Who are you? And, why did it take so long for you to write?

I should probably start off my first post on what was supposed to be a shared blog by apologizing to Melissa (the busy little bee) who has kept you all in the loop while I have sat back and selfishly taken in our new home.

Now that that’s done. Where should I begin? For those of you who have no idea who I am. My name is Michael, though lately I've been referred to as Melissa's cousin (on this blog) and Gabe's Friend (as he is the one making all the friends). I am a graduate of the University of Florida (Go Gators!). At some point between my graduation and Melissa’s graduation I decided I would join Melissa and her boyfriend and take the Ross University/Dominica adventure. The three of us had come across Ross University in our search of Foreign medical schools and then together we have made the venture.

As you can imagine the first blog is always a tough one to write. By now it may seem a little bit late to write in some details on what Melissa has already covered in depth. Further, I don’t feel it is my part to judge an island and school that has opened its doors and offered me an opportunity through the same schema we are used to back in the States. Nonetheless, I think I will begin by summarizing and/or supplementing Melissa’s experiences with my own perceptions.


Arriving in Dominica…revisited

Arriving in Dominica, I think is a fair place to start. As is stated in many different sources, arriving in Dominica is both strangely exciting and slightly unnerving. I thought to myself “I had heard that the island was “untouched”, “years behind other 3rd world countries” and by the same token “stunningly beautiful” but seeing it for yourself is very humbling. As soon as the plane began its descent I knew that this time we were really arriving and not just passing some neighboring island. My dad handed me his video camera and I did my best to capture the views in the small viewfinder of the camcorder. I quickly gave up. When the plane is decending toward the airport, you see mountains and trees flying by in the windows and depending on the day there may be turbulence. Luckily we had little turbulence, though Melissa would tell you otherwise. Once we landed we began taking pictures immediately and were politely told that pictures were restricted. I read Melissa thoroughly covered this section so I wont bore you with the details. Ill just say that we all made it through customs without any problems and no fines.


The ride from the airport to RUH…revisited

The ride from the airport is interesting to say the least. Some of the portions of the trip are unpaved or broken pavement. The roads are definitely wide enough for one car but not two. You see where I am going with this? Buses zoom pass one another without any apprehension. Instead they beep at one another to greet one another. When I asked the driver why they beeped he said that they would be considered a rude driver if they didn’t beep at one another in greeting. Well that’s odd I thought. The trip was the worst drive I have ever taken, but I haven’t exactly been a lot of places. Melissa and others described the trip as a roller coaster ride. I did not find it nearly as exhilarating. The scenery were at times beautiful and at other times very depressing. The little towns were as poor as video I’ve seen from Africa. I did not take Dramamine and would say I was fine.

Tip: The trip from the airport is a great chance to make initial friends. One thing you quickly realize here is that there is one common enemy: surviving this completely foreign island. The others in the bus are in shock as well (unless there not 1st semester students). On that first bus we were introduced to two students, one of which we are still really good friends (more on this later).

Arriving in Portsmouth or Picard… part deux

Fortunately the nicest part of the island is exactly the town in which the school is built. Ross stands in the valley. We are surrounded by mountains on every side, which makes for a beautiful panorama (Check out the pictures). The streets are littered with dogs, cats, sheep, goats, cows and bulls. For the most part they look pretty healthy. The locals do not really like dogs and so they look at us strangely when we use child-directed speech to the dogs.

Our place… the Coco Mango Suites

How is this for a plug. Our place is excellent. Our only complaints were:
1.) One of the rooms is much “shorter” than the others. By shorter I mean the roof is lower and anyone taller than 5’8” would hit their head once or twice if they walked around carelessly.
a. Fortunately, Derrick our resident caveman said he was completely fine with the room and decided to take it.
2.) When we arrived at night the apartment was a little dark for my taste, more so than Melissa’s or Derrick’s taste. I have always needed plenty of light especially in places I plan on studying in.
a. The next day our landlord arranged for an electrician to place outlets and lights “anyplace we needed them”. Our landlord has been nothing but understanding of our spoiled rotten selves from the states. He has willingly done anything we have asked.

I absolutely love my room it is much more spacious than I thought and is equipped with A/C and my own bathroom with bidet (not much use for me but Derrick has taken a liking to it) and everything. Below are some pictures of my room before I rearranged everything and had my stuff in its place (more on this later… including the pictures I just promised).

Like Melissa covered we ate dinner at a Chinese restaurant that was alright… I have never been into Chinese food.

I think I will jump back in real time the next time I write a post to break the monotony. I thought this entry was too important to skip especially for my family members and friends back in the States. Hope all is well back home with anyone and I apologize that I have not written or called with as much frequency as I should. We thank you for what you do for us every single day whether we mention it or not. On that note, where is my barrel full of Diet Coke? (Much more to come)…. Stay tuned!

Until next time,
Mike