We're breaking and rebuilding and we're growing, always guessing, never knowing

Ok so this orientation nonsense is just taking up too much of my energy and my soul.  I've been super exhausted the last few days.  By about 8:30 this morning, I was already starting to fall asleep in my lecture. I hope this isn't a preview of what classes are going to be like.


We sat through a few presentations about on-campus living, life at Ross University, and MTBI results, which took entirely too long.  My MTBI (which gives you clues to your personality type and reveals your strengths and weaknesses) was kind of interesting.  My personality type is ENTP:
I am an Extrovert, which means that I get my energy from the outer world, I am outgoing, and I go for a breadth of interests (rather than depth).
I take in information using iNtuition, from patterns, looking at the big picture, and thinking about the future, rather than the here and now (I thought the other option for this category fit me better, but what do I know about myself?).
I draw conclusions by Thinking (rather than feeling), meaning I make my decisions based on logic and reason, rather than sympathy and circumstance.
And finally, I deal with the outer world by Perceiving.  I prefer to be spontaneous, I am open to change, and I like to have options.
Now that I've bored everyone, I'll give you a summary of yesterdays orientation lectures, which I found way more interesting than todays.


A journalist/radio host came to talk to us about island life.  Basically, she told us to pretend we are on vacation and don't let the "island time" thing get to us, use good manners (everyone here says "good morning/afternoon" to everyone else), and she gave us a brief history of St. Kitts and Nevis (despite how it sounds, she was actually very entertaining and she was pretty much the only speaker who held my attention).

• The first British colony that was formed in the Caribbean was on St. Kitts by Thomas Warner in 1624.
• Alexander Hamilton was actually born on Nevis.  His mother wasn't fully white.  Scandalous!  His house is still there and is open to the public as a museum.
• When the French came here (after the British), the British let them stay here as long as they were on the other side of the island.  Basseterre (capital of St. Kitts) separated the French and British sides and it means "lowlands".
• There are a number of forts here.  I can try to expand on that once I've seen some of them.  We are getting an island tour on Friday...maybe then.
• The majority of citizens are descendant from African slaves, although people from Asian, Scottish, and European descent also came here.
• Slavery was abolished on St. Kitts in 1834, before the US.

She also gave us some examples of local foods:

• Saltfish - salted cod sauteed with onions, apples, and other stuff.
• Johnny cake - some kind of deep fried dough?
• Ting - grapefruit soda made locally
• Conch burgers/fritters.  More on this later

Another fun thing; hissing : St. Kitts :: wolf whistle : US.  Figure that one out, smarties.


I won't bore you with any more orientation stuff, but we did go out to dinner last night to a place called Ballahoos, known for their Caribbean cuisine.

I tried the conch fritters and it wasn't really my taste (then again, what is?  I eat PB and J and cereal whenever I can).  The sauce was pretty good though.  I also got a side of vegetables (mom, you should be proud).  Pumpkin is apparently huge on the island and they put it in most things to add "texture" although I think pumpkin has a really strange texture that you wouldn't want to put in other foods...whatever.  So I tried their pumpkin and squash.  Guess what.  Didn't like it.  So I didn't eat most of it (sorry mom).  I loved the broccoli though!  She's choppin' broccoli...

I was supposed to go to Elvis' to play volleyball today, but by the time we started taking our EXAM (yes, I did say exam) I was so exhausted that I was falling asleep and getting a migraine (from being so tired).  So I decided to skip out on volleyball (sadly).  I'm also broke as a joke, so that saved me a little bit of money.  However, that means that I don't have anything else super interesting to tell you fine folks.  I will later though, because here's what the rest of my week looks like:

Tomorrow: Leadership development (activities, could be fun) and going to the theatre in town to see "The Help"...again. :D

Friday:  Island tour and beach party

Saturday:  Catamaran trip to Nevis and playing on the island with a party afterwards

Sunday:  Ziplining!

So pumped.

It starts in my toes and I crinkle my nose

Yesterday was a LONG beach day!  We went to the Marriott beach, where the big fancy hotel is.  Since I was already sunburned (right through my SPF 50 sunscreen, mind you), I was hesitant to go in the first place, but really, how can you pass up a beach day?  Especially one that looks like this:

Not even an option.  So I went and it was a PERFECT day.  The Marriott had a swim up bar...

...and a 50% -sized replica of the Nina (Columbus' ship).

We swam, laid out, read, napped, and played volleyball in the pool.  A few people went snorkeling and apparently saw a water snake and a "colorful" lobster.  I'm not sure what colors, but I've never seen one other than the "normal" color.  I'm seriously thinking about getting some snorkeling gear.  I know I'll make good use of it, since you can go snorkeling year round here.  Something to look into...  I'm also definitely going to get my SCUBA certification while I'm here too.  So pumped.

Some people at the Marriott were advertising aloe massages (they literally had the aloe leaves in their hand and they squeezed some onto your back...the real thing) and I wanted one but I was quickly running out of cash.  However, the woman (Teresa, if you are ever at the St. Kitts Marriott) still came over and gave me a 1 minute demo and it felt AMAZING.  I'm definitely going back there to get a full half hour massage.  It felt especially awesome, since I'm sunburned on my back.  We also met a woman named Lettuce ("like the vegetable!" she says) so does house call spa treatments, like waxing, manicure/pedicures, etc.  Her prices are very reasonable, so a couple of the girls decided to have a spa night.  She said that she would be more than happy to come to campus to see us.  How cool is that?  I'm already in need of a pedicure.  This sand doesn't exfoliate my feet the way I was hoping it would. :(

After our 6-hour beach day, we actually had to do paperwork, which reminded me that I actually have to attend school while I'm here too.  Today was the beginning of our real orientation week, so this morning, we had a free breakfast and then went to do some official business.  I tried on a white coat for our white coat ceremony (which will be webcast on September 5th!  I'll post the link later for everyone to watch).  I felt so official!  I'm actually going to be a vet soon!  I still don't feel like I am and ordering a dissection kit and stethoscope online made me feel like I was just pretending to be a doctor.  Another thing is that I fit into a small coat.  I don't think I've worn a small anything since 5th grade...or before.  Made me feel good :)

We are taking our ID pictures at 1:00, so I need to decide if I want to attempt to straighten my hair or leave it in my weirdo curls.  By the way, my hair is not as curly as it used to be, if you haven't noticed.  Over the last year or so, they've been straightening out, especially on the left side of my head.  It's really cool when one side of your hair is kind of straight and the other side has some straight strands and some mildly curly straights...wait, I meant to say that it's NOT cool :(

More orientation stuff to come later, so I'll leave you with one of our campus tortoises, who I'm calling Flex.

Flex says hello.

Let's get together and feel alright

We finally got a tour of campus today!  Let's see if I can remember what everything is... By the way, I'm new at this whole blogging deal so don't pay attention to the spacing.  I had a lot of trouble trying to upload these pictures.  Think of it as taking the scenic route.  We are on island time, after all.


First up, this is classrooms 1 and 2.






























And this is the view from outside of classrooms 1 and 2 :)

This is the prep school, where students and faculty can bring their kids.  It has a cute garden outside of it.

This USED to be a place that people could order things for lunch.  I don't know how it worked, but either way, it's no longer in use.  There is a similar hut nearby that I didn't get a picture of.  That's also my new car parked right outside of it.

This is the lower auditorium (the grassy part) and upper auditorium (the building behind and slightly to the right).

Toxic plant garden for toxicology!

This is just a big old plant in the toxic plant garden.  If I remember correctly, it was called Mother-in-law's tongue.

Cute little pond/garden outside of...some building.

Hills pet food store on campus.  Open 3 days a week.

Obviously, veterinary teaching hospital.

Student Union behind lower auditorium.  So what if I don't have these pictures in geographical order?  Don't judge me.

I don't remember what this is, but it has a cute wall.

Part of the large animal area on campus.  There's quite a bit more.

That's all I have on campus for now.  After our campus tour, we went to Reggae beach.  Slogan/Attitude: Live de life.  Also, rush slowly.  That's how we do.

Reggae beach is kind of far away and the potholes in the road are almost as bad as they are in Michigan, but it was well worth the drive.  We passed through the narrowest part of the island where the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea are separated by only 1/4 mile of paradise.  The Atlantic is on the left and the Caribbean is on the right.  And that's me in the blue dress.

This is a view of some houses from on top of the hill.

Onto the beach!  Don't worry, there aren't that many more pictures.

Here's the bar at Reggae!

I don't think I will ever have enough scenery pictures of St. Kitts.

We finished our day at Reggae with a good old fashioned game of beach volleyball with some of the "upperclassmen" from Ross.  Fun times were had by all.  Let me introduce you to Wilbur, the pig, who kept interrupting our volleyball game.

And this is how I feel about today.

Ok, so I was just looking for an excuse to post a decent picture of myself.  Don't hate.  Also, this was pre-sunburn, which broke through my SPF 50 sunscreen.  How did I get the fairest skin in my family?  I probably shouldn't reproduce and pass on those Irish skin genes.

Bring me two pina coladas

Welcome to St. Kitts!

I am here at my new home, looking at the Caribbean Sea from my bedroom window (no big deal, right?).  I am here to study veterinary medicine at Ross University and for once in my life, I can't wait to start school.  I'm super excited to start learning and studying things that I actually care about... instead of physics.

I have already fallen in love with the island and I am SO glad that I decided to come here for vet school.  It was a TOUGH road to get here though.  I've been preparing since I was accepted back in January and I had to jump through so many hoops to get all my documents and official stuff together.  I had to mash everything I will need to live for the next two years into 2 suitcases, a carryon, and a backpack...ridiculous.  I think I repacked my bags about 5 times before I got it all in and still stayed under the weight limit.  Regardless, I'm here now and I'm ready to start my new life.

When I got here on Thursday, we were picked up at the airport by Ross orientation staff and given our island cell phones, which consists of 15 buttons. That's it.  No flip out keyboard, no touch screen, no fancy schmancy ringtones.  It's kind of hilarious.  But it works.

We were driven to campus by Sackville, our driver.  He gave us a short summary of island life and history while we were able to admire our new surroundings.  The first thing I noticed is that all of the buildings are super colorful.  Each building is a different color, and not a color that you would normally see on a house in your neighborhood.  Purple, red, pink, blue, green and sometimes multi-colored.  That's when I knew I would like it here.  Awesome.

At campus, I went to my dorm (that's right, back in the dorms) in Woods Hall.  I have two roommates and we share a kitchen and a bathroom, but we each have our own rooms.

Here's the view from my bedroom window: 

 Tough, I know.

We went grocery shopping at Best Buy (which does NOT sell electronics) and I was hit with my first taste of the EC (Eastern Caribbean Dollar).  $1 USD = EC$2.70.  Also, everything is more expensive here anyway, so my first grocery trip cost me EC$209.14.  Did I mention that I only used one of the hand baskets and not a full sized cart?  It was about $77 USD.  This is going to take some getting used to.  Also, I saw a guy walking through the grocery store barefoot and drinking a beer.  That should be me.

For dinner we went to a seaside restaurant (which almost all of them are) called SHIGGIDY SHACK.  Fuckin' right it's called Shiggidy Shack.  I will be there most of the year, solely because of the name.  They had reggae-ish music (some of it was real reggae, other songs were reggae-remixed, like "Apologize" by One Republic), a limbo contest, and a fire eater.  This is where I got my first real taste of "Island time".  We got there at 8:00 pm and placed our orders at about 8:15.  9:30 rolls around the waitress comes out and tells us that they don't have burgers or shrimp...why we couldn't have been told at 8:20, I'm not sure.  They also didn't serve appetizers, so I finally ordered 2 hot dogs, aka Shiggidy Diggidy Dogs.  Check the menu.  It's there.  Luckily, while we were waiting for our food, we had some fire dancing entertainment and a limbo contest.  Pretty awesome first night.

Yesterday (Friday), we went to a beach (go figure!) called Shipwreck beach.  I had my first Caribbean Margarita (which tastes the same as one made in the US except that it melts a lot faster) and I tasted a Ting with a Sting.  I don't think there was any 'ting' in it...pure sting.  I took the tiniest sip and USED MY MARGARITA AS A CHASER.  Holy shit.  We saw a tiny monkey riding a horse in the Caribbean Sea led by a guy riding a donkey, and no, I can't explain that any further.  One of my orientation group members stepped on a sea urchin and I met my new best friends, the mongooses (and mongooses is the correct plural form).

                                         

I am getting a tour of campus in about 15 minutes and after that we are going to another beach!  We will be at Reggae beach so new pictures to come soon!