I'm ALIVE!!!!!!

Just letting you all know that I am alive and well. After a terrible layover in Antigua, and a journey to find a hotel while lugging around two 70 pound bags, I have made it to Dominica.

It really is beautiful. And very different. On the "taxi" drive in, which entailed an hour long drive through winding roads and mountains, I saw 12 cows, 4 dogs, a goat and a sheep.... All of which were just chillin on the side of the road. Some tied up, others not.

My apartment is livable, but SMELLS!!! and its not a good smell either. Its a mix of what has been dubbed "foot and old people.... or foot and incontinence" ugh... but for 425 a month... i cant really complain. I have friends that are paying 700 dollars for the same type of space. (less smelly of course) :-)

The campus is nice... from the outside it looks like well large tin barns- but on the inside... quite honestly is is more technologically savvy then Augustana was. There is so much technology there its unbelievable.

And they use the tuition money to better the campus... (not like some campuses I know. wink wink). They just built a new three story building that houses the campus Gym, Student Group center, and then the SGA floor.

My apartment is about 10 minutes from the main campus, but what I didnt know was that all of the 1st semester classes are held in a building that they call the Annex, which is only about 4 minutes from my house.

The locals are all mostly really nice. I've only met one shady character in my time here. He was a "taxi driver" that wasnt driving the stereotypical taxi and I was waiting for friends to arrive and he gave me his number in case I needed a ride. When my friends arrived in their taxi the driver for them told me to delete that number immediately and he preys on 1st semester female students. In his words- to me and my friend Jesse- "he is like the spider and waits for the fly to get stuck in his web." Creeeeepy!

All of my stuff arrived in tact. Which is really nice. And it all arrived with me :-). Some of my friends had to wait DAYS for their luggage, and I got both on the same day. And I do believe that I thoroughly over packed. But I'd much rather have the problem of over packing, than having not brought enough... because stuff here is EXPENSIVE!!! But it makes sense... it takes a lot of effort to get stuff here. I bought some Air Wick to try and mask the foot smell for 3.50 today. But i certainly needed it.

More to come later, but thats all for tonight.

I'll also put pictures up here eventually.