Dat Island Life

Ok well I’m here- I actually got here on Friday afternoon, but have been completely cut off from communicating with everyone until now. So I apologize to those who have been wondering where I am. For the past couple days I have been running around the island (which is WAY bigger than I anticipated) on a van taxi thing with the rest of my orientation group as sort of a pre-orientation get familiar with the island thing. It’s a very necessary process- it’s hard to explain what its like landing here. My apartment is nice, but its very bare bones, with windows and shades that don’t open, ants in the kitchen, and massive bars on the doors and windows. That said though, its not so bad and is growing on me every day. My view off off my back porch, which I’ve shown here, is absolutely stunning. There are rainstorms every morning before it clears up for a beautiful tropical day. Once I get really moved in and manage to get some stuff up on these concrete walls, I think this will become a place I can begin to call home. Plus I’m the closest to campus of all the apartment complexes, so I'll be able to roll out of bed right before class and walk home for lunch and stuff like that.

The island itself is really interesting. Everything runs on island time, and its hard(or impossible) to get things that I am used to being able to pick up at any Rite Aid or CVS. There are no stop lights on the island (a far cry from Los Angeles) and no one has a real address. Let me give you an example- this is my actual address, used for the housing dept, deliveries, etc: "1st driveway on L pass RU, apt through garage facing main street" And they get better than that, i just dont have copies here. Anyway...Not having a car means I have to bum rides from other students or catch the island "bus" if I need food or pretty much anything. The island buses are these oversized taxi things that run kind of whenever they are around, and are individually owed and say things like "live de life" and "true" and "uncle millie" in huge letters on the front. I actually caught one today and it wasn't as scary as I thought it might be. So the seclusion feeling is slowly abating. Everyone I've met so far is really friendly and helpful and the students are a really diverse group from all over America- everyone's got a story. I'm looking forward to getting to know people better. Plus my next door neighbor’s name happens to be Eric – Haha. Don't worry though Dyman, you're beyond one of a kind.
As for the Sala beans, she had me worried for the first 48 hours but will now come out from under the bed for whole minutes at a time before scurrying back under there. I guess she’s going to take some time getting used to the island life too. My apartment creaks and groans and I think the storms pretty much scare the crap out of her every time they hit. She's better every day though.

Real quick let me run through the pix- so much happened before I could post that I'm gonna have to throw these in without too much explanation. First one is from the plane- it actually came out pretty good- yes I was that girl snapping photos from the plane window...also one of my Sala as drugged as can be during our layover in Miami. We were watching Pirates of the Carribean 2. The next two are of my apartment, one from the front, then one off the back porch. Sunday we went to Turtle beach at the end of the island where there are troops of alcoholic monkeys(i don't fully support this, but they ARE entertaining) who steal drinks. Picture of one finishing a beer. Also a massive pig named Wilbur. Then at the end a couple shots of the island from on top of a big mountain right in the middle. Pretty, aint it? I will have more that include the people I am meeting and the campus soon.




Right now I'm at Brooke, my orientation leader's apartment, which btw, is WAY nicer than mine. Perhaps next semester...
Ok all, more later I'm sure. feel free to email me anytime- my email as of now is still rmfried@hotmail.com. I also have a skype account that you can look me up on. Eventually the plan is to hook up my webcam so I can actually have face to face conversations with you people. More soon! Love you!