Medical school has started. There is an interesting dichotomy that we have come to realize on the island of Dominica. Everything around us happens excruciatingly slow. Meanwhile, school has taken off and left us behind. My favorite analogy thus far is that at Ross they will have you “put your lips to the fire hydrant and open the key”. Good luck taking it all in, huh? Anyhow, I will write more about what we are studying and how much we are studying and how little we are sleeping, or eating or whatever in a later post. For now, I have decided to add a post to clear my mind after a busy day and a couple of hours in the library studying.
I have appropriately labeled the post Murphy’s Law. For those of you who don’t know (myself included) Murphy’s Law is an adage (un “dicho” if you will) that simply states: “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.” Here are some of the occurrences over the past two weeks that have me full heartedly believing in Murphy’s law.
For those of you who know me, there are very few things I am religious about and refuse to give up. College football games and Diet Coke probably top the list. Well for the first two weeks on this island there was not one Diet Coke on this entire island. At subway there is a soda fountain with a wide range of “soda pop” beverages including Fanta, Coca Cola and Sprite; and while there is a lever for Diet Coke, it has been labeled “Out of order” since the day I got here (almost 2 weeks ago). I asked the cashier at Subway and she said that it is difficult to find Diet Coke on the island. That it is. That it is. Finally, I find one and Gabe (Melissa’s boyfriend) buys it for me and nearly has to file for bankruptcy as a result (7.50 EC). I won’t say where because if you live here you know that everyone knows everyone and we cannot afford to have one less grocery option (there are only like 3). Anyway since school has started we have been able to find them much cheaper (4 EC or $ 1.50 each). So all was good till Derrick drank my last one this afternoon. He promised to buy the next pack. [laughs]
The first night of orientation I was already a little saddened as my Dad had flown home and now it really hit that this was not just an adventurous vacation but instead my Dad would leave and we would be left behind. Ross scheduled our first part of Orientation at night and on the way home I fell in a drainage ditch (like 2 feet). Nothing happened as a result of the fall except that my toes were bent back and I swear I broke one of my toes. Apparently falling and breaking limbs is inevitable here. It doesn’t help that the streets have pot holes, rocks line the streets, sidewalks are paved 10 feet above the grassy median and that there is no light. By now my toe doesn’t hurt but it was tough walking for a few days.
To celebrate our week anniversary on the island we went to a restaurant called Tomato’s. Melissa has a menu and she says she will load it so that all you back home can see all the dishes they serve. From other blogs and by word of mouth, Tomato’s came highly recommended and so we tried it. Wow! The food was excellent. It rivals Chili’s and Applebee’s and all those restaurants back in the states. Thank goodness Gabe had already been to Tomato’s on his first trip to Dominica because we had first semester written all over us. We didn’t know exactly where to order, where the menu was, or where we would sit as the place was packed. In the end, we ate a great meal (though mine arrived to the table after Derrick and Melissa finished their dessert). The place is littered with pictures of Johnny Depp and the cast of the Pirates of the Caribbean as they apparently ate there while filming the films.
As most already know, the worst thing that has happened while I was here was that my barrels full of all my essentials arrived one week later than it was supposed to because “it did not clear customs in Miami.” Worst of all I did not receive a phone call notifying me of this. Instead, I flew out here with the essentials for a couple of days and had to wait another 8 days for my belongings to arrive. Fortunately, Melissa, Gabe and Derrick stepped up in a big way and spotted me till my barrels arrived just a couple days before school started.
My latest blunder was that I apparently locked the door to my bathroom without realizing it and walked out with the door locked. Well our apartment sits on what is a 5th and 6th floor and the roaring wind must have shut the door at night. So for the last 2 days I have locked myself away from the very items I waited another week to get. Once again I find myself needing Melissa to spot me a razor and a place to shower so that I am allowed into the annex for school. I spoke to the landlord the day it happened and he handed me a Ziploc of about a hundred keys. Of course, none worked. He said the locksmith will be in tomorrow as none of us have the skill to pick the lock (Gabe, Derrick and I tried). The hinges are inside the door and the old credit card trick doesn’t work.
Well I wrote a lot more than I expected and spent about 20 more minutes than I should have so I will get back to studying.
I have appropriately labeled the post Murphy’s Law. For those of you who don’t know (myself included) Murphy’s Law is an adage (un “dicho” if you will) that simply states: “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.” Here are some of the occurrences over the past two weeks that have me full heartedly believing in Murphy’s law.
For those of you who know me, there are very few things I am religious about and refuse to give up. College football games and Diet Coke probably top the list. Well for the first two weeks on this island there was not one Diet Coke on this entire island. At subway there is a soda fountain with a wide range of “soda pop” beverages including Fanta, Coca Cola and Sprite; and while there is a lever for Diet Coke, it has been labeled “Out of order” since the day I got here (almost 2 weeks ago). I asked the cashier at Subway and she said that it is difficult to find Diet Coke on the island. That it is. That it is. Finally, I find one and Gabe (Melissa’s boyfriend) buys it for me and nearly has to file for bankruptcy as a result (7.50 EC). I won’t say where because if you live here you know that everyone knows everyone and we cannot afford to have one less grocery option (there are only like 3). Anyway since school has started we have been able to find them much cheaper (4 EC or $ 1.50 each). So all was good till Derrick drank my last one this afternoon. He promised to buy the next pack. [laughs]
The first night of orientation I was already a little saddened as my Dad had flown home and now it really hit that this was not just an adventurous vacation but instead my Dad would leave and we would be left behind. Ross scheduled our first part of Orientation at night and on the way home I fell in a drainage ditch (like 2 feet). Nothing happened as a result of the fall except that my toes were bent back and I swear I broke one of my toes. Apparently falling and breaking limbs is inevitable here. It doesn’t help that the streets have pot holes, rocks line the streets, sidewalks are paved 10 feet above the grassy median and that there is no light. By now my toe doesn’t hurt but it was tough walking for a few days.
To celebrate our week anniversary on the island we went to a restaurant called Tomato’s. Melissa has a menu and she says she will load it so that all you back home can see all the dishes they serve. From other blogs and by word of mouth, Tomato’s came highly recommended and so we tried it. Wow! The food was excellent. It rivals Chili’s and Applebee’s and all those restaurants back in the states. Thank goodness Gabe had already been to Tomato’s on his first trip to Dominica because we had first semester written all over us. We didn’t know exactly where to order, where the menu was, or where we would sit as the place was packed. In the end, we ate a great meal (though mine arrived to the table after Derrick and Melissa finished their dessert). The place is littered with pictures of Johnny Depp and the cast of the Pirates of the Caribbean as they apparently ate there while filming the films.
As most already know, the worst thing that has happened while I was here was that my barrels full of all my essentials arrived one week later than it was supposed to because “it did not clear customs in Miami.” Worst of all I did not receive a phone call notifying me of this. Instead, I flew out here with the essentials for a couple of days and had to wait another 8 days for my belongings to arrive. Fortunately, Melissa, Gabe and Derrick stepped up in a big way and spotted me till my barrels arrived just a couple days before school started.
My latest blunder was that I apparently locked the door to my bathroom without realizing it and walked out with the door locked. Well our apartment sits on what is a 5th and 6th floor and the roaring wind must have shut the door at night. So for the last 2 days I have locked myself away from the very items I waited another week to get. Once again I find myself needing Melissa to spot me a razor and a place to shower so that I am allowed into the annex for school. I spoke to the landlord the day it happened and he handed me a Ziploc of about a hundred keys. Of course, none worked. He said the locksmith will be in tomorrow as none of us have the skill to pick the lock (Gabe, Derrick and I tried). The hinges are inside the door and the old credit card trick doesn’t work.
Well I wrote a lot more than I expected and spent about 20 more minutes than I should have so I will get back to studying.
Until next time,
Mike
Mike
F.Y.I: Some interesting topics to come are:
-Our first day of classes
-Our first study session at the annex and how we almost died on the way there and back (it’s a funny story, so please do not make any frantic calls to the campus police or U.S Embassy.)
-Our first study session at the annex and how we almost died on the way there and back (it’s a funny story, so please do not make any frantic calls to the campus police or U.S Embassy.)
1 comments:
I just found your blog. I'm a 2nd semester and haven't even finished reading all of it yet. I had a laugh though about the Diet Coke in Subway. I'm a huge DC fan and they've been out since the beginning of October...not sure if it's ever coming back! lol You slowly get used to Coke Light, which if you end up liking it, you can buy 24 packs at Hong Kong's for pretty cheap....just fyi.
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