Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Pretty Sunsets

Here is a pretty sunset we saw recently while driving home on Bay Road. I like that you can see the colors reflected in the bay.
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And here are two other sunsets we took pictures of from our apartment. One is a little blurry, but still gives you an idea of how beautiful it was.
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We Got A New Car!

Check it out. Unlike our old car, this one has A/C, power windows, a working stereo and cd player, and most importantly.... working seat belts! Yeah for safety!




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Monday, September 25, 2006

Our Contact Information

If any of you would like to send us a letter or postcard sometime....feel free! We would love to get mail! We don't have an address here, so all mail goes to the school. And since it goes to Cory's school, Cory is the one it needs to be addressed to:

Cory Greenfield
Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine
P.O. Box 334
Basseterre, St. Kitts
West Indies

Sunday, September 24, 2006

Catamaran Trip To Nevis

When we arrived on the island, Cory had an entire week of orientation activities to do through his school. The week mostly consisted of setting up utilities, purchasing a car, picking up school books, stuff like that. But there were a few fun activities as well, like a picnic up at the Brimstone Hill Fortress, and a catamaran trip to the neighboring island of Nevis (pronounced Neevis). Since his class is so large, they had to split up the catamaran trip into a Friday and a Saturday group. Our orientation group, along with the majority of our friends all decided that we would go on Saturday. On Friday, it was gorgeous. Sunny, warm...a perfect day for the trip. Our roommate Brooke went on Friday, and came back telling us that the trip was amazing. There had been two boats total. They had sailed out along St. Kitts, stopped at a remote location to snorkle, and had an awesome lunch right on the beach on Nevis. We couldn't wait to go the next day...

Saturday morning, I wake up around 6am to the sound of thunder and pouring rain. Then about an hour later we got the call....the trip was cancelled. We were SO bummed. We wondered if it would get rescheduled, but rumors swirled among Cory's classmates that it would not. We were definitely jealous of the students that had the opportunity to go.

Then, just last week, we received word that it was rescheduled, for Saturday the 23rd. We were so excited!!



So yesterday, we finally got our chance to go on the catamaran trip....and we couldn't have asked for a nicer day. We met at the port in downtown Basseterre, and we were surprised at the number of people who had shown up....not even half of the people who had missed the original trip. So our entire group of about 30 people, including some faculty and staff, fit on one boat. It was nice having such a small group.

The name of our boat was the Irie Lime. Our captain explained the meaning of the name: "Irie means good times/everything is cool, and lime means to hang out/chill." Didn't sound like a bad name to us! The catamaran was a good size, apparently they can hold up to 100 people!
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Here is the view of downtown as we pull out of the harbor
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We could even see our apartment from the harbor
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The catamaran had two large nets at the bow, and we were told that each net could hold 8 people
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We took full advantage of those nets!
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Not only did we have a great spot for sunbathing, but we had one of the best views on the entire boat
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We sailed along St. Kitts for awhile, and stopped to snorkle at a gorgeous spot right before we got to the end of the island.
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This snorkle spot was only accessible by water, and the water was amazingly clear.
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We saw lots of tropical fish, and there were giant sea urchins everywhere! Two of the highlights of the snorkling were a giant purple moon jellyfish, and a group of Caribbean Reef Squid. I didn't take these pictures, just wanted you to be able to get an idea of what we saw....
This is kind of what the jellyfish looked like, it was pretty big, and more purple than the one in this picture:
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The Caribbean Reef Squid were also really cool. You could float right above them, and they wouldn't get scared away, they just kind of stared at you. Again, I didn't take this picture, but this is just what they looked like:
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After we finished snorkling, we continued heading towards Nevis
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We were expecting the boat to pull up to a dock or harbor somewhere, but we went right up to the beach
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Under this shady grove of trees, there was a great lunch waiting for us
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This was our view as we ate under the trees
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Our boat sat out in the Caribbean while we enjoyed Nevis
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We hiked along the shore for awhile, finding some really scenic spots
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(This picture below is one of my favorite pictures of the day)
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While we have the Marriott on St. Kitts, Nevis has The Four Seasons resort. It was a pretty amazing place, I think it has our Marriott beat.
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We met some cute little boys that lived nearby and were playing in the water. They wanted me to take a picture of them, and they got a kick out of seeing the picture right away when I showed them the digital image.
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We also walked the other way down the beach away from the resort, and Cory and I found a cute little spot with grass huts
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This beach was the most beautiful beach I have ever seen in person...I couldn't stop taking pictures!
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So that was our catamaran trip to Nevis. Pretty sweet, huh? We loved it.

Saturday, September 23, 2006

White Coat Ceremony

Here at Ross University, it is tradition to welcome all new students with their first white coat. Cory's class had their White Coat Ceremony about 2 weeks ago.
It took place in one of the large classrooms on campus, and the guest speaker was the dean from the University of Florida.
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Here is Cory receiving his coat (sorry the picture is blurry, I couldn't get very close)
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Lab partners Brad and Cory
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And finally, Cory and his friends posing for a picture with the dean of Ross
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Friday, September 22, 2006

Downtown Basseterre

Cory and I went into downtown today during a 3 hour break he had at school. I needed to apply to extend my visa so they wouldn't deport me for staying longer than I was allowed! Since we haven't spent much time in the downtown area other than running quick errands, we decided to explore a bit.

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The large building with the domed top is the old Treasury building. Long ago, when ships pulled into port at St. Kitts, the archway of the Treasury building was how all arriving visitors would enter Basseterre. It used to be on the waterfront, but major construction has extended the land behind it further out into the sea. Port Zante is what now occupies this new waterfront, and includes a deep sea port for cruise ships, a marina, parking, and many new shops. Instead of destroying the historic Treasury building, it has become the St. Kitts and Nevis National Museum.




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A few blocks away from the Treasury building is Independence Square, a large park in the middle of all the bustle of downtown. The park was actually built in 1790 for slave auctions and council meetings. Today, it has a much brighter purpose: It was renamed "Independence Square" to commemorate the independence of the island Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis from Great Britain.
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The fountain and cathedral in these pictures can be seen in most postcards and pictures of Independence Square. The square is also home to the courthouse, and most of Basseterre's historic buildings.




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Probably the most recognized and well known area of Basseterre is the Circus. The cenerpiece of the Circus is a roundabout with a giant green clock in the middle, modeled after the famous Piccadilly Circus in London, shown below:
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Ummmmmm, yeah....I don't know if I see much of a similarity, but whatever. I guess it's the thought that counts. The clock in the middle is pretty impressive, and quite large. The Circus is the main taxi hub, so a lot of the taxi drivers sit on the clock and holler at everyone walking by, asking if you need a ride.
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And finally, this picture is from our drive back home from downtown. We live quite close to downtown, so the drive home was only about 5 minutes. But if you take Bay Road, you get to drive right along the shore of Basseterre Bay. Very pretty with the sailboat sitting out in the water.
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Oh yeah, and one more thing about Basseterre. The city outbid every other country, even the United States, to host some key matches for the 2007 World Cricket Cup. The number one team in the world, Australia, is playing here! This is going to be HUUUUGE. Not only will there be an estimated 2 billion people watching worldwide, but there are way more people coming here to watch than there are hotel rooms to accomodate them! Seriously, DO NOT come visit us during this tournament....it is going to be crazy! (Oh yeah, the dates are March 13-26th).
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