely? Imagine a bus that constantly shoves people in! There's about 15-20 people in a van!
Philip and I rented a jeep for 2 days and it made life so much easier. That's basically the only two things "bad" about this island that I have to complain about. How expensive everything is and not having a good source of transportation to rely on.
and now The Ugly
MOSQUITOS! They're TERRIBLE here! Next thing I'm stocking up on my next trip down would be tons and tons of cans of OFF-Spray. Every single day I'm getting bitten. It's actually not always that bad here. It's just during this time it's pretty awful because the island experienced a drought several months back. I was told that it'd get better, by my God! Everyone's also been told about the dengue virus, which comes from these life-threatening mosquitoes that lays eggs every time they suck blood. ahhhh!
I miss the U.S., being able to just drive to Target if I need anything. Being able to just go to Chik-Fil-A for quick eating. I miss all the authentic good Asian food on Buford Hwy! I miss all my friends and family. I miss Ralphie. I'm gonna miss his first steps. Living here just makes me LOVE USA!
Haha I know, I know, I need to get over it. I'm not really complaining, I actually have an open mind and excited for all the experiences the next two years I have here. I hope to make the best of it and come back proud to have being able to experience studying abroad in Grenada.
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