TGIF!

Thank goodness tomorrow is Friday and that my illness has finally begun to diminish!  What a long week! I went to bed Sunday night not feeling well (sore throat) and woke up with a super swollen throat, couldn't swallow, hurt to eat..white spots...worked all day and came home and went to bed.. Woke up Tuesday in the same condition with a fever and body aches...worked all day, made a doctors apt and come home and slept!  Took Wednesday off to go to the doctors and woke up with the stomach bug and throwing up...not a good mixture...Managed to get a taxi to the doctors and get some meds!  I slept the rest of the day Wednesday.  Took Thursday off to recooperate, ate very little, layed in bed all day, took a 2-3 hour nap and look at 2,895 wedding pictures.  UGH!  I am going back to work tomorrow!!!

Brayton has been working hard all week!  He has two exams next week so he is a bit stressed, but will do great as always!

Not much else going on here!

Missing everyone!

"Blogging is not writing, it is simply graffiti with punctuation"

So the weekend has come and gone already!  I cannot believe it is 11 on a Sunday night and we are about to start our 4th week of school/work!  It really does not seem possible!!

Our weekend was nice though, and we were able to spend some good quality time doing non-school/work things..sort of =)

Friday night we hit off our long short week with beach volleyball.  A week ago, I was asked to join an A league team (A is real volleyball, B is get drunk and play volleyball) and play with them on Friday nights.  It was a blast!  There were two Ross students/VIP's and two local guys who play for National teams and me.  It was a pretty intense game of volleyball and SO NICE to play with people who really know how to play!  It was a workout though - my muscles still hurt!!!  Brayton and I came home from volleyball and decided to treat ourselves to dinner before heading to the movies with some friends.  We went to a restaurant called PJ's and we had the best food we have had yet on the island!  I ate homemade goat cheese ravioli (AMAZING!!) and Brayton had Chicken Rotitilli (I think) which was stuffed with cheeses and then fried with a pasta and garlic cream sauce.  It was amazing!  If you come visit, we will take you there =)

After dinner we met some friends at the movies to watch Contagion.  It was about an incurable virus and how it spread around the world and killed millions of people.  The only thing I really enjoyed about it was the quote at the start of this post!  The science people loved it though!!  We ended our night with a nice 12 hour nights sleep!!  MUCH NEEDED!!!

Saturday morning was supposed to be an 'early morning' which turned into 1030!  We went down to Port (that is where the cruise ships dock and people come into) and shopped around a bit.  There are some cool touristy shops down there!  We bought a cheap ($4) beach bag, and some coozies!  I also needed a wallet because mine was stretched out and things were falling out so as I was looking at this nice red Chanel wallet - I ask the guy working how much it is. . . His response was "$15, its a nice knock-off!"  I literally responded with "did you just say this is a nice knock-off?" And he politely said "yes, it is".  I laughed, out loud, standing there in the store!  I have never heard that from someone, usually its 'oh no, its real!  Anyways, I bought it and it works great - it truly was a 'nice knock-off!'  The best part is the Duty Free (Du Fe - thats how locals say it! - say it real fast!), liquor stores!!! We bought 4 bottles of wine and a bottle of local rum for $42 US dollars!!!!!!  Yah Mon!

Brayton has his first Microanatomy exam on Monday morning so we came back and he went to a TA (Teachers assistant) session for some review.  I picked him and Kate and Rob up there at 230 and we headed to the beach!  We all went snorkeling but there was nothing exciting out!!  Following the beach, we were all hungry so we hit up Pizza Boys and had some pizza and wings before heading back to start the long weekend of studying!

Sunday was spent studying for Brayton and lesson planning for me, that is when I wasn't making him flashcards.  Being the good wife that I am, I am always asking if there is anything I can do to help him out...so the other day he says 'you could take these questions and answers I am writing for review and copy and paste them and then print them and then cut them out and make me flash cards to study with...so that I did!  I copied and pasted every question and answer into another program, print them, cut them out, then tapped them onto index cards and labeled them by packet so he could study!  I think since Saturday night I have apx 250 index cards!  And planned my week and done other school work!

Productive weekend living on a Caribbean island..I wish my post said..."We went to the beach and sayt on the beach and swam in the ocean from Friday night till Sunday night.." But, we don't live that life, so anyone who is jealous of us, yes you should be!  But realize we dont have it THAT good =)

We do have it good though and we have each other, which makes anything good!


PS - we got our wedding pictures, there are 2,895 of them and I honestly can say I have not even looked at half of them!  If you would like to see them online, please email me or message me somewhere and I will tell you how ( my email is meesemay@gmail.com).  Hopefully our engagement session pictures will  be online soon as well!

Have a fabulous week everyone.  Miss and love you all <3

Time Flies!

It is hard to believe that it is already Thursday night, less than an hour away from being Friday...The weeks go so quickly here!  This week has been fairly quiet on our end - mostly studying and working!

Our day off Monday was much needed, and so great to be able to go visit the SNAPPER facility and have our first experience working with the turtles there! They are such cool creatures!  Pictures after this next Monday!!

Wednesday evening was my parents Citizen of the Year dinner at Sunny Banks.  My sisters were able to hook up a computer and skype with me so I could hear the whole thing!  Unfortunately, the camera was not working so I was not able to see anyone, but everyone could see me and I could hear everything and I was so glad I was able to be a semi-part of it!

Brayton has his first exam on Monday in micro-anatomy so he is getting very nervous, even though I know he will do great!!

Our car is still 'broken but driveable' and we are working on dealing with the parts drama...what a pain in the butt!!  OISK!!!

Hopefully we have more exciting stuff to share after the weekend, although I am not sure we will - looks like another tropical storm is heading our way!

PS MOM - I made chicken in a bag in the crockpot tonight =)  It was pretty good!  Miss you!

Paradise!

Well, we have officially made it through two weeks.  Things are going really well...We got 1 of our cars repairs done this weekend (steering column fixed) so it makes it much easier to drive now!  I am starting to feel a LITTLE BIT safer riding with my husband, although I do still have to remind him which side of the road he needs to be on =)

Friday night we attended Mr. RUSVM, its like a contest for one boy from each semester and they have to come up with acts for 4 categories...It was interesting to say the least!  It was primarily focused on 'sex parts' and, at times, was a bit on the extreme side!  None the less, it was a good laugh!  Saturday was the SCUBA clubs biggest fund raiser at Reggaee Beach and we spent the day there hanging out with friends, swimming, playing cornhole, etc. etc.!  We all came home with the intent to 1) Nap, 2) Eat, 3) Study (for those vet students anyways!) and Brayton and I layed down for our 'nap' at 7 ish, and didn't wake up till 9 am!  OOOPS!!!!  It was so needed after 4 hours of sleep every night last week!!  Sunday we made our second driving trip to the grocery store and got all stocked up!  Grocery shopping here is always an experience!  You either go to the store, get everything you need and leave satisfied...Or go, get a few things and wonder what you will cook with for the week!  This time, we did not do too bad - the date on the meats was a few days AHEAD of the date (rather than  a couple weeks old) and we were able to stock up and freeze some things!  YAY!

Today (Monday) is St Kitts Independence Day, so everything on the entire Island is shut down, which means we had a 3 day weekend - much needed!!  Today we are working on school stuff and doing our first turtle work!  Soon, we are headed to the SNAPPER facility to meet Dr. Stewart to learn how to feed, care for, clean, play with the rescued sea turtles there (they cannot be released due to disabilities so they are there forever) and we are also going over to a lab on campus to help with the rehabilitation of some babies that need to be fixed up so they can be released!  This is super exciting for us, and we will have some pictures later =)

Other than that - things are normal here...The sun shines, it downpour rains periodically with NO warning, its hot, the AC is cold, and love is all around us!  <3

Another week has come and, almost, gone!

We have almost made it through our two week mark! Its been busy, fun, and at times, lonely and hard  I am quickly learning that Brayton will be, and needs to be(I mean that in all ways nice!!), studying hours on end every night, and I should be thankful for the 30-60 minutes a day I see him awake and not doing work...but it is a really hard adjustment..I guess I just need to be thankful that I have my job and something to do to keep my mind occupied!  We got our car yesterday (wed.) with no repairs done and have to drop it back off Fri night to 'hopefully' get the repairs done....OISK!

There have been some steady reminders this week of why I miss home...Sometimes it is really hard, and others I forget I'm really gone!

Learning about the loss of Vic Swenson this week really made me miss being close to friends and family and being able to celebrate an amazing CV persons life with everyone. . My thoughts and prayers have been with the family all week though...

Sarah Parker is getting married this weekend and I am so sad to be missing that, especially after all her and William did for Brayton and I. . I will also be thinking of you Saturday....

My parents got citizens of the year in  CV, and have a big celebratory dinner Wednesday, and I am so sad to be missing it. . I am hoping Lyndi has enough cell service to skype me in on anything they do to recognize them! I would really love to hug them both, I am so proud!! =)




Heading to bed...sleep and I have become very distance in the recent past and I need to develop a close bond with it again!

Car shopping

Car shopping on this island is like going to a junkyard and paying 6 times what you should for a car that probably won't work for long, will need constant repairs, but will be the best you can get.  Brayton and I have looked around at numerous cars, drove some, looked at some, the same old car shopping business, just with junkers!  So, we found one we liked, made an offer, didn't get the offer, but bought the car anyways...Its a Toyota Rav 4, an orangeish-brown color...and it runs!  Hopefully it will last us the entire two years we are here and we won't have to pay for major repairs....

here's the kicker....

when we bought the car, it was under the circumstances that it needed the A/C fixed (important), something in the steering column (important) and a new tire b/c one was bald(Also important!).  Last week on Tuesday/Wednesday when we finished the deal, we were told we would have the car by this Tuesday(today) and that the repairs would be done, the guy had all the parts...blah blah blah...

well, its not done, actually NONE of the repairs have been done yet - yup, NOT ONE!  So, here we are, having paid for the car (too much money, because thats what you have to do here), all the paperwork done....but no car...Apparently the guy who fixes the car, doesn't really have the tools/supplies to fix the cars so he has to go to another shop, but that guy is busy and the tropical storm we just had impacted the working on of the car...and blah blah blah!  So, we still have no car, no idea when we will have a car (hopefully by Saturday - but they said we could have it, with no repairs, drop it off Friday night they would do the repairs Sat, and we could have it back...)  OISK! (that means Only In St Kitts - and its a great phrase!!)  So, we are hoping for a car, a fixed, ready to drive safely with A/C car, SOON!

If you are confused by this post - good, I am confused at what I just wrote and the whole situation we are in!  Island Time was fun at home - when it only existed on the river, when you wanted it to exist - here: it is not so far!  When they say Island time, they mean it!  You may wait at a bar for the drink you ordered for 15 mins while they 'do other things', or may have to deal with car drama, for daysss on end!  I could probably give you more examples, but you get the point!

And, while I'm rampaging about this - here is another GREAT 'OISK' moment- cooked myself, off-brand of course, mac and cheese tonight, and as I was cooking the pasta, saw something black floating in it. . scooped it out and discovered it was as bug, in my pasta...No big deal, that is normal here!  You pick the bugs out, cook your pasta good and ENJOY =)   OISK!!!!!!!!!!!

did I mention I love it here (NO sarcasm intended, I REALLY do!!!)  =D

Week Two

After an eventful and fun weekend, Sunday kicked in in full gear!  We lolly-gaged (if that is really a word!) around all morning, and by about 3 I decided to step out into Tropical Storm Maria to walk to school and get some work done for the week.  I ended up leaving at 7, to come home and do another few hours of week, but was prepared for the week by the end of the night, or at least as prepared as I could be!  Starting up curriculum and more steady routine is a lot of work with youngsters!  It is a lot of fun though, and I am getting into the swing of things.  Luckily, I am not alone in my busy-ness, Brayton is putting in a lot of hours as well!

Monday was a good day for both of us, we went to the SCUBA club meeting and learned about getting certified and such. We are both really anxious and excited to get in the water and learn and go explore the depths of the ocean!  If anyone wants to buy us a nice gift, we would LOVE a nice underwater camera =D!    

Tuesday also went great, and we went to another meeting with Dr. Stewart, who is the head of the Sea Turtle Monitoring and Rescue organization on the island and also a Ross Prof.  We have signed up, and learned tonight about, our new 'job'!  There is a place on the island where rescued turtles are housed that are injured and cannot be released back into the wild.  Brayton and I will be visiting them every Monday evening to feed, clean, play, etc. and are so excited about it!  We are also going to help care for some newborn turtles that Dr. Stewart has rescued from the beach during the recent storms, and get them prepared to be released into the wild again!!

Although we are very busy, we are making time for some fun, educational, things we love in our life!  I have updated the pictures page as well, with captions coming soon! 

I must go to bed-Brayton is off studying though, and as sad as it is, I haven't gone to bed without him around in monnnttthhhss!!  The joy of newlyweds <3  

Miss and love everyone!  

Week One

Well, we both made it through our first week.  It was spent doing many hours of work and studying at night, and school and classes during the day.  We also had the adventure of buying a car!  We test drove a few - with no legal St Kitts license - had to be reminded which side of the road to drive on - the opposite side - and decided on the Toyota Rav 4.  We should have it Tuesday and are so excited to be able to go places and not have to take a taxi!

Friday night we went to a mustache party - its a party held by 7th semester students for newbes!  It was a great opportunity to meet lots of people, relax from a stressful first week and have fun!!  We were expecting Tropical Storm Maria to hit Saturday, so we laid low all day and it never even rained!!  We were all excited to experience our first storm on the island..oh well, I am sure there will be more!

Saturday night we made chicken wing dip and salad and had some friends over.  We ate, played cards, and enjoyed the company of good friends!!

Week two is about to start and I am sure from here on out, we will not be doing much besides school and work and HW!

Congrats to my parents, who just received Citizens of the Year in Cape Vincent!  There is not two people who deserve it more than them and I am so happy for them!  They do sooooo much for the community, and it often goes unrecognized.  I could not be more proud to call them my parents!  Wish I was home to celebrate with them - we will have to make up for it in December!!

WHITE COAT!!!!!

Today was our first 'real' day of teaching and vet school at Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine!  My day with my first and second graders went really well - they are super cute!!  We did lots of fun activities and they were sad to go home at the end of the day!  Brayton's first day of classes went well.  He is nervous, but so excited to get going and learn.  I told him that I am actually very jealous of him, and I would love to be learning all the ins and outs of animals, but really mostly only horses, and I'm not science smart enough!  Ill leave the hard work to him and just help him study, I am sure I will learn lots that way =)

Monday evening was his white coat ceremony!  Our family from home was able to watch it on TV via a live broadcast, which was great!  It was so exciting to see them in their first Doctor looking outfit and signified the start of a huge commitment in their lives!  I was so proud of him and so happy for him!  There is nothing I want more than to help his dreams come true <3.

There he is, the future Dr. Brayton Hill!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Day 2 went well for both of us as well, and the workload kicked in hardcore for Brayton already!  His professors told him about 5 hours of reading per class, per day (thats 20 hours a day!).  Therefore, he has lotsss to do!  He worked at home for awhile and then ventured upstairs to study with Rob (Stephanie, Rob's wife, said they look/sound very doctorly and are adorable!).  I spent lots of time sprawled out working on curriculum!  Things are starting to come together!  Planning for 2 grades, in one classroom at the same time is a new and exciting challenge for me!


Hopefully more pictures this weekend!  Miss and love everyone <3

Last day before the REAL reality!

Today was our last day before work (with kids) and classes starting!  We had an amazing presenter - Dr. James Stronge, would wrote the book Qualities of Effective Teachers.  I would highly recommend it to anyone in the teaching profession and would even more highly recommend listening to him speak - and/or getting him to your school (especially admins!).  He is great and has SOO many great points and such about keeping good teachers, and diminishing not good ones (which, in my opinion, doesn't happen enough!).  We also had open house tonight and met many parents and students.  I am really excited to start tomorrow!!

Brayton went Ziplining through the rainforest today.  His response was "It was fun, but not as good as skydiving!"  Nothing will live up to skydiving for him!  He then spent the rest of his day building up the anxiety and nerves about starting vet school FOR REAL tomorrow!  He will do great - he is so smart and hardworking and dedicated!

Tomorrow evening is White Coat Ceremony!  I can't wait to see him in his 'Doctor' coat for the first time...I might cry!!!

Time for sleep - pictures will come soon, when I am less tired and have more time!

Miss everyone from home, and sorry we haven't talked to you more - been sooo busy!  We are still here and doing great!  Love you! <3

Friday/Saturday

Wish I had more time right now to sit here and type a nice blog, but I am exhausted!  My last two days have consisted of endless hours preparing for my upcoming adventures in First and Second grades!  It has been a new ball game, but a lot of fun and new learning!  I never ever realized the amount of work Elementary teachers had to do!

Friday our in-service got cancelled so Brayton dragged me from my work (thank god, I needed it!) and we went to the beach at the Marriott.  We hung out, snorkled (and saw a barracuda-like 3 feet long, 2 sting rays, a jelly fish, a lobster and tons of schools of different, beautiful fish!) then had to come back to reality! I worked all night long and Brayton hung out at home with me and did 'stuff'.  I am so lucky to have such an amazing husband!!!! <3

Saturday I had in-service again and Brayton went on the Catamaran trip.  They were supposed to go to Nevis but couldn't because of the large waves in between the islands(the Caribbean sea and Atlantic meet up there and its often rough for the little catamaran boats) so they stop at a ship wreck and snorkeled, went to Reggae beach and hung out and had a fun boat ride up the coast.  I am looking forward to doing the trip someday, the pictures looked great!

I'll add pictures soon when I have some more time!  :-)

The busy-ness begins!

So, the last two days have been very uneventful, with nothing major going on except orientation and preparing for teaching.  Brayton has had lectures and such on campus the past two days and I have been working in my classroom for hours on end.  I feel like I am there forever and ever and ever and am still not accomplishing enough!  I wish I could have gotten here a few weeks earlier to prepare...

All in all, things are good!  The weather is gorgeous, although you often forget when you are in 70 degree AC all day long, and the scenery never stops amazing me!  I sometimes have to stop and look around and remind myself of the beauty that surrounds us!  I can't imagine what life will be like when we are both putting in endless hours!

Wednesday night we went to Bobsy's, a local restaurant, for some karaoke.  Brayton got a great offer to get scuba certified in 3 days if he would sing, but he wouldn't!  I was not much fun because I knew a long 9 day stretch of work was about to start the next morning, so we headed home early!

Today was my first day of official orientation. We had a session this morning with Jane, our superintendent/principal about the Prep School life and learned lots of things!  Kids are very fortunate to attend this school!  This afternoon we went to the Caribbean Cinemas with the Orientation Groups and saw ' The Help'.  It was a phenomenal movie with many laugh and many more tears.  I would highly recommend watching it!

As life gets busier, the posts may get a little less frequent.  I will try my best to stay on top of them and remember to take pictures as often as I can!



P.S. - Feel free to become a follower and comment on our posts!  We would love to know people are reading!  =)

Tuesday.

Since we were given free breakfast for Orientation, we all piled out of bed by 7:30 and met for breakfast and then headed to the beach for the morning!  We were at Shipwreck by 8:30, and were the only ones there (I mean who really goes to a beach at 8:30 am!! - we do, and it was hot!)  We all swam out to the sand bar, chatted and hung out and had a great morning.  By 10:30, Brayton and I were off snorkeling with some other students.  We got to see a sea turtle and it was so amazing - Brayton loved it!  We also saw many colorful ocean fish, a school of cuddle fish, some lobsters, a lionfish and a puffer fish!  The ocean bottom is an amazing place - I can't wait to learn to scuba.....

Unfortunately, we had to leave the beach by noon to head back to campus for more orientation.  Brayton headed to campus for 'Welcome To Ross' and ' Welcome To St. Kitts' lectures where they put the fear of the island in you!  I was able to go to school and work in my classroom.  I still feel very overwhelmed and nervous about what I am doing, the curriculum, and everything!  I was able to get some things accomplished though!  Everyone there is very helpful!!  Brayton came home to tell me I was never aloud to leave his presence without telling him where I was going, what I was doing and who I was with...purely for safety!  Apparently their presentation with the intent to scare, worked!

We headed over to the Marriott for dinner and drinks tonight and I again will say, it is amazing there!  We all sat around on comfy couches, were waited on, served great drinks, Brayton was able to have freshly made sushi...and I ate my salad!  The food was really goooood!  We also walked around the pool and outside there.  It was so beautiful!  I was suckered into buying a local beaded bracelet from one of the locals selling things at the craft market - it is very Caribbean ish!!

The busy-ness, heat and change in life is catching up...we are exhausted tonight!  Hoping for lots of sleep and a productive day in my classroom tomorrow while Brayton sits through lectures!  Busy...Busy!!!

Day 1 of official Orientation

Welcome Orientation....7:30 am, breakfast at the Student Union!  Our morning was consumed by One-Stop, also known as, getting all your stuff done and ready for Island Living!  We got our student ID's, Brayton got his Ross email set up, we finalized and deposited money into our 'new' island bank account, paid for our laundry card, visited the Health Center and I got some time to go into school and view some things!  Our orientation group went on our second grocery shopping adventure, at the local IGA.  There is nothing more difficult then grocery shopping and loading all 22 people and there groceries, onto a 22 person bus!  We were successful though and able to get many things!  Many of the things we had read about the island made it seem like there was nothing 'normal' here, but it really isn't that bad!  There are some things that are more expensive than home, but for the most part, its the same old!  After grocery shopping we visited TGA, which is like a local Home Depot with all sorts of great stuff!  We split a bowl set with Meri, but did not buy anything else!  (Although, the flat screen TV's were nice!!!)

For our evening dinner out, we went to the Copper Chimney.  It is an Indian Restaurant and I was nervous about the food, but everything was amazing!  I had a chicken dish with fresh spinach and Brayton had a chicken dish with veggies and a cashew sauce.  We also had something called Cigar Rolls as an appetizer...they were a rolled up chicken breast, stuffed with cheese and deep-fried....oh my gosh good!!!!!!!!!!  After dinner we headed to what is known as The Strip.  It is a line of bars on the Caribbean side of the beach.  We all went to Elvis's and were able to hang out with many other students!  We finally met Rob and Stephanie (a couple we have been facebooking with) and also Kate and Trevor (another couple here).  Brayton was excited to have some guys to mingle with and play baggo with (he left his shirt on this time=)) and us girls had a great time dancing and chatting!  We also experience our first St. Kitts downpour.  It was beautiful one minute, and the next it was pouring rain and wind blowing!  They warned us it would happen that way!!  Morning came too fast on Tuesday though!!!!

Island Tour!!

Today seemed like it was one of the hottest days we have had yet-but maybe that was because we spent it on the bus doing our island tour and visiting some amazing places around the island instead of sitting in the Caribbean Sea all day!!

We began our morning with a quick stop at the Marriott Casino to cash travelers checks for our Visa's tomorrow!  The inside of the Marriott was amazing, truly a resort...I would highly recommend staying there to any family and friends!!  The casino was really cool too!!!

From there we all loaded onto the bus and began our island tour.  Mr. Rogers, our bus driver, was extremely knowledgeable about the island and was able to give us a lot of great information and took us to some really cool places.  Our first stop was at Brimstone Hill Fortress which was an old war spot (I think).  It was built into the side of a mountain and had old cannons and jail cells and beautiful brick buildings.  It was an amazing spot with an amazing view of the island and the ocean!!

Top of Brimstone Hill

Brimstone Hill

Views from the top.  You can see two other island in the distance!

Us on the top of brimstone hill!

Island Views!

Us again! Check out the amazing views!

This is the very tip of St Kitts where the Caribbean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean.    It is called the Golden Lemon (I think!)

There were horses just roaming around! 

This is the evidence of Black Rocks from a volcano at some point in the past.

Banana Tree - I never knew they grew upside down! 

Rainforest!

Leaving from there, we continued our trip around the island.  There was a lot of very poor towns with houses that did not look like people should even be living in them and there were some places that were amazing!  Mr. Rogers also took us to a spot below the crater that overlooked the Atlantic Ocean and there were huge black rocks in the water (therefore proving that there was at one time a Volcano).  It was beautiful!  Mr. Rogers also took us up to the Ottley's Plantation Inn.  There was a beautiful restaurant and Inn there and a trail that took you through a small rain forest.  It was so cool to see a rain forest...it looked just like it does in movies!!!

The rest of our tour around the island was great, there are many awesome views and so much to see!  Our last stop was Scoops - a homemade ice cream shop - and the ice cream was great!!  If you look at the map attached, that is where we are!  Today we drove around the outside of St Kitts!

Brayton and I came back to campus and took a walk around!  We were able to get inside the Prep School where I will be teaching and see my classroom.  It was still full of stuff so hard to tell what I had to work with, but it was really small!  I am getting really excited and nervous, but looking forward to starting!!

Rainforest

Rainforest

Tonight we had a quick meeting with our group to do Visa paperwork and then Brayton and I went and walked the Ross dogs with couple other girls.  They dogs were adorable and so grateful for attention.  We took two little puppies that are up for adoption....if only we lived off campus!  The one Brayton had kept jumping up his leg trying to get him to carry them!

Life is great...tomorrow we start Orientation officially so we will be busy with less fun and exciting stuff!  Stay tuned!!

Turtles that live at the Prep School!

This is the bottom of the cliff outside out dorms! 

Another day in paradise!

View of the island as we were driving to the beach today

Shipwreck Beach

The view from the beach

Us at breakfast

Today we woke up to another beautiful morning, overlooking the ocean and the sunny skies!  We all headed out to Sunset Cafe for a nice breakfast overlooking the ocean.  The food was great!  We then headed to Shipwreck Beach.  It was a really nice place, with monkey's and mongoose all over the place,  a great little beach bar/restaurant, warm, blue, clear water and lots of other Ross Students.  We pretty much spent the day either laying on the beach chairs or standing in the water enjoying the day!

Us at Shipwreck Beach

We came home around 3 and took a 2 hour nap - much needed!  Dinner at Ciao was really good - I never expected to get an awesome chicken parm. on a Caribbean island! We are exhausted, all this heat and nice weather is not normal for us yet!  I am sure we will be used to it in no time =)

They liked to hang out on the cars!  

Check out the awesome monkey pictures!  There were mom's with little babies wrapped around their bellies, and they were so cute!  They are amazing creatures to just sit and watch!

Monkey's - note the mom and baby on the left

Day 1

Today was our first full day in St. Kitts!  We woke up to the bright sun radiating through our thick blinds, but were totally okay with it because when we opened them, we have a perfect ocean view!  I could get used to that!!

We got our first experience grocery shopping on the island this morning...  It was not as bad as everyone made it out to be!  From what we had heard, we thought their would be no 'American' food in the stores, but they were totally normal!!  All the food was labeled in EC's (eastern Caribbean) which is like 2.7 times more than American money, so it was hard to get accustomed to figuring things out.  We found out that some things were cheaper (green pepper was only like 1.50) but a 40 oz jar of peanut butter was 32 EC's (like 15 american)!  None the less, it wasn't bad and we had a successful first shopping trip!! We were able to get cold cuts and provolone, bread, mayo, Peanut Butter, some frozen veggies, chicken, pasta, OJ, milk, cereal, juice, lots of fresh water, popcorn!...the essentials for now!  Our total was like 300 EC's, but thats just around 100 American dollars, so it wasn't too bad and Peanut Butter was the MOST EXPENSIVE...ugh!   FOR MY FAMILY...THEY SELL SANDWICH SPREAD...=)

After the grocery store, we all piled back onto the bus, dropped our groceries off and headed to Reggae Beach.  It is located right now the South East tip of St Kitts, right before Nevis on the Caribbean side!  The trip there was eventful - as I am discovering most driving experiences are on this island- the roads are built into the side of mountains, in many places, and are very curvy, skinny and pothole infested!  The drivers are continually swerving all over the road to miss pot holes, then swerving back to miss cars!  It is a new experience for sure!  It was a beautiful place, with a 500 lb pig named Wilbur that lived on the beach (he pretty much sleeps, flips over, sleeps, drinks...you get it!) and a monkey and a goat in a cage together!  The monkey was really cool - but steals your sunglasses if you are not careful!  Aside from the animals, there were ladies giving massages on the side of the beach using Aloe straight out of the Aloe plant (I got a 'free sample shoulder rub' and Brayt a head rub)!  There was also a bar/restaurant on the beach like you would see in a resort and a rental place for snorkeling equipment, jet skis, boats and other fun stuff!  We all rented snorkling stuff and went out and explored the reefs nearby!  We did not see anything crazy (I guess they see lobsters and sting rays sometimes) but we saw some amazing, colorful fish, some sea urchins, a star fish and lots of other reef stuff! It was a very different experience, especially for me because i HATE fish, but Brayton loved it and was the guy picking up sea urchins and star fish off the bottom of the Ocean!  It was beautiful and I can't wait to do it again, hopefully this time with a mask that doesn't take in more water than it holds out!!!

After the beach, we came back to campus to find our 6 'missing' bags had arrived!!!!!!!!!  Brayton and I eagerly took on unpacking and it felt like Christmas!  We had forgot how much stuff we had fit into 7 bags and kept discovering new things we didn't even remember we had packed!  Based on the look of our bags, they never got searched and the only thing wrong was a couple plastic air tight containers had broken!  I don't think we can complain at all!  We unpacked everything, rearranged a bit more and got settled in.  I think the BEST part of the night was taking a shower - with soap!!!!  I cooked us dinner tonight on our little two top stove top - it took a while though because one burner is small so I had to fry the chicken, then fry the green pepper and onion, then warm up the water and cook the pasta, then warm up the vodka sauce...THEN we had a fabulous fettuccine  with vodka sauce and chicken and green peppers and onion.  Since we didn't have any seasonings, I made mock garlic bread....toast and butter!  It was a great first dinner in our new apartment!!  Now we are settled and it is time to sleep, for the first time, in our FULLY made bed!!!!!

Our cute little kitchen with our two stove cooktop, the extra bedside tables we moved to the kitchen for space and our little fridge!  And the cutting board/strainer that I am SOOO glad I brought <3

Our first dinner at Ross University - Woods 201!!

Another exciting day of beaching tomorrow!  Stay tuned =)

Arriving in St Kitts

Irene did not hit Miami, and we woke up to blue skies and slight winds! Our trip through the airport was easy, and we only waited at the gate about an hour-hour and a half...We were very fortunate on our flight and had a window seat and also sat with a very nice gentleman who was from St. Kitts.  Come to find out, he works for the government of St Kitts at the shipping place..He gave us his number and told us to get in touch if we ever needed anything!  I felt like that was a blessing right off!  (Esp because if you get put in prison, you need two locals to bail you out =))  Flying over the islands is an amazing site.  You can see each island, the pale blue waters that surround them and the unique landscape of each.  The gentleman sitting with us was also able to tell us what each island was, so we were able to visualize it all!  It was definitely the coolest flight I have ever been on!  Seeing St Kitts from the sky was amazing too, it looked just like all the pictures said it would (pictures coming soon!).  We landed and got off the plane in the parking lot, there are no 'gates' at an airport this small!! The air conditioner inside the building didn't work (or maybe didn't exist) so waiting in line to get through immigration was veryyyyyyy hot, but was a good time to begin meeting people that were also heading to Ross, or one of the few med schools on St Kitts/Nevis.  We made it through with no problems, and waiting impatiently for our bags...of which only one made it!  Unfortunately the one bag we got had no clothes, no shampoo, no soap, nothing really...Fortunately, it did have our sheets, a couple bath towels and a couple beach towels so we can at least take a water shower...if you can call showering without soap a shower...American Airlines said that our luggage, and half the people that were on our planes luggage, was still in Miami because the plane was too full and we should get them tomorrow on the one flight that comes in from Miami a day...That is great for us (if it actually comes) but sucks for the people on that flight whose luggage gets left behind because ours took up their space!  I guess that is just what happens when you have a plane full of students moving to an island, and bringing 8 suitcases!!!  None the less, we found our orientation leader and made it to campus.

The ride here was amazing, but adjusting to riding/driving on the opposite side of the road may be difficult!!  The views are spectacular with fields and mountains and houses and junk and ocean and everything you would expect to find on the outskirts of a touristy Caribbean island!  Campus was amazing as well!  The Prep school I will be teaching at is about 50 feet from our dorm building!  When we walked into our room we were dumbfounded at the amazing view we had...We pulled the blinds of our 7 windows only to discover we had a corner double apartment with clear ocean view from each window!  It is soo amazing!  Being who we are, we instantly began rearranging!  We decided to make the first room with double doors a mock living room/study room, and the smaller room with the closet a bedroom...So, all the desks in one room, all the dressers in the other!  Turns out it fits perfect and looks great!  I think we should be able to even have friends over for 'studying' and have lots of space!  We did not have much unpacking to do with only one bag so we rejoined our orientation group and we all headed over to Frigate Bay for dinner at Mr. X's Shiggidty Shack.  We sat at  tables, on the beach, 10 feet from the ocean and watched the sun set... it was great!  We drank Skol (not the chew, its a local beer here!) and Carib (another local beer) and ate great food!  It was so great to begin interacting with and getting to know some of the other students.  Everyone seems friendly and open and excited about the new life we all just took on!  

We have a New Jersey phone in our apartment here, so if anyone wants to call, it is free to you as long as you have a plan that allows you to call a NJ number, so if you wanna chat - I can get you that number and we can call you from it!   There may be voicemail on it, but we do not know how to check it yet, so don't leave a message!  You can always email us too, or text/email (type in our email address instead of a phone number) and we can chat that way.  We should have our skype and/or facetime up and running soon too!

NYC/Miami

Us 6! <3

Tuesday morning the 6 of us loaded into the van...with 7, 50 pound suitcases, 2 carry-ons, 2 backpacks, and 4 little suitcases for New York City.  The car ride was very tight, with 3 of us (Bit, Tim, Lyndi/Leann) crammed into the back seat, one person in the middle with lots of baggage, and Travis driving while Brayton navigated...It was a great 5 hour trip, although watching Travis and Brayton try to drive/navigate through the city of New York was one of the most humorous, and mildly scary things, I have seen lately!  Brayton thought Travis should replicate the cab drivers, and his advice was 'beep and go! beep and go! hit them!'.  Luckily, we did not hit anyone, or anything and made it safely into our hotel!  We decided to live big and walk/subway around the city..We meandered around Times Square, took the subway to Little Italy and Chinatown, told 40,000 people we weren't interested in whatever it was they were trying to get us to 'buy, go to, blah, blah!'.  We followed Graeme's advice and went to Lombardi's for lunch and had amazing pizza!  Riding the subway was exciting, and luckily Lyndi took care of us and assured we always went the right way...most the time!!
We then decided to make our way to Ground Zero, view the new productions going on there, and down to Wall Street...We were not sure why everyone, from almost every building, was outside for their lunch breaks, talking on cell phones, looking awkward when we realized that there had just been an earthquake.  We were really in disbelief, but quickly texted our mothers to assure them we were all ok!! It turned out it was centered in Richmond, VA area, and had been so strong we felt the shock of it in NYC...well everyone did, but us!
We made our way back to Time's Square, saw some old lady dressed as a Naked Cowgirl (not pretty!!), found a bar, enjoyed a drink and afternoon appetizer and of course, the company of great people!

I have to say, going into the hotel with 6 of us (in our maximum of 4 people per room, room) made for a fun night!  We decided no one wanted to sleep on the floor, so we pushed the two double beds together and made one big one!  Dinner at Patsy's was good food, but I don't think they appreciated young, not OVERLY dressed up, kids...they were brief and fast...so we left and found some nice little bars!  Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) the approximately 10 miles of walking we did all day led us all to bed early!  By 2 am, all 6 of us were piled in the two double beds, push together, sound asleep.

Our sleeping situation in NYC!  

Bit had us all up and ready to go by 9, we got breakfast and coffee, took a lap around Central Park, rode the Subway once more, and headed back to check out and drive to JFK...the time had come...


I thought driving into the city with Brayton's advice/navigating was bad...leaving was worse!  After a day of him watching the people there drive, his advice to Travis was, well, not safe!  Luckily, for the second time in my life (the first one being PEI), I was glad Travis did the right thing and not listen to his big brother!  We safely made it to JFK, curbside checked our bags, (6 - 49 lbs, 1 - 51 lbs) and found out that we had to pay $200 more than we had expected for our bags AND we had to pick them up in Miami, take them to the hotel with us for our overnight layover, and re-check them in the morning....They assured us we wouldn't have to pay again because we had our receipts...but we will see what tomorrow brings.

Unwilling to separate from each other yet, Brayton and I dragged the other 4 from Terminal 8 to Terminal 1 via AirTrain to eat lunch with us...It was one of those lunches where you know in less than 30 minutes we'd be saying 'see ya later' and not wanting too, but having too....It sucked...The anxiety kicked in...but we did it..

We all hugged 'see ya later', OK, maybe we cried it...and parted our ways...Brayton and I made it easily through security, found a cute little bar right next to our gate and waited patiently.  The weather channel kept reminding us that there was a Stage 3 Hurricane, Irene, heading for the East Coast..and we were heading for Miami, planning to fly out to St Kitts the next morning.  Our plane was slightly delayed because the 'air conditioner wasn't working' but overall we had a painless, 3 hour flight and landed safely in a warm, clear skied Miami only hoping it would be that way tomorrow morning when we needed to fly out, and Irene was supposed to be even closer!

We collected all 7 of our bags, no problems, and headed to our hotel.  We went to dinner at Denny's next door and ate an enormous dinner full of calories and bad American Food that we probably won't have for a while!  After that, bed looked and felt realllly good!  Hoping for good weather and easy flying South tomorrow morning!    

Leaving Home

Whoever thought getting married, and packing your entire life into 7 suitcases would be the perfect start to a perfect marriage!  Upon arriving home from the wedding the shopping began...bathroom supplies, kitchen supplies (such as airtight containers so you don't find bugs in your food!!), bedding, floor rugs, toilet paper, shower caddy, batteries, bug spray, medicine, hurricane 'stuff', headlamps, raincoats, flashlights...enough to fill 4, 50 pound suitcases..  So..when I said 7 suitcases before, that means we now have 3 left...1 for Brayton's clothes and 2 for my clothes..and shoes...


We did it!  With everything packed and weigh-ins done, we were able to load the van with 7, 47-49.8 pound suitcases, 2 carry-on bags and 2 H E A V Y 'personal item' backpacks...


Sunday, August 21st, we had a big family/friend get together at my parents house and the good-byes and the tears began rolling.  Everyone was very emotional but so happy for us as we ate pizza, talked about our future, and prepared for our next step.  We are so thankful for the amazing family and friends we have had with us all summer from endless river weeks/weekends to the family dinners to the parties with the friends we will never forget...we love you all <3


Monday morning, along with watching Hurricane Irene make its way from St Kitts to Miami (who was supposed to hit Miami the same day we are supposed to fly to St Kitts), we discovered a deaadd battery in the van we were driving!  Thank god my Dad is AMAZING and was able to pull it, buy a new one, and replace it in as much time as it took Brayton and I to go get travelers checks!  


Leaving the driveway with Mom and Dad both sobbing was not the easiest thing I've ever done, but at least its only 4 more months till we are back to them!  They have been amazing, and I couldn't have done this all without my Mom has done for me, and helped me with..She is amazing!  Thanks Mom <3


At this point, we are at Aunt Lo's with the '6 of us' (bit, tim, lyn, trav, leann, brayt) and Jessie and Graeme, for one last dinner!  Tomorrow, us 6 depart for a day and a half trip to New York City in the morning before flying out!   I am so thankful to have both my sister have amazing guys in their life that Brayton and I both love and love spending time with so we can finally have us 6 =)


Nonetheless, the journey to our leaving home has been stressful, exciting, fun, sad, and one hell of an adventure!!!!!!