Hello all and welcome to the Chronicles of Justin & Ashley! Sit back, grab your bifocals and turn on your desk lamp, I have a lot of information to unload! For those of you who didn't get the email yesterday, I apologise. My addressbook online malfunctioned and I could only send messages to emails I've memorized (a pathetic few). Fortunately, it is working today.
We've found a apartment on Moo Cow Trail, only a 7 minute walk to campus and are pretty pleased with it. Stay tuned for a future edition where I chronicle the awesomeness that is Ross University Housing Tours. I'll need a lot a strength to give the story justice... so be patient.
We started orientation today, with several professors and Univeristy officials welcoming us to the Island. It is a mixture of stress (apparently the workload is going to be pretty hard- you should have seen the looks of terror on the faces of Justin's classmates when this information was given!) and this completely laid back attitude (my new favorite saying is "no worries, mon"). Nothing has started on time (especially if it is raining, which is pretty much always) and there is a very realistic attitude about the workload that is to be expected.
The campus is pretty nice. All the freshmen are in the Annex which is a 7 minute walk uphill. That is where we've been meeting for orientation, and seems pretty high-tech. Justin is really anxious for classes to start. I can't blame him, the orientation is made up of these professors who are telling them how hard it is and what to expect. It does seem like they have two good programs set up to help students learn how to study and review the massive amounts of material they cover every day.
The bookstore isn't open until tomorrow, and the spouses club doesn't have it's first meeting until monday so I'm really just hanging in limbo until i figure out what to do with myself. I've scoped out a few "spouses" (those I'm pretty sure are not also going to school) and they all look pretty normal.
There are two students that we met from A&M who both seem nice, but we really haven't gotten a chance to hang out with them. One is named Chris, and he even lived on Spring Loop right down the street from us this past semester! The other I haven't technically met but is and old football player from A&M (i'll get you his name ASAP, daddy so you can look up his stats). He is married and his wife and baby are with him, but I haven't actually spoken to her.
Our two new friends that we hang out with a lot are Greg from California and Kyle from Chicago. Greg is married, but his wife isn't coming because she is on disability with some weird back muscle problem. They've only been married since August too. Kyle is engaged and he's getting married between semesters in August and then his wife will come up to the island to live. Her name is Andrea and he said that he thinks we would get along well. We have one neighbor moved in so far (The semester doesn't start until the 8th so returning students aren't back yet). Her name is Lauren from New York. She's very nice and easy to talk to so that will be nice.
We haven't started unpacking at all as of yet, for some reason we're both having a hard time adjusting to the time change. I'm glad things start at 10:00 because that still feel like 8:00 for us.
So far we have only eaten one Dominican prepared meal. It was on a tour of the island and the only snack bar was serving meals instead of snacks. Sadly for Justin, they ran out of chicken before we got a chance to order so we only got beans and rice. It was pretty good and didn't make us sick, either. Other than that our eating experience is not what I expected at all. The market is on Saturdays, but we had to go on the housing tour on Saturday and missed it. That means no fresh meat,fruit, veggies until Tuesday. And then EVERYTHING is closed on Sunday so by the time we found that out on Saturday night, we ran to the "grocery" which is really just a dry goods store and bought frosted flakes, milk, ramen noodles, 3 cans of black beans, vienna sausages, peanutbutter, and crakers. We drank the local Kubuli beer on the way back to our apartment to relieve the stress! Then we realized that we had plates and utensils but no pots or pans. Being the good boy scout he is, Justin heated a can of beans on the gas stove and we roasted vienna sausages on the open flame. Accompanied with peanutbutter crackers is was a very satisfying feast! There is a pizza place that is pretty good and two chinese restaurants. The best we can figure is that some student complained to his parents about the lack of good ethnic food and being the entreprenuers they are, moved to the island to provide hungry med school students with satisfyingly delicious fried rice and general tso's chicken. I won't complain. Everything was closed again on monday to celebrate the new year and then today is Merchants day (so much for going to the market of Tuesday). hopefully tomorrow we can find some pots and pans, and a few other necessities at the Best Buy (the local general store).
The first semester students are having a "Bar-B-Q" tonight in a few minutes. I was talking to Lauren from New York about how my initial thoughts were of brisket and ribs (she had no idea what a brisket is) but upon further thought, it will probably be hamburgers and hotdogs. There are a few other differences in culture we've noticed between Texans and everyone else. On new years we mentioned not being able to eat black eyed peas and Kyle from Chicago and Greg from California looked at us like we were nuts. There are so many other things to tell you, but we've got to go (some type of meat cooked on an open flame is awaiting us).
Thanks for reading this much. To rest your eyes, I suggest looking out into the distance and enjoying the view of the sun setting on the carribean sea.
Oh wait... that's just my view. Well you can enjoy the picture of it at least!
Ashley
We've found a apartment on Moo Cow Trail, only a 7 minute walk to campus and are pretty pleased with it. Stay tuned for a future edition where I chronicle the awesomeness that is Ross University Housing Tours. I'll need a lot a strength to give the story justice... so be patient.
We started orientation today, with several professors and Univeristy officials welcoming us to the Island. It is a mixture of stress (apparently the workload is going to be pretty hard- you should have seen the looks of terror on the faces of Justin's classmates when this information was given!) and this completely laid back attitude (my new favorite saying is "no worries, mon"). Nothing has started on time (especially if it is raining, which is pretty much always) and there is a very realistic attitude about the workload that is to be expected.
The campus is pretty nice. All the freshmen are in the Annex which is a 7 minute walk uphill. That is where we've been meeting for orientation, and seems pretty high-tech. Justin is really anxious for classes to start. I can't blame him, the orientation is made up of these professors who are telling them how hard it is and what to expect. It does seem like they have two good programs set up to help students learn how to study and review the massive amounts of material they cover every day.
The bookstore isn't open until tomorrow, and the spouses club doesn't have it's first meeting until monday so I'm really just hanging in limbo until i figure out what to do with myself. I've scoped out a few "spouses" (those I'm pretty sure are not also going to school) and they all look pretty normal.
There are two students that we met from A&M who both seem nice, but we really haven't gotten a chance to hang out with them. One is named Chris, and he even lived on Spring Loop right down the street from us this past semester! The other I haven't technically met but is and old football player from A&M (i'll get you his name ASAP, daddy so you can look up his stats). He is married and his wife and baby are with him, but I haven't actually spoken to her.
Our two new friends that we hang out with a lot are Greg from California and Kyle from Chicago. Greg is married, but his wife isn't coming because she is on disability with some weird back muscle problem. They've only been married since August too. Kyle is engaged and he's getting married between semesters in August and then his wife will come up to the island to live. Her name is Andrea and he said that he thinks we would get along well. We have one neighbor moved in so far (The semester doesn't start until the 8th so returning students aren't back yet). Her name is Lauren from New York. She's very nice and easy to talk to so that will be nice.
We haven't started unpacking at all as of yet, for some reason we're both having a hard time adjusting to the time change. I'm glad things start at 10:00 because that still feel like 8:00 for us.
So far we have only eaten one Dominican prepared meal. It was on a tour of the island and the only snack bar was serving meals instead of snacks. Sadly for Justin, they ran out of chicken before we got a chance to order so we only got beans and rice. It was pretty good and didn't make us sick, either. Other than that our eating experience is not what I expected at all. The market is on Saturdays, but we had to go on the housing tour on Saturday and missed it. That means no fresh meat,fruit, veggies until Tuesday. And then EVERYTHING is closed on Sunday so by the time we found that out on Saturday night, we ran to the "grocery" which is really just a dry goods store and bought frosted flakes, milk, ramen noodles, 3 cans of black beans, vienna sausages, peanutbutter, and crakers. We drank the local Kubuli beer on the way back to our apartment to relieve the stress! Then we realized that we had plates and utensils but no pots or pans. Being the good boy scout he is, Justin heated a can of beans on the gas stove and we roasted vienna sausages on the open flame. Accompanied with peanutbutter crackers is was a very satisfying feast! There is a pizza place that is pretty good and two chinese restaurants. The best we can figure is that some student complained to his parents about the lack of good ethnic food and being the entreprenuers they are, moved to the island to provide hungry med school students with satisfyingly delicious fried rice and general tso's chicken. I won't complain. Everything was closed again on monday to celebrate the new year and then today is Merchants day (so much for going to the market of Tuesday). hopefully tomorrow we can find some pots and pans, and a few other necessities at the Best Buy (the local general store).
The first semester students are having a "Bar-B-Q" tonight in a few minutes. I was talking to Lauren from New York about how my initial thoughts were of brisket and ribs (she had no idea what a brisket is) but upon further thought, it will probably be hamburgers and hotdogs. There are a few other differences in culture we've noticed between Texans and everyone else. On new years we mentioned not being able to eat black eyed peas and Kyle from Chicago and Greg from California looked at us like we were nuts. There are so many other things to tell you, but we've got to go (some type of meat cooked on an open flame is awaiting us).
Thanks for reading this much. To rest your eyes, I suggest looking out into the distance and enjoying the view of the sun setting on the carribean sea.
Oh wait... that's just my view. Well you can enjoy the picture of it at least!Ashley
1 comment:
This sounds like an amazing adventure...and minus the lack of Wal-Mart and Taco Bells...I'm slightly jealous!!!
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