"...Zero ...Equation ...Alright ...Formula"

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! Okay, now that I got that out of the way...

Today is the second day of class. Boy, do I have stories for you! I suppose I should start from the beginning.

Sunday, the whole dorm family went cliff jumping off the peninsula at school. I apologize for not taking any pictures - I didn't want to bring my iPhone because things have a tendency to magically disappear around here and I knew I would be in the water for awhile not chaperoning valuables. Everyone was wearing life jackets but I opted out due to a bad experience I had cliff jumping with one at Lake Powell. Here is a picture of the cliffs.

Yes, that is my school. I know, right?

Later that night, after a few more boring but MANDATORY orientation sessions on substance abuse and the Student Government, we were expected to attend a bazaar on the football (soccer) field. All of the student clubs and organizations as well as some local businesses set up booths to get all of us "newbies" to sign up and get to know what they were about. Some bribed us with food and others had long enough lines to dissuade us from even bothering. Not to be a goody two-shoes or anything, but I signed up for every single club I could possibly find that had to do with Veterinary Science and even some that did not. I am now a proud member of the World Humanitarian Organization. Did you know, that one can be considered to be a Humanitarian after attending just two meetings? Done and done. I can now check that off my bucket list.

...Kidding.

I also researched the cost of Scuba Certification (Dad, are you paying attention?) and was thrilled to discover that it less than $300 to become internationally Scuba Certified Level 1. Even less, if you find 5 or more people to take the class with you. Once certified, you can join a student club that dives in certain areas of the Caribbean to clean up garbage and debris. Isn't that cool?! I thought so, too. (See, Pops - I'd be using my certification for the greater good!)

At the risk of sounding like a Grenadian travel brochure, you should also know that there is this super cool, underwater sculpture park that you can check out.

It might really creep me out... but I totally wanna go!

We were able to try some food donated by local restaurants around the island which was cool. And watched Trivoli Drummers do their thing. Grenadians are such a musical people full of culture.

These are my new pals Kristin and Carrie. Both are from the East Coast, but I forgive them.
Oh, and the dude behind us is the local grocery store mascot. Why doesn't Safeway have one of these??????

Monday was the first day of classes. I start my week off at the crack of 11:30am with Marine Biology in the Aquatic Animal Medicine Research Laboratory. As you can imagine, I was pleased to discover that this building is located... you guessed it... right on the beach.

Ridic.

I'm not making this up, people. This is the view from my classroom. We actually get into boats and go collect samples from the ocean.

We have 24 hour access to this beach on campus. My family is literally going to have to drag me off of this island, kicking and screaming, after I graduate.

Alright, time to get real here. Yes, I live on a paradisiacal island in the middle of the Caribbean Sea. Yes, the view from my dorm room, in any other circumstance, would be a million-dollar view. And yes, there are only two seasons here: glorious and more glorious. However, going to school in a foreign country has it's downside. I'd rather not dwell on the negatives too much so I will only say this; I have had to drastically lower my standards for professors. Some are incredibly difficult to understand and have a teaching style very different from the ones I am familiar with. One of my professors has a thick Grenadian accent, a lisp AND a stutter. This is a major disadvantage especially when learning new and advanced material. Take a quick listen to this recording I did of one of my other professors. I will try to get the lisp-stutter guy later this week. You could literally hear a pin drop in this classroom while all the other American and Canadian students were listening intensely, desperately trying to absorb a single word they could understand. I got: "...zero ...equation ...alright ...formula." If the AC kicked on? Forgetaboutit.

WTH?    Not gonna lie... kinda makes me want to stick my head in the oven.

On the upside, (you're going to have to accept the fact that I am one of those obnoxiously optimistic people) I will be able to understand a multitude of new accents by the time I leave here and will have been exposed to a plenty of different nationalities. This guy is from Africa (which you could probably deduce from the solid gold charm on his necklace shaped like Africa) and is my favorite professor, thus far.

His beard looks a little unsanitary, but I can actually understand what he is saying. WINNING!
(See what I mean about lowering standards? If he speaks interpretable English, I'm stoked)

I've gotta go hit the books. But I'll leave you with one of my favorite quotes and a little piece of the Caribbean.

"Education's purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one." - Malcom Forbes