End of the Semester!!

Yesterday I handed in my final essay for the semester.  I am now officially done with 8 out of the 9 classes I need for my degree.  Just one more class to go in June and I'm done with courses!

Before I start my last class I hope to get a bit of work done on my thesis.  My internship requires a separate thesis, so once that starts I will probably be spending most of my time on that assignment.  The more of my regular thesis I can get done now, the less I will have to do once my internship is over in early October.

Also, given that things are pretty quiet on my end at the moment, I think I am going to post about some of the stuff I have been learning from my studies here.  After all, the whole point of the Fulbright is cultural exchange, so it's my job to bring the Caribbean to you!  So expect some informative posts on Caribbean integration in the next couple of days. Hope you don't find them boring!

All Quiet in Barbados

Things have been quite since I took my exam a week ago.  Almost all my friends have either gone home or are on a trip to Geneva for their trade policy program.  So I'm pretty much alone.  To fill the time I've been working on my final paper for the semester (which is due June 3rd) and catching up on some missed movies.  Yesterday I watched the King's Speech and was blown away.  Spectacular acting and a great story, I can see why it won so many academy awards.  Next up: Patton.

In other news, I've secured an internship.  Starting sometime in July I will be working at the Regional Security System, which is the principal security organization for the states of the eastern Caribbean.  It is based in Barbados and responds to crises in its member states when requested.  In essence, it acts as a shared military capability for its 7 member states.  It is also one of the primary institutions the United States works with to combat drug trafficking and promote citizen security in the region.  You can learn more about the RSS here and Washington's security programs for the Caribbean here and here.  Overall I am very excited about this opportunity.  It was the internship I wanted.

That's pretty much all that's going on.  I'm trying to find a time to go home for a visit, but nothing can be done till I find out when I start my internship.

Hope you all are enjoying spring back home.  It's getting VERY hot and humid here.  As always, stay tuned.

52 Days to Freedom

In 52 days I will be done with classes at UWI.  On Wednesday I take the final for my AU/EU course; the research paper for my Regional Integration and Development course is due on June 3rd; and my final class runs from June 15th-30th.  BOOM!  DONE!

After that I have to complete a three month internship (hope to have good news on that front soon), write a 10,000+ word paper on my experience there, and write a thesis.  So, still lots of work to be done even after classes are over but at least I won't have any more final exams or class papers.  Just two large projects and a three month job.  If all goes according to plan I can be out of Barbados for good by October.

That's pretty much what's going on.  Social life has been quiet since Nora left but I'm sure it will pick up again once finals are over.  Stay tuned for updates on the internship hunt!

Nora Guestblogs Again

Hi everyone,

Stephen put me back on blogging duty.  We’ve been pretty busy since I got here on Tuesday and my gracious host wanted to keep everyone updated on our adventures, but he also wanted to take a nap.  That’s where I come in.

My first night here was pleasant and relatively uneventful, except that we got caught in some torrential rain on our way out to pick up dinner from a nearby BBQ place (excellent ribs and chicken).  Eventually we decided it was more important to get the food home warm than to get ourselves home dry, so we braved the storm and trudged back up the road.  Impressively, most cars actually slowed down to avoid splashing us, which is a courtesy I’ve never experienced.

The next day was perfect for the beach.   Pretty cloudy but not really rainy, so the beaches were not crowded and the heat wasn’t unbearable.  We splashed around in the sea for a while before getting delicious flying fish sandwiches for lunch. 

Thursday was spent basically doing nothing, with the exception of a nice walk around UWI’s main campus.  It was an interesting place, with some cool buildings and a big cricket field (oval?  Whatever they call it), but I prefer the frozen tundra of central New York.  That night, we wandered down a street in Holetown with a lot of nice-looking restaurants.  We ultimately settled on Indian.  That’s right: Stephen Okin went to an Indian restaurant.  And I hope you’re sitting down for this . . . he LOVED it.  Admittedly, I wasn’t much help describing the items on the menu so, other than my personal go-to favorites, we both had to make our best guess when ordering, but it turned out to be an excellent meal.  And a nice departure from the usual barbeque chicken and macaroni pie. 

Friday was dominated by errands.  We went grocery shopping and to the bank, and killed some time exploring Lime Grove, which is a brand new (mostly unfinished, actually) high-end shopping mall in Holetown.   It had very few stores up and running and a lot of it was under construction, but we agreed that the completed parts were the nicest shopping area either of us had ever seen.  There were beautiful seating areas and fountains, and a lot of it was covered but the whole complex is essentially outdoors.  I can only imagine how nice it would have been if they had actually completed it in December, as was the plan.  After our adventure in Holetown, we met up with one of Stephen’s friends and his girlfriend (who’s visiting from Canada) and went to Oistins for dinner.  It was a lot of fun and we had some really good, fresh fish and other typical Bajan fare from one of the many outdoor restaurants.  It was raining on and off, but I can definitely see how the area would turn into a huge party during the peak season.  There were plenty of people there (tourists and locals), a lot of music and some dancing, but I’m told it was really quiet for Friday night in Oistins.

We called it an early night on Friday because the next morning the 4 of us had to meet at 8 am to get picked up to go on a catamaran cruise.  The weather turned out to be perfect, and the cruise was fabulous.  Stephen had already been on one, so I’m sure he’s described it on this blog before, but let me summarize: 2 snorkeling stops (one to swim with sea turtles, the other to look at some sunken ships), a nice long sail up the coast, lunch, swimming in the sea, and sailing back to dock in Bridgetown.  Plus, an open bar throughout the whole excursion.  It was an amazing trip.  I had never been snorkeling before, so getting up close and personal with turtles and schools of bright tropical fish completely blew my mind.  The food they served was also really good, and the crew always made sure no one was without a drink in his hand.  It was so much fun I don’t even care that parts of me were fried to a crisp.

We were pretty exhausted by the time we got home yesterday, so last night was pretty quiet.  We just made dinner and relaxed.  Today we woke up to downpours and were happy we chose yesterday as our catamaran day.  After the rain had stopped for a while, we ventured out to Holetown to get smoothies and read at Lime Grove.  Unfortunately, everything was closed, so no smoothies for us.  We did hang out briefly in one of Lime Grove’s public seating areas, which was nice until we discovered we were being devoured by mosquitoes.  Oh well.  We tried. 

Thanks for sticking with this very long post. Stay tuned for more reports.

-Nora