today our group went on a zip line ride! it was the first time i had ever done that, so that was totally cool. it cost 25$ though so i doubt i will be doing it again soon.

but i got a chance to upload some of my pictures from the first day of orientation. this is the quad outside the front of my dorm. it is super windy most mornings.

the next picture is from my window. that's the caribbean sea and saint nevis island in the distance. i also have some pictures of the flowers from around the island that i took on my excursions off campus. i am probably gonna post them to facebook to save bandwidth here though.



but one last picture i want to show is this. this is Wilbur. he is the mascot of Reggae Cove beach. they SAY he moves, but im not convinced. he just laid there all day while people came up and patted him and poked him and took pictures, lol. rough life apparently.

i took some videos on the zip lines. the endings are lame because i had to drop the camera to work the brake in the line. but the setting is wonderful.

orientation day 2

we had our welcome to St. Kitt's lecture today from a local businessman/politician Mr. Cook. very interesting talk about the history of the island and how that impacts what it's like to liver here today. my residence hall is named after the last leader of the Carib tribe, Tegreman. they were wiped out by the French and the British... estimated about 2000 to 4000 natives died and maybe 100 soldiers. nice, eh?

and i may have found a way to upload my pictures (my camera's USB cable is all corroded on one end so it would have been a while to get a replacement in). if i can i will post some here and probably twitpic. mainly sites around the island and in the residence area. we aren't allowed to take pictures on campus. but you'll get the drift.

also got a look at my class schedule... yikes. microanatomy five days a week, gross anatomy lab 4 days a week, nutrition and physiology both 3 days each, and other sessions as needed.

first day of orientation. it's weird, i woke up at about 6am and wasn't tired or anything. i never did that at home.

we signed up for our cell phone service, driver's license, student visa, bank account, and student ID today so far. still on the hedge about buying a car right away. it's a fair chunk of change to plop down on essentially a beater.

so far, everything is going pretty smoothly. and i only got a little sunburn when i went to the beach ;)

Ah, so THIS is what it's like, eh?

i woke up at 6am. and i mean i was actually awake not rolling over going "mmrghrhll" and falling back asleep.

it's breezy and warm now, not sure what the exact temp is but that's ok. my room looks out east over the ocean. i saw the sunrise this morning. first time for that too.

also the first time to hear donkeys braying for their breakfast. we have a small herd on campus and the farm isnt that far from the dorms. we have horses, cattle, and sheep too.

i DID take some pictures of my room, but my camera cable is shot, so it may be a while before i get those uploaded. i'll see if anyone else has a cable later today.

our schedule for today is a campus tour, an island tour, then heading to the beach. heh. i brought a bikini but im not sure if i will wear it first day out. and im not sure how long i will be able to maintain my 39 year goth paleness out here, even with SPF30. and i should probably keep my scars under wraps until they fade a bit. all that new skin is pretty fragile.

stuff is a bit more expensive here, even given the exchange of 1 US dollar = 2.7 east caribbean dollars. but they have to import everything here, except rum and banannas, those are cheap. example: an 8 roll pack of toilet paper is 45$EC, so that's 16.67$US. yeah... glad i brought one from home to start with.

i will blog again tonight once we are back for the night. tomorrow starts actual orientation week!