Finally!

Ok so, the last post was a little sparse... because my internet and phone connections weren't working in my room, but they were in my roomates, so i was borrowing her internet before she moved in and was a little bit distracted....

But today it finally got all settled and now i'm all hooked up. My phone number to my room is a New Jersey number, so you all can call it and it's not such a long distance... if you need the number just IM or email me and i'll be glad to give it out...

Yesterday we spent basically the whole day on the other side of the island at a really really nice beach... The drive was wonderful because we got to see so much of the island... here are a few pictures from the drive over:


This is the part of the island that is called "the neck", because the island is shaped kind of like a guitar and this would be the neck of the guitar. On one side it's the Atlantic Ocean and on the other it's the Caribbean Ocean. It's probably the most beautiful view of the island and our bus driver was nice enough to stop and let us get out to see and and to take pictures....


And the is a picture of the beach we were actually at. This is the bar/restaurant that is there and the volleyball net.


And this is where we were swimming at the beach... The water was wonderfully amazing. It's the perfect temperature and it's so salty, which makes you more buoyant and makes it easier to swim. There was lots of cool stuff in the water, and some people were snorkeling and collecting conch shells (which are illegal to bring back to the states) and star fish... but i think they put everything back.... We even saw a little sting ray! It was so cool! We also layed out in the sand and just enjoyed the place. But the sun is so strong here, I got a bit burnt. Not too bad though...

There are also a lot of free-roaming animals on the island and we got to see herds of wild cows just hanging out next to the road as we drove back from the beach. There are also goats and sheep around.... the sheep aren't wooly though, so it's a little difficult to tell the two apart.

We've also been going out to eat a lot, and they have so much here that I never expected. I had a fabulous burger at the Marriott (more info on that soon enough) and we also had pretty good Italian at a little restaurant in town. There's also KFC, Dominoes, and Subway. But all of that's a little bit expensive, especially considering I'm living off of loans.

Today I got my driver's license, student visa, and set up my bank account. It was a lot of paper work and waiting in lines, which was awful... and we also went shopping in town. We went to TDC, which is kind of like a Home Depot meets Walmart... and we went to the other grocery store (we went to IGA on Saturday). This grocery store is call Rams and it has a lot better selection, as far as I'm concerned. They even have a lot of ethnic foods that are hard to find in the US. There's also all kinds of things that you would normally eat at home, but it's all very expensive.

After that, I ordered pizza and had a movie night with some of my friends from my orientation group and just had a kind of quite night. This was actually a nice change from the fast-paced, always going out lifestyle we've had for the last few days!

The rest of the week is going to continue to be busy with orientation stuff, but not much more paper work. I should also have plenty of time to write and update here, as well as plenty of interesting things to write about...

On Friday we're going back to the Marriott to hang out at the beach. It's so beautiful there, I'll be sure to take lots of pictures. The pool has over a hundred chairs around it, and the beach has probably the same amount of little shade-huts where you can just relax. There's also a cigar bar and a really nice casino (i'm told it's like a mini Las Vegas). The restaurants in there are really really nice too. AND we are allowed to go there and just hang out whenever we want... they like us to stay away during tourist season, but there are still ways to sneak in. It's really great... i'm planning on doing a lot of studying there if possible....

There's also a Scuba club that I'm thinking about joining. I can get certified through them and then go diving periodically... it sounds like a lot of fun and there's a shipwreck to dive near too. A lot of pretty fish live near there...

It's all very exciting, but I think that's all the news I have for now. More soon, I'm sure!