Arriving in St. Kitts

Hello. So I read somewhere that a 'must do' while here on St. Kitts is keep a blog for family and friends. That makes enough sense. I am not patient enough to add pictures or anything right now, so it will be pretty boring to look at...just a lot of reading.

So as most of you know, Mom, Will, Hollywood, Jack, Kahlua and I left San Diego on August 22nd at 7:25 am. The flight to Dallas was boring and I think I slept the entire time. We were delayed in Dallas then told last minute to change terminals...that was tons of fun with the entourage of animals. We get to the gate and realized that we are not going to make our connecting flight in Puerto Rico...great. So we get to Puerto Rico to discover that the last flight to St. Kitts left for the night. Now it was up to the airline to find us a hotel...WITH the pets. They finally get the hotel set up and we were pleasantly surprised at the results. It is called the Normandie and it is in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico. We walked in to find a ton of unique artwork on the walls in the hallways, and a dog bed with bowls, food, and treats all ready for Hollywood. I was very happy. She was too. Jack was not. :)

We stayed the night then made it to St. Kitts around 3pm the next day (Thursday). Only 18 hours after we were originally scheduled to arrive. The vet check on the animals was really quick and the customs agent didn't even open our bags. That was a HUGE relief because we had a lot of items that were taxable. The Ross University welcome committee was waiting outside and I spotted Michele, the housing director that spent all of her time with me when I came to visit in May. It was very nice seeing a familiar face. I met two other students and they both seemed very nice.

We went shopping and spent over 750 on groceries...but that was in EC...Mom almost died when she saw the price until she realized the currency. So everything is in Eastern Caribbean Currency and that is about 2.7 EC per US dollar.

I finally got home and was able to unpack my things. My apartment is supposed to be for two people, but they are renting it to me as a one bedroom...just locked the second bedroom. They are letting mom use it while she is here so that is really nice. It is a nice yellow interior with a bright green trim...makes it all bright and happy inside :). The AC works great. The landlord is a very nice lady so I may just stay here the entire time I am in school down here.

Friday we went to campus to look at the cars for sale by the students. I found a lovely Mitsubishi Gallant Super Saloon! It is a 94/95 (not quite sure) and it has really pretty rust on some spots to go with the carefully placed dents on the body. You have to give her gas to start, but when she starts I get a free massage since it shakes a lot. Once she warms up she runs. But she came with AC and a CD player...plus the price was right. I don't get to drive her until Monday because we left the checkbook at the apartment and didn't get it back to school in time. I already got my Kittitian drivers license so I am good to go.

Today we were supposed to get picked up by Chris, my orientation leader to do some shopping, but he forgot. Haha. Oh well, at least he called us to tell us he forgot so we packed up some stuff and trekked to the Marriott. Mom got the bright idea to cut through the golf course so we had to make sure no one saw us...I guess they get pretty pissed. But when we did it that way, it didn't take long. I can see the ocean from my bedroom window beyond the golf course. :)

So tonight we are going to watch a movie. Mom just made us dinner and we are all relaxing. The animals are very happy here, I love my apartment, and I am excited to start school. Time for a movie. We are meeting up with more off campus first semester students tomorrow to go to the beach...I will update when I can. Miss you all!

Hayley :)