Today marks day three on the island and the first day or orientation! So far, I'm having an awesome time:) The reason my happiness at the moment, to be honest, is that I've had good luck thus far. All my luggage arrived on time, my house was set up as I expected it, I didn't forget anything critical at home, and all my documents were in order. There are a few people here who have not been so fortunate. Either they have zero wifi, their luggage never showed up, forgot visa document or they brought too little money to work with until they can sort out banking. Imagine trying to correct a medical document or affidavit of support from an island in the Caribbean... Not the easiest thing to do. Most of these things are very much out of their control and it is sad to see. The good news is that UMHS is really good at helping everyone out in addition to the returning students who have gone through similar experiences before.
As for the actual school and island part, everything is beyond my expectations. Today was the first day I was able to get inside the school grounds, and I was pleasantly surprised. Very clean, all air conditioned, and the staff are all unbelievable. Day one of orientation consisted mostly of start up stuff like getting computer logins, taking ID photos, touring the campus a bit etc. The most exciting part about today was getting cell phones! The school will provide you with a very basic cell phone free of charge with 20EC loaded onto it. What I did was after orientation ended, I hoped on an H-bus downtown to LIME (the mobile provider) and got my sim card cut down to iPhone size. So I now can use my own iPhone instead of having to painfully use alpha or T9 again;). Up until this point, we have had no way of communicating with each other unless you had wifi with iMessage or whattsapp and if your house didn't have wifi, bummmmer.. Day two of orientation starts tomorrow. We actually register for real, get our name tags, and confirm our class schedules. So that will be good. Once that happens we can enter and exit campus like normal students!
As for the actual school and island part, everything is beyond my expectations. Today was the first day I was able to get inside the school grounds, and I was pleasantly surprised. Very clean, all air conditioned, and the staff are all unbelievable. Day one of orientation consisted mostly of start up stuff like getting computer logins, taking ID photos, touring the campus a bit etc. The most exciting part about today was getting cell phones! The school will provide you with a very basic cell phone free of charge with 20EC loaded onto it. What I did was after orientation ended, I hoped on an H-bus downtown to LIME (the mobile provider) and got my sim card cut down to iPhone size. So I now can use my own iPhone instead of having to painfully use alpha or T9 again;). Up until this point, we have had no way of communicating with each other unless you had wifi with iMessage or whattsapp and if your house didn't have wifi, bummmmer.. Day two of orientation starts tomorrow. We actually register for real, get our name tags, and confirm our class schedules. So that will be good. Once that happens we can enter and exit campus like normal students!
As for the island, I've found people are very very friendly. Around my neighbourhood I get constant waves and well wishes as I walk by. Downtown is typical of any downtown. People seem nice but you have to be careful and mindful of your surroundings. Try not to act like a silly tourist with cameras, pulling out your wallet in the middle of the street, constantly looking lost, just embrace that your somewhere different and try your best to act normal. I'm not meaning to scare anybody as I've yet to really feel uncomfortable. I've felt more threatened in downtown Ottawa then I ever have here..
Btw, the most hilarious sign of a tourist is when they walk to the right side of a vehicle hoping to get into the door. Not going to happen as traffic runs on the left side of the road here;) Ive been caught a few time wondering to the wrong side of the car. Will take some getting used to. More on the island later.
As for the new student body at UMHS, everyone seems to be pretty motivated and eager. I've probably only personally met maybe 20 people, but Ive gotten good vibes for sure. During my fist two days on the island I really only met some students from Puerto Rico. I didn't meet my first Canadian until my roommate arrived yesterday evening. I met one more Canadian this morning and finally at lunch I found the Canadian table! It was cool to talk to my fellow Canadians. There are actually not very many from what Ive noticed. Maybe 10-13 out of over 100 students? Small group, but its all good because everyone else seems awesome.
As for my house, I'm very happy with it! Much bigger and nicer then I expected. There are two bedrooms, a full size kitchen and a small living space. Both my roommate and myself have our own washrooms. The best part is living so close to school. It took me about 2 minutes to walk to school this am. Much better then my almost hour commute to university every morning! The one thing Im still adjusting to however is the heat.. My house had air conditioning, but until I can figure out how much my utilities are going to cost, Im trying not to use it. If I open all the windows in my house there is a nice breeze but at times it's still pretty warm. The past two nights I've slept with just a fan. Ive been okay but when it rained and I had to close my windows last night it was on the verge of not being okay.. I am getting more used to being constantly sweaty though:) At times when I think I'm doing just fine, Ill turn on the stove, or eat any food that is warmer than room temperature and I instantly soak through my shirt. For example, where I sit right now typing this post I am at a level of diaphoresis like none other, all because I am enjoying a bowl of hot KD. (Don't worry mom I'm drinking lots of water).
So thats if for now I guess. Thinking of hitting the town for a bit as I don't have to be at school until noon tomorrow!
I have lots of things I want to talk about, but I don't know enough about them yet. So stay tuned!
Things learned today
-Just because everything around here runs on island time (sloooowww), don't assume the school operates under the same schedule ;)
-Many new names that I have to remember
-I'm not the only person who has yet to visit a beach or even tough the ocean
- If you only have 10cents to give to a person asking for money, they are going to say that its not enough to buy anything and that you should have more money
Cheers,
Mike
Btw, the most hilarious sign of a tourist is when they walk to the right side of a vehicle hoping to get into the door. Not going to happen as traffic runs on the left side of the road here;) Ive been caught a few time wondering to the wrong side of the car. Will take some getting used to. More on the island later.
As for the new student body at UMHS, everyone seems to be pretty motivated and eager. I've probably only personally met maybe 20 people, but Ive gotten good vibes for sure. During my fist two days on the island I really only met some students from Puerto Rico. I didn't meet my first Canadian until my roommate arrived yesterday evening. I met one more Canadian this morning and finally at lunch I found the Canadian table! It was cool to talk to my fellow Canadians. There are actually not very many from what Ive noticed. Maybe 10-13 out of over 100 students? Small group, but its all good because everyone else seems awesome.
As for my house, I'm very happy with it! Much bigger and nicer then I expected. There are two bedrooms, a full size kitchen and a small living space. Both my roommate and myself have our own washrooms. The best part is living so close to school. It took me about 2 minutes to walk to school this am. Much better then my almost hour commute to university every morning! The one thing Im still adjusting to however is the heat.. My house had air conditioning, but until I can figure out how much my utilities are going to cost, Im trying not to use it. If I open all the windows in my house there is a nice breeze but at times it's still pretty warm. The past two nights I've slept with just a fan. Ive been okay but when it rained and I had to close my windows last night it was on the verge of not being okay.. I am getting more used to being constantly sweaty though:) At times when I think I'm doing just fine, Ill turn on the stove, or eat any food that is warmer than room temperature and I instantly soak through my shirt. For example, where I sit right now typing this post I am at a level of diaphoresis like none other, all because I am enjoying a bowl of hot KD. (Don't worry mom I'm drinking lots of water).
So thats if for now I guess. Thinking of hitting the town for a bit as I don't have to be at school until noon tomorrow!
I have lots of things I want to talk about, but I don't know enough about them yet. So stay tuned!
Things learned today
-Just because everything around here runs on island time (sloooowww), don't assume the school operates under the same schedule ;)
-Many new names that I have to remember
-I'm not the only person who has yet to visit a beach or even tough the ocean
- If you only have 10cents to give to a person asking for money, they are going to say that its not enough to buy anything and that you should have more money
Cheers,
Mike