Beach Bash: Semester One

Every semester the University puts on a beach bash. I was super happy my mom was able to be here for the first one. They had water games, music, free dinner, local fruit juice, ice cream, and t-shirts.

Life of a med student...always studying.

Mad chaos to get a t-shirt before they were all gone. 

Mommy Week

I got to spend all of last week with my mom! She came at the perfect time too. My excitement of living in a new country and Island life had suddenly died a couple weeks ago and I needed a major pick me up. We had so much fun. She came in on Friday night so we didn't start our adventures until the next morning. Saturday morning we went to the market and bought some red snapper, sugar cane, and fruit. I wanted her to be able to experience what the market is like while she was here. Then we went to The Champs hotel for their Saturday brunch. The food was delicious plus we had a beautiful view of the ocean and Picard. Saturday afternoon we went on a boat ride on the Indian River. The boat driver told us a lot about the island and it was a very relaxing ride.
On Sunday Stephen and I had to give talks in church. It was perfect timing for my mom to come so she could listen to them. Plus she was able to help me write some of mine. It was pretty rainy on Sunday so we just stayed at home and took a short walk to the beach in the evening.
On Monday I didn't have to work so we went to the Syndicate Nature Trail. We had quite an adventure trying to find a driver to take us there. We almost ended up going to the capital by accident because of poor communication with our first driver (which is very common here). We finally found a good driver and had a really good time. He stopped to show us all of the different fruit trees and we were able to try a lot of interesting ones. The trail itself was about a mile long and very beautiful. That was one of the first times here on the Island I was really in the rain forest. I loved every minute of it. Monday evening the school was putting on the beach bash which is once a semester. We went mostly for the free dinner and free bags and t-shirts.
Tuesday morning I had to work so we didn't do a lot that day. I showed my mom around campus and made her some fresh bread and cinnamon rolls.
Wednesday and Thursday we were in Roseau. We did a lot those days. We had the same driver the whole week. His name is Serge. He is our driver for church every week. He is really a nice guy and took us all around the island on Wednesday and Thursday. We stayed at the Fort Young Hotel Wednesday night, did a little bit of shopping in the city, and then did some sight seeing at Scottshead and at the Botanical Gardens. Thursday we went and visited the Carib territory as well as Emerald Pool. Those were both very busy days.
On Friday I worked again in the morning and we were so tired from the week that we just spent the day at home relaxing. Saturday morning my mom left for the airport. It was such a great week and I can't wait to go home in April now!

The Indian River

 Parts of Pirates of the Caribbean was filmed on this River!

Cocoa Tree and Fruit!

Coffee Tree

This is our driver we had all week, Serge.

The trees were huge!

We just happened to see this spider because Serge was showing us

something about this particular tree and hit his hand right down on it!

Fort Young Hotel

We had lunch at Zam Zam cafe in Roseau.

Scottshead! The left side is the Caribbean Sea 

and the right side is the Atlantic Ocean.

Starting to get pretty hot and tired from our excursions. 

This bus was crushed by the Hurricane in the 70's that hit Dominica.

Probably one of my moms favorite parts of the trip. Buying baskets from the 

Calabogie Indians at the Reservation.

Fort Young and Screw's Spa

Last week was great because Stephen and I were able to spend quite a bit of time together. Monday we spent the day at Cabrits and then had a pizza/movie night. Wednesday Stephen had another exam so we were able to have date night after. It was our one year anniversary from getting engaged so we had to celebrate by doing something really fun. We cooked some red snapper I had bought at the market and had a romantic candlelight dinner and spent the evening at home just relaxing. Stephen had lectures on Thursday and Friday but because it was only two days worth we were able to have a third date on Friday night! There was already a group date planned and put together by the spouses organization so we decided to do that. It was probably our favorite thing we have done so far. We had such an amazing night.
One thing we have noticed living here is that even though it is a beautiful Caribbean island we don't really get to appreciate it unless we leave Picard (the small area that we live in). Campus is pretty clean and kept nice but outside of campus is pretty dirty. It is really smelly in a lot of areas and there is a lot of garbage thrown all over the place. We love where we live because it is out of the way of the not so pretty parts of Picard. It is really nice to once in a while get out of our small city and see the real beauty of the island.
Which brings me back to our date Friday night. It was in Roseau which is an hour away. We took a big bus and was able to watch the sunset over the ocean for most of the drive there. Even the drive home was beautiful with the moon shining over the ocean. Our first stop once we got to Roseau was dinner at the Fort Young Hotel. It is the nicest hotel in the capital. We ate in the bar/restaurant area because the hotel offered us their happy hour special on drinks. Buy one get one free. Stephen and I got delicious pina coladas and had a super yummy dinner. We were able to get to know a few more people as well which was really fun. I have really enjoyed getting to know people from all over the country and other parts of the world. After dinner we headed to Screw's Sulfur Spa. It is one of the most famous mineral hot water springs on the island. I have heard more about this place than any other place on the island as being a must see. It was beautiful and really relaxing. It was cool being there at night because of the cooler weather and very romantic. The only downer to the trip was wearing my favorite white swim suit. It is now my not so favorite orange swim suit.
One thing I also wanted to mention in this post is about the driving in Dominica. If you visit here you will never complain of bad drivers ever again. I feel like I am about to die at any moment when I am in a vehicle here. No I take that back, even when I am on my bike or walking I fear for my life sometimes. The driving here is more scary than in any other country I have been to. My heart beat is at max level any time I am in a transport or car here. What reminded me to mention this in a post was our driver on our way home from Roseau Friday night. I will just say that he got us home really fast. But I thought we were going to die for sure.

There are always rainbows in Dominica. 

I took this picture as we were leaving for date night.

Overlooking the Ocean at Fort Young.

 Screw's Spa

Because it was dark I stole a few pictures off the internet 

to see just how "orange" the water is. :)

Exam two done

We have been on this beautiful island for almost two months now but I have to admit it, I am starting to miss home a little bit. Back home the leaves are changing colors and the holidays are coming soon. It is just a beautiful time of year. I am sad that we won't be able to spend it with family. But as much as I do miss home and America I am so glad that I am here with Stephen. He is my family and I love him so much!
This last weekend was especially nice. I was able to watch General Conference. Although I wasn't able to watch all of it because of my internet cutting out I felt so uplifted from the talks that I did hear. Stephen wasn't able to watch much of conference because he had an exam the next day. We were able to watch the Sunday afternoon session together though which was nice. After conference we had lasagna and homemade garlic cheese bread. It was a great afternoon.
Stephen is now done with his second mini and he did awesome on it. I am so proud of him and how well he is doing in school. Because of his mini he had the rest of the day off so we headed back to Cabrits National Park. Instead of snorkeling there, this time we did some hiking. There are trails all over and an English garrison called Fort Shirley. We rode our bikes there and hiked around for a couple hours. On our way home we stopped for some ice cream in Portsmouth. For dinner we ordered pizza from Woody's and watched Marley and Me. It was a perfect afternoon and night.

Fort Shirley

Of course we couldn't agree on which toppings to get on the pizza

 so we ordered two! :)

 I'm pretty sure Stephen gets sick of all the pictures I take of us.

Oh well. That's true love I guess.