Lemon-Colored Limes and Lime-Colored Lemons

There are no Starbucks in Grenada. None.

No, but seriously. The course load I am taking is extremely demanding of my time and attention. I am currently in the process of building up the endurance to focus for long hours as efficiently as possible with a high retention rate. So, you can see my dilemma due to the fact that there are NO. STARBUCKS. IN. GRENADA.

We do have one cafe/restaurant/lounge on campus that will serve coffee with milk - no soy milk, no flavored high-fructose corn syrups, no whipped cream, no mochas... Sometimes, I cry. Oh, but can you guess what they do have for your coffee?

Nutmeg.

I've been enjoying my classes and getting accustomed to the various accents and teaching styles. I'm finding my bearings on campus and learning the nicknames the students have come up with for all the buildings. However, just when I thought I was getting the hang of hiking up and down the campus mountain several times a day, I was forced to add 20 pounds of textbooks to my daily routine. I have no idea what my grades will look like at the end of this semester, but I can tell you that my rearend is going to look AH-MAZING.

For those who haven't heard, we've been having some interesting weather arounds these parts as of late.   Hurricane Isaac paid us a visit this week although it (he?) was only a tropical storm when it passed over Grenada. Apparently, tropical storms and hurricanes are pretty rare in Grenada since it's located below the hurricane belt. But alas, one of the MANDATORY orientation sessions we attended that first week was on disaster preparedness and what the students should do in case of a major hurricane. The school is the safest place on the island to be because it's on a cliff and has a lot of hills providing drainage to the beach preventing any major flooding from occurring (or so they tell us).

Definitely been getting the "whole" Caribbean experience already

I've never seen SO much rain. The clouds were pretty sweet. 

Black Sands Beach by my dorm

The white caps were crazy!

Because it was pretty cloudy most of the week, we took advantage of what little sunshine we got by going to the BEACH!

Ophelia (left) is actually from DANVILLE! How crazy is that??

 The students in the veterinary field are definitely the fun ones on campus. You know the old saying, "Work hard, play hard?" Yeah, I'm pretty sure vet students coined that term. The SGU Student Chapter of the American Veterinary Medical Association (SCAVMA) started this year off with a bang by throwing a party on Black Sands Beach for all the students. Afterwards, they all headed to De Big Fish for the "unofficial after-party." If anybody asks, you didn't hear that from me. Apparently, student associations aren't allowed to throw parties with alcohol involved the first week of school. Why they are not allowed to the throw them the first week of school (when the workload is still bearable) but all the other weeks is a mystery to me.  We're going on an 8 hour Catamaran cruise to snorkel at the underwater sculpture park, jump on a water trampoline, beach hop and kayak next weekend. Yes, please! Here's a picture of a bunch of us playing flip cup at the SCAVMA party.

Go Blue Team!

I finally went out to Bananas, the local student bar, on Friday night with a bunch of people from our dorm. It was way fun. The bar was surprisingly beautiful and if you couldn't tell already, I love the fact that all the bars and restaurants around here are outdoors.  I am already beginning to see a lot of familiar faces out and about. However, this is not the place for the inexperienced or over-zealous drinker; the drinking age is 16, food is expensive, drinks are cheap, no over-serving laws are enforced PLUS it doesn't close until 6am! Need I even mention that we're in a foreign country? They actually have an attendant in the girls' bathroom whose sole purpose is to make sure that girls don't pass out in the stalls. And trust me, she's not handing out little mints, either. Now I understand the MANDATORY substance abuse seminar...

One of the outdoor bars.

Speaking of expensive food, during my weekly trip to the local grocery store, IGA, I snapped a few shots of the exotic fruit selection. They stock up their inventory on Fridays so Saturday is always a madhouse. It's fun watching students revert back to their basic, primitive instincts when the food source is so scarce. At first, I couldn't understand why so many students actually chose to eat at the restaurants on campus since they are stupid expensive, but I am quickly seeing its appeal to vet and med students. You see, to them, there are only four food groups: fast, frozen, instant and chocolate.

These are avocadoes... that stay green. Apparently, they're sweeter than normal
and not as creamy as we're used to. I bought one but I'm supposed to wait for it to ripen before
I can try it.  Report to follow.

It's a little hard to get used to the new produce selection.

Lemons here are green...  and limes are yellow. WTH?

Oranges are green, too, but they taste like... well... oranges!

I like the floral arrangements here better than home. :)

I definitely do a lot more cooking here than I did back home because everything is so expensive. When I first heard that there was a Chipotle on the island I literally peed a little.

This is not at all what I had in mind.

Welp, back to the grind stone. I'll leave you with this little gem.

"...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

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!

Orientating

I can't even believe it has been four days! The school is keeping us ridiculously busy so time is flying by! We are required to be in MANDATORY orientation from 8:15 in the morning until about 6 or 7 at night. They made sure to drill it in our heads that these lectures are MAN-DA-TOR-Y. I'll say it again just because I want you to read it as many times as I have had to hear it... MANDATORY. For those of you geeky enough to care, here is a picture of one of the larger lecture halls.

The largest lecture hall on campus fits up to 300 students.

All the same bells and whistles as a US school except all lectures are recorded on video for student recall. Also, they are more than generous with the AC. I learned quickly to bring a sweatshirt with me to class because hypothermia is not conducive an efficient learning environment. I'll admit that, at first, I judged the people walking around with hoodies hardcore. Now, I empathize.

Fortunately, I have been enjoying many of the amenities that I thought I would be without. The school is in the process of converting the entire campus to wireless internet so I can text people in the US on my iPhone using iMessage almost everywhere. I can send pictures and videos instantly to let my friends and family back home know what I am doing and where I am. The best part about this, though, is that I can FaceTime with my dog! :) Yes, my wonderful Step-Mother, without whom I would be lost, actually holds the phone up to Levi so that I can coo him from afar. Ok, proud mama time. Quick tribute to Leviathan.

As a puppy on Fisherman's Wharf in SF.

First haircut. Such a handsome man.

After climbing horse tooth.

I know, right? The cutest.

My parents' Goldens and his new roomies while I'm in Grenada.

So emo...
(But, beautiful photo taken by my beautiful little sister, Tori.)

Apologies for the random doglet tangent. Moving on. Island life has proven to have it's advantages and disadvantages. For example, there is no such thing as 'fast' down here. Everything takes time, because they seem to have more of it than the rest of the world. Ok... maybe just the US. There is at LEAST a 30 minute line for EVERYTHING. Food, registration, the bathroom, the bookstore, the bus... you get the point. I consider myself to be a person with a lot of patience, yet somehow this place snatches every single one.

The Grenadian culture is both fascinating and endearing to me. They are extremely friendly and polite especially for a country with so much tourism. They consider it to be VERY offensive if you do not acknowledge them with a genuine greeting. The Grenadian students at SGU ask the professors if they may enter the classroom each time and always dress their absolute best making all of the Americans look like schmucks. All the bus drivers get to know you by name and everyone says hi to everyone all the time. Such an honest and fun-loving people. They are also extremely proud of their very first Olympic medal which also happens to be a GOLD medal.

Still front page news.

At the airport.

The sunsets here are weak.

They make up their own names for fruit.

I couldn't resist.

The electrical situation has proven to be not only a pain but also life-threatening. I can't tell you how many times I have plugged something in and almost died. Look at the size of this converter! It weighs legitimately 10 pounds and I had to hike this mother up the campus mountain. I am going to have killer legs by the time I'm done here.

Really? Modern technology can't come up with anything better than this?
Come on people.

At least the scenery is above average.

I definitely lucked out with the dorm situation in more ways than one. It's a beautiful building right on Black Sand Beach, one of the few beaches on campus since most of it is on a 30 foot cliff. Our dorm room is the only one in our Suite that has WiFi. Winning!

This is the view from my dorm room.

The beach in front of my dorm.

My adorable roommate, Emma, from Dominica.

This is my desk. My BFF, Dinger, made me that jar before I left. It has
365 handwritten slips of paper with positive thoughts, love and happiness.
I'm supposed to read one everyday to start my day  :)

Yesterday was a big day. I finally got my bags and was able to unpack! Had to wait in the customs line AGAIN. 

At the airport to get my bags!

But, sadly, my Daddy left. He could not get off this island fast enough. I would be surprised if he ever vacations on a Caribbean island again. He was not blessed with the same amount of patience that I was. But I was grateful to have him here to help me get settled in. This is a picture he took of the island on the plane ride home. 

The red blotches at the top of the picture is my school. :)

Again with the drama... yeesh!

That's all for now. Looking forward to waking up everyday in the most beautiful place on earth!