To my people,
April 11th I went to the Asa Wright nature center with the UWI hiking club (pics on facebook). It was a great hike with some beautiful scenery. Later that night my mom and Charlie came to visit. They arrived on Saturday night and we went to this great bed and breakfast with this man named Matthew who was one of the nicest guys Ive met here since arriving. He knew one of the my friends from Canada and told me he runs tours which was nice to find out.
The next morning we went to Tobago and met one of the Brittany’s and her family at the airport. We checked into the hotel and went to a glass bottom boat tour/ snorkeling/ sandbars in the ocean. Later we went around and checked out one of the beaches called Store Bay and I introduced them to some Trini food (Roti). That night we went to Sunday School which is a like a big outdoor party type thing with no religious aspect even though it was Easter.
The next morning we went to Argyle waterfalls which is the nicest waterfall Ive ever been to. Later in the day we went to Pigeon point which is the other main beach in Tobago. We hung out there for a while and went out to dinner again at this nice called Pelican Reef restaurant except practically everything was out of stock and they had lost their liquor license. It was a typical Trini dinning experience for our families.
We returned to Trinidad on Tuesday morning and I introduced my family to many of the people that I know here from Milner. I then took them to drink fresh coconuts and eat doubles (another popular Trini food). I showed them campus and around the area I live and then they went to their hotel which is up on a mountain. I went to class and then met them for dinner which was amazing and we sat with the guesthouse owner who I know and is really really nice.
The next morning we went to Maracas bay with Evan, one of the guys from Wisconsin. It was as amazing as they had hoped it would be and they enjoyed the beautiful landscape and waves. That night my mom took me and Charlie out to dinner along with some of the girls (Alisha, the other Brittany, Stacy and Katie) out to dinner at this Italian restaurant. After that we went to Zen which is night club in Port of Spain that has free admission and drinks for all UWI students on Wednesday.
Friday I got some grades back finally and although they were a 71 and 73 the grading system is different here and those are both considered A’s. The teachers are much harder graders here which is why they do it and my teacher even said she gave a 95 on a paper which is the highest grade she has EVER given and the paper was well, well beyond her expectations.
Because of the Summit of the Americas that occurred in Trinidad this past weekend there has been a ton of military everywhere. Highways and shops have been closed and there are constantly helicopters flying overhead. As we drove around yesterday there were military on the road and on campus there were guys with huge guns just chillin', its kinda crazy as you wouldnt have that on the Eastern Campus or I-84 unless we were at war,
Yesterday we went to Narvia swamp which is a protected area of land about half way down the East coast of Trinidad. We woke up at 5 to get there and Matthew was our tour guide (he told me to say hello and got your email mom). We went into the swamp and parked the boat and went onto this island in the middle for a while. We saw tons of cool wildlife including millions of blue crabs, snakes, monkeys and porcupines and we might go back to see manatees. After the swamp we went to Manzanilla beach for a while which was really nice.
love and miss you all
-Pat
Monday, April 20, 2009
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Thursday, April 09, 2009
To my people,
Even though nothing very eventful has happened since my last post I am sticking true to my word of trying to write a new entry about every week.
First I was able to watch UConn’s disappointing Final Four performance. The championship game was equally disappointing but I still watched it b/c it’s the championship. On a more pleasant note the Red Sox season started and although they lost their first series to the Rays its still exciting that the season is underway and I was able to watch a game already.
Last Sunday I went with the two guys that are here from Wisconsin into some woods on campus. We were on a mission to find dried bamboo in order to make these instruments called tamboo bamboo. We brought a machete which was fun to use and got some huge chunks of bamboo and brought them outta the woods and banged em around for a while. It made me miss my didgeridoo but we hit the bamboo against the ground for a while making different sounds and stuff and it was real fun.
Ive been keep on going to class obviously and have been going to the pool which is outdoor and on campus. Im killing three birds with one stone as I am killing time, getting exercise and getting a nice tan so I’d say it’s a pretty constructive use of time.
Today I went to the mall for the first time since Ive been here in TT. It is similarly constructed to a mall in the US except the stores don’t really display the variety of clothing styles they do back in the US, its really just urban/ designer and athletic. At home there is skater, goth/ punk, prep, designer, urban, athletic, etc. It is also interesting to see how much more imported goods from the US cost for instance I have flip flops that retail for USD $46 at REI and EMS and I saw them for 500 TT here (USD $83). In addition, food items that imported from the US sold at grocery stores are much more expensive here than they are in the US which makes sense its just not something I really thought about before I came here or was prepared to see. I also got BK at the mall which was great cuz I have been missing greasy fast food hamburgers from places like McDonalds/ BK/ Wendy’s.
I am extremely excited for two days, Sat night, when my mom and Charlie are coming to visit for 4 days. We are going to Tobago for the first two days and then I will show them around Trinidad and where I live for the following two days. I am also extremely excited to get my hands on some of the goodies they are bringing- sunflower seeds, baseball glove, dvds and some other things I have been missing.
Love and miss you all
-Pat
Even though nothing very eventful has happened since my last post I am sticking true to my word of trying to write a new entry about every week.
First I was able to watch UConn’s disappointing Final Four performance. The championship game was equally disappointing but I still watched it b/c it’s the championship. On a more pleasant note the Red Sox season started and although they lost their first series to the Rays its still exciting that the season is underway and I was able to watch a game already.
Last Sunday I went with the two guys that are here from Wisconsin into some woods on campus. We were on a mission to find dried bamboo in order to make these instruments called tamboo bamboo. We brought a machete which was fun to use and got some huge chunks of bamboo and brought them outta the woods and banged em around for a while. It made me miss my didgeridoo but we hit the bamboo against the ground for a while making different sounds and stuff and it was real fun.
Ive been keep on going to class obviously and have been going to the pool which is outdoor and on campus. Im killing three birds with one stone as I am killing time, getting exercise and getting a nice tan so I’d say it’s a pretty constructive use of time.
Today I went to the mall for the first time since Ive been here in TT. It is similarly constructed to a mall in the US except the stores don’t really display the variety of clothing styles they do back in the US, its really just urban/ designer and athletic. At home there is skater, goth/ punk, prep, designer, urban, athletic, etc. It is also interesting to see how much more imported goods from the US cost for instance I have flip flops that retail for USD $46 at REI and EMS and I saw them for 500 TT here (USD $83). In addition, food items that imported from the US sold at grocery stores are much more expensive here than they are in the US which makes sense its just not something I really thought about before I came here or was prepared to see. I also got BK at the mall which was great cuz I have been missing greasy fast food hamburgers from places like McDonalds/ BK/ Wendy’s.
I am extremely excited for two days, Sat night, when my mom and Charlie are coming to visit for 4 days. We are going to Tobago for the first two days and then I will show them around Trinidad and where I live for the following two days. I am also extremely excited to get my hands on some of the goodies they are bringing- sunflower seeds, baseball glove, dvds and some other things I have been missing.
Love and miss you all
-Pat
Monday, March 30, 2009
March 30th, 2008
Monday, March 30, 2009
To my people,
My apologies for having been slacking on blog entries as of late. My first several weeks I tried to write every week because there was so much happening but post-Carnival it has really, really slowed down, I’ve gotten lazy, the initial hype of being here has kind of settled down, plus I didn’t think anyone was actually reading this…
The weekend after Carnival about 20 kids took the ferry to Tobago for the weekend. There are great pictures on Facebook and I was amazed to really witness how different Tobago was from Trinidad. Since there is so much tourism in Tobago everything is a bit more expensive but as a visitor to this country I felt much more welcome here because they cater much more to international visitors. The beaches were much better than Maracas and we went jek skiing among other things.
Since Tobago, I’ve written papers for both of my Sociology classes one on globalization and the other on healthcare policy in developing countries. I learned an incredible amount from writing both but they were both extremely difficult papers to write… I’ve yet to see grades for either one but have my fingers crossed. As you can probably expect it is extremely difficult to motivate myself while being here in the Caribbean and still attending classes. Students who earn their degrees from UWI generally spend 3 years here and graduate with roughly 90 credits. As you can imagine this results in a much more intense and compact workload in terms of coursework.
I went to a waterfall called Rampanalgas Falls, a waterfall/ natural pool with a rope swing and a nice cliff to jump off of. The trip was offered by the UWI hiking club of which I am official member. I climbed to the top and was told not to jump because the pool was too shallow but I did anyways (much to the dismay of the club president and the friends I went with). Needless to say I lived and didn’t sustain any injuries (check facebook for pictures)
On Sunday the 15th six of us exchange students got up early and attended a religious ceremony with the UWI Hindu Society. The festival is called Phagwa (pog-wa) and consists of a Hindu chant, and getting covered in paint/ colored powder called Abir. We went to 3 different sites to celebrate the celebration and at all three places there were tons of kids, adults and elderly covered in paint. Still almost two weeks later I am rubbing pink off my knees and ankles as the paint/ powder has died my skin. (check facebook for pictures)
Gradually peoples’ families have been coming to visit so it’s been cool meeting the families of my new friends. They all go to Tobago for a few days while the families visit which has been weird because it seems they leave such a void when they are gone. I have gotten so used to seeing all my friends everyday so when someone leaves for a few days you really notice the void they leave. This has made me realize how close I’ve become to these people in the past couple months and how hard it is going to be to leave them.
On a happier note, Charlie and Mom are going to be here in two weeks and I cannot wait after having seen everyone else’s parents/ siblings. We are planning to go to Tobago for the best time of year (Easter weekend) and a friend of mine’s family is coming at the same time and staying at the same hotel.
I am also excited for them to bring some baseballs and gloves as is Ramon and his Venezuelan friends because that is the sport in Venezuela, not cricket. The Trinidadians on the other hand know very little about baseball and don’t know who Jackie Robinson is! I have been really itching to play baseball, as of late probably since it has been so long since October and I’m gettin the baseball fever. The offseason always seems sooooo long! Luckily I was able to watch some of the World Baseball Classic as well as NCAA tourney (UCONN!) but Red Sox starts in a week or so but im gonna have trouble watching that every night… ECSU baseball is dominating as well.
love and miss you all
-Pat
To my people,
My apologies for having been slacking on blog entries as of late. My first several weeks I tried to write every week because there was so much happening but post-Carnival it has really, really slowed down, I’ve gotten lazy, the initial hype of being here has kind of settled down, plus I didn’t think anyone was actually reading this…
The weekend after Carnival about 20 kids took the ferry to Tobago for the weekend. There are great pictures on Facebook and I was amazed to really witness how different Tobago was from Trinidad. Since there is so much tourism in Tobago everything is a bit more expensive but as a visitor to this country I felt much more welcome here because they cater much more to international visitors. The beaches were much better than Maracas and we went jek skiing among other things.
Since Tobago, I’ve written papers for both of my Sociology classes one on globalization and the other on healthcare policy in developing countries. I learned an incredible amount from writing both but they were both extremely difficult papers to write… I’ve yet to see grades for either one but have my fingers crossed. As you can probably expect it is extremely difficult to motivate myself while being here in the Caribbean and still attending classes. Students who earn their degrees from UWI generally spend 3 years here and graduate with roughly 90 credits. As you can imagine this results in a much more intense and compact workload in terms of coursework.
I went to a waterfall called Rampanalgas Falls, a waterfall/ natural pool with a rope swing and a nice cliff to jump off of. The trip was offered by the UWI hiking club of which I am official member. I climbed to the top and was told not to jump because the pool was too shallow but I did anyways (much to the dismay of the club president and the friends I went with). Needless to say I lived and didn’t sustain any injuries (check facebook for pictures)
On Sunday the 15th six of us exchange students got up early and attended a religious ceremony with the UWI Hindu Society. The festival is called Phagwa (pog-wa) and consists of a Hindu chant, and getting covered in paint/ colored powder called Abir. We went to 3 different sites to celebrate the celebration and at all three places there were tons of kids, adults and elderly covered in paint. Still almost two weeks later I am rubbing pink off my knees and ankles as the paint/ powder has died my skin. (check facebook for pictures)
Gradually peoples’ families have been coming to visit so it’s been cool meeting the families of my new friends. They all go to Tobago for a few days while the families visit which has been weird because it seems they leave such a void when they are gone. I have gotten so used to seeing all my friends everyday so when someone leaves for a few days you really notice the void they leave. This has made me realize how close I’ve become to these people in the past couple months and how hard it is going to be to leave them.
On a happier note, Charlie and Mom are going to be here in two weeks and I cannot wait after having seen everyone else’s parents/ siblings. We are planning to go to Tobago for the best time of year (Easter weekend) and a friend of mine’s family is coming at the same time and staying at the same hotel.
I am also excited for them to bring some baseballs and gloves as is Ramon and his Venezuelan friends because that is the sport in Venezuela, not cricket. The Trinidadians on the other hand know very little about baseball and don’t know who Jackie Robinson is! I have been really itching to play baseball, as of late probably since it has been so long since October and I’m gettin the baseball fever. The offseason always seems sooooo long! Luckily I was able to watch some of the World Baseball Classic as well as NCAA tourney (UCONN!) but Red Sox starts in a week or so but im gonna have trouble watching that every night… ECSU baseball is dominating as well.
love and miss you all
-Pat
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Carnival
This past weekend has been one of the craziest of my life...
Thursday Night was an event called UWI Splash which was held in a town west of the Capital City in the Northwest tip of Trinidad. Im not sure what affiliation it has with UWI since it wasn't sponsored by the University, wasn't held in St. Augustine and was open to the public but none of that mattered.
It was like a huge concert and all the big Soca Stars preformed their most popular songs which was really cool. There were probably 8 different artists that preformed a few songs each. Carlos, a fellow Milnerite, was actually called up on stage to wine (a very sexual dance) with one of the performers and she ripped off his shirts he was wearing. We ended up waiting for transportation forever and got so bored that a few of us took off some clothes and went swimming in the ocean. Eventually I got home at around 8 oclock in the morning.
I slept most of the day on Friday. Eventually I woke up and for dinner we went to this great BBQ place that a whole bunch of Milnerites go to every Friday night. We spent the night just taking it easy and watching a Carnival event on TV called Soca Monarch which is where they crown the best Soca artist of the Carnival season, it was kinda boring and I dont even know who won but the people who actually knew all the artists were glued to the TV.
Saturday morning a few of us got up early and planned to go to Maracas Bay (the beach we always go to) for the day. We took the first maxi taxi to Port of Spain but when we got there they informed us that because of Carnival there would be no maxis going to Maracas until after the weekend was over. Instead of letting this ruin our day we just walked around Port of Spain all day and there was the children's carnival which is little kids all dressed up in crazy elaborate costumes.
We went back in the late afternoon to Milner and then at night came back to Port of Spain to see a show called Pan-a-rama which is THE steel pan competition for Carnival season. Even though we didn't buy tickets to this event it was held open to the public to see the bands as they wheeled the pan drums into the judging area so we were able to catch plenty of music. This event was held at the Savanah which is a huge park in Port of Spain.
Sunday we just kind of hung around all day and relaxed. Some people had tickets to go see Demache Gras which was a show from 7 PM Sunday- 1 AM Monday but a bunch of other people including myself slept until J'ouvert which started at 2 AM on Monday.
We ended up walking for about a half an hour to J'ouvert which is a moving party. Luckily we found a guy from Grenada who was headed in the same direction as us and he helped us find it otherwise it would have taken much longer. All the international students I am with ended up playing with a band called the Red Jokers and even though we dont actually play instruments they call it a band. The party consists of a huge truck with speakers on it in the front, 400-500 people with red shirts and joker hats behind that, a drink truck behind them and a paint truck behind the drink truck. We spent from 4 AM- 9 AM marching behind this truck dancing and getting covered in paint and mud and glitter. It was unquestionably one of the best nights of my life. Eventually we got back to our starting point where they had breakfast waiting for us which was bake (fried bread) with different fixings.
Even though we still had almost a 3 mile walk back it ended up not being that bad as we were all quite intoxicated and were able to entertain ourselves quite easily as we were walking. We finally reached Milner at 11 AM. I slept until roughly 6 PM Monday night and then took a nap a little later since I was still so exhausted.
We woke up early Tuesday morning to go check out the Parade of the Bands aka Mass which was similar to J'ouvert but much less drinking/ party oriented and more cultural. There were thousands of people dressed in elaborate costumes walking and dancing in the streets and the spectators on the side of the road never hesitated to jump in and dance for a little and return to their spots. We stayed there for most of the day but by 6 PM we were so exhausted from the weekend as a whole that we decided to call it quits.
Today classes started up again and the Carnival fatigue was noticeable throughout the classroom. This coming weekend, we are going to Tobago which is something everyone has been looking forward to for what seems like a VERY long time but it has only been like 2 weeks since we bought our tickets. Im really not sure about any of the details of the trip other than that we do have housing reserved (dont know if its beach houses, hotel rooms, etc.?) and that I have a ticket to get to Tobago on Friday night... everything else is up in the air so it should be an adventure.
Thursday Night was an event called UWI Splash which was held in a town west of the Capital City in the Northwest tip of Trinidad. Im not sure what affiliation it has with UWI since it wasn't sponsored by the University, wasn't held in St. Augustine and was open to the public but none of that mattered.
It was like a huge concert and all the big Soca Stars preformed their most popular songs which was really cool. There were probably 8 different artists that preformed a few songs each. Carlos, a fellow Milnerite, was actually called up on stage to wine (a very sexual dance) with one of the performers and she ripped off his shirts he was wearing. We ended up waiting for transportation forever and got so bored that a few of us took off some clothes and went swimming in the ocean. Eventually I got home at around 8 oclock in the morning.
I slept most of the day on Friday. Eventually I woke up and for dinner we went to this great BBQ place that a whole bunch of Milnerites go to every Friday night. We spent the night just taking it easy and watching a Carnival event on TV called Soca Monarch which is where they crown the best Soca artist of the Carnival season, it was kinda boring and I dont even know who won but the people who actually knew all the artists were glued to the TV.
Saturday morning a few of us got up early and planned to go to Maracas Bay (the beach we always go to) for the day. We took the first maxi taxi to Port of Spain but when we got there they informed us that because of Carnival there would be no maxis going to Maracas until after the weekend was over. Instead of letting this ruin our day we just walked around Port of Spain all day and there was the children's carnival which is little kids all dressed up in crazy elaborate costumes.
We went back in the late afternoon to Milner and then at night came back to Port of Spain to see a show called Pan-a-rama which is THE steel pan competition for Carnival season. Even though we didn't buy tickets to this event it was held open to the public to see the bands as they wheeled the pan drums into the judging area so we were able to catch plenty of music. This event was held at the Savanah which is a huge park in Port of Spain.
Sunday we just kind of hung around all day and relaxed. Some people had tickets to go see Demache Gras which was a show from 7 PM Sunday- 1 AM Monday but a bunch of other people including myself slept until J'ouvert which started at 2 AM on Monday.
We ended up walking for about a half an hour to J'ouvert which is a moving party. Luckily we found a guy from Grenada who was headed in the same direction as us and he helped us find it otherwise it would have taken much longer. All the international students I am with ended up playing with a band called the Red Jokers and even though we dont actually play instruments they call it a band. The party consists of a huge truck with speakers on it in the front, 400-500 people with red shirts and joker hats behind that, a drink truck behind them and a paint truck behind the drink truck. We spent from 4 AM- 9 AM marching behind this truck dancing and getting covered in paint and mud and glitter. It was unquestionably one of the best nights of my life. Eventually we got back to our starting point where they had breakfast waiting for us which was bake (fried bread) with different fixings.
Even though we still had almost a 3 mile walk back it ended up not being that bad as we were all quite intoxicated and were able to entertain ourselves quite easily as we were walking. We finally reached Milner at 11 AM. I slept until roughly 6 PM Monday night and then took a nap a little later since I was still so exhausted.
We woke up early Tuesday morning to go check out the Parade of the Bands aka Mass which was similar to J'ouvert but much less drinking/ party oriented and more cultural. There were thousands of people dressed in elaborate costumes walking and dancing in the streets and the spectators on the side of the road never hesitated to jump in and dance for a little and return to their spots. We stayed there for most of the day but by 6 PM we were so exhausted from the weekend as a whole that we decided to call it quits.
Today classes started up again and the Carnival fatigue was noticeable throughout the classroom. This coming weekend, we are going to Tobago which is something everyone has been looking forward to for what seems like a VERY long time but it has only been like 2 weeks since we bought our tickets. Im really not sure about any of the details of the trip other than that we do have housing reserved (dont know if its beach houses, hotel rooms, etc.?) and that I have a ticket to get to Tobago on Friday night... everything else is up in the air so it should be an adventure.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Feb 19, 2009
To my people,
Just been taking it easy since the last post. The initial hype of being in Trinidad is beginning to die out however the excitement of Carnival has had the opposite effect.
Last Friday night was the first Carnival related event which was UWI (you-wee) campus Carnival. It was sweet we were in a group called bubble mania and just walked/ dance behind a huge truck full of speakers while a truck behind us served drinks. It was a lot of fun. After the parade was over there was an after party. The one draw back was that I had my phone and my friends camera pickpocket from me...
Saturday we went to Maracas Bay and thankfully I didnt get sunburned. It was awesome as we filled two maxi taxis (more than 20 people) with both international students and people from the Caribbean all of whom are Milnerites. One of the maxis left with only 3 people cuz they had to be somewhere so we ended up packing 21 people in the other one... needless to say that was fun ride/ bonding experience I wont soon forget. It was this kid Carlos's birthday so we went out to Ruby Tuesday's which is considered an upscale restaurant here, more pricey and there is even a dress code. I got a Boston Lager there which really brought me back to New England for a few minutes.
Since Saturday we have just been going through the motions waiting for Carnival weekend. Tonite is the first event which is UWI Splash. Unfortunately its not on campus but it is going to be a party with DJ's and tons of people and wildness. The other event Im pumped for is Jouvert which is a party that starts at midnight on Monday morning and goes til 10 AM.
There are some other events we plan to go to like a parade and the steel pan finals but were pretty unorganized since there's such a large group of us and we dont really know how anything works. Currently we dont even know how were getting to Port of Spain this weekend or where we are staying, etc. etc. etc...... the phrase Ive found myself using the most often here is "well figure it out" which, if you know me shouldn't really be hard to imagine. I literally say that at least once an hour, its unbelievable.
I hope to bring my camera to Port of Spain at least once this weekend to take some pictures of the costumes and festivities. To all of those who are worried (Dad) I will take care of myself and stay safe and will certainly not be arrested for anything... Unless someone tries to steal my stuff again and then there will be a fight but I dont even know if Id get arrested for that :-)
love and miss you all
-Pat
To my people,
Just been taking it easy since the last post. The initial hype of being in Trinidad is beginning to die out however the excitement of Carnival has had the opposite effect.
Last Friday night was the first Carnival related event which was UWI (you-wee) campus Carnival. It was sweet we were in a group called bubble mania and just walked/ dance behind a huge truck full of speakers while a truck behind us served drinks. It was a lot of fun. After the parade was over there was an after party. The one draw back was that I had my phone and my friends camera pickpocket from me...
Saturday we went to Maracas Bay and thankfully I didnt get sunburned. It was awesome as we filled two maxi taxis (more than 20 people) with both international students and people from the Caribbean all of whom are Milnerites. One of the maxis left with only 3 people cuz they had to be somewhere so we ended up packing 21 people in the other one... needless to say that was fun ride/ bonding experience I wont soon forget. It was this kid Carlos's birthday so we went out to Ruby Tuesday's which is considered an upscale restaurant here, more pricey and there is even a dress code. I got a Boston Lager there which really brought me back to New England for a few minutes.
Since Saturday we have just been going through the motions waiting for Carnival weekend. Tonite is the first event which is UWI Splash. Unfortunately its not on campus but it is going to be a party with DJ's and tons of people and wildness. The other event Im pumped for is Jouvert which is a party that starts at midnight on Monday morning and goes til 10 AM.
There are some other events we plan to go to like a parade and the steel pan finals but were pretty unorganized since there's such a large group of us and we dont really know how anything works. Currently we dont even know how were getting to Port of Spain this weekend or where we are staying, etc. etc. etc...... the phrase Ive found myself using the most often here is "well figure it out" which, if you know me shouldn't really be hard to imagine. I literally say that at least once an hour, its unbelievable.
I hope to bring my camera to Port of Spain at least once this weekend to take some pictures of the costumes and festivities. To all of those who are worried (Dad) I will take care of myself and stay safe and will certainly not be arrested for anything... Unless someone tries to steal my stuff again and then there will be a fight but I dont even know if Id get arrested for that :-)
love and miss you all
-Pat
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Thursday, Feb. 12th
I am amazed to see that my last entry was only a week ago, I was feeling guilty that it has been so long since I wrote but looking back and realizing it has only been 1 week makes me not feel too bad...
Last Friday was the basketball competition and as I expected my team, yellow went 3-0 and won the competition. It was 4 vs. 4, half girl and one girl on each team so the level of competition was sub par but it was still fun, especially since we won. Later in the night Milner hosted a party (fete) in which people from anywhere as opposed to just people from Milner and as can be expected things got wild.
WE all got up early Saturday morning (8 oclock) to go to the beach (Maracas Bay). I was the one with the alarm clock (thanks mom!) and proceeded to wake everyone else up by going into their rooms/ pounding on their doors and screaming YELLOW YELLOW YELLOW as I was still pumped up from the big win the night before. Most of my peers were hungover and very annoyed but I got a kick out of it. We stayed at the beach all day which is like an hour away and I got baddddd sunburn. Currently I have been leaving a path of my skin wherever I go and have been for a few days.
Sunday was just a hang around and do nothing day. This week I have been working hard to try and figure out what I should be reading/ doing for school work because it is not just assigned. The teachers are very helpful and responsive when I ask for help so that is nice and somehow most of them can tell I'm not from the Caribbean...
Yesterday (Wednesday) I went with one of the girls from Wisconsin to Tunapuna which is the next town over from St. Augustine and about a 10 minute walk. Theres lots of little markets there as well as a FedEx which was the purpose of the trip. We also bought a bunch of tickets to go to Tobago on the weekend following Carnival. Right now the plan is for about 15-20 exchange/ international students to take a ferry Friday night to Tobago from Port of SPain and return on Monday morning. were all gonna rent a beach house for the weekend (its gonna be AWFUL!) In tunapuna I was able to get a bunch of things that I have desperate for, computer speakers, coat hangers, hooks for my posters, incense, and rum (just kidding I wasnt desperate... I drank some with my breakfast!)
This week I've been more adventurous with my dietary choices have had doubles, beef/ chicken patties, chicken and rice, and potato pie. I also ran out of my 5 gallon jug of water and have been drinking the fountain water but I feel fine. There are so many hole in the wall type places that sell food which is great cuz im sick of pizza/ subway/ KFC.
Today one of the two boys that is here from Wisconsin left for a month because he is doing an independent study project. Im kinda bummed out but he still has a room here and hell be back for weekends after the initial month. Ive heard his new place of residence is a 2 story, 2 bedroom, lakehouse so im not really feeling too sorry for him.
Tomorrow, Friday is campus carnival. I still have no idea what to expect but Milner is playing/ marching together. I am under the impression that its like a moving party where people wear these elaborate costumes and then an actual party when were all drunk and done marching. There is a drink truck that follows the group around and the theme "Bubble Mania" which despite the lame sounding name should be great. Im hoping my camera charger comes by then so i can take some sweet pictures. It was 100 TT to register ($17 US) and it includes free drinks, t shirt, cup, bandana and the person collecting the dues from Milner is "Man Rape Her" (one of my favorite names).
love and miss you all,
If you wanna hear more or have questions- skype/ facebook/ email me!
-Pat
I am amazed to see that my last entry was only a week ago, I was feeling guilty that it has been so long since I wrote but looking back and realizing it has only been 1 week makes me not feel too bad...
Last Friday was the basketball competition and as I expected my team, yellow went 3-0 and won the competition. It was 4 vs. 4, half girl and one girl on each team so the level of competition was sub par but it was still fun, especially since we won. Later in the night Milner hosted a party (fete) in which people from anywhere as opposed to just people from Milner and as can be expected things got wild.
WE all got up early Saturday morning (8 oclock) to go to the beach (Maracas Bay). I was the one with the alarm clock (thanks mom!) and proceeded to wake everyone else up by going into their rooms/ pounding on their doors and screaming YELLOW YELLOW YELLOW as I was still pumped up from the big win the night before. Most of my peers were hungover and very annoyed but I got a kick out of it. We stayed at the beach all day which is like an hour away and I got baddddd sunburn. Currently I have been leaving a path of my skin wherever I go and have been for a few days.
Sunday was just a hang around and do nothing day. This week I have been working hard to try and figure out what I should be reading/ doing for school work because it is not just assigned. The teachers are very helpful and responsive when I ask for help so that is nice and somehow most of them can tell I'm not from the Caribbean...
Yesterday (Wednesday) I went with one of the girls from Wisconsin to Tunapuna which is the next town over from St. Augustine and about a 10 minute walk. Theres lots of little markets there as well as a FedEx which was the purpose of the trip. We also bought a bunch of tickets to go to Tobago on the weekend following Carnival. Right now the plan is for about 15-20 exchange/ international students to take a ferry Friday night to Tobago from Port of SPain and return on Monday morning. were all gonna rent a beach house for the weekend (its gonna be AWFUL!) In tunapuna I was able to get a bunch of things that I have desperate for, computer speakers, coat hangers, hooks for my posters, incense, and rum (just kidding I wasnt desperate... I drank some with my breakfast!)
This week I've been more adventurous with my dietary choices have had doubles, beef/ chicken patties, chicken and rice, and potato pie. I also ran out of my 5 gallon jug of water and have been drinking the fountain water but I feel fine. There are so many hole in the wall type places that sell food which is great cuz im sick of pizza/ subway/ KFC.
Today one of the two boys that is here from Wisconsin left for a month because he is doing an independent study project. Im kinda bummed out but he still has a room here and hell be back for weekends after the initial month. Ive heard his new place of residence is a 2 story, 2 bedroom, lakehouse so im not really feeling too sorry for him.
Tomorrow, Friday is campus carnival. I still have no idea what to expect but Milner is playing/ marching together. I am under the impression that its like a moving party where people wear these elaborate costumes and then an actual party when were all drunk and done marching. There is a drink truck that follows the group around and the theme "Bubble Mania" which despite the lame sounding name should be great. Im hoping my camera charger comes by then so i can take some sweet pictures. It was 100 TT to register ($17 US) and it includes free drinks, t shirt, cup, bandana and the person collecting the dues from Milner is "Man Rape Her" (one of my favorite names).
love and miss you all,
If you wanna hear more or have questions- skype/ facebook/ email me!
-Pat
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Thursday March 5th
Sorry for so long between posts I’ve been a busy guy.
Since my last post I have officially completed be inducted into the Milner Hall family (my dorm). My hall name is Bikini Bottom after the town in Spongebob Squarepants because my name is Patrick… kinda lame but I could have been a whole slew of other things such as stale cummm, colonel jerk or wet punani, which are all other hall names. I took off some details from a previous blog because the whole process or initiation into the hall is supposed to be kept confidential, so if you know what I did consider yourself lucky and don't be telling anyone from Trinidad about it.
On Saturday night there was a PJ party in North Block which is one of the other buildings in Milner Hall (there are 5 buildings total). It was a wild time and even though it was on campus it was one of the more rambunctious parties I have ever attended. This week is Hall sports so every person who lives in Milner is assigned to a colored team either yellow, red, blue or green, Im on yellow.
Sunday morning at 6 AM was the first event which was a 5K run roughly which was two loops around the campus. Many people who attended the PJ party decided to just stay up and run drunk including myself. I placed 19 out of 77 people and was the second person from the yellow house. After this race I had an epiphany that fatigue is completely and totally 100% mental. My reasoning is that from 10 AM Friday to 10 AM Sunday I got 4 hours of sleep, got drunk twice, ran up a Mountain at 5 oclock Saturday morning and did well in a race Sunday morning.
Sunday night I slept all day for obvious reasons and watched the Superbowl although it really wasn’t the super bowl party I am used to it was still fun, not having THE bean dip was kind of disappointing. The game made me emotional as it was just too similar to last year and was hoping the Cardinals would take it, oh well…
I spent Tuesday and Wednesday going to different places on campus trying to figure out how to pay my damn tuition, you would think these people would actually want my money…. unbelievable. Anyways, the check finally arrived and I am financially cleared and I also got my student ID. I still have lots of financial/ bureaucratic bullshit to deal with but they don’t really seem to be in too much of a rush to do anything here at UWI… so neither am I, which as those who know me well can imagine what a tough adjustment that is for me.
Last night we had a hall meeting that dragged on for 2 hours about stupid stuff and I me and Ramon were on kitchen cleaning duty so between the hours of 10 PM and 6 AM we had to clean the counters, stove top, sweep and mop. Since there is so much more of a community atmosphere here we end up taking much more responsibility for ourselves than I was used to at Burr Hall. For instance when someone pukes all over the bathroom or spills something in the hall way it gets mopped up immediately. In Burr hall however we would just leave it and wait for the cleaning lady to come the next day.
As the hall sports continue to move forth yellow team is in 3rd place. In addition to the run on Sunday I have also participated in volleyball and will be playing basketball on Friday. The volleyball wasn’t as completive as I wished it would be but still fun and I'm expecting first place for the yellow basetball team. Other events have been football (soccer) and aerobics. Today is swimming which I may get sucked into doing and this weekend is track and cricket, Ive had a number of people tell me I should play cricket since I play baseball so well see how that works out considering I don’t know the rules… at all.
Love you and miss you all
-Pat
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Too much has happened since my last blog and I have been really too busy/ exhausted to really write about it so I'm sure I'm forgetting stuff but here it goes.....
Saturday night a bunch of Trini guys brought me, the Wisconsin kids, and a couple of Canadians out to a "social club" aka dive bar right near the school. It was a blast as we took up a huge table and had our own little corner of the restaurant. As the night drew on and the rum was consumed it ended up turning into a dance party where the Trini guys attempted to teach all the white kids the dance native to the island (wining/liming).
Something interesting that happened to me is there was a local there giving a lot of us Americans a hard time. At one point he came up to me and started harassing me asking me what kind of animals I like to fuck and getting really into it. Telling me he has fucked chickens, goats and dogs but chickens are the best because the other two animals are too big and squirm too much. As he continued I started laughing (how else do you react to a stranger asking these things to you)??? He got all serious and was like this is not funny mon, dis is what I do! He then continued and told me I looked like a hen fucker and encouraged me to fuck hens. Im standing by the fact that was just trying to get under my skin but either way it was an experience.
Eventually we the bar closed so we got kicked out and continued to party a little more back in the dorms. I ended up staying up very late practing Spanish with my Venezuelan roommate Ramon and am confident that I will learn a TON of Spanish due to this situation.
The following day (Sunday) I was focused on going to the grocery store as I had yet to get food and was sick of buy water by the bottles. A bunch of us went and walked about 10 minutes to the store and I bought the basics to get my thorough. I also ended up buying a 5 gallon jug of water that I hauled all the way back to the dorm, it wasn't very fun but I should be good on bottled water until after Carnival (mid/later February).
Much to my surprise many of the people I had gone out with were ready to get wild again Sunday night and we had planned to visit Port of Spain but the group decided against it. However we ended up drinking in the dorm and getting wild anyways. These people LOVE their rum its really no joke, its just understood that everyone loves rum.
The dorm atmosphere is really remarkable as I experienced it briefly freshman year at Burr Hall because my hall is a couple hundread kids and Burr was like 75. Occum and Lowrise are just not social places as I like to be in. I miss people hanging out in common rooms and leaving doors open and walking up and down the hall popping into other's doors for a few minutes. Everyone is so welcoming and friendly.
Monday classes started and at the beginning of the day I was really not sure where I needed to be and what was the story in terms of that. I may or may not have missed a class from 5-7 but now I know where they are at and have solidified my schedule.
adsfsdf
Today I will be attending my first class from 1-3 and my second class from 4-5. Then I will be hosting a group meeting, since I am the leader and will hopefully be better prepared that what is to come tonite at the orientation.
miss and love you all, I will try to do posts more regularly but this week is going to be hectic with pledging and the start of classes.
-Pat
Saturday night a bunch of Trini guys brought me, the Wisconsin kids, and a couple of Canadians out to a "social club" aka dive bar right near the school. It was a blast as we took up a huge table and had our own little corner of the restaurant. As the night drew on and the rum was consumed it ended up turning into a dance party where the Trini guys attempted to teach all the white kids the dance native to the island (wining/liming).
Something interesting that happened to me is there was a local there giving a lot of us Americans a hard time. At one point he came up to me and started harassing me asking me what kind of animals I like to fuck and getting really into it. Telling me he has fucked chickens, goats and dogs but chickens are the best because the other two animals are too big and squirm too much. As he continued I started laughing (how else do you react to a stranger asking these things to you)??? He got all serious and was like this is not funny mon, dis is what I do! He then continued and told me I looked like a hen fucker and encouraged me to fuck hens. Im standing by the fact that was just trying to get under my skin but either way it was an experience.
Eventually we the bar closed so we got kicked out and continued to party a little more back in the dorms. I ended up staying up very late practing Spanish with my Venezuelan roommate Ramon and am confident that I will learn a TON of Spanish due to this situation.
The following day (Sunday) I was focused on going to the grocery store as I had yet to get food and was sick of buy water by the bottles. A bunch of us went and walked about 10 minutes to the store and I bought the basics to get my thorough. I also ended up buying a 5 gallon jug of water that I hauled all the way back to the dorm, it wasn't very fun but I should be good on bottled water until after Carnival (mid/later February).
Much to my surprise many of the people I had gone out with were ready to get wild again Sunday night and we had planned to visit Port of Spain but the group decided against it. However we ended up drinking in the dorm and getting wild anyways. These people LOVE their rum its really no joke, its just understood that everyone loves rum.
The dorm atmosphere is really remarkable as I experienced it briefly freshman year at Burr Hall because my hall is a couple hundread kids and Burr was like 75. Occum and Lowrise are just not social places as I like to be in. I miss people hanging out in common rooms and leaving doors open and walking up and down the hall popping into other's doors for a few minutes. Everyone is so welcoming and friendly.
Monday classes started and at the beginning of the day I was really not sure where I needed to be and what was the story in terms of that. I may or may not have missed a class from 5-7 but now I know where they are at and have solidified my schedule.
adsfsdf
Today I will be attending my first class from 1-3 and my second class from 4-5. Then I will be hosting a group meeting, since I am the leader and will hopefully be better prepared that what is to come tonite at the orientation.
miss and love you all, I will try to do posts more regularly but this week is going to be hectic with pledging and the start of classes.
-Pat
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Day 2 (1/24)
To my people who are wondering...
Today I went on an all day trip. I went with two girls from Canada and the 8 people from Wisconsin. We woke up at around 7 and went to a bird sanctuary to start off the day. I was excited to take some pictures of some things so I could show you all how I'm living but the batteries to my camera were dead even though I hadn't used it yet. I saw lots of birds and plants including a peacock (Im not sure if they are wild on the Island or just here) and a Jesus bird that is capable of walking on water, hence the title. I also saw the many unique plants including the lotus flower which is a lily and for a non-flower kinda guy I was impressed, also saw some cocoa plants but thats old news after my trip to Venezeula. The tour guide was real cool and she was so passionate about teaching us how to help sustain the environment and had a very interactive presentation.
After birds we drove more and finally found lunch. After driving around for a while we were unable to find Subway which the group was set on so we settled for Pizza Hut and KFC (real culture shock there!) I had Pizza Hut which was really not all that different from the one at home however, they do serve "Ketchup" which is more like sweet and sour sauce and a hot pepper sauce with everything down here. We then drove around for many more hours just touring the different parts of the Island. We started in the northwest corner, drove south towards the bottom, across to the east side and finally all the way back up the east coast. I'd say I was in the car driving for a total of about 7-8 hours today just lookin out the window. Some cool wild animals I saw were a lizard about 2 feet long, many wild dogs that are real cool and just chill in packs, including many on campus and an oxen that kinda looks like a water buffalo. I think we should start writing to our congressmen to disband dog catching operations cuz it would be so cool to have packs of wild dogs roaming West Hartford center, they dont hurt nobody.
Even though I've done nothing since yesterday to help situate myself I feel much more at ease. As you may expect the Islander mentality is begining to take hold and Im just kinda going with the flow. I've yet to obtain a pillow, fan, food, water, beer, cell phone, and theres many other things that I could use too. I will definatly take less for granted after this week for sure (sleeping on a hoodie and beach towel is really, really not the same as a pillow and fans are so necessary). Its like 90 degrees (30 celcius) and feels like a July heat wave in CT. Getting used to liters, money conversion 1:6 isn't an easy ratio to get accustomed to, km etc is fine and I'm learning quickly.
Mom and Dad, despite all the bad things you've heard about this being party central I've yet to have a sip of alcohol and have really cut back on DA SENSI SMOKIN' JAHHHHH MON!!! (jk on the smoking part). However were going to a club/ bar tonite so that likely to change and I plan to be gettin' silly sometime soon.
Anyways Love ya and Miss ya all!!!!
-Patrick
Today I went on an all day trip. I went with two girls from Canada and the 8 people from Wisconsin. We woke up at around 7 and went to a bird sanctuary to start off the day. I was excited to take some pictures of some things so I could show you all how I'm living but the batteries to my camera were dead even though I hadn't used it yet. I saw lots of birds and plants including a peacock (Im not sure if they are wild on the Island or just here) and a Jesus bird that is capable of walking on water, hence the title. I also saw the many unique plants including the lotus flower which is a lily and for a non-flower kinda guy I was impressed, also saw some cocoa plants but thats old news after my trip to Venezeula. The tour guide was real cool and she was so passionate about teaching us how to help sustain the environment and had a very interactive presentation.
After birds we drove more and finally found lunch. After driving around for a while we were unable to find Subway which the group was set on so we settled for Pizza Hut and KFC (real culture shock there!) I had Pizza Hut which was really not all that different from the one at home however, they do serve "Ketchup" which is more like sweet and sour sauce and a hot pepper sauce with everything down here. We then drove around for many more hours just touring the different parts of the Island. We started in the northwest corner, drove south towards the bottom, across to the east side and finally all the way back up the east coast. I'd say I was in the car driving for a total of about 7-8 hours today just lookin out the window. Some cool wild animals I saw were a lizard about 2 feet long, many wild dogs that are real cool and just chill in packs, including many on campus and an oxen that kinda looks like a water buffalo. I think we should start writing to our congressmen to disband dog catching operations cuz it would be so cool to have packs of wild dogs roaming West Hartford center, they dont hurt nobody.
Even though I've done nothing since yesterday to help situate myself I feel much more at ease. As you may expect the Islander mentality is begining to take hold and Im just kinda going with the flow. I've yet to obtain a pillow, fan, food, water, beer, cell phone, and theres many other things that I could use too. I will definatly take less for granted after this week for sure (sleeping on a hoodie and beach towel is really, really not the same as a pillow and fans are so necessary). Its like 90 degrees (30 celcius) and feels like a July heat wave in CT. Getting used to liters, money conversion 1:6 isn't an easy ratio to get accustomed to, km etc is fine and I'm learning quickly.
Mom and Dad, despite all the bad things you've heard about this being party central I've yet to have a sip of alcohol and have really cut back on DA SENSI SMOKIN' JAHHHHH MON!!! (jk on the smoking part). However were going to a club/ bar tonite so that likely to change and I plan to be gettin' silly sometime soon.
Anyways Love ya and Miss ya all!!!!
-Patrick
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