LOLOS

After spending the day at Orient beach we continued to make our way around the island. A road block stopped our progress when we reached Grand Case. The sound of steel drums and excited chatter filled the air, so we parked and made our way toward the commotion. As we walked down the street lined with once brightly painted cement houses adorned with decaying patios and overflowing foliage local children raced barefoot down the street after dogs and one another. A white tent emerged in the middle of the street and a local band with about 20 steel drums was performing. The musicians were dancing wildly while maintaining the beat, and young girls practiced their dance routines in alley ways. 

It was around this time that the delicious aroma of barbecue and fried plantains hit me. I was suddenly starving and looking to my left I saw various semi-permanent tents with cramped tables and chairs in no orderly fashion arranged between different grills cooking up lobster and fish. These were the Lolos, which are open are barbecue stands which serve huge helpings of ribs, lobster, chicken, fish with rice and fried plantains and johnnycakes all while providing ocean views and lots of music from steel drum bands to karaoke. We sat listening to the music and ate amazing food while drinking icy Heineken's as the sun set over the horizon. It was essentially the perfect ending to a perfect day! 

Are my eyes popping out of my head??

Friday was the big day! I was so excited I could barely sleep the night before in anticipation; I was like a five year old waiting for the first day of school to finally arrive. I couldn't wait to learn about what I will be doing this year, meet the professors I have only had email correspondence with up tot his point, and learn which other students I will be sharing this journey with. 

The first meeting with all Graduate students went well. I met the Head of the English Department and some of my fellow students, but most of all I felt confident. Then came the meeting for Graduate Assistants...now there were far fewer of us in the room and the meeting took on a more business tone; however, I still felt fairly confident at the end of this meeting. A group of us made our way across campus to where our departmental meeting was going to be held...we got there an hour early. 

While waiting in the Inkwell (I love that it is named that) we were all discussing which classes we would be taking and what they had heard about certain professor's teaching styles. Soon people began to trickle in and the food arrived and we all feasted on barbecue and blackberry cobbler. It was around this time when we began making introduction that my confidence began to dwindle...the highlight from the summer for most everyone in the room was reading books. My highlight was travelling to St. Martin and enjoying the ocean, culture and food...don't get me wrong I read lots of books over the summer and enjoyed them immensely, but the travelling was more invigorating for me personally. This is about when I started to question if I fit in...

After lunch the professors left so all the graduate students could get to know one another and it gave the incoming students a chance to ask questions. It was when a male student mentioned that typically you have a nervous/mental breakdown five times a semester (that's more than once a month!!) and every student in the room just nodded in agreement. The pressure behind my eyes began to build at the time. They began discussing reading notes and different professor's expectations (4-6 pages seems to be typical for a weeks reading) and they continued to bounce through topic after topic...I removed the sunglasses that were acting as a headband; the pressure had become too much. After this hour of over stimulating discussion I was beginning to sweat. I'm not sure if the room was just incredibly hot or if my nerves were working overtime.

Next came the time for the new students to sit with the professors and discuss expectations and other pertinent matters such as conferences and submitting work and presenting at a variety of academic conferences. The idea of presenting at a conference is terrifying!! I have trouble introducing myself to people without getting an adrenaline rush that starts the racing heart and sweaty palms! I started trying to loosen my curls hoping that releasing them from the mousse's grasp would somehow help ease my eyeballs back into my head. Then the topic of reading came up. Of course I expect to read assignments for class so you are prepared and don't fall behind, but I wasn't expecting the casual mention of having 700-1000 pages of reading a week. My poor eyes!! Now after creating a frizzy mess on my head I was rubbing my eyes smearing the mascara and eyeliner around...was it just me or was the room an actually sauna? 

Upon the completion of all these informative meetings I made my way to the student center with my head hung low while my mind was racing over everything I had just learned questioning if I can do this? and can I succeed doing this? I made my way down to the basement to buy a few final books for class and while waiting in line I lifted up my head. I recognized the guy standing next to me, a fellow incoming English graduate student!! He looked sweaty and beaten down...maybe I wasn't the only one who thought the room was hot...and maybe just maybe his eye's felt like they were going to pop out of his head too. So I asked him how his eye's felt because that is a totally normal thing to ask a new acquaintance right? To my surprise he said "It felt like they were coming out of my head more and more as the meetings progressed, and now I feel exhausted." Relief washed over me like cool water after a run...I wasn't the only one overwhelmed and scared. I was called to the next check out and as I walked away the room temperature dropped giving me a shiver and I finally felt the release of pressure behind my eyes as they sank back into my skull...I was going to be ok. 

The Big Move

On Sunday I officially made the move to Abilene where I will be pursuing my Master's in Creative Writing for the next two years, and it didn't really sink in until Monday afternoon that this is my new home for a while.

Abilene is extremely different from Katy/Houston, TX...for starters the humidity has disappeared which is doing wonders for my hair. Bye bye Afro frizz, and hello ringlets!! With the disappearance of humidity the weather must present another challenge and that would be the wind. West Texas winds might possibly be one of my biggest hindrances while running, biking, and driving...there always seems to be a gale force wind present, and it is never a tail wind. Also, it hypothetically should only take you up to 15 minutes to get anywhere in town (yes all the way across town is merely a short drive); however, my drives have been taking considerably longer due to my innate ability to get lost while using a GPS.

During my explorations I have found some pretty nice parks and running areas which I have been testing out and taking Tux to see. His favorite park so far is Red Bud Park which just so happens to have plenty of prairie dogs for him to watch while cowering between my legs! I suppose it is good that he has a healthy fear of them, but it does look ridiculous to be walking a bulldog who is so scared of a 2 lbs rodent.

The other big change is my physical living situation. I am in an apartment with two girls and one of them has two Pugs named Lily and Dobs (brownie points for the Harry Potter reference!) So there is really six of us in our little apartment including the dogs!

School starts on Friday and then I am sure it will be a whirlwind til the end of the semester with marathon training, school, and work. Wish me luck!

Orient Bay/Baie Oriental, St. Martin/St. Maarten

On my first full day in St. Martin we drove around the coast on the French side of the island sampling French-Caribbean cuisine, taking in the breathtaking views, and stopping by various beaches checking out the beautiful water. We ended up settling at Orient Bay…this was the first nude beach I have ever been to! There were some topless girls but I personally didn’t happen upon anyone in the nude. However, I immediately became very aware of the fact that I was in my (sexy) one piece, and I looked like a nun compared to others on the beach!! Experiencing this atmosphere for the first time was very eye opening for me for very different reasons. The nudity didn’t bother me; instead I actually realized that there should be no shame in covering up or uncovering your body. As a runner I have always been very aware of my body and the type of shape I am in, and I am generally very hard on myself. Of course I want to look good, but I like to feel like I’m in good running shape because that is when I feel powerful as a woman , like I can take on the world and I am unstoppable! At this beach I saw women of all shapes and sizes walking around with pride about who they are and what they look like which in turn made them all exceedingly beautiful, and you don’t see that as often in the United States as you do in other countries. Why is that?

So along with the beautiful people Orient Bay or Baie Oriental was equally as beautiful. The two mile stretch of beach has white sand like sugar and turquoise water which waves are perfectly suited for body surfing, leisure swimming past the break, and snorkeling further out on the reef. Orient Bay is nestled at the bottom of multiple mountain peaks while Caye Verte, Ilet de Pinel, and Ile Tintamarre pop out of the Atlantic on the horizon.  There was lot’s going on at the beach with parasailing, jet skis, and a random man jumping rope vigorously at the water’s edge in a speedo. At Club Orient the cabana boys brought us mojitos, cigars, and a cappuccino for when I needed my caffeine fix while we lounged around reading and tanning. The day in essence was perfect much like the island.  

 

My brother and I walked to this little unnamed island from the mainland near Caye Chateau. 

The view from Club Orient at Baie Oriental