Week 1: 8/8 - 8/14

Wow. Where to begin.

My first week in St. Thomas has been nothing short of impeccable, and it's honestly quite hard to put my whirlwind of emotions into words. Happiness, thrill, awe and uncomfortability all at the same time.

In just one week, I've already managed to cross a good bit off of my bucket list, which you can see in my previous post, and I feel like I've learned a decent amount about island life.

Firstly, the terrain is the furthest thing from flat. There's a lot of hills, especially on campus, and you definitely get those steps in with all the incline walking which coupled with the heat was rough for the first few days, but you get used to it for sure.

Secondly, the cost of groceries/gas is through the roof. When doing my initial research, I had heard it was more expensive here, but I had no idea it was so high. Like... 7 bucks for a gallon of milk high. There are some things that are cheaper, namely alcohol and tobacco with it being a port/tourist economy, which made me question how this impacted consumer behavior amongst the natives, its accessibility acting as a mitigator or deterrent. Public transportation is also fairly inexpensive. The busses, which are called safaris, only cost about $1-2 to get across town and into the country. With that, you also need to carry cash, because a lot of places including the safaris and taxis don't take debit/credit cards. There's also no uber or lyft since there's not really set addresses, and people give directions based on landmarks.

Lastly, the locals are extremely friendly, and they all typically greet one another in passing even if they don't know each other. It's considered rude to say "hey," "hello", or "hi," and the proper greeting would be "good morning/afternoon/evening/night." It kind of throws me off to say goodnight as a greeting rather than a farewell, but I have undoubtedly been enjoying the kindness and hospitality in the community.

Tomorrow is our first day of classes which I am super excited about. I've had an awesome first week going on tours, shopping, meeting people and participating in the kickback events at the university, but I'm ready to get the ball rolling.