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.