Confirmation

Yes, I did indeed get an A on my first vet school exam. Fo sho.

The verdict is in...

1. My mom informed me that I got out of jury duty! Yippee! Living outside the country helps, a lot.

2. I don't have my grade back yet from my exam, but the average and median scores were a 92% for our class, and I only know of 2 questions that I got wrong... so... I think it is safe to say I got my first A in vet school! Confirmation to follow.

3. Molly and I test drove the other vehicle today. It is a much larger SUV than the little white one. Molly drove it around the main road, to the movie theater and back, then I drove it in a loop around campus. It has a super smooth clutch and we liked it quite a bit. Decisions, decisions... large or small, cute or rugged, manual or automatic, more expensive, less expensive...

4. The owner of the SUV we test drove tonight informed us that her house will be available next semester... and it is exactly where and what we're looking for! It is a 3 bedroom house just a couple of miles down the road from campus, fenced yard, wrap around porch, 3 bedroom with a master suite, washer and dryer, very reasonable rent... its perfect! We're going to look at it on Friday, if we like it all we have to do is contact the landlord and sign a lease! Sweet, right? Allison is the other student who will be living with Molly, Matt, and I.

5. We made a bid on one of the SUVs. Can you guess which one?? Please do, I am interested to hear your guesses!

Overall, it was a good day. Now back to studying as I have two exams next week that I am worried about. (Gross anatomy and physiology... ick - my two least favorite)

Testing the waters

Welp, here goes nothing.

My life has been pretty uneventful these past two weeks... just class and studying.

This weekend I spent the entire time on campus, but I did not spend the entire weekend in the books, which helps to keep me sane. Yesterday I did laundry, baked, and made a gift bag out of grocery bags for Molly's birthday today (Sunday). And studied, a lot.

Today Molly and I test drove a little Suzuki 2 door SUV. (Read: Molly drove, I rode... St. Kitts license is required, I don't have one yet). It is super cute and in great condition (for an island clunker) so we're looking forward to possibly buying that little island gem. Then we went to the barns to practice large animal palpation on a very gentle and kind Thoroughbred named Ricky. He is nearly 30, and is a retired race horse with an old injury to his left carpus (what looks like the "knee" on their front leg) so it was super swollen... but it was good to compare normal to abnormal. He was a sweety and did his best to find more apple in my pockets after we ran out. The rest of the day was spent in the books unfortunately.


Tomorrow is my first vet school midterm exam! Eek! It is in microanatomy and embryology. I feel prepared, more so than any undergrad midterm I ever took... so I expect it will go at least OK. We had two mock exams tonight put on by TAs and I did well on both, so that should count for something, right?

Tomorrow afternoon Molly and I are hoping to test drive another SUV, this one is much older than the one we saw today, but has a rebuilt engine. It is also manual, where as the SUV from today was automatic. We shall see how that goes...

Finally, tomorrow, we also get to go looking for apartments/houses for next term. The goal is to find someplace close to campus that isn't horrendously expensive, and safe of course. More on that later.

What else is going on... not too much.

Oh! Yes! There is news! News worthy news even!

After much discussion and planning, Matt and I have decided that he will be moving here in January! We're both super excited about this. He'll be applying to grad schools in the next few months, then in the time between application and hopefully starting a program, he'll come to the island and support me, work at the prep school, and enjoy island life. And of course, become my personal chef again (yay!!!). It'll be nice to share my life here with him.

Pictures... they're sad this time. I haven't really taken pictures of anything except for the free backpack Hills gave us (go corporate sponsors!?), the cookies I baked, and SUV we test drove. Sorry 'bout that... I'll do better next time, honest!

Funfetti cookies (with frosting this time) made by yours truly in my awesome toaster oven. Also pictured is the gift bag I made out of grocery bags. Oh yeah, that's right. Birthdays St. Kitts style!

Free loot. No one can resisit it. Besides, I thought it'd be a great idea not to bring a backpack to vet school with me... (what was I thinking??) Thank you Hills! (Its actually a very nice backpack!)



This is not THE little car we test drove, but it is the same make and model, just a different year and owner.


This is the one we'll be test driving tomorrow if all goes well. Hawt 80's paint. Like it?
And no, you don't want to know how much they want for either of these... it is ridiculous island pricing.

Autumn

I stepped on a crunchy leaf today, thought of Oregon, and smiled. I will miss going out of my way to step on those crunchy fall leaves.

Beach tomorrow.

Lovely day

Today was quite enjoyable. Classes didn't seem to move too quickly, I understood what we were covering, and, drum roll please... I did not fall asleep! Haha. The class directly after lunch is always a struggle for me, I just get so sleepy after eating! I have increased my caffeine intake, by at least 100 though... so that is probably part of why I am not falling asleep as much anymore.

I never did find where the VBMA club meeting was supposed to be... maybe I got the day or time wrong? The Bayer presentation was interesting. It was about antibiotics and how each one is categorized and when to use which ones when, etc. We were supposed to get free dinner... but there were a lot more attendees than expected and not enough food to go around. I got a scrap of a sandwich that was soggy and had a large piece of tomato in it. Sad day.

Physiology study session went well, the TA is pretty comedic, which helps when you're talking about action potentials, synapses, Na channels, etc.

I took pictures around campus today. Something is up with my camera and everything that is close to white is showing up pink... not sure why. I'll post the ones that turned out though.

I bought tortillas at the grocery store last week. Mistake. Caribbean people don't eat tortillas very often. They were so old I nearly threw them away, until I realized I could bake cut up pieces and make tortilla chips! I used my toaster oven, and now I have freshly baked tortilla chips!

View of Basseterre (far coast), and the dorms (tan buildings on the left) from the student parking lot. Campus is behind me as I was taking this picture.

These are everywhere!

It is pink, I know. This is the new building that should be opening in January. It will have a "fitness center", the new student union, and new classrooms.

Donkeys! They belong to 7th semester students. They have to SOAP (assess) them every morning and every night all semester long!

These tortoises live on campus, there are 4 or 5 of them. Students volunteer to care for them.

View from campus, classrooms for upper semesters on my right, radiology straight in front, library on the left, anatomy lab at lower right. OCEAN! straight in front ;)

Donkey pens again, looking up towards the mountain/main road on the other side of the barn.

Yummy curry. Thanks again Zoe for the recipe!

Studio apartments are not ideal for cooking curry... my room still smells a bit like curry.

Birds!

FOUND IT!!! They made a colony between the two boards you see there, when they ran out of room they started that huge cluster you see there.

That's all! Back to the books... beach this weekend though!

P.S.

We named our dissection dog "Stag"

Unfortunately I cannot take any pictures of my new friend... thanks, PETA. Sigh.

Pictures tonight! For now, I am off to a VBMA (Business club basically) meeting, Bayer presentation, and Physiology study session. Woot!

In Preparation for Week 2...

Thank goodness for weekends... its the only way to survive.

It has been a very busy, stressful, overwhelming week, but a good one. I survived week 1 of 15 of my first semester of vet school. It feels like an accomplishment, although it was not exactly.

Here is a rundown of my first week:

Gross Anatomy:
We learned how to hold instruments (forceps, hemostats, blade handle, needle drivers/holders) and then had a race (I came in second, thank you Ark!) Most of the students in my group had never held any of these instruments and were calling forceps tweezers and hemostats clamps. I am very thankful for the knowledge I learned at Kindness Clinic and Ark. We also got our cadaver dog and started to dissect him, by friday we had removed his front left leg (left thoracic limb). I got to be the one to actually pull it off which was fun. Sorry if that sounds morbid. If it isn't too much... they inject all of the veins and arteries with colored latex, so when you are dissecting the veins and cut through them, nothing comes out, but they're super bouncy, and fun to play with. Probably not the intended purpose... but I'm having fun. We also had a quick demo of what large animal palpation is going to be like... once a week we'll go catch a horse, then palpate and identify as many structures as possible that we're learning on the cadavers. I got to lead a horse out of the barn. Cool, eh?

Microanatomy:
Nothing too exciting here, just simple cell structure stuff... slide prep, stains, etc. We looked at tons of cells... yeah, that's about it. The instructor is pretty cool though, he is originally from Slovakia, and has a pretty thick accent, but is a super cute old dude who loves talking about ribosomes. They're his fav.

Physiology:
Crazy prof... loves physiology. We've been talking about action potentials a lot. A LOT.

Nutrition:
Did you know that this class entitled nutrition is actually biochemistry??? It is supposed to be our hardest class of the semester... all of the TA's and upperclassmen warn us heavily to study for this class extra... doesn't seem so bad right now, its quite interesting actually, but I can see that it will be a lot of material to master.

Intro to Vet Med... didn't have it this week, starts on Thursday... I'll let you know what I think though.

So that's that, in a nutshell. Multiple that by 14, plus exams, and I'll be done with my first semester!

In other news...

I found one of the ant nests in my room. It was between two pieces of wood that make up one of the drawers in my room. Then I found another one in another drawer across the room the next day. Hopefully taking care of these two will help.

My friend, Molly, and I went to the beach at the Marriott hotel today. It was a gorgeous day in St. Kitts. The weather cooperated perfectly, nice and sunny, mostly clear, not too hot, calm waters... ahh. Perfect 3 hour study break.

This past Friday was the BOSP (Beginning Of Semester Party), which was held at my orientation leader's (Amanda) house. It was quite the ordeal. Lots of upperclassmen to talk to with plenty of tips, and of course, a game or two of flip cup :) There was even a slip n' slide set up in the yard... it was fun watching the brave (read: drunk) few participate in this event.

Looking forward: I've found a couple of girls, Molly (who I've mentioned, I believe, picture in an old post) and Jess, who want to live with me next semester. We're hoping to live with in walking distance of campus, but also get a vehicle to share between us all for grocery shopping, beach, etc. I'm pretty excited.

And lastly... the score count... Sunburn: 0.1 point (tiny patch burned on my hip), sunscreen: 4? at least! I am very happy to report that I have not been significantly burned yet!

Mmm... my entire room smells of curry! Zoe emailed me the recipe for her mom's curry, which is an eastern caribbean recipe from when she lived on one of these islands... or something. Anyway, it smells delicious and I'm super excited to eat it!

Pictures to come, I promise! Still waiting on that cable...

Wish me luck for week 2! Tomorrow I get to go meet the dogs who live on campus. We'll be palpating them for gross anatomy, looking for muscles,veins, bones, etc.

Oh, groceries... so there is a grocery store where you can find most everything you need, called IGA. There is also another called Rams, which is much larger, but further away. To get everything you need, you do have to go to both though. I think I'll switch off every week going to the other. Anyway, I found Hob Nobs, PG Tips, and Ribena at IGA! I was so excited. Funny though, that I had to come to an island in the caribbean to find these at a local grocery store.

Dinner, then studying. Goodnight all.

I'm a nerd...

I was studying anatomy this evening and started cracking up after reading this:

"The clavicle is reduced to a fibrous intersection in the brachiocephalicus. In the dog a nubbin of bone, and in the cat a slender rodlet, is embedded in the intersection; their sole importance lies in the risk of misinterpretation when they are seen in radiographs."

Hahahahaha. I like that this textbook author has a sense of humor. (Basically, the author was saying that this bone that is hardly even a bone, sometimes it is just cartilage, and it just gets in the way when you're trying to read an x-ray)

Also, in the introduction of the book, the author talks about using proper terminology when studying anatomy to prevent ambiguity, but when talking to "laypeople" to use everyday terms instead. Laypeople?? haha, when was the last time you heard the word "laypeople" used??

Also, I now know how long bones are formed in a fetus where cartilage once held its place. Oh yes, and it is only day two.

Tomorrow we'll be examining bones of the thoracic forelimbs. Sweet! Friday we make our first cuts into our cadavers. Oh, I learned how the cadavers are prepared today too, but I'll spare you on that one.

Up way too late, and I have class WAY too early. Goodnight all.

Day 1 and White Coat Ceremony

Should I be reading and preparing for class tomorrow? Yes. Have I chosen to update this blog instead? Yes. Wise choice? If it keeps me sane during my first week, Yes.

Today was a whirlwind, but I think it has been good overall.

This morning at 8am I had Gross Anatomy lab. There are 144 students in my class, 28 cadavers, and 2 hours five days a week in Anatomy lab. The math isn't looking so good. Our instructor divided us up into groups of six, and then into groups of three within the 6 member group. Then she devised this crazy schedule where we rotate through dissection, large animal (live) palpation, small animal (live) palpation, clinical skills (suturing, etc), and lecture. I'm not even sure how it works, but somehow, they have assured us, it does. That being said, I am quite excited for the class. This will be the first semester that comparative anatomy is taught, instead of the alternative... not sure what it would be called, maybe linear? Anyway, we'll be learning everything on the dog first, then immediately after (as in the next day) learning those same structures on large animals. This is supposed to help us retain an overall understanding of the structures we'll need to know for the rest of our lives, or something like that. The other reason why I am excited about this course is because I get to handle live animals from week one! This week I'll start dissecting my groups cadaver dog, then go and find the same structures on a live dog, live horse, and live cow. Cool, no? I'm excited.

The next class I had today was microanatomy and embryology. It is a two hour lecture in a really long skinny lecture hall, with dim lights, and a cool, but super dull instructor. I am ashamed to say, but I actually fell asleep for a couple of minutes during the two hour lecture about stains and microscopes and nuclei and acidophiles and basophiles. It is information that I really need to master though, since so many of my future courses will require a strong foundation I should be forming in this course. High doses of caffeine for Laura anyone?? Any other ideas from the masses??

Then lunch break, then nutrition class. This is going to be a crazy roller coaster of a class, I can tell already. The instructor started the lecture by making a bunch of funny noises then kicking his foot against the wall. He then explained that this was the noise of a dog being hit by a car, then being drug under the car for a short distance. There was laughter from some, horror on the faces of others. He used this scenario to explain how everything we were learning this semester connects together to map out the processes occurring in this dogs body as it is hit by the car, and as it attempts to recover afterward. Believe it or not, what I learn in nutrition will help me understand what treatments would be beneficial to this dog. Pretty cool, right? The instructor also kept pushing a chair off of a table, and then himself onto the floor from time to time in order to demonstrate his point. He is unique, and it will be hard to fall asleep in his course, no doubt about that.

Normally I would have physiology after Nutrition, but we were excused due to the white coat ceremony which would start in a couple of hours.

For those who are not familiar with the white coat ceremony, it is where a white lab coat is presented to the students as a symbol for the role they are about to take in the veterinary world. We were asked to honor our profession and upkeep the morals and values our predecessors had set for us. We also took a student version of the oath vets take at graduation. The university felt that this was a necessity if students are to be caring for patients, lab animals, etc during their studies. A very distinguished graduate of Ross came to talk to us today before the ceremony. He is a vet in New York and has about a zillion awards, honors, etc. He graduated in 1987, his class size was 13, and Ross only had 4 buildings. In fact, when he started at Ross, it was located at the med school on Dominica, and not until his 2nd or 3rd year did Ross have their own campus on St. Kitts. It was great to get a little perspective on the school here and to appreciate the facilities available to us now.

Well.. that was not short like I had hoped it would be. Enjoy the pictures! More to come of the white coat ceremony just as soon as I can steal some from friends. My camera is quite unreliable these days, only about half the pictures I take even come out looking like normal pictures. Sigh.. I'll be home in a few months to replace it though.

Pictures!

After the ceremony, in the courtyard where we can eat lunch. Notice the ocean view?? Yeah, that's right. :)

Self explanatory, I hope.

The M.C. for the night, he is French Canadian, so it was fun to listen to him.

(From left to right) Allison, Molly, Jess, Me, and Jaya

My little ant infested room...

At least it is air conditioned!

Schnazzy, don't you think?

Thanks for reading everyone! It has been very comforting to hear everyone is enjoying my story thus far.

Ready for a marathon post??

Whew... and finally some down time to write!

This week has been much busier than I had anticipated. I'll do my best to recap my activities, but I am most excited to share some more pictures.

Ok, so when we left off I had just gone through my first day of lectures and had been to a movie (which are pretty cheap here by the way... about $5 US for the movie, about $2 US for soda and popcorn/candy).

On Wednesday we had more lectures about life on campus and around St. Kitts, learned about our personality types and how to work with people of opposing personality types, etc. It was pretty funny to see a group of 130 students or so, when asked for the extroverts to move to one side of the room, and the introverts to the other side (that would be me, no surprise). The introverts had accomplished this goal quickly, quietly while the extroverts were loud, talkative, trying to find seats next to friends, catching up during the "break" etc. The person guiding this exercise pointed this out to the group and everyone starting cracking up.

Then... the security talk... dun dun dun. We had two hours of lecture on how dangerous the island is, where to go, where not to go, what is illegal (such as swearing... it can get you arrested here), traps to look out for set by thieves (road blocks, purse snatchers, etc), and how not to get your house broken into. Every apartment or house that students live in is fitted with an external fence and gate of some sort, deadbolt locks on every door, metal bars on every window, door, etc, and some have noise only security alarms. At least they're looking out for us, right?? So that was fun. I heard that some girl started crying after the talk because she was so scared. I think they just want to make sure we are smart and not naive about living here... or something.

I can't remember what we did that evening... dinner out?? I can't remember. Maybe that was the Marriot evening... yes just maybe. The marriot is like living in the US. If you are ever homesick here, just go to the Marriot. Everything is in USD, the ATMs give USD, and they have tons of US foods and stuff like that. And you can gamble all of your problems (and money) away in the casino. I think I'll stay away.

Okay... Thursday! Early day again, more lectures, this time about classes and what to expect of them. Then we had "leadership development"... lame. It was boring. And not helpful. Sigh...

We had the afternoon off... I can't remember what we did then either... it is all a blur. I think we went out that night though... as we have done almost every night before that too.

One of these nights we went to our Orientation Leader's house (Amanda) where she hosted a small gathering. I played flip cup for the first time... and I am now addicted. How did I get through my undergrad without playing flip cup??? It has to be, by far, the best game ever. It isn't even about the alcohol, I'd play with water and be just as excited about it. SO FUN!

Friday! Mom's Birthday! Catamaran trip was canceled due to Tropical Storm Erika (all we had was rain, clouds, strong currents and choppy waters... nothing really) so we used the day to go to the bank (finally). I was able to deposit my student loan refund check, get a Scotia Bank debit card and finally have access to funds! That was exciting as I was living off the cash that I brought all week... and there wasn't much left. We spent the morning and early afternoon at the Marriot using their pool and beach, had brunch there although it wasn't great. Ran errands in the afternoon, used the free van service for the last time to pick up a few groceries and then spent the afternoon trying to organize my room a bit more. That night we went out again to the beach bars (more on this too a bit later) and stayed out past midnight to celebrate my birthday with my new friends.

Saturday... my birthday! It was great, so much fun! Started the morning with a hike up into the jungle and up a nearly dry creek bed to find a bat cave. Yes, the line of the day was definitely "To the bat cave!" Although it ceased to be funny after the 1st person said it, everyone seemed to continue with it anyway. It was a gorgeous hike, crazy trees and vines and tree roots, and I only managed to slip and fall once! There was a little tiny itsy bit of rock climbing too! I'll post a picture below, but there is this ginormous boulder that would normally have a waterfall over it when there is water running, and to get up it you had to climb about 5 feet on the side of it. There were a couple of ropes tided at the top to help you pull yourself up. I was complimented on my skills by several of the bystanders when I applied climbing technique instead of needing to be pushed/pulled/lifted up the rock by 2 burly guys holding those positions. So that was fun for sure... even if it was only 5 feet. Anyway, so the hike ended at this cool bat cave, there were some bats, and a cave. Enough said.

Afternoon was spent at Reggae beach (the one we had lunch at about a week ago) where we swam, slept in the sun and played some beach volleyball. I forgot to see how our friend Wilbur is doing, but there was a goat in the monkey pen this time for some reason.

That evening a bunch of our group was going out again to a welcome back bonfire on the beach/full moon party. I decided to stay in instead... I was all party'd out already. It was very nice to spend some time just chilling and getting settled.

And now today! Sunday. It has been very relaxing thus far just hanging out on campus. I went for a walk earlier around campus, forgot to take my camera though so pictures will come later.

Ok... couple more things then pictures!

The culture shock... it was difficult for me to become comfortable with the fact that St. Kitts is not a place that I can openly and freely explore to my hearts content as I had hoped. We are guests in a modern developing country that is predominately black, and who are direct descendants from enslaved people. There is a very strong resentment for anyone white, and ligther skinned blacks. Many Kittitians feel as though the students are all rich because we can afford to come here to go to school, and they don't understand that we'll be $200K in debt when we get out, and we aren't here to change that. There are not too many places that I can go by myself; campus, the grocery store and the bank are really the only ones. Some parts of town it is recommended that we just don't go at all, no matter how large of a group we are. So, I have accepted this now and feel much more comfortable living here, its just not what I had imagined. I know my boundaries, and I'll stick to them.

Then, the beach bars! This is where things get interesting. Students party... a lot. A lot! There is this place called "The Strip" where there literally is just a strip of beach lined with beach bars. Only a few are recommended by senior students to frequent due to security/safety reasons. Even then, you have to be very cautious. It is recommended not to make eye contact, look at, or talk to any locals. They tend to pray on students when out drinking... so that is fun. Definitely not what I am used to when out in public in another country. I am used to embracing the culture of somewhere I am visiting... not trying to ignore the people there. But anyway, the beach bars, they are lots of fun though, a small bar on a patio with a tiki style roof, sand beach right off the patio with picnic tables, music blasting from the D.J. Drinks are pretty reasonable... beer is really cheap as it is brewed and bottled on the island. You can buy a beer for about $2 US at a restaurant or bar, and you can by a case of 24 directly from the brewery for $15 US. The locally made rum is delicious too! It comes in vanilla, lime, mango and regular. I have a bottle of the vanilla (very tasty) and had a shot of the mango on my birthday. Delicious as well. So that's that. Drinking is common, but it sounds like they study even harder than they party... so its all ok then right? (Don't worry, I can't even come close to keeping up with these other students... nor do I want to)

Okay, pictures! Thanks for hanging in there... it was a doosey!

Beach chairs and volleyball court and Reggae Beach

Me relaxing on my birthday :) Lots of sunscreen!!!

Another picture of Reggae Beach

Mr. Ziggy's Shiggidy Shack (Beach bar) on my Birthday!

View from the beach of Ziggy's

Anyone know why a camera would do this?? It is a picture from Molly's camera (far right) and this keeps happening to some of her pictures. Anyway, this is at Amanda's house as we were playing Flip Cup.

Signature dinosaur pose. What can I say?

Yes, it IS possible to bake cookies in a toaster oven! This is what was left after I took a plate of Funfetti cookies down to my orientation group as they were pre-funking for the bonfire.

Cute like guy, eh??

Chillin.

Hike to the bat cave...

Taylor from Utah in the bat cave.

The group enjoying the stroll... there were a LOT of us!

Us waiting our turn to climb up the boulder. The chosen route was a scramble to the left of the big boulder you see there. Those are vines hanging down between people. The two guys facing me in the picture were my hiking buddies/ride to the hike. Joe is the on on the far right, he is from Oregon too! His wife is here as well, working at the prep school on campus. Joe is leaning on Taylor, who was pictured above in the cave.

Waiting... waiting...

Yes, I am white. And sweaty. Deal.

View from my desk at sunset. This will be my life for the next 2.5 years: textbooks, yummy locally made rum, and beautiful sunsets.

Campus/sunset from my window

This is the ocean access from campus, the path to get here is called "Stairway to the Sea" Original, no?

Nice little patio/gazebo above the rocks

The Marriot, as viewed from the pool area. The ship there is a 50% scale model of "La Nina" ... Columbus' boat used to find St. Kitts or something like that. Oh, and St. Kitts was the first island to be colonized, which is why it also has the nickname of "the Motherland" or something like that.

One of the main classrooms I will be in. It is freezing in there compared to the weather outside. Fleece jacket required. Seriously.

And that's all folks! I promise to have shorter posts in the future. And more often. Hopefully.

Picture Extravaganza!

I was able to borrow a cord from a neighbor and download pictures!

Quick update on activities:
-Beach day on Sunday.. GORGEOUS! Awesome food, awesome beach, loved it. Going again on my birthday this Saturday.
-"One Stop" yesterday... applied for visa, set up bank account, laundry card ($6 US per wash and dry... ugh), etc. Slept the rest of the day due to sickness.
-Have a cold, getting better now
-Slept in today! :)
-Lecture and talk about St. Kitts culture and history today
-Saw Inglorious Bastards today, recommend it if the gory-ness doesn't get to you (I had to hide in parts)
-Dinner and Bingo at the Marriot

Tomorrow: Full day of lectures... bah.

Now for the pictures! Enjoy :)

Little lizard in my room

Wilbur the hog, lives at the beach. He is blind, apparently he still gets by just fine.

Reggae Beach - where we swam and ate lunch

My orientation group having lunch together on the beach

ATLANTIC Ocean (not Pacific, thanks Dad) on the left, Caribbean Ocean on the right

Brimstone Hill Fort - occupied by the British to fend off the French - they sort of shared the island.. did not go very well.

Our van somehow made it through this arch... Bunny (yes, that is the name of our Kittian van driver) is a great driver!

Anyone know what these are?? They're growing on some sort of palm type tree.

Jungle area at the edge of an old plantation

Campus, the big white building is my "dorm"

View from the "wedge" - a meeting place in between resident halls

Our luggage being loaded at the airport to be delivered on campus


View from the airplane of St Kitts

Past midnight... up at 7am, time to sleep!