Reggae Beach- Live De Life!

The past few days have been kind of a slow whirlwind, which incidentally, made sense when I heard the unofficial island motto- Rush Slowly.

Southeast Pennisula

Saturday we all loaded up in our taxi, Sackville Grey has been our driver, and he took us to Reggae Beach, at the very tip of the island. Reggae has a motto if it's own- Live De Life.  I plan on following this motto during our time here on St. Kitts.  Reggae Beach is really nice; like Shipwreck, there is a beach bar, chairs and umbrellas (free to "Rossies"), oh, and there is a giant wild boar named Wilbur, a goat, and a monkey (I think the monkey and goat are Bff; I saw the monkey hug and kiss the goat, and on the website, they look like they are cuddling). I also made friends with an adorable little kitten!

Part of Reggae Beach

The water was really really clear, and Rob and others in our group when snorkeling. Rob came back with two giant sea urchin shells... or at least we think they are urchin shells!  There were a bunch of upper semester students at Reggae, and a friendly beach volley ball was started, and then interrupted by Wilbur. He apparently hates volley ball and tries to stop any attempt at playing. Rob, which his innate pig wrangling skills, quickly got Wilbur off the court and the game going again. Wilbur, quite dejected, when for a dip into the Caribbean.

After the beach, we went to Rock Lobster for dinner. I had some super tasty sangria (for free!), and some nice shrimp and mussels. Nothing to fancy, but it was nice to finally eat some seafood!

Yesterday we went to the Marriott hotel beach. The Marriott itself is really nice, the pool is pretty, and the beach is nice too. At the back of the lobby, leading out, it has a scale replica of Christopher Columbus' ship, La Nina. It has a manmade beach on the Atlantic side of the island. The water is a bit cooler (just barely), and is a bit more choppy.  Rob snorkeled again, and I slept for just about the whole day, excluding during lunch and the two times I went swimming. I probably slept for four hours.  Live De Life indeed.

El Nino is Spanish for, The Nino!

Last night I cooked my first meal in St. Kitts. Nightmarish. I hate electric burners, I have no oven, and about 8 square inches of counter space. I was out of my element, but managed to pull together a decent meal. I can't wait to start looking for apartments for next semester!

Snorkeling at the Marriott

Today is the official first day of orientation. We got up early and had breakfast, turned in part of Rob's paperwork and got him measured for his white lab coat, and various other odds and ends. Later we have more stuff planned- banking, financial aid, security meeting, getting our ids (yep, I get a Ross ID too!), etc. Orientation is all week, and luckily I am not required to go to everything. The week ends with an island tour (Friday), Catamaran trip to Nevis (Saturday), and Zip-lining through the rainforest (Sunday). I can't wait for Friday.

Marriott Beach

Oh, for those of you without Facebook, you can see all of the pictures we have taken if you click here.