TGIF!

Hooray for Friday!  Walking out of my 9-1 class today and knowing I had the next 68 hours to myself felt great.  It felt great even though I have no exciting plans for the weekend.  In fact, I have lots of work to do, but at least I can sleep in and hopefully find an hour or two to go for a quick snorkel if the sun decides to show its face (it has been overcast and rainy here pretty much all week).

No real updates other than then usual mundane activities of cooking dinner, getting supplies, and keeping the apartment in order.  I'm going to spend the weekend doing copious amounts of reading and perhaps even begin thinking about the two Globalization & Global Governance essays I have due on October 29th.  Despite the verbose style of many of the writers I have to read, I am excited to learn more about the cultural and political history of the Caribbean.  It's such a unique region.  It is both united and fragmented in so many ways - many different national languages and cultures, isolated by water, with limited resources and populations, as well as varying political status, all united by a common history of slavery, colonialism, and continued marginalization.  Thus Caribbean integration presents a truly vexing problem.  On the one hand it seems impossible.  How could so many differing countries, with the geographic, social, and economic problems they have, all unite into an EU-like organization?  Yet, there is a sense of a shared Caribbean community.  One of my Professors, who is from Grenada, considers herself a "Caribbean Citizen" and I'm sure there are many more like her in the region.  How does one emphasize the commonalities and minimize the differences?  That, to me, seems to be the task at hand and if the appropriate regional leadership materializes, I believe it is entirely possible.

Ok time for me to go and enjoy a bit of my Friday night.  Tomorrow I'm leaning towards posting about some intriguing cultural differences I've noticed so far, so check back if you're interested.

Big News

Today I made a big decision on behalf of my mental, physical, and social health: I've decided to reduce the number of courses I am taking this semester from six to four.  I came to this decision through a long deliberative process and I feel strongly that it is the correct move to make.

During orientation full-time students were told they should take all six courses being offered this semester so that they could be on track to finish the program in 12 months.  I initially followed this advice, despite being alarmed at the prospect of taking six courses, because I figured I should wait to see what the typical workload is per course.  Well, it turns out that each course has lots of reading and plenty of assignments - basically the equivalent of a 300-level social science course at Hamilton.  And on top of this is the arduous task of figuring out the UWI system.  Everything is done differently here from the way it is at Hamilton, so even the smallest of tasks - like getting the course readings from the library - can take several steps through the university bureaucracy.  Last, I have no idea what to expect in terms of teachers' expectations for papers and the style of final exams.  In sum, to be trying to figure out all these things for the first time while navigating an insanely tough course load sounds like a recipe for disaster.

When deciding if I could handle taking six of these types of courses in a 12 week period I first thought: why am I here?  I came up with two reasons: 1) to learn about regional integration in the Caribbean and around the world by completing this Masters program, and 2) to get to know Barbados and the Caribbean by exploring, meeting people, and enjoying my time here.  I came to the conclusion that taking six courses advances the first reason but severely harms the second, so much so that it would cease to exist for the first semester and be severely limited during the rest of the program.  Furthermore, it turns out that taking six courses this semester instead of four would only shorten my time in the program by at most four months, with the more likely time penalty being in the 2-3 month range.  So I was faced with two prospects.  On the one hand I could rush through the program, destroying my mental, physical, and social health in the process, while also likely coming to resent the program and the University and ultimately hating my time here.  Or on the other hand, I could spread out my course load over three semesters rather than two; in the process enjoying my time in Barbados by exploring and meeting interesting people, taking my time to do my practicum and two research papers (read: theses) correctly, and preserving my mental, physical, and social health all at the relatively small cost of a couple months of time and rent.  Also, I know that I will be able to read and absorb more information if I have fewer classes.  In other words, I will learn more by tackling less at one time.

I think the second choice is the correct one, as finishing in 12 months provides no great benefit over finishing in 14 or even 16 months.  I know that the extra time away from home will be hard, but by that time I will be able to travel without restrictions and in general should be able to host more visitors due to my more relaxed schedule.  Also, seeing as my current plan is to apply to PhD programs in the fall of next year, it does not make a big difference if I do that process from Barbados or from New York City.  I will still be back in time to go to interviews and tour schools if I take 16 months to finish this program.

So in sum, I have decided I want to enjoy my time here and learn as much as possible rather than finish as quickly as possible at the expense of my broader experience here.  This is the first, and odds are last, time I will get to live outside of the United States for a significant period of time.  I believe I owe it to myself to get the most from this experience and taking four courses this semester is the best way to do so.  And on that note, I'm off to do some reading on West Indies history!

And on the Second Day, There Were Two Classes

Today was my second day of class at UWI.  I had the 9-1 Globalization and Global Governance class, which continues to pry into my mind and prune it of all sorts of preconceptions and prejudices, as well as a class from 5-8 on Caribbean Governance, which looks like it is going to be very interesting.  So yes, I am enjoying my classes so far.  However, given that I am taking six courses this semester, I am absolutely dreading the workload.  So far I only know the assignments in four of my classes and I already have five 12-14 page papers, three presentations, and three final exams.  I shudder to think how much higher those numbers will be once I find out the workload for my final two classes.

Right now it's 9:50 and I just finished cleaning up from dinner.  In about an hour I will have to hop into the shower so that I can be in bed by midnight and get close to seven hours of sleep.  Man this week is tough.  I can't wait for the weekend, but I know that only means getting to wake up and do lots of reading instead of going to class.  What a wonderful, relaxing, entertaining break that will be!  Perhaps I will make time for a quick snorkeling trip under the pretense of preserving mental integrity.  We shall see.

Intellectual highlights of today include the following: the stunning realization that globalization has not actually ushered in a new type of world-system but rather new ways of conducting business within the same world system; a fierce debate among my Globalization classmates and the professor about Barbados' economic plan of trying to emulate Singapore's service-driven economy as well as building up a global diaspora; and the growing realization that despite the Caribbean's diminutive size, it is such a unique, vibrant, perplexing, and promising region.  There exists throughout the Caribbean the simultaneous love for national sovereignty - driven by the different cultures and histories of each island - as well as a strong feeling of regional solidarity born out of the shared colonial and slave experiences.  Trying to understand it all and make sense of it from a historical and policy-making perspective makes for such an interesting intellectual endeavor.  I have this feeling of standing before a large puzzle that has an unknown number of pieces.  Assuming the puzzle even has a "solution," I hope that my time at UWI will help me figure out how to put the pieces together. 

Ok thats all I have time for tonight.  See you tomorrow!

First Day of Class

Today I had my first class at UWI: Globalization and Global Governance.  It is technically an International Trade Policy course, but Integration Studies students are required to take it.  It is taught by a very nice, passionate, and engaging professor named Don Marshall, who got his PhD at Newcastle University in the U.K.  We spent the first class listening to Dr. Marshall talk about different theories of capitalism and capitalist world systems, with frequent digressions for pointed critiques of everything ranging from cultural colonization to certain worldviews.  My favorite moment of the lecture was when Dr. Marshall used the example of how he "grew up stupid under the Union Jack" as a symbol of cultural colonization and the dominance of certain worldviews.  He recounted to the class how as a young boy he learned many songs, poems, and ditties that had been taught to Barbadians by the British (Jack & Jill run up the hill, Rub a dub dub, etc) during the colonial era.  These types of experiences comprised a large portion of his upbringing, which he now believes was unfortunate because none of his daily life was contained in those songs.  There was nothing about green monkeys, roaming chickens, or chattel houses.  Nothing about the historical injustices of slavery or the quasi-free experience of the post-slavery colonial era.  His mind was programmed to the British world view, which assigned no value to, and thus completely disregarded, the life in Barbados that he and all other Barbadians experienced.  His worldview had been glossed over by the witty epigrams and ditties of exported British culture.  Ultimately his point was that, due to the strength of some countries, many worldviews are shut out from global discussion and repressed in their native homes.  Thus, during the Cold War it was simply Western Capitalism vs. Soviet Socialism.  Lost in that epic struggle were countless worldviews from dominated, marginalized, or ignored states, which were forced to choose between the West and the USSR.  This is a tragedy because not only do countries frequently develop better when allowed to do so in their own unique way, but there is also typically a better outcome when a global issue is looked at from many different angles.  "Beware of the single story," said Dr. Marshall.

Unfortunately the day did not start out as great as Dr. Marshall's lecture turned out to be.  The online course schedule said that the class would be held in the new Post-Graduate Building, which is about halfway down the hill.  Yet when I got to the Post-Graduate building at 9 (class starts at 9:10) I was told there were no classes meeting there due to ongoing construction.  So, where to go?!  I took a gamble and followed the security guard's advice to check the CARICOM Research Building even though he thought I was looking for the International Trade Theory and Policy class.  Luckily the security guard was correct and I got to class just before it was scheduled to start.  Of course class didn't actually start until 9:30, but I didn't know the Professor was going to take his time this morning (to be accommodating for all the confusion over the unannounced move of class), so I had run up the hill in a hurry and consequently was covered in a nice sheen of sweat by the time I reached the CARICOM building.  What a great first impression to make on all my new classmates! 

This unpleasant start to my day was quickly compensated by the announcement by Dr. Marshall that the class would run from 9:10am-1pm every day for the next two weeks.  Now most of you are probably wondering why that would make me happy.  Four hours of class a day doesn't exactly sound invigorating.  But, it is the most amazing news EVER when you falsely believe that class is going to run from 9:10-4pm every day!  This is a huge relief for me because on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays I also have class from 5:10-8pm, so I was worried about eating, keeping my sanity, and getting my work done on days where I was basically in class from 9am-8pm.

So imagine my joy when I walked out of class today at 1pm and realized I didn't need to run around like a maniac trying to get my books from the bookstore and pick up some things at the store before everything closes at 5!  Instead, I was able to casually peruse the bookstore, seeing what kinds of texts the University's professors have selected for a wide-range of topics (many familiar, many more unfamiliar), and then head up to Holetown to get snorkeling equipment (!!!!) and some things I forgot on my grocery store trip on Sunday.

So overall the day was much more pleasant than I thought it was going to be and I am no longer dreading tomorrow because I know I will have a break between classes from 1-5pm.  My long-term outlook for the semester, in terms of major assignments, appears to be short on quantity and long on quality.  Globalization and Global Governance has two 3,500 word essays due in late October, and the other three classes that start this week each have an essay of roughly 3,000 words, a 30-40 minute presentation, and a final exam.  I do not know what the workload in my final two classes will be like, but I hope they are forgiving!  I'm pretty sure that once I get all my books and the reading starts piling up that my posts will become rarer and sparser.  And with that warning I'm off to go read some West Indies history!

I'll Have the Traveling and Waiting in the Heat With a Side of Paintball Please

Today I spent three hours traveling and two plus hours waiting to play 30 minutes of paintball.  This could happen only in the Caribbean!

The traveling was the worst part.  The buses are slow, crowded, and usually stuck behind some old crappy car that spews black clouds of diesel exhaust every time the driver shifts gears.  The waiting by comparison was at least relaxing.  I was able to try a new beverage called Shandy, which is basically Sprite mixed with a bit of beer to create an oddly sweet, super carbonated, and slightly alcoholic beverage (0.9% alcohol! WOOO!) So I was able to pass the time by sipping on an ice cold Shanty while talking politics with CJ (see photo of him showing off his battle wound), who is an intern at the U.S. Embassy but is unfortunately leaving on Monday to go home and start his senior year at Williams College.

The paintballing was held at the main base of the Barbados Defense Forces, which is located just below the airport.  We played three matches on a course comprised of an old, abandoned military bunker, some rusting artillery pieces, and lots of knee high grasses with painful nettles.  We played two games where one team had to defend the bunker while the other attacked, and one game where both teams tried to capture a flag and bring it to a central location.  My team lost every time (not my fault, I swear!) but it was still fun.

So most of my day was taken up by the leisurely pace of island life.  I was a bit annoyed at having woken up at 8am only to waste so much time traveling and waiting.  I wouldn't complain about the pace of things here if I knew that it was going to extend to my academics.  But I know that I will never hear a professor of mine say "Oh yes there is a paper due technically on Friday, but in reality you guys can hand it in whenever you want! Now go outside and have some fun at the beach - class is canceled for the day!"  Instead, classes are going to be long and difficult.  I'm just thankful that I can walk to and from the university.  If I had to take a bus I think my head would eventually explode.

Tomorrow is my last day of freedom, so I am going to spend it like any normal 22 year old would: going grocery shopping! YAY!  One of my two week marathon classes starts on Monday, so I know that I'll have no time to go shopping for about two weeks.  So tomorrow I am going to stock up on as much stuff as possible.  I'm also going to try to buy my own set of snorkeling gear so that I can go whenever I want.

That's all from today.  Now I must go play some mindless video game while I still can.  Before I know it, all my homework will keep me from rotting my brain to mush.  Bah.

Note: The last photo is how I felt at the end of the paintball session.  Crawling through thick, knee-high grass in 90 degree heat while wearing jeans and a sweatshirt = complete exhaustion.

Surprise! It's....A Formal?

I didn't really do all that much today, which I suppose I should relish given that school starts on Monday.  I simply went to campus to hand in my student visa paperwork and check out the bookstore.  I should hear back from the university about my student visa in two months or so.  The bookstore is undergoing some major renovations but the parts of it that are finished are quite nice.  Oddly enough, they sell some really old computer games there: original Starcraft, an old copy of Command & Conquer, etc.  You'd think that video games would be the last thing a University bookstore would sell, but everything's different here in the Caribbean!

The only other thing of significance I did today was to attend matriculation.  It was a lovely affair but to be honest I really wasn't paying attention that much.  Instead I was thinking about my undergraduate matriculation at Hamilton four years ago.  Damn that time went fast!  The other thing that was distracting to me was how formally dressed everyone was.  Almost every guy was in slacks and a dress shirt, some with tie others without, while the ladies were all in dresses and heels.  I on the other hand, was in shorts, a polo shirt (tucked with belt, thankfully), and flip flops; I was damn near close to being the least-dressed person there.  Tellingly enough, the only other severely under-dressed people there were also silly white folks like myself.  There was no dress code indicated on the invitation email sent out last week, so how were we supposed to know!  Also, at my orientation on Monday night, people came in all sorts of outfits so I figured why would it be any different for matriculation????  So, note to self: be prepared for random formal events - people like to dress up here despite the heat.

Tomorrow is shaping up to be much more intense.  Right now I have plans to go paintballing (yes in 90 degree heat!) with members of the Barbadian Defense Force and the U.S. Marines from the Embassy.  I'm trying to avoid thinking about just how badly I am going to get destroyed tomorrow, but I know that between the heat and playing against people whose jobs are to shoot guns at shit, its going to be brutal.  I will charge my camera tonight so that I can take some photos.

So thats all for today.  I know, not very interesting, but tomorrow is likely to be very funny at my expense, so check back in 24 hours!  Also, I added photos of my snorkeling trip to my post from yesterday so check em out.

Goodnight from Barbados!

Snorkeling at Mullin's Bay

Today was a rather simple day, thankfully.  I woke up early to meet a friend (name: Raquel) I had met on the hike up Chalky Mountain at Mulin's Bay Beach, which is just south of Speightstown.  We spent about two and a half hours swimming, laying in the sun (read: burning), and snorkeling.  This was the first time I have ever gone snorkeling in the ocean and it was amazing.  About 15 feet out into the water was a shallow rocky area where hundreds of fish live.  We saw many different kinds - blue, striped, yellow, etc - as well as large schools.  It was quite the experience and has made me determined to get my own snorkeling gear as well as a waterproof camera; there are many "better" places to snorkel in Barbados, including one location where the old British government purposely sunk a damaged WWII naval vessel in the late 1940s to create an artificial reef.

After snorkeling we went to grab a bite to eat at a local joint called Zuma's Pit Stop, which was recommended to us by one of the Jet Ski proprietors on the beach.  I had the roast chicken with macaroni pie (Bajan take on mac&cheese), rice&peas, and tossed salad, all for $15 Barbadian.  Add two Banks to that and the total tab was $20 bds, or $10 U.S.  It was quite a steal given the quality and quantity of food we were given, not to mention the local character (all sorts of people coming in to drink some rum at 1:30 in the afternoon on a Thursday) and imported character (an old British ex-pat who quote "spends most of his life in this here chair," indicating to a special chair right at the bar.

After that it was farewell to Raquel while I went to pick up a package at the post office, which is conveniently located across from a grocery store I frequent.  I was an idiot and forgot the charger to my Macbook Pro and the passport photos for my student visa application at home.  My Dad sent them in this package which got here yesterday.  All in all, a little over a week to send a package from NYC to Holetown, Barbados isn't too shabby.

That was the end of my day outdoors - I was too tired and dehydrated to do anything else.  I took some photos of my time at the beach today but am too lazy to upload them right now (I'm telling you the heat really kills productivity!).  I will add them to this post maybe later tonight or tomorrow after I get back from dropping off my student visa forms and picking up my books at the UWI bookstore.

Thats all for now - see you folks tomorrow!

UPDATE: As you can see I put up some photos from the beach.  And yes, that photo of me and Raquel was the best one we took...yikes!