Made it, safe and sound

Hey there!
So I left ya when I was hanging in Puerto Rico with a group of other stranded travelers.  I actually didn't find out the name of the guy I shared a bed with until the next morning.  Haha, so I've now slept with a total stranger.  How many of you can scratch that little gem off your bucket list?!  His name is Randy BTW.  Super nice guy.
Thursday morning we decided to check out and head for the airport just in case.  As far as we could tell online, and over the phone all flights to Dominica were canceled.  We figured we'd head over there just in case they decided to reinstate a flight.  Then we'd be at the airport and ready to go.  At the American Airlines counter we met Evelyn.  A lovely lady who worked for both American Airlines AND Ross University.  Talk about a great person to have in your corner!  They said AA might allow flights to start departing around 2:00 but they didn't know destinations yet.  Haha.  So we settled in to wait.  I wandered the airport and found some police novel to read.  It was pretty good.  Better than twiddling my thumbs.  Around 11 o'clock we went back over to the AA desk where Evelyn was hard at work.  No outgoing flights to Dominica today, but AA was creating an extra flight for Friday morning.  We also found out Ross would reimburse us for Hotels, taxis and $25/day in food.  That made everyone feel all better.  While at the ticket counter we met 3 more Ross students as well, so we all joined up together. Once we found out we'd get reimbursed we decided to go to a much nicer hotel.  Hello Embassy Suites!  It was pretty great!  Huge indoor courtyard where they served free drinks from 5-7.  Turns out only 1 out of the 5-6 other students I was with enjoys drinking.  Haha.  She had a good time, the rest of us enjoyed free appetizers.  We had the afternoon off so we decided to walk down to the beach and find lunch on the way.  Wendy's hit the spot - plus we figured we wouldn't see another one of those for a while.  The beach was ok - it was the same one I walked to from our first hotel.  They're not very strict about garbage being left on the beach so it's littered with bottle caps and whatnot.  Too bad.  The weather wasn't super nice because of the incoming storm - we managed to avoid getting rained on though.  For the rest of the afternoon we hit up Old Town San Juan.  Pictures are on my Verizon Phone which I left at my apartment today so I'll have to upload them later. Old Town was so pretty!  Kind of looked like little narrow European streets.  All the buildings are pastel with white trim and it's all built in and around the remnants of a HUGE military outpost.  First started by the Spanish about 500 years ago.  It was pretty cool.  Once inside they allowed us to wander all over and climb on anything we wanted.  It was fun, and boasted pretty good views of the rest of the city. We were enjoying ourselves so much we didn't notice the wall of rain that was fast approaching.  We got slightly drenched before we could find shelter.  Hahahaha!  It was more like a mist than a rain though, so it wasn't all that bad. Plus it was nice going back to our clean and spacious hotel rooms to get cleaned up.
Friday morning we checked out of the hotel by 8AM and headed to the airport.  There was already a HUGE line because so many flights had been canceled in the previous few days.  But Evelyn was there to save the day.  She stared a line just for Ross students and got us squared away pretty quick.  The line was mostly at the check in desk so Security was a breeze.  Usually it's the other way around!  Once we got to gate 16 it was anybodies guess what was going on.  Hahaha.  I sat next to a very nice mom and daughter combo from South Africa.  LOVE that accent.  Her husband is currently overseeing a road construction project so they were living the Ex-Pat life.  I'll just say Dominica wasn't her favorite place in the world - AND she was fed up with being stranded.  Hahaha.  All chaos broke loose when they announced the additional flight to Dominica.  Luckily Evelyn was there to direct traffic.  I'm telling ya! She was a regular old wonder woman!  She made sure all the students that were at the gate got on the plane.  The last 2 to board my plan were the South Africans.  They were SO happy.  :-)
I wondered if we'd be flying over any islands on the way there but it was just vast ocean until about 20 minutes before landing.  Apparently Dominica is made up of the large island and several smaller islands surrounding it.  Winds were such that we got to fly in over the island on approach.  You know that scene from Jurassic Park where they take the helicopter in?  My view was BETTER than that.  I kid you not!  I was severely tempted to break the rules and get my camera out.  I cannot believe how picturesque this place is.  It's so hilly too!  I'm pretty sure there's not a flat spot on the entire island.  Just hills folded on top of more hills that lead up to the now dormant volcanoes.
Customs was pretty much a joke.  I don't think the airport officials were aware that 2 flights were coming in.  They were slightly overwhelmed and it took a LONG time to get through.  I was one of the lucky ones who wasn't missing any luggage.  I'm SO grateful!  After so many flights being created and then canceled I was expecting the worst.  The school arranged for a truck to haul our luggage over and buses for all the people.  They warned us that the road would be really windy but I don't think any of us were prepared.  Seriously, there wasn't a straight stretch of road longer than 50 yards the whole way across the island!  I tried to snap some pictures, hopefully I got some good ones.  We passed a cove that was used in the filming of one of the Pirates movies.  Dominica's claim to fame right there!
Once at the school they took us all into a big hall where they had some really yummy food catered. Not sure what nationality it was, but it tasted good!  They gave all of us an insulated reusable grocery bag to use at the open air markets, but it was filled with all sorts of toys; water bottle, umbrella, flash light, Tupperware complete with Ross's logo (that one was kinda random to me), a USB drive and a binder to use for orientation.  We were told to wait there for our landlords to come pick us up, but I was sick of sitting around.  Banks are closed Sat and Sunday and were closing in 30 min so I made a run for it.  Luckily there was no line so I was able to open my bank account AND get my local cell phone all set up.  The phone I bought online works great!  I was worried it would give me grief, but no problems at all.  I'm so glad I avoided the long lines!  One of the branch members waited at the bank for 3 HOURS today.  YUCK!
Anyway, I got to my apartment building late Friday night where they put me in the unit right next to the one I rented.  They were giving my apt a new coat of paint.  I didn't mind one bit. I was pretty beat by then so I just went to bed.
Saturday morning I got up and wandered around campus.  It's..... interesting....  Let me just say that my tuition isn't going toward making the exterior of the campus buildings any prettier.  Hahaha.  I hear the insides of the buildings are state of the art though.  Haven't been inside any yet.  Also, I feel like there are 2 types of students here.  Those like me, normal people who probably didn't do so well in some of their pre-recs or maybe they struggled on the MCAT.  And then there are the weirdies.  For all I know they are super geniuses but MAN!  They extremely socially awkward.  Hahaha.  Should be fun!  I managed to meat up with the guys and girl I met in Puerto Rico while I was on campus.  We wandered around campus and explored the grocery store and the housewares stores.  STUFF HERE IS EXPENSIVE!  Talk about sticker shock!  Everything is at least TWICE as expensive as it is in the states.  I'm definitely going to have to redo my budget.  :-/  It's a tough pill to swallow, but I realize I have to eat so there's not much I can do about it.  Saturday afternoon I meet up with the Noorlanders, Stephen and Jenn.  They are the the only members of the church I had met (on Facebook) prior to heading over.  We went to the beach right off the south corner of campus. Black sand beaches are super pretty because its actually a swirly mix of black and regular sand.  The water is the perfect temperature and crystal clear.  I don't know why but there weren't any waves breaking when we were there.  It was really calm which was nice.... maybe it has something to do with the tide - which was coming in when we were there?  Saturday night I sucked it up and went to the grocery store.  A painful hundred dollars later I left with hardly anything.  4 sandwich buns, PB and Jam, tortillas, milk, eggs, butter and some cold cereal.  OUCH!  Anyone who is inclined to send me non-perishable foods is encouraged to do so. Hahaha!  I think I'll stop over in Miami for a few days on the way back from Christmas to do some grocery shopping.  After all, it's only 72$ to ship a barrel from Miami to Dominica.  And even if they tax super high, I'm pretty sure it'll still be cheaper than buying stuff here.
Sunday morning the branch chartered a shuttle to bring all of us newbies to church.  There are 6 or 7 guys all starting this semester with me.  I knew one of them from when I was a TA in the anatomy lab, so that was fun to reconnect.  Yes, I am the only single LDS guy out here. I'm sure its extremely difficult to bring a family out here, but I think they're all lucky they don't have to go home to an empty apartment at night.  Maybe I'll adopt one of the cuter stray dogs roaming around. There are TONS of them and they're all so friendly!  Haha.  We'll see.  Anyway, church was great.  There are a few local branch members but mostly everyone is a student.  There were about 35-40 people there but easily half of them we children.  It's nice to be at church with little kids again.  Student wards are just a little to quiet for me.  :-)  So the branch is pretty small! We'll all have callings for sure, and probably we'll all speak in Sacrament about once a month.  Should be fun!  I think we were missing some of the upper classmen and their families because school doesn't start for another week or so. But those who were there were super friendly.  2 of them will be re-taking 1st semester with us because they failed one or more of their classes.  YIKES!  I pray that won't be me come January.  They say the first block of material (maybe the first 3-4 weeks?) is the hardest because it's sort of disorganized.  If you make it through first block OK, you should do well for the rest of the semester.  So it looks like I have my work cut out for me.
After church we all walked from the branch building back to our homes.  Its about a 20 min walk, not bad at all.  Sunday afternoon I just lounged on my couch and finished reading the book I bought in Puerto Rico.  Probably won't be reading any more books for pleasure until Christmas break!
Well, today is Monday. I was able to move into my actual apartment this morning.  Haven't unpacked yet but I'm in.  It's nicer than he temporary one I was staying at - ceilings are higher too so it feels bigger.  It's got more windows which means more light AND breezes.  Bless that breeze! Without it I'd roast for sure.  This morning I officially "checked in".  It was easy for me because my financial aid was all squared away and all my info was up to date in the system.  There were those who were there for a LONG time.  In about 15 min I'm headed out on a tour of campus.  That should be helpful, and then this afternoon I think I'm going to head to the beach with some of our branch members.  This whole next week is orientation.  I sort of feel like it's going to be a whole bunch of hurry-up-and-wait.  Oh well.  I guess I should enjoy the down time before life gets CRAZY!  If you don't hear from me for a few weeks don't be alarmed.  It probably just means I'm studying REALLY REALLY HARD!