Week 3: 8/21-8/28

With classes pretty much in full swing now, I'm really starting to get acclimated to campus and I've even been able to explore a bit more of the island.

This week, I went grocery shopping in Charlotte Amalie and got to see all of the students in the surrounding high schools be dismissed from classes whilst waiting for the safari back to campus. I got the opportunity to talk to some of them about the differences between school here and in the states, one of them being that they are required to wear uniforms even at public schools. I've been leaning into my interest in portrait photography, and some of the students allowed me to take some photos of them with my disposable which I'm excited to get developed.

I also got to check out a cool little coffee shop/cafe across from the Havensight Mall called Barefoot Buddha. It was so nice to finally get my iced matcha latte, I love coffee shops and I'm a barista back in Columbia near UofSC, so it was like a little slice of home. I'm planning on heading back there tomorrow for my morning coffee and to get some homework done.

I also got the chance to go to a highly recommended tequila bar/taqueira this weekend called Agave in Redhook. The food and drinks were definitely a 10/10 and I loved the atmosphere.

This weekend, some friends and I took the ferry to St. John where we went to Maho Bay and got to go snorkeling and paddle boarding amongst the starfish. We also went shopping around the island and stopped at a local brewery for some beer and ice cream.

Since we passed it on the way to St. John, the topic of the day was Epstein's Island - also known as Little St. James - so when we got back from the beach, we all settled in, cooked a pasta dinner and watched the Jeffrey Epstein docu-series on Netflix. Kind of a dark ending to such an elated day, but nonetheless informative (haha) and I had a wonderful time bonding with some of the girls here and meeting new people.

Overall, it was a pretty eventful week. One thing that has surprised me about my experience thus far is how quickly I've moved through the four H's of cross-cultural adjustment. With encountering one stage a week, I can confidently say I'm in the Humor phase now. I'm expecting this stage to probably last a bit longer than the others, but there have been many things about this trip that have defied my expectations thus far, so I'll check back in next week to let you guys know how it's coming along! Have a great week everyone :)