Batik Bombshell

Well there she is - my shiny new car. Ok maybe not shiny. And definitely not new, but shes certainly got personality. When buying a car on st kitts, you dont ask questions like, "what's the accident history?" or "does it have an alarm?", or even "what model is it?". No, the screening process has far more to do with working windows(ac if youre lucky), recently replaced brakes, and the ability of the vehicle to climb the hill to turtle beach (mom you are the only one who will appreciate why we use that as a power gauge for the car).
So this is my new gal - she barely has shocks so when I go into a ditch or over a bump the whole thing does this ghetto bounce thing for a few seconds. And no side view mirrors and no locks.
Now this might concern you if you were in the states, but we Ross folk dont lock our car doors. Not because its so safe you dont need to, but because if you do, you'll have a broken window in about 24 hours. The locals like to periodically peruse our cars, and since replacement glass is very hard to come by, we simple do not lock. Understand that I say all this with the deepest appreciation of my new vehicle - she was a steal and she runs like a champ. And I LOVE that I wont have to catch rides anymore.
In finals land, we have 2 down, 4 to go. Did the two lab finals this past week, one hard, one not as hard, and next week we have our four lecture finals monday through thursday from 8-11am. Looking forward to it. I cant believe this semester will be done in 6 days...I feel like orientation was last week. Alright, thats enough procrastination out of me - it is, after all, friday night, and I should get back to those books ;-)

OH- last week they did the end of semester awards ceremony, which is mainly for upper classmen but there are a couple awards for us newbies too. I didn't win either one, but I was nominated for both the academic acheivement award and for the peer chosen "who you would like to work with in your professional career" (plays nice with others) award. Pretty cool.

Overwhelmed with culture

Hi everyone! I am here, scutilum deep in exam nonsense, and I thought I'd take a minute to give you all some insight into what the day-to-day is really like here on St. Kitts. Though I am grateful to be living in such a beautiful place, there are certain things that we, as Ross students, have to get used to in order to not lose our minds.
We went to the movies this past friday night. Harry Potter 5 had finally reached the island and we thought it would be a perfect plan to have a relaxed night at the movies, go home early, and rest up to start studying on Sat. So I've decided to paint you a picture of what this type of evening entails here on St. Kitts.
Imagine for me: You are sitting in a dingy, slightly rank room that at maximum holds no more than 75 people. The "bathroom", which consists of two co-ed stalls which I have been told have recently acquired the luxury of doors, is in complete and utter darkness. The occupants of the back half of the theater are having conversations loudly, as if the movie they are seeing is very rudely disrupting their night out. And all the while, between trying to sort whether to turn around and yell something, swat at the rat lingering near your feet, or take another swig of beer, you must continue to focus on the movie, whose spanish subtitles are jumping frame every 23 minutes at reel change. By the time you emerge from this experience, I promise you that you are quite ready to go back to watching the bootlegged version on your laptop. My peanut hay-loving friend put it well as we stepped out of the theater when she said, "I feel dirty."
That is all.