I'm at medical school, yikes!

I miss you all already!!! I arrived on Friday around 7pm. I left around 7am from Detroit, then stopped in North Carolina, Puerto Rico, and finally left on a propeller plane to Dominica! BUT after that I had to take an hour drive through the mountains to get to the city of Portsmouth.

After we finally arrived, we stayed in RUH (Ross University Housing) where we got to stay one night. I was beat! So was my mom. We had to take a campus tour but were all so tired we decided to break for sleep and do it the next day, Saturday. So we got up at the butt crack of dawn (lol, actually not the sun comes up around 6am and goes down by 7pm), so around 8am to take our housing tour and me and my roomie found a GREAT apartment. It is owned by a pretty big business man on the island named James. He seemed nice, but of course we will always stay cautious to make sure we never get ripped off. The apartment is beautiful! 3 bedroom/3bathroom (we are looking for a third roommate still - any takers? ;-)) On the top floor with the view of the mountains and the Carribean Sea - gorgeous! We have 2 balconies, one small one huge with a table and chairs to study with. Every view is so beautiful! Rent has EVERYTHING included expept electricity (which only costs $40EC/month, so less than $20US! - Prepaid electricity - interesting... :-)) Rent is $330 so I am really only paying $350 or less a month!

There is a girl that has still not moved out yet and she is in my room! Grr... oh well, this room is worth waiting for! I will post pictures in this blog soon by putting an album on here. But since you haven't seen it I will try to describe it. So you walk through the entire apartment and when you come into the kitchen (after passing 2 bedrooms) you can turn and walk out onto the big balcony. To find my room you have to literally walk out onto the balcony and enter a separate room! So, when I walk out of my room in the morning all I see is the awesome palms and mountains. So lucky to have found this place. Internet is still rough, I am at RUH right now in the student lounge, lol. Hopefully we can talk to James or figure out the internet tonight. AIM is iffy too but once I get my laptop configured by the campus at orientation (in a couple days) I can use it! I will post my phone numbers in my profile (I have two, one was the one I gave some of you for my computer (not up yet, nor is my webcam yet) the other is a cell phone I bought down here for like $17 lol. Incoming calls are free for me BUT it charges you! Not sure how much yet but if you want to call get a pre-paid calling card if you want!!! I can call you from there but it is $.99EC or about $.37US per minute. Not too bad but we'll see how much I use it. I am going to charge it up with minutes in about an hour (hard to leave this air conditioned room!).

Sooo, ok... This place is sooo different. This is going on my third day in Dominica and I have thought about leaving at least 10 times already. People are hilarious on the roads. Of course they drive on the opposite side of the car/road but for as twisty as these roads are (VERY) they are speedy! They drive in the middle of the road until they see a car coming. Then they move, lol. The lifestyle here is, again different. Very laid back - things don't move as quickly. If you need something done, be patient - it may take days (like apartment repairs) but it will get done. Hard to get used to, but oh well. Food is fantastic! Of course there is the Subway which I always want to go to feel like I'm at home, but I am now eating fruit salad lol - with fresh fruit! I'm talking mangos, papayas, passion fruit, star fruit, guava, bananas, pineapples - so much! We can even pick mangos off the trees if we want to eat it right there on the spot! Tons of banana trees here too. Food is fairly cheap too if you eat the fruits/veggies. There are some expensive places though.

I miss you all so much and think about coming home all the time. Every time I do though I know that I'd be stuck not knowing what to do with my life. Once this is done, life will get back to normal. Hey, at least I don't have to stay here 4 years (can you ImAgInE!?!). I should be home sometime in mid-October for 3 or 4 days. The trip to get home/here is so long it takes alot of time. But I am going to make it work. Night is the hardest time. Since it gets dark so soon there is not much to do but think of you all. I know you are all busy with your stuff too so that's good. It scares me thinking of when my mom leaves. But I'll be okay, I hope. I just keep thinking when school starts I'll be here about 1.5/2 weeks. Then only 6 more weeks till I get home! That doesn't sound so bad? If I would stay till the end of the semester it would be like 14 more weeks! I just don't think I can do that and I don't want to. Everyone tells me "Time flies here." and I really hope that this is true.

Anyway, I better get to the cell phone store so I can recharge my phone! I wish I could keep typing 'cause it makes me feel like I am actually talking to ya'll. Silly, huh? Ah well. I love you all so much and am always thinking about you!

Call/e-mail/write anytime! Again, my address is at the bottom of the blog page in the gray column on the right side! I hear it takes just one stamp! It should get here with a US stamp in about 2-3 days!

Love, Jess