We have arrived!

Lots of walking...

Insane drivers...

Sweltering humidity...

...Wait, I thought we left Chicago!

But yes, we have left, and we are settling in here quite nicely. We got in on Friday evening, but our bags didn't make it until Saturday, due to some shuffling around caused by all the flight cancellations due to Tropical Storm Isaac.  But it seems we made it with relatively little trouble compared to some other students; people who booked flights for Wednesday and Thursday weren't able to come down because of the storm, and a lot of them are just getting in now. Apparently, Delta/Liat is going to be losing a lot of customers soon..

Our landlord is a pretty good guy. We live at the top of a hill, which is a pretty reasonable trek down, but an absolute bear back up. But he has an SUV, so a quick phone call and he drives us up. His name is Trevor. He has a cool accent (as do all of the islanders).

Since Dominica was once an English colony, all of the cars drive on the left side of the road. Yet only about half of the cars have the steering wheel on the right side, and the other half are left side steering wheel.  Trevor has a left side steering wheel, so it takes a little getting used to being on the wrong side of the road. Also, it takes some getting used to the speed at which most drivers navigate. Holy moley, I swear Melissa has had five mini heart attacks since Friday. Fast driving + narrow, poorly-lit roads + driving on the opposite side = premature graying.

A lot of upperclassmen (or uppersemesterians, I don't know) have been warning us about getting used to the island food. Honestly, we haven't had any problems yet. I think living in a city like Chicago where you can get 12 different ethnic dishes within a city block prepares you pretty well for anything.

So right now, we're just charging our computers (we have to pay for electricity in our apartment by the kWh, and it's stupid expensive) and heading off for a bite to eat. 

I feel like I just wrote a report for third grade or something. I'm not feeling especially witty just yet, but I'll get there once I get my bearings a little better. 

Pictures to be posted (hopefully) soon!

- Eric

P.S. Still playing around with fonts. I don't know how I got through that last one in Times New Roman. Blech. I may use Trebuchet or Verdana next time.