Respect the Nutmeg

It's official! I am a registered student in the College of Veterinary Medicine at St. George's University. I got my class schedule yesterday and guess who has two thumbs and no class on Fridays?!

This girl.

My new student ID.

Yesterday was a busy day of tying up loose ends before classes begin on Monday. I got my mailing address:

Lisa Del Monte, #3635

St. George's University

PO Box 7

University Centre

St. George's, Grenada, West Indies

I also learned that it takes about two weeks to get anything to or from the States. Yikes. Shipping items is ridiculously expensive so I will just have to pack in whatever I need when I am in the US. I will be taxed on any appliances that I bring with me but it's still going to be less expensive than buying or shipping them here. 

After I got everything squared away with registration, (and hiked up and down the campus mountain 8 more times), I went to Grand Anse Beach with all of my dorm-mates. Getting in the water for the first time was seriously a spiritual experience. It is the absolute PERFECT temperature - refreshing but not too cold. Very different from the bathwater we experienced in the Mediterranean that made you feel like you were swimming in spit. The 5 minute bus ride is free and drops you off right by the water. 

Heaven

There is even a Grand Anse Campus that has dorms RIGHT ON THE BEACH. Word on the street is some Meddies (what Vet students, or Vetties, call Med Students. Don't even get me started on that whole rivalry...) had to live there because they ran out of room on the main campus and were complaining about the 5 minute bus ride they have to take to campus. I don't know about you, but this really made me want to run into walls. Hello! You live on one of the most famous beaches in the Caribbean! Come here and run into my fist. 

Anyway, after soaking in the water until we were sufficiently pruned, we all went back to campus and got cleaned up for the big Back to School party the school was throwing for the students at a local beach restaurant called, The Aquarium. Reason # 387 why I love going to college in the Caribbean - they throw AMAZING parties! SGU paid to have every single student bussed to and from campus and rented out the entire restaurant (which is HUGE by the way). Total cost to the students: $25 EC (which is about $10 US). It was an absolute blast. I tried to get videos and pictures while I was there to show you all just how EPIC this party was but I was unsuccessful. It was just too dark. The restaurant was breezy and open with a live DJ and opened up onto the most picturesque beach with a view of the lights of St. George's. Some patio, right?

Our entire dorm pre-gaming. Already one giant, dysfunctional family. 

Me and Jainika, my Suite-mate from Jersey on the beach
at The Aquarium. 

I can tell you that whoever is in charge of the first week's festivities has an interesting sense of humor. We were all expected to go on a hike in Grand Etang Rainforest at 8am this morning after being out till 3am at The Aquarium. I know what you're thinking... but in my defense, I tried to leave at 1am to get some sleep for the hike and couldn't get on a bus until an hour later due to, oh yes, another long line.

After a long and painfully windy bus ride with a bunch of nauseous, hungover students we made it to the Grand Etang Rainforest.

Part of the Grand Etang Welcome Committee 

Apparently, these are Moaner Monkeys and are only located on Grenada and Africa. These are sassy little guys - if you're not careful they'll steal the sunglasses right off your face. They are rude little bastards, too! They will only accept unpeeled, perfectly ripe bananas. If you try to give them a bruised or over-ripe banana, they will take one look at it and throw back at you. That's just flat out uncivilized.

These are called Brown Lizards but I don't understand the logic.
To me, the bright blue faces are a little more noticeable of a trait...

Love this. No hunting and no cutting down trees... the way it should be.

We were told we were going on a "mini hike" and that we should expect to get "a little muddy." We ended up hiking straight uphill in knee-deep mud. Where the mud wasn't deep, it was insanely slippery. Students were sliding down this mountain like dominoes. It was quite comical. Kristin (my Dorm-mate and Vettie friend from NY) and I finally decided to just go barefoot. People kept commenting that it was some great idea and that we must be getting a better grip that way, but we both knew it was just to prevent cosmetically destroying a perfectly good pair of sneakers. We were all clinging to vines and tree branches for dear life to get up some of these hills. It was ridic. I imagine I looked similar to a drunk Tarzan.

Knee-deep. I was NOT exaggerating.

A Grenadian Pedicure.

Some poor sap didn't get the barefoot memo.

Cheesin' cuz we didn't fall ONCE!

In the end, the view was totally worth it. Here's what we saw at the highest point of the island at 1910ft.

Afterwards, they took us to this beautiful waterfall to rinse off. 

This is my life?

Borrowed this dude's monkey.

Finally, the school took us on a quick tour of St. George's. I found out that there is a fresh produce market every Saturday held by local farmers. I could NOT be more stoked! 

Selling produce right out of their truckbeds at the farmer's market.

I'd like to take this opportunity to feature a new addition to my diet. These cute little dudes were introduced to me as Chennets, though, it appears no one seems to know what the hell to call them.

Wikipedia Entry: ”The mamoncillo (Melicoccus bijugatus), also known as the mamón (although the word is considered obscene in some Spanish speaking countries), chenet,guaya, gnep, ginep, skinnip (in Jamaica, St. Kitts) genip, guinep, ginnip, kenèp (in Haiti), quenepa (in Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic), ackee (in Barbados), Spanish lime, or limoncillo, is a fruit-bearing tree in the soapberry family Sapindaceae…”

I bought a bundle from a little boy on the side of the road that was selling them for $1EC (about $0.40US).

What's with people in the Caribbean thinking they can just rename fruit
whatever they feel like?

The inside has a really disgusting, slimy texture but they taste SO good!

Workin' it. Totally playing the cute card.

We saw all kinds of trees and plants along our tour; nutmeg, bananas, coconut, nutmeg, cocoa, castor oil, nutmeg, chennet, breadfruit, more nutmeg, aloe... you get the point. Grenada is the "Spice Island" and they have more nutmeg than they will ever know what to do with! It's on and in EVERYTHING. I had nutmeg ice cream, nutmeg jam, nutmeg sprinkled in every single cocktail I've ordered... It's EVERYWHERE. But apparently I am supposed to "Respect the Nutmeg."

Here are just a few more pictures I took of St. George's along the way:

Looking forward to starting school on Monday!