"Cheers to the breezes...and the treeses"

Yay for finally being caught up, about time right? Well we finally finished up all the work in the field, it has been a painful and yet very incredible past five weeks of work-I don't know if I ever really explained what we were doing out in the field and I'm too lazy to read through my novels so here it goes: I know I explained the fact we had two 5X5 meter sites, one of them for midden deposits (we look at the material in each of the 25 squares created in one of the 5X5m sites) and the other for special features such as hearths, burials, postholes (where the wooden poles would have stood in a building/housing structure), etc. By the end, we had found a few postholes in the one site, indicating there had been a circular house there years ago. In the other site, we dug 10 cm down, excavating items like pottery pieces, shells, nerrites (ie, shell of the Devil), fish bones, animal bones, even human bones (I think in all we found two burials-pretty cool, although we've been told most people would freak out to find human remains..archaeologists are a different breed!), beads, spacers, adzes (tools), etc. We left squares 7, 9, 17, and 19 to be processed through a wet screen-this system involved dumping buckets onto 1/4 in. and 1/16 in. screens that were poured down with water to find the smaller stuff throughout the layers. These squares were known as sample squares. After this process, we would excavate another 10 cm. and repeat the process until we hit a sterile layer. We got down 40 cm. before we hit a layer with barely anything in it and collected quite a bit of material! Just to give you an image, as we were processing finds into the computer yesterday, we came up with about 350lbs of pottery pieces found in our 5X5m site-that should be fun to send home!

So today is our last day on the island, it's definitely amazing how quickly things come to an end. I'm still very torn between wanting to stay here forever and excitement that in just over 24 hrs. I'll be back home! I did not expect to look forward to going home as much as I have, but I think that by this point our group is on edge from having been around each other for so long-there have been no tiffs or arguments but everyone is definitely emotionally and physically exhausted-I blame it on the heat! I think the thing that set me off in my wanting to come back home was the manager of Hurricane Cove Bungalows...I could go on for hours about this woman, trust me. Long story short, she has called Fitzpatrick at multiple times at 5am complaining about us...usually if our group had been a disaster case I would be very understanding and I did give her the benefit of the doubt for the longest time, but this past week she has gone a bit too far-we were suppose to be able to stay here until the weekend but she suddenly, and without any particular reason, decided we had to leave by the 4th. Therefore, I'll be heading home tomorrow instead of Saturday-I can honestly say I can't complain though.

Other than that, last week was as usual a wonderful week-Fitzpatrick had a slide show set up for us during class on Wednesday so we were able to see a bunch of pictures he and the other directors had taken-it was weird to see five weeks of work summed up in a 30 min. video! Thursday night Rachel, Kirsten, and I stopped by Sunshine's to get the much talked about Killer Bee...it's a wonderful rum punch, with a sting ;) waka waka-I got a great fish dinner and hung out with the girls and talked with a few locals for a bit. Afterwards we ran into some of our med-student friends and they gave us a ride to Rumours for karaoke night...apparently Mr. Vegas, a popular singer from Jamaica was there and I didn't get to see him! I probably heard him though, I was going to try to be an annoying fan and steal a picture with him but I got too tiered and went home early with a few people. By the way, I love the open container policy here-Rachel, Kirsten and I took a KillerBee to go, went back to Oualie and got Kirsten's bottle of rum and took shots in the back of the car...if only we could get away with that in the States! It would make car rides so much more fun....!


Friday night was more of the same, we started off by Oualie as usual and a couple of our guy friends had created superlatives for us! I was awarded "Bubbly McBubble Pants"..I thought it was really cute. More Culturama fun times after that, and the rest of the weekend was spent soaking up the sun and studying for the exam on Monday. Saturday night was a complete bust, I decided to say in and get some extra studying to do so I could relax part of the day on Sunday but I ended up getting so hot I sat down on the tile and passed our for a bit...and then decided it was my bed time and that I wasn't getting anything done that night. So much for a crazy last weekend! All in all I think the exam went pretty well, there were a few questions I felt as though I should have known but I think I may have done alright! Let's hope so at least, I need at least a high C or a B to complete my minor in Anthro!

It felt amazing finishing the exam, we had to put in another hour of work throughout the day to finish processing the finds but the rest of the day was spent by the beach and enjoying the last two days of freedom! It definitely felt much better to have all of the studying, readings, work, lab, etc. out of the day and have a couple of days to enjoy the beach (and work on this awesome farmers tan) before heading home. Last night the group decided to go to Sunshine's for dinner (I was finally going to get my lobster dinner!) because we had heard a band was playing there...what we didn't know was the Culturama festival down town had decided to go to the area around Sunshine's, Chevy's and Lime, so by the time we got there, there were hundreds of people dancing around to the music, food and drinks everywhere, it was unexpected and crazy fun! Although last night was the first night I've experienced true tourist racism on the island since I've been here...one girl got her camera stolen and then was told she could get it back for $100EC, another guy was turned down to get food when he had been waiting in line for 20 min, and the people at the bar didn't appear overly concerned to get meals out to people unless they were obvious locals (I got my meal maybe two hours later? It was worth the wait though, delicious wings!). It was kind of disappointing but I'm glad I experienced that at the end of the trip rather than the beginning.

Well, after a long day of enjoying the beach, hanging out with everyone before we leave, and drinking to celebrate our last night here, I can honestly say I'm alot more upset about leaving than I thought I would be. Last I checked with my emotions, I was extremely excited to get home but this last night has been an emotional rollarcoaster! Unexpected but well deserved-we had a great night at Oualie's hanging out with our local friends before we head on, it was great to say goodbye to everyone but it made me realize how wonderful this trip was and fortunate I have been to have met the people I met and experienced the things I experienced. Besides a few minor bumps, this trip, as every study abroad program will tell you, has been a life changing experience. Cheers to you Nevis!

"Real Talk. Not Cute." (Part 2)

Continuing on the saga...

I came home from the presentation and got ready to go to the Crane's house for dinner, they're an amazing family from Scotland I met while hanging out at Oualie-they have a younger boy named Colin and a gorgeous girl our age named Lauren. They invited a couple of people we've met at the bar including this baller chick named Siri; she's from Norway and just randomly decided to pack up and head down to the Caribbean for a couple of weeks-last time I talked to her she was heading to St. Martin and thought about staying another week touring another island. One day I hope I have enough courage to jump on a plane and adventure about on my own..although I still think I'd have more fun with a smaller group! In all it ended up being, of course, my partner in crime Kevin, Colis, Moy, Andy, his date (I didn't catch her name but she was visiting for the weekend from Dominica), Colis' friend John, Zac, and I (I think a few others stopped by as well throughout the night). Colis cooked up some delicious chicken, fish, hamburgers, beans and rice with coconut milk, and a salad...it was probably one of the top meals I've had on the island, I don't think the family understood how grateful Kevin and I were to get away from our college budgets and enjoy a real home cooked meal!

Me being me, I was really excited to be in a household rich with different cultural backgrounds-we had Scotland, US, Norway, Nevis, St. Lucia, and Dominica within one room. Unfortunately, we had a couple drinks and after being in the sun all day I got exhausted by midnight and took a power nap in the chair for a bit...I felt really bad for eating, drinking, and then sleeping in their chair but apparently I wasn't the only one...Zac did the same thing too. haha So much for the energetic youth right! I somehow pulled enough energy to go into town with Kevin, Siri, John, and Colis and we checked out the village where the late night partying goes on for Culturama...and I'm not lying when I say late night-more like into the early morning. I don't know how people do it but from what I hear, the music and dancing doesn't stop until sometime after 6am...!? Luckily we made it back a few hours before dawn for some well deserved sleep! Ps, talk about a small world, John grew up all around the US, most notably a few places in NC as well as Ft. Collins, Colorado for a while...I can't think of anyone else that has heard of it, much less lived there! I thought it was interesting at least. The group decided to go out to Lover's Beach on Sunday so a good majority of the day was spent sunbathing and studying-a fair compromise if you ask me! Lover's is a really nice beach just a hop skip and quick swim (or walk. I prefer to take the road...) away from Hurricane Cove-it has a nice stretch of black (from the volcano) and white sand and waves more like what we're use to in the States. Gorgeous area and very secluded!

By this point in the trip I was beginning to be torn between ready to go home and never wanting to leave. I've missed the States incredibly, it's funny how little things I didn't think would bother me turned into huge issues after a while. Mosquitoes became my primary enemy after a while-my legs are so scarred up by random half-asleep episodes of 'attack-the-itch', it's amazing how the mosquitoes in NC will barely compare to the swarms here. As I write this I can spot three or four of those buggers flying around my computer and I. I also started missing my car and the ability to be independent. I finally realized I was starting to get irritated because alot of my freedoms I'm just so accustomed to had been taken away-I couldn't go out to a store in the late evening if I needed something, the manager gave us strict rules about what time we should be in from where (keep in mind these were casually enforced the last two weeks of being here...) and where we could party (apparently we couldn't stay in the bungalows and drink because we were too loud but if we went out and came in late she would get upset too), and I haven't had any significant alone time unless I'm in the shower or sleeping.

Despite these factors, I love everything about this island. I like the fact you have to be outgoing and make friends to find your own fun and the culture is very intriguing. I can definitely see myself moving to the Caribbean for an extended length of time in the future-my ideal situation, as I've fantasized with a couple of my friends, is to find a mate back in the States and move to an island on a whim, perhaps someplace with a little more tourism and nightlife so that I could find a job..although I've already had three job offers while being here! If nothing after college happens I know where to go! haha Interestingly, living among a different culture for an extended time has made me appreciate my background more. In the past few years I've grown jealous of the cultures that have so many unique traditions where as I feel as though I have none to offer. Perhaps that has come from being a member of Fusion, and the fact people can bring different foods and dances and traditions and beliefs to the table and teach the rest of us something.

Living here has a) made me realize my own rich culture and b) made me realize I have the ability to appreciate other cultures based on my background. A) I really do have a culture-it's Christmas time and food and traditions with the family, it's alcohol and fireworks on the 4th of July and realizing every year we've yet to learn the two should never mix, it's Halloween and awkwardly dressing up and asking our neighbors for candy (it really is an awkward concept if you stop to think about it), it's football season, and hip-hop and Hollywood and all these things that I'm sure I would be fascinated by if I weren't an American myself. B) I have been overwhelmingly blessed to have grown up in the family I have where I've been encouraged to accept others despite looks, backgrounds, beliefs, orientation, etc. In recent years I feel like my fascination with different cultural groups is a defining factor that makes me, me and I have my family as well as my American background to thank for that-as I mentioned, if I weren't an American I'm sure I would be just as intrigued by our culture, but I'm glad I grew up in a place where our traditions are strong but not strong enough to override my ability to learn about others. For a while I felt as though I was embarrassed to say "I'm from the States" because well, some people just don't like us, let's face it. I also felt like there's a stigma that comes along with saying that and I was afraid they would automatically assume I'm a rich, white person from the States, looking for a safe, touristy way to spend my vacation. In fact, it's almost a treat to now say "hey, I'm from the States" and in fact, I would like to go somewhere only locals go...it's nice to surprise people and change their minds on how they tend to see a group.

Alright, enough rambling on now! Thank you all for reading my book, I'll be doing personal autographs on August 5th and 6th....;)

"Real Talk. Not Cute." (Part 1)

Mkay. So apparently I've had so much to say about this week I'm going to turn it into two different posts to break it up a bit =)

So the beginning of this next week, whatever week we're on, was awesome. Tropical depressions = awesome, because they get you out of lab work and push back the assignment you've been neglecting to work on because you haven't finished the readings needed to work on said assignment. So Monday we had the pleasure of experiencing tropical depression Bonnie, before she became all big and famous. Locals say that besides actual hurricanes, that was the worst storm they've seen in a while. We didn't lose power because we were running on a backup generator (much to my dismay, we had an assignment due Tuesday and I didn't want to be on the computer with a crazy storm around so I figured at least if the power went out I could have a legit excuse to not finish it...it got pushed back anyways though, lucky me!) but a good majority of the island lost all forms of technology...internet signals were down, the power was out, and we lost cell phone reception for a couple days after that night. It was actually interesting to be in a place where technology is so much more unstable than what we're use to-in the States our power goes out for a couple hours, maybe a day tops but here it was about a 48 hr period, longer for some, where people were lacking power. I don't know how to describe it but it was nice being in a place where technology wasn't so readily available after a bad storm.

Needless to say, we only went to the field Monday and Thursday that week, the rain continued Tuesday so we got out of field work for a couple days-it felt absolutely wonderful to get out of the sun and wear no sunscreen for a couple days, my pores have learned to hate me after 7 weeks of this...if I'm not wearing sunscreen I'm soaked in bug spray, I can't wait to get back and now have to worry about either one =) Although the excitement, there is always a consequence to pay for supposedly good things...we had lab days Tuesday and Wednesday, which equate to nerrite syndrome...I don't know if I've mentioned these devil shells before, but nerrites are the tiny shells that have little snails in them...well apparently they were a big source of food back in the days of the Amerindians and we have the lovely pleasure of cleaning them out-they're tedious suckers to clean out so having to do this for 8-9 hrs a day for two days in a row is excruciating-ie, nerrite syndrome. It's real.

Thursday night we had the chance to experience the first official night of Culturama, somehow fourteen of us managed to cram into a van with a woman and the four kids she was looking after-I felt bad for the family but they didn't seem to mind-the kids found it hilarious 14 drunk students were taking pictures and cutting up and apparently one kid thought my hair was pretty cool...he would try touching it and then the little kids would laugh, I told him that it felt really soft and smelled like coconut and encouraged him to play with it but he got really shy after that haha So this first night was pretty cool, it was like a huge block party with live music by the port. They had a kids talent show and a few bands playing, Green House was there I know, I'm not sure who else played. Apparently the real fun was suppose to begin at midnight but we got there pretty early and I got tiered out quickly (that's happened more often than I thought it would here...the sun sets so early and after a day of being in the sun I get tiered around 10pm now) so a few of us went back early and just hung out by the bungalows. It was still cool to be able to say I was there the first night of Culturama!

Friday was incredibly fun, the group took a ferry over to St. Kitts to explore the island for the day with our program directors. Alot of the tour consisted of driving around the island and stopping at different sites but even the drive was relaxing and definitely a nice change from field work/lab. First stop was by the "first place of Amerindian contact with the Europeans"-there was a giant rock with a couple of petroglyphs, one of a monkey and the other of a dog maybe? There was also a guy that had a monkey in a diaper so we all had a chance to hold the adorable little thing. Next we stopped by the Romney Manor which contained the Caribelle Batik factory, this place was my favorite stop of the day. So this batik is a style of art that involved taking a completely white canvas and dipping it in colors repeatedly until one completes the desired look. They dip the canvas in different single colors and add oil designs and repeat this process until the look is finished, I was told it takes an average of nine days to complete because they have to dip the canvas and let it dry, and then do it all over again. The end results are really unique and interesting, I'd like to find a piece for myself one day!

The next stop was another favorite of mine; we went to the Brimestone Hill Fort which is now a World Heritage Site on the island. It has been said it is one of the "finest works of military engineering carried out by the British in the West Indies." It was creating just before 1690 in efforts to protect the island against the French. The site was incredibly large and contained different rooms used for barracks, workshops, bastions, a dough shop, first aid, etc. I'm a nerd and actually enjoy visiting places like this and wondering what happened exactly where I was standing some couple hundred years ago. Afterwards we stopped by the "Black Rocks" on the East side of the island, these rocks were formed by a massive lava flow millions of years ago and look incredibly unique. We took some pictures of the great scenery and then went to the Belmont Estate rum factory...I think we all found a little slice of Heaven that afternoon. Rum bottles everywhere. Need I say more? The taste-tester explained to us the process of creating the right mixture, I never knew alcohol involved so much science! The rest of the day was spent in Port Zante where we relaxed and shopped for a couple hours before heading back to Nevis.

Friday night was spent enjoying the bar and Enrique's again, except it was more fun to go out in a smaller group and not worry about trying to make everyone in the large group happy. It's always hard traveling in large numbers, especially trying to go out at night when people have different preferences of when to go home and what they want to do, so me and a couple of my closest girlfriends ended up being the best way to travel. That is why we frequented Oualie's as much as we did throughout the trip-it was a place everyone could go to and people could leave as they pleased-if some wanted to continue the night a small group would go out and if not, they could go home and continue drinking in the bungalows or go to bed!

Anywhoo, Saturday was another awesome day touring around the island. Rachel, Alyson, and I decided to take a roomie's day out and discovered a few interesting bee-hives with the "Bee-man."...That's really what they call him on the island. His name is Quintin and he's some British guy that casually decided to live in Nevis and has been here for about 23 years now. His job is to take care of the bees on the island, in many ways including conservation and extermination...although the latter doesn't excite him quite as much but you gotta do what you gotta do I suppose. He showed us a solar beeswax melter at his house, a couple of boxes of hives (we got close enough where they were just swarming around us-I think I've gotten over my fear of bees to a small degree! As long as I don't sit on them anymore...although I have been informed you don't know if you're allergic to bees until you've been stung the second time so I tried to stay far enough away where I wouldn't find out), and an incredibly huge natural hive created in an abandoned house behind an incredibly rich couple's property.

After conquering my fear of yet one more bug (I can be in the same room as cockroaches now, yippee!) we drove over to the Jamaican Bakery for some hydration and croissants and then walked over to the Alexander Hamilton Museum for our archaeology presentation! First noteworthy comment, Alexander Hamilton was in fact born on the island, right around where the current museum stands...I didn't know that until this trip! Secondly, this presentation was a way for the island to stop by the museum and look at our finds and learn more about what we're doing on the site-honestly, looking at all of our finds in the cases and the information placed around it made me feel like the past couple weeks of hard work had a) paid off and b) was quite legit. I guess I never really felt like I was doing anything incredibly important because who would want a group of students excavating a site when only half of them are considering doing this as a real job in the future? Apparently it's alot more important than I thought and I was very glad to feel like I had made a contribution to preserving and interpreting the archaeological history of the island...Nevis hasn't had nearly the archaeological attention as many other islands have had in the past, so I do feel like our efforts have been extremely important.

"I can only say this because I'm your friend...but.."

Hooray for catching up! I'm trying to catch up before I leave, wish me luck, let's see where I left off...

Time has passed by so quick I can't even recall what week this is. Oh well, it was the week after my last post! The week went by as normal, I feel like my blog posts come from the weekends because the weekdays are pretty normal from day to day-we get up early, excavate for a while, come back for two hours and eat or go to the pool, go back to lab, then we go back to the bungalows, eat dinner, maybe read, hang out with people, go to bed and do it all the next day. Wednesdays are generally the most interesting days because we have class from 4-6/7ish and it's the only day we can shower during break and feel clean for the rest of the day-I'm going to come back a dirtcase after being here, I'm so use to sitting around in sweat and dirt all day, I feel like nothing will phase me in NC! Except the heat, it may be hotter there actually.

Anyways, classes are awesome, we get to go out to a restaurant and get a good meal as compared to the canned food we eat in the bungalows-food is ridiculously expensive here, I'll spend $20 EC which is about $8US on a single thing of juice, something I'd never do in the states...my jar of salsa was about $5US and my thing of peanut butter was close to that..therefore we've been chowing down on some beans and rice and pasta for the past 5 weeks! We started doing class at Rumours but we switched to Pinney's and started getting better food-Rumours had a fabulous fish sandwich and is a great place to go otherwise (especially on Karaoke night!) but we get better food at Pinney's so I was thankful for the change...I've been able to get fish, steamed veggies, rice, and a salad for the past couple of weeks...and did I mention we can drink during class? How many times can you say you've been able to buy alcohol and drink it during class? Not enough!


I think the reason why I enjoy the weekends so much is because I've been fortunate enough to make friends on the island that take us out to different places I wouldn't normally see if I were just to hang out in the group. This weekend was the first weekend I was able to experience more of what I came here to do-see the culture in a different way. Thursday night the group went out to karaoke night at Rumours, but most of the group went back pretty early so my partner in crime, Kevin, and I stayed back for a little bit and hung out with our new friends. It was an interesting clash of island/American songs being sang by all different people, and man could some people sing! Needless to say I didn't get up there...Friday night we started off dancing to the local band Green House at the bar on Oualie, it's usually a good starting place for us to meet up with people and see what else is going on that night. So our friend Colis decided a small group of us should head over to this club called Enrique, but the numbers increased and before I knew it we were taking two cars crammed full of people. Enrique's is really nice, it's just outside of town and plays a good mixture of music...they were playing more American rap/hip-hop when we first got there by by the time we had left they were playing a good selection of reggae. Then Saturday night Rachel and I decided to go into town with Colis and his friend Andy for a "battle of dj's"...that's how it was described to me at least. I think it was just a couple dj's playing their music but it was interesting nonetheless...it was really nice to take one of my girlfriends out and go into town with the locals-I absolutely love the group but I tend to enjoy doing things differently than the majority does-many nights are spent drinking in the bungalows or out by the pool and while it's fun, I can play circle of death and drink by a pool back in the states. After listening to the dj's for a bit we decided to go back to Andy's place and relaxed and talked and enjoyed some great wine and cheese. It was nice to talk to different people and hear background stories, I guess you could say I came on this trip more for the cultural aspects rather than the archaeology...although the classes will still help me achieve my minor =)

Besides the nasty weather we had been experiencing all weekend, Sunday was one of the best days we spent on the island. We got up rather early for a rainforest hike with the group, which turned out to be AWESOME despite how much we wanted to cancel the hike. We were able to learn alot about the food/spice sources in the rainforests around the island, the fruit was incredible! I think I had about 5-6 mangos on that trip alone...we also tried soursop, tamarind, fresh cinnamon leaves, a leaf that tastes like licorice (yea, it was a little weird having say here, put this leaf in your mouth..and then being happy you listened), and the best daggon coconut I've had in my entire life-I bought a coconut to crack open later on but the results weren't quite as good...aka I made a hole to drink the water our of and then couldn't crack it open so I just collected ants instead...where's the Hulk when you need him?

Rachel and I opted to spend the rest of the day touring the island and seeing a few interesting sites. Luckily, we had me a guy Zac, who goes to UNC Chapel Hill and was spending the week on vacation a few minutes away from us-small world eh! We were very thankful he had a car and we decided to spend the day finding random adventures. Our first stop was Cottle Church, perhaps my favorite stop of the day. It was built by a man named Thomas John Cottle in the early 1800's. According to the story, he owned slaves because of the British policy but fought to improve working conditions and even hired missionaries to improve their education and faith. He decided to build this church in which both black and whites could worship together-it was not meant as a place where slaves could meet and segregate themselves but rather a place they could be seen as equals among the white community. After spending a bit of time there we stopped by our dig site on Coconut Walk to show Zac what we had been up to-I was able to take some needed pictures of our excavation site and we even found a huge beehive and a "bat cave" in some old ruins near our site-I was glad we decided to adventure around or else I would have never though to look inside those buildings!

We then stopped by the Eden Brown Estate, which is supposedly haunted by a woman named Julia, who tragically lost her brother in a duel the night before her wedding. I found a random door and decided to take a look-it only led to a tiny couple meter by couple meter room, but Rachel and Zac thought it would be funny to throw rocks against the wall to scare me. Now Julia's going to haunt me because of them! Next stop was the Golden Rock, which is comprised of a trail, some ruins, and a gorgeous restaurant. It started pouring when we arrived so we opted to hang out and talk in the restaurant until the rain slowed-we then started checking out the hike until Rachel broke her sandal...poor thing! We did get a couple of mangos out of it though, I think that amounted up to 7-8 mangos in one day...We decided to check out Montpelier (spelling?) after, apparently this now-hotel area contains the oldest house in the Lesser Antilles-honestly, I wouldn't have known the difference unless I had been told, the house was pretty in it's Colonial style but I think it had been redone quite a few times. Last stop was the Jewish Cemetery located near Charlestown, it contained about 10 or so above ground tombs that were covered in different languages. After a good day of adventuring around the island, we stopped by Zac's to clean up and enjoy some homemade pizza! Pretty successful weekend if you ask me.

"How do you spell 'laps', as in laps in judgement?"

So I was just re-reading the last post about my first week in Nevis and how wonderful everything was, and now I'm winding down on time...how do the weeks pass by so quick!? I'm so sorry it's taken me a while to keep this ol'thang updated, it's incredible how little time I feel like I have in an average day. I was planning on emailing people daily, taking time to have at least one interesting adventure per day, accomplishing my readings on time, and still having enough free time to find other things to do...instead I still have a bit of reading to do, it's taken me three weeks to update this, and I've barely emailed anyone! At least I'll be home soon enough...scary!

So lets see. Let's rewind quite a bit shall we? I think I left off with the second weekend of being here...in any event, it was a wonderful weekend! After our first full week of excavating, what's a better way to celebrate our survival than a booze cruise? By some miracle, our professor was able to talk NC State into using our program funds to cover the cost of one of these cruises...needless to say it wasn't quite as interesting as the last cruise ;) (Differently disabled man and his small army of bikini clad women, I miss you guys!). The cruise was awesome, it took us out a ways from Oualie Beach and we got a really great sunset, unlike the last cloudy cruise we went on. We hung out with some of our new friends afterwards at the Oualie bar, and one of my friends graciously shared his crab with me...so I've at least had one really good local seafood meal! Unfortunately, seafood here can be dirt cheap as long as A) you know where to find it and B) you know how to cook it...two things I cannot do. Apparently lobster is about $6US here but it's that cooking thing I'm just a little rusty at...and by "rusty" I mean completely clueless =)

Saturday I went out with a small group into town in attempts to shop, but apparently a majority of shops are closed on the weekends. A bit ago I went back to get postcards and ended up talking to the lady at the counter about cultural differences, and how weekends are so different in the States compared to down here. Here, a majority of shops are opened Monday through Friday, and closed on the weekends so that chores can get done on Saturday and everyone can go to church and relax on Sundays. In the States as you all know, Saturday is our crazy shopping frenzy day, although our religious Sundays coincide. The nights are different around here too; I'm not exactly sure about the rest of the island but I know Oualie Bar is usually pretty poppin' throughout the week; they usually have different events going on like open mic night, local bands (Green House is a really good group around here, they put a little reggae spin on many songs we listen to back in the States such as U2) play, etc. Friday night is when Green House is usually there, and I think they close up early on Saturdays. Anyways, at this point in the trip I think we were a little on edge from being around people 24/7 so I decided to stay in for the night and take things easy. The problem with being in this location is that there is no way to get any peace and quiet alone time. We have work all day long, by the time we get a chance to go out it's dark and the bugs are terrible, and there's really no place around here to just sit alone. There is Breeze Beach but we don't really have enough time to get down the steep walk when it's light enough outside. It makes it especially hard when we're trying to study and everyone else wants to be social..there is nowhere to go close by to sit down and study outside of the bungalows except for the Oualie bar, and by this point I've gotten to meet so many people down there I'm bound to end up in hour long conversations with someone!

Sunday was the most exciting and 100% nerve wracking part of the weekend-and perhaps of the entire trip! We woke up early Sunday morning to climb the dun dun dun…Nevis Peak. This peak is the 3232ft. volcano that lies in the center of the island. There are literally no words to describe the trip, it was an excruciating 6 hrs. of climbing but amazingly worth it, I was just happy to see flat land afterwards! I remember talking to one of the guys staying in the wedding group at the bungalows a couple days before the hike and he was saying how challenging it was and that you had to use ropes for a majority of the trip…and here I was thinking he was just yanking our legs…nope. He was in fact 100% serious! A good third-half of the trip involved using arm muscles to climb up these ropes, trying to balance on roots and rocks along the way. It literally involved swinging one leg over a rock and having to pull ourselves up with the rope-a few guys in our group go hiking often and complained that now every other trail looks boring compared to this experience. Upon arriving back to the bungalows I was talking with Rachel and Alyson and we mentioned how at no point throughout the hike did we feel completely secure-even our breaks consisted of balancing on roots and rocks, hoping no one would fall backwards and bowl the rest of the group down! It was an incredibly challenging experience for me personally because I’m apparently terrified of un-secure heights, but I’m really glad I made it through-now I can officially say I pushed past my fears and completed one of the Caribbean’s most dangerous hikes!

So after the excruciating 6hr hike, we made it back in time just to watch the World Cup finals-VAMOS ESPANA!!!! A couple of our directors are Dutch so we were kind of made to go for the Netherlands, but common...Sarah Shepherd was in Spain studying abroad, and my babygirl needs to get to experience being in a country during a World Cup championship so of course I went for Espana! Plus it was fun opposing the majority (oh wait, do I sense a bit of my mother in me!?). So we went down to the Oualie bar and packed 20 of us around this tiny TV, it was an awesome memory to say the least-years from now I can say "I remember where I was during the 2010 World Cup finals...crowded around a TV in a bar on the beach in Nevis." Oh, did I mention we won? Cheers to you, Sarah Shep!

"It's the Boom-Boom Circle"

So right now I'm sitting in our little living room space, listening to "Wavin' Flag" by K'naan, enjoying the gorgeous view that is Oualie Beach, while drinking Donrika's Mango Drink...tough life right? Donrika's drinks are I'm assuming homemade juices brought to the local grocery store...I make it my habit of picking up a few mango drinks when I visit, it's the best juice here (besides passion fruit..a new favorite of mine as well). The bungalows are incredible, but Mom, Dad, you were right. I do miss AC on occasion...it's incredibly hot from about 9am to dinner time...at night it cools off significantly but we've grown accustomed to sitting around in our sweat and filth all day...everyone looks gross but it's okay because we're not alone =) We have a few visitors that enjoy our bungalow as well-there are two birds that visit us on occasion, they either flirt on our hanging light or try to build a nest on it...I have decided to name them Bob and Betty (don't ask, it's just fitting!). We also have a little cat that likes to roam around the bungalows, we archaeologists decided to name him "Chert"...how nerdy and wonderful all the same time! He's actually sitting with me now as I write this, it's a very friendly cat...of whom we're trying to igure out how to smuggle him through the airport on the way back...hee..

I could do without the monsterous cockroaches (as you will see in my pictures), beetles, spiders, and bees, but other than that this place is perfect. We have everything naturally wonderful around us-there is Oualie beach, a popular place to go during the day or for a little late night swim. It also has a bar and some really nice locals so it's a good place to grab a drink on the weekends. This morning one of the guys found a few stairs that took us down the steep side of our hill-area and down onto this rocky beach...by 11am this morning I had already come back from an awesome adventure! We walked along the rocks for a while and discovered our little unknown area, I think some of the people went swimming and snorkeling-I hear it's a good place to go swimming, so knowing my luck I'll check it out and see just as much as we did when we paid for a snorkeling tour!

Most other things you have to take a taxi or a bus to get to on the island-there is Charelstown, the capital of Nevis, where most of the shops, banks, icecream parlors, etc. are. Besides that this is a pretty chill island. Definitely not as much to do as St. Maarten or Puerto Rico but we make our own fun ;) I don't even know what to say about the group here...we've been here for about a week now? And already I love every single person here. I couldn't imagine having a better group-everyone is really outgoing and sociable, if anyone decides to go somewhere they go to all the bungalows and ask who wants to join. It's nice to have a close group of people to explore the island with, we've already had some hilariously entertaining moments together, I can't imagine what's in store for us. At the orientation meeting back at State, everyone appeared quiet and shy, so I think many of us were a little worried about this group, but there is a perfect blend of "work hard, play harder". This weekend has been one adventure after another-Friday night, let's just say there were large quantities of rum invovled. British accents, island accents, people dancing, hammock swinging, all the above...and so, so much more. Then last night we opted to go into the city for a little music festival; at the end of July/early August, Nevis (and maybe St. Kitts) has their own carnival event called "Culturama"...so every Saturday until carnival starts they have this crazy music/food fest on the streets of Charelstown. It was AWESOME-I tried this incredible dish called "goat water"..yea I was insanely hesitant to try it but it has been one of the best authentic meals I've had on the island-it tastes like a gravy, or KFC melted into liquid form. So there was about 15 of us that decided to enjoy the live music and we started our own dance party in the street-it was a sweaty/gross/fabulous good time. I'm pretty sure the locals thought of us as "those crazy white people" but we didn't care, we had our own fun! I'm so impressed with this group I'm speechless-everyone's personalities blend together so well and I'm so glad everyone's down to try whatever-food, music, dancing, adventures, etc.

...So I began writing this yesterday and then had to interrupt my writing process to go out to a wonderful 4th of July lunch/island tour with our professor and the gang! We went to a restaurant called Nisbet's, I've been there previously with Rachel, Lindsey, Kristen, and Johnathan so I knew exactly what I was getting...They have the best fish sandwhich topped with a fruit chutney and a side of this spicy coleslaw-amazing meal. We enjoyed the beach near the restaurant for a few minutes and then visited the Nisbet plantation in front of the restaurant. Afterwards we went over to this local pottery shop called Newcastle Pottery-it's a little shop where this family has carried on the tradition of handcrafting clay into some pretty incredible stuff. They gave us the tour and explained step by step how they accomplish their pieces; they had a variety of handmade things like animal figurines, bowls, candle holders (guess what I'm bringing home!), firepits (used to hold and cook pots, one of the older ways of cooking as she explained to us), etc. Afterwards, we stopped by Fort Charles and learned the history behind the area. They still had some cannons and ruins left out for us to roam around and enjoy. Later on we visited an area with a few natural hot springs, since the island is a volcano afterall-the water was VERY hot, I don't know how people bathe in that! After our wonderful day adventure we went back and swam at our Breezy Beach hide out and watched the sunset-the water was a little rough but the sunset behind St. Kitts was gorgeous! Last night, instead of being productive, I decided to go down to the bar with a couple people and celebrate 4th of July (since I couldn't be at the lake! sniff!)-no fireworks but I did have a great mango/rum smoothie if that counts? We met some guys from the area and some of their family members, we now have connections to what's going on during the weekends!

Oh yea...we're here to work aren't we? Darn! Today was the first full day we've experienced so far, and needless to say it was brutal. Okay I know, we're studying abroad in the Caribbean, boohoo, but it's hard work bending over and digging in the sun all day! Our schedule goes as follows: board the bus at 6:30am sharp, get to the site and begin by 7am, work until 12:30, get back to the bungalows around 1pm, two hour lunch/shower break until 3pm, at which point we go to the graduate students' house for lab, where we wash off our findings for the next three hours. I know we'll eventually get use to the schedule but for the meantime I know our backs are killing all of us! So we have two sites, one 5X5m site which is divided into twentyfive 1m squares, and another which is 5X5m divided into four quadrants. I personally enjoy working in the quadrants because we're specifically looking for features like burials, waste sites, postholes, etc.-it hurts the body more because there is more physical labor involved in shoveling away the layers but I feel like I'm accomplishing more...plus there are generally more interesting things to find! Today I found a grouping of seashells which may have been the waste after someone's meal...it's not like I'm finding some famous burial but I find it really interesting to think these shells could have been the result of a meal-only now we're reconstructing it years upon years later! The other site focuses more on finding smaller objects so far, although it's getting more interesting as we're progressively digging deeper. The rest of the time on site should be pretty interesting...grueling, but interesting!

So I'm done writing my book now, but just as a sidebar, I have officially updated my pictures but you have to click on the actual picture for it to take you to my gallery...if you click "view my gallery" it'll come up as an error, I don't understand technology so don't ask me why that is! I miss you all very much, I hope everyone's doing well back home and would love for you guys to email me!

St. Kitts & Nevis

By now I've lost track of the days. What day am I on? Let's say Sunday. Which makes this yesterday! Ah...island time. So we left for St. Kitts yesterday morning, a nice little hop skip and 20 min flight over from St. Maarten. We attempted to check into a hotel that never gave us a confirmation...did I mention this place looked closed? So our cab driver called the owner and he said he'd be down to pick us up in a few minutes, but by this point we had decided three strikes, you're out and checked ourselves into Frigate Bay a little bit down the street. The beach it was by was beautiful, just as soon as I've decided I've found the prettiest beach, another one blows me away. We enjoyed another delicious seafood dinner by the pier, apparently a hot spot for the locals to come out and swim. Afterwards we stopped by the Monkey Bar for a couple drinks, where I have found perhaps two of the best drinks over. A) Coconut rum and Ting...awkward combo but a delicious outcome. B) Chocolate pina colada..which was downed in a matter of minutes. It's a pina colada made with the local rum, Belmont Estes Gold Coconut Rum (you can actually taste the difference), rum cream, Hersey's syrup and a pinch of cinnamon. It's like a Mounds candy in liquid form...Heaven never tasted so good.

And all of these drinks, dinners, mishaps, adventures, etc. lead up to today, a day I never thought I'd actually get to! We spent the rest of the day on St. Kitts and enjoyed a quick little half day zipline tour of the greenery out by Old Road. We went on two different ziplines, and in all honesty I wish they went a little slower because we went over some really incredible (-ly high up) scenery, I wish I could have enjoyed it a bit more..however, I was more concerned with how close I was getting to the end...in the practice round I didn't stretch back far enough for the landing (at the end of the zipline your zipper-whatever-you-want-to-call-it pushes against the coils connected to the line so that you have something to stop you) which caused me to fly up and smack my head on the line (I guess that's why they make you wear helmets..?)-therefore, I was a little more concerned with landing properly than I was with my immediate surroundings-still an interesting time however!

After working up an appetite, we went out for a little "Indian Cuisine", which gave me one of the best channa masala dishes I've had in a while. I was a little hesitant to try Indian in a Caribbean island but it was just what I've been craving! Nom. We then hopped over to Nevis and after a little bit of a stressful afternoon, Rachel and I became acquainted with what is our new home for the next five weeks! Our group from State is staying in the Hurricane Cove Bungalows, they're INCREDIBLE. I had to emphasize the INCREDIBLE because I came in and jumped around like a giddy girl while Rachel laughed at me because it's just that amazing here. Our view is perhaps the best (for real this time)-we get to see the ~3,000 ft volcano that lies in the center of Nevis to our left, Oualie Beach lying in front, and the mountains/hills of St. Kitts (where the sun sets) to our right...welcome to the good life. Our bungalow is named "Coconut," one of my top obsessions so I was automatically won over. It is surrounded by trees and flowers, lizards, monkeys, and everything natural. Inside we have a little kitchen where I'm currently mastering the peanut butter and guava jelly sandwich...hello college budget, we missed you! We have a queen bed next to the kitchen, and then you walk down a stair or two where there lies a single bed and little sitting area, which is where you stare out the two large windows and ponder what you'd have to do to see this view everyday for the rest of your life.

It's indescribable, finally being here and whatnot. I want to know this island like the back of my hand before I leave-I want to know every local restaurant, every good market, where the best music is played, where to get the best deals, everything. Wish me luck!

Sint Maarten.Saint Martin

So I decided to break it up a bit for you guys, I have a tendency to write too much so this will give your eyes a break =) We continue our story Thursday morning, where a majority of our day took place in the airport of Antigua. We had a three and a half our layover and then a half hour delay, so we just relaxed, joked around, shopped, and talked about the future of our band. I have been traveling with Rachel, Lindsey, Lindsey's boyfriend Johnathan and her sister Kristen. Well before we left, Johnathan dislocated his shoulder, and at some point in Puerto Rico we decided we were a small army, thus we came up with the band name "The differently abled man and his small army of bikini clad women." We have a few songs in a making, including "Wiki Waka Waaaaa" and "If so then run because the alligators gonna getcha, NOM NOM NOM," accompanied by a harmony of irritatingly repetitive background music...I think we'll sell millions. Moving on, we finally made it to the best place in the world, Sint Maarten/Saint Martin! We stayed on the Dutch side of the island, conveniently close to the airport and many other activities (came in handy...we obviously didn't incorporate taxi fees into our budgets). That night we stopped by the Toppers restaurant at our hotel, Flamingo Beach Resort, which hey! gave us free samples of free rum! It's like everyone knows we're college tourists...if you take anything from these blogs, it's free rum. Nom nom nom. The view from our room was one of the prettiest views I've seen in a while...typical Caribbean palm tress, view of the bay/beach with the airport and mountains in the background...breathtaking. While Puerto Rico was rather rainy and less "Caribbean paradise" than we all imagined, we certainly found our tropical oasis here!

So the next day was perhaps the most unforgettable day of the trip...and perhaps for most of years. We decided to head out to Orient Beach on the French side, of which my parents have been bragging about for years now ;) As usual, they steered me right, as most of us can agree! Well. It was a topless beach. And impressively, all of us went topless...it was a very interesting experience actually. I'm use to doing bridal shows where I'm running around half naked and it doesn't concern me, but I could never imagine sitting in front of people completely exposing myself. However, this was a completely freeing experience; I was able to get up from the chair and walk the beaches and dive into the water without feeling awkward, it wasn't perverted and sexual but rather made me appreciate my body more (listen. if these people in their 60s and 70s can do it, why can't I?). Did some wonderful shopping at Adam et Eve, enjoyed the scenic tour of the taxi ride home, and then we got ready for our sunset cruise. The only information I will disclose about our sunset cruise is that there was a free/open bar and we never got them to play "I'm on a boat" for us. The rest is up to the imagination (which I guarantee will still not amount to what really happened...hahaha).

So after waking up at 7:30 the next morning and trading stories from the previous night, we decided to rest our weary souls and relax online/by the beach (fun fact, I saw my first waterspout? happened very quickly but was really interesting to see in real life!). We jumped aboard a boat later for some killer snorkeling by Creole Rock. After years and years of feeling like I'm about to suffocate in my snorkeling mask, I FINALLY got the hang of it! Actually, the joke was I was a fish by the end of the tour. Our skipper Junior took us to these rocks along the coast of Sint Martin (French side) where an interesting group of fish and coral called home. The coolest thing was being able to swim among a school of fish...you know how you watch videos where the entire school swims completely in sync, as if they were one? It happens, and it's amazing to hover over. We took the rest of the day to relax some more and then went to the infamous Cheri's for dinner...finally enjoyed some delicious seafood! I had mahi-mahi with shrimp in a lemon butter sauce, I think I took an extra 15 min to eat just because I didn't want to stop. The show was incredible, they had some showstopping talent there, but I think our favorite part was when the guy dressed up as a woman with enormous T'N'A, and attempted to serenade Johnathan...judging by our pictures, I think we saw a spark there...watch out Lindsey!

"Welcome to the Good Life..."

So that's been the song of the week for me, every time I turn a corner I sigh and think "Kanye, you had it right man. Welcome to the good life." I've only been down here a week (only. geez.) and already there are so many adventures to share I barely know where to begin. I guess Puerto Rico is a pretty good place! We arrived in San Juan, Puerto Rico last Monday, and does anyone know how hard it is driving a rental Suzuki through the curvy roads of El Yunque? It's a challenge my friend, and I'm going to warn everyone I'll be the best driver by the time I get home (let's not all laugh at once..). So we grabbed our rental car, ate dinner at a local place (mofongo=delish. it's mashed plantains with chicken-I also had some local? drink made of evaporated milk, 4 spoons of sugar, orange juice and a dash of cinnamon...interestingly tasty!), and then decided to get some shut eye for the next day.

So Tuesday we stopped by Ocean Park, a lovely little beach right down the road from us. We enjoyed our first bit of sunshine until a giant storm cloud (thanks to the tropical depression) drove us out...so then we decided to check out the national rain forest of Puerto Rico, El Yunque. Two things you should know about El Yunque: a) it's incredibly gorgeous and we took way too many pictures here, and b) it's a death threat to those driving with a certain someone who has never driven a Suzuki before. Those cars have no front corner viewing space, maybe I'm just spoiled in my car back home! Driving to El Yunque was an adventure in itself, we got lost a few times (we chose the adventure route on the Garmin) and some kids had to tell us about some dead ends in between their uncontrollable laughter...thank goodness they used hand signals because I didn't understand the Spanish as much as I was hoping I would...at least we gave a few locals a good laugh that day! On a positive note, I was able to read a good majority of written Spanish on the islands...I just didn't understand a word anyone told me. Anywhoo, after that we decided to check out a bioluminescent bay in the Fajardo area, HIGHLY recommended to anyone interested. That was one of the highlights of the trip; the tour guides took us through these canals via kayaks, which led us to this incredible bay...whenever you ran something through the water, everything around it would glow due to the dinoflagellets in the water...we learned about it in my plant bio class but it was even better in person. We would splash each other and it looked like tiny lightening bugs lighting up your shirt like a fairy or something. Awesome adventure, check out Kayaking Puerto Rico if anyone's interested. OH! fun tip to those of you who like a nice rum drink (COUGH COUGH)-if you buy any rums from Puerto Rico, part of the extra tax goes to help save the mangrove trees/bay area in Puerto Rico...aka, SAVE THE ENVIRONMENT, DRINK MORE RUM!

So the saga continues Wednesday morning, with US winning our group and free shots a la Casa de Don Q! Better way to start the morning? Can't think of one. So we hung around Old San Juan for most of the day, at one point experiencing one of Old San Juan's flash floods? I don't think they really call it that, but I'll upload pictures and you guys can see what I'm talking about...the road we were walking about was practically flooded..I was laughing when I stood in water ankle deep, until I found an area that was mid-thigh level. At one point I started dancing in the flooded water and a local snagged a picture of me...nice little switch around right? Usually I'm sneaking pictures of them...We checked out the old fort building but unfortunately got there too late for a tour, the outside was still impressively enormous. Later that evening we decided to be tourists and enjoyed a little "ladies drink free from 6-9pm" at Sr. Frogs-need I say more? Afterwards, we decided to head back down to Ocean Park for a little local festival..we were told it was a religious thing where everyone jumped backwards 17 times in the water to renew their spirits, but we think it was just an excuse to drink and dance in the water...no complaining here! I wish we could have stayed longer, it was so nice to see people living stress free-sure everyone had work the next day but for one night everyone forgot problems and just enjoyed the moment...at least that was my outsiders take!