Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Soooo...guess what?

I SUCK at keeping up with a blog.  Also, make sure that you check out the post right before this one.  I started it on my last day in St. Kitts, and it had been sitting in my drafts box ever since.

Hey.  I never said that I was going to be good at this.  That draft I started and just uploaded was 6 months ago!

6 months...wow.  It honestly doesn't feel like I left the island that long ago.  It feels like it was just yesterday.  I remember how badly I wanted to get off that island.  That plane ride home was seriously one of the best days of my life.  Forget the fact that the St. Kitts airport staff almost didn't let me take home my cat, Reggae (I seriously hate those people), and that when I got to San Juan I found out that I had to buy a new carrying case for him because they only allow soft cases on Air Tran (and, very conveniently, they sold them at a store around the corner for 80 bucks), seriously, forget all that.  I was going back to the STATES!  I had a one-way ticket home!  I was about to feel like an American citizen again!

It was everything that I had hoped for and more.  It still  is.  I would never want to go back to living on an island again.  In fact, for the first 3 or 4 months I insisted that I did not miss one thing about that island, and I meant it when I said it.  Now thinking about that time and looking back at pictures...I do feel a little sad, I feel myself wishing just a little bit that I could go back there and be with all my friends (for like, a week.  TOPS.  Ha ha).  Just to live it up again.  When will there ever be days like that again in my life?  Where I could wake up to the sound of the ocean everyday, meet my friends at the beach bar down the street, go horseback riding in the ocean (never mind the hardware in my arm).  The thing I miss the most are all the great friends I made there, and seeing them every day.  We all still keep in touch and I think that we always will.  And for the time being I do have the company of a few St. Kitts folk here in my new (temporary) residence in Colorado.

And now I find myself wishing I were back in Michigan!  After all that talk about how I was SO excited to go to Colorado and I may never want to leave.  Ok yes it's beautiful and all, but it's not Michigan.  It's not home. I'm beginning to realize that I am a true Michigander and it's yet to be seen if I could be happy anywhere else. I love Michigan.  I'm sure that my family and loved ones have a lot to do with that too.  But Michigan is beautiful and it has a lot to offer.  I love it.  That's all.

Peace and blessings to all!

Looking Back

****Started this post just around 6 months ago....posting it now :)

I know I said that the next post was going to be about my mom's visit, but I can't upload those pictures until I get home and this is my last day on this island, so I felt the needed to post in honor of my time here.

So, I feel like all I have done this semester is complain.  Complain to friends and family and classmates, about how much I just wanted to be done and get out of here.  Well, they always say to be careful what you wish for; I am 1 day away from leaving, and part of me wants to stay (I knew this was gonna happen!).  I have had an AMAZING experience here, and I have made some AMAZING friends.  It's honestly hard for me to even think of what is the right thing to say.

1 year and 3 months ago, April 28, 2011, I got off a plane that had landed on this island for the first time.  A very special person was on that plane with me, one of my now best friends, Chenille.  We met straight off that plane, both in a new place, not knowing what was ahead of us, not knowing anyone at all, and we remained good friends during her whole time here.  My life would not be the same without her, and she's one of those friends that you know you'll have forever.


Very first day of classes that very first semester, I knew no one (except Chenille now).  This school is so small, but it felt so big that day.  Then after one of my classes, when everyone was walking out, I recognized someone!  And I'll explain how: before I got to the island, I joined the school's facebook group and left a message on the wall -- asking something... I don't even remember what now.  But there was one very nice girl who answered me.  She had been on the island going to school for a semester already, and her and I chatted quite a bit on facebook (mostly her giving me info).  And of course she told me that if I ever wanted to hang out or anything when I got to the island to give her a shout.  Well, that is the girl that I saw in my class, and I walked up to her and said, "Hey, are you Rachel?"  And the rest was history.


So eventually, Chenille, Rachel and I, all became best friends.  We lived together for the next 2 semesters, and it got to the point where everyone knew that we would always be together.  We had the same class schedule, the same clinical schedule too, and all that with living together -- it was basically inevitable that we would become best friends.  Because I chose a different partner school to transfer to in the states than them (the way my school works is confusing and I will spare you the details), they left 1 semester before me.  Due to this, I have received a never-ending flow of concerns and remarks from people at this school, wondering if I am doing OK without them.  Even on this last day here, I can remember just last week an instance where I was asked if I missed them and still talk to them... well DUH!

Well, the three of us eventually hooked up with the forth member of our wolfpack, Kelly.  We had a class or two with her, and to be completely honest, I don't even remember when it was that we became such good friends with her...it was just one of those things that just happened!  I do remember though (before we became good friends with her, my first semester) I forgot a writing utensil in my statistics class, and she lent me a pen.  And mind you, this was a pretty good quality pen.  Well, I forgot to give it back to her right away, but hung on to it and MADE SURE that I eventually got it to her.  Once we became friends, she appreciated my earnest attempt at returning her pen to her :)  


Well, the four of us started calling ourselves the Wolfpack (after The Hangover, one of our favorite movies), and everyone soon called us that too.  We of course went on to have a lot of inside jokes, like sitting on the toilet sideways (you wouldn't get it, inside joke :D), but basically, these three girls will definitely be my friends for life.

Kelly's surprise bday party at the Blue Martini

Now you all know Heather from my previous post, we don't need to say goodbye though cause we are going to the same partner school in Colorado and living together (with a few other previous friends from here), and another friend from St. Kitts that will be starting at the same time as us is Jean, my whooleehooo, who I cannot WAIT to see again and take classes with!


Now, I can't neglect all my other friends too, cause I have met some really amazing people.

Amy, Me, Rachel, Sarah
Kim, Chenille, Acia, Kelly, Allie, and Heather

I have been friends with Acia since I first got here, and for as long as I have been here, she has been here even longer!  Heather and I got closer with her this semester, seeing as though it was just the three of us in Maternity this semester.  In fact, that is where we are headed for some drinks and swimming and stuff later on today :)

Marisol, Kelly, Chenille, Me, Allie, Kim, Jacqi and Rachel

With some of my girls, getting ready for a beach day

Me with some of my buddies my first semester before a game of Bar Golf.  Fun game :)

On a Catamaran.  Cat trips were ALWAYS a great time.

Cat Trip


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Well, this is where I pick up this post from when I started it the day before I left the island.  I won't upload anymore pictures because it would be a never-ending process.  I have more pictures than I could ever count from my time on St. Kitts.  It was a good ride :)

Peace and blessings to all!