I HAVE ARRIVED

Three airplanes, four airports, and sixteen hours later I have arrived! Let me tell you it has been an adventure already!! The first leg of the adventure was at the Dallas/Ft Worth Airport. I had 45 minutes between the time my flight from New Orleans landed and my flight to San Juan, Puerto Rico took off. No problem, you just run. Well with all the weight I was carrying I couldn’t run. So I figured out how to take the little train, and I made it to my terminal and five minutes later I was on the plane. We made it to San Juan earlier than expected so I watched The Simpsons in Spanish (very entertaining) and wasted time. They put us on a bus to take us to our little airplane to get to Grenada, but then they made us get off of the bus because there was a problem with the plane. An hour and a half later I am finally boarding the two prop plane. The flight attendant comes on the PA to apologize for the delay but our plane was leaking gas so they had to wait for a new plane! That was way more information than I needed to know. Of course I get the window seat looking out at the propeller. Overall the flight wasn’t too terrible. Everything at the Grenada airport went over without a hitch. I made it through immigration and customs with no problems. People from the school were outside waiting for us and putting us in taxis. I took a taxi to my new home for the next four months with a girl I had met on the plane (Carrie) who is actually going to Vet School here and her dad. Stupid me wasn’t thinking that Grenada was a British colony! They drive on the wrong side of the road. That is going to take some getting used to. Driving up to the hotel is just beautiful (although I might take this statement back tomorrow when it is daylight outside). Carrie’s dad was nice enough to carry my luggage up the stairs for me because there is no elevator. I walked into my room and started checking things out. There is a gigantic hole in my shower and the wall of the bathroom!! Also, I only have one light that works in the little hallway. None of the lamps in the room have bulbs in them! The little guy from the hotel walked by and I asked him if I had any plumbing since there is this huge hole in the wall and he said “I tink not” in his Grenadian accent. He remembered my name from when he checked me into the hotel which was amazing, and he moved me to another room. I have plumbing in this one, but no toilet paper, and still no lights! You would think I would be upset over all this, but I’m not simply because I have a view of the ocean from my little balcony! Plus these people are still trying to get their lives back to normal after the hurricane. There was a man laying tiles down when I walked into the hotel at 11PM. Anyway, I threw all my stuff down, and went to the pool because a bunch of students were down there. We are not allowed to use the big pool, but we have our own smaller pool which I think is even better. The students seem really nice. Most of them are from New York and New Jersey, but I met a guy from Houston and everyone kept telling me that I need to meet this boy from Monroe. Well I really must get some sleep now. I have to wake up tomorrow morning and register for my classes and get a cell phone and buy some toilet paper!!

~M

PS There are big flies in Grenada, kinda like in Alaska! (People from work will understand that one)