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This is afw more pictures of my room, andas you can see, it's not that big, but it works for me, so that's enough.

Today I found out that the cows do actually belong to people, somehow the locals just know which one belongs to whom and they just let them wander, wherever.

Last night I went to a local bar with some of the people I met and it was amazing. The bar is made on the side of a mountain and overlooks everything, it's beautiful. Sunsets are therefore quite a sight to see from that view. The funny thing is that in the US they'll pour a splash of rum in a rum and coke and mostly coke, but here, the rum is cheaper so it's mostly rum and a splah of coke since they have to import it.

I also went to he largest grocery store here and its just packed with the oddest combination of things: Jello is near the Q-tips, condoms near the gillet razors and the milk, it's so funny. And they have other things you can purchase there like rope or duct tape bt it just looks like a huge garage sale. There are stray dogs that live on the island, hey all have a name: Paw because he has a whitepaw, Limpy because he limps on three legs and whitey because he has white spots on him even though he's a black dog. And all three of them are friendly, tey travel together and everyone on the island knows them. There is a student organization that works to keep them de-wormed, fed and overall healthy, but they live outside.

Today it is like 92 degrees outside, but it's beautiful. I think 'll head to the gym for a bit, maybe start looking over some of my slides for Monday and head to the beach. Tomorrow is my Island tour - lots of hiking and waerfalls - SO EXCITING!

More things I have learned

1. When people say their office is open from 8-5, they mean they can take their lunch break whenever they want and for however long they want, so you're shit out of luck if you come when they're gone.
2. When it rains heavily, which is often here, some portions of campus are closed. Not theschool portion of course, more like the gym and activities center - shocker!
3. People here are SO friendly. It's refreshing but sometimes you think "really, you just gave me your home address? No on in the states would EVER think of doing that."
4. Printing is basically free here. I have a 14 dollar allownace to print per week. My tuition probably pays for a majority of it, but who cares, med school prices here and in the states are very close in price.
5. There are study spaces designed for each semester student and if you take an older semester student's space, you're in big trouble.
6. Fruit is like God's gift on this earth.
7. Fruit juice from Dominica is even better.
8. Cable TV can be a homesick remedy-it's helped me.
9. Skype is even better.
10. Being able to use a credit card makes me feel like I'm not going to run outof money-which is always good.
11. I can eat a hearty meal here for under 5 dollars and it won't be BAD or FAST FOOD.
12. My uture professor already invited me to her house for tea - she says only one of her 6 daughters is left, the rest have moved, so why not.
13. The average age of a student here is 29.
14. The largest population of students is from Canada - I was thoroughly surprised by this actually.
15. A trip through the mountains with a guide for 6 hours only costs $14 American dollars and includes a lunch - NEVER would you get this on any other kind of tour or in any other country for dirt cheap. I'm going on Sunday.
16. And river boating is only $10, which I'm doing next Sunday.
17. There are babies EVERYWHERE on this island, like 20% of the students here move their entire families down.
18. The professors are all mostly retired professors who were highly known in their areas in the schools they worked at for 30+ years, in the states or other countries.
19. Safety is not really something we need to worry about here. The biggest threat is burglary but that mostly occurs wth people who leave windows open before they leave for class or are plain stupid.
20. There is a local beer here - and it's comparable to a Heineken in taste I suppose.

Moreof these to come as I learn from day to day. But life is good here, it really is. I'm a little homesick, but it's getting better by the minute.

Barbara

Now that I'm here

It's my first official day here, well it's pretty much over now, but first day down and a ton more to go. It's hot, so hot actually that I don't even know why I bother to shower. I've unpacked all of my things and they all have a place, just how I like it - OCD. I have a TV that goes out twice a daybecause power outages here occur eery few hours. I do have running water, thank godness, but parts of the showerhead g over my curtain and leak on the floor - hopefully they will fix this shortly. My AC is also leaking water into my apartment and hopefully that will ALSO be fixed tomorrow. Last night I slept in 90 degree weather - it wasn't fun or pretty - I woke up puffy and looked like I took a sweat shower.

I got a few things done today: Got a phone so I can call home once in a while and mostly Travis probably :), I got a bank account(a 2 hour ordeal), got my latop configured, got an ID, paid to have electricity so I wouldn't sleep in 90 degree weather tonight, walked like 12 miles, ate ritz crackers for lunch.

Things 've learned thus far: Don't count on ANYTHING, if u like cocoa pebbles then get ALL of the boxes at the store, there may not be any for the next year. If you have a problem of any kind, it may take a week to resolve. Good Service here means a wait of like 25 minutes at the fast food places. rain falls every 15 minutes as if on a timer and rains for exactly 30 seconds. The beach has no sharks. The water is crystal clear blue. The chicken may or may not actually be chicken. The two american places here (subway andKFC) run out of food all of the time. KFC ran out of chicken last night - haha.

So it's certainly interesting and this is my home for the next 16 months - here I go.

Barbara

Evening Before

So it's the night before I leave and I'm finally feeling excited. Of course I still have anxieties and fears of what is to come, but I'm sure I'll be fine. It's not like I've never traveled before. My biggest fear right now is honestly the baggage and making sure that it all gets there because I change planes 4 times on this trip and I'm on the brink of all of the weight and size requirements.

Okay, so a quick hello and now I'm going to go and do a few things that I won't be able to do for the next 3.5 months: Watch TV on a flatscreen, eat home cooked food, take a bath and hang out with my family.

Goodnight!