A Barracuda named George

The first day of orientation and we were non stop all day long. Sharon (our Orientation Leader) was on top of everything! First off was handing in paper work and getting fit for our white coats. Come Monday at 4 I will be at my white coat ceremony, where I will be fully inducted into the Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine. Getting fitted for my white coat felt so good, like all the hard work I did throughout high school and undergrad was this, for the moment that I am inducted and I become a real vet med student.

The rest of the day and week was filled with various lectures titled "Welcome to St. Kitts" or "Welcome to Ross" pretty much going over the same info that we all got as undergrads. The whole message was you are here for school, but enjoy the island as well. The safety and security lecture told us to pretty much never leave our apartments accept for class or at least they made it seem that way between the break ins that have occurred and the "killer centipedes". Really what it comes down to is just make sure you use your common sense and you are a visitor to this county so embrace it. Well that is just what I did...

One day was an Island tour where we drove around the whole outer edge of the Island learning about the history of ther Island well at least through our drivers (Proper Ting) eyes. We first visited Romney Manor to see Caribelle Batik preformed which is an ancient indonesian process of dying cloth and making patterns by setting wax on areas of the cloth so that it resists the dye. This is done over and over to dye certain areas a specific color. The end product is beautiful! We also went to an old British fort, Brimstone Hill fortress which was high enough that you could see the entire Northern Shoreline it was amazingly beautiful. The rest of the tour consisted of a few more scenic areas and some made up history by Jermaine and Phil.

Later on in the week an OL was looking for anyone who was open water SCUBA certified to go on a night dive. As soon as I heard the word SCUBA I was in! I had never been on a night dive before so I was excited and a little nervous all at the same time. We headed out of Port Zante on the "Lady Peggy" just at sunset. The air was so warm and smelled like that "Tropical Fresh" scent you can find in laundry detergent, but even better. We stopped at the wreck site the River Taw. After a quick review session and when we finished gearing up we were ready to go.

When I first jumped in the water it felt like I was descending into the black abyss. It was a bit nerve racking. Once we were all the bottom and all had our flash lights on it really wasn't that bad...well as long as you didn't think about the black abyss that surrounded us from all angles of our circle of light. It was one of the most most amazing dives ever.

I saw 6 sea turtles (both green and hawksbills), multiple lobsters, multiple sea cucumbers, multiple species of small fish, an octopus, a sting ray, a puffer fish, and a friendly barracuda named George who liked to follow our lights in order to catch fish we spotted. He definitely startled me a few times as he zoomed by my head. At the end of the dive we all gathered in a circle, turned off our lights, and waved our arms in order to stimulate the bio luminescence of the plankton. It was like watching fireflies under water.

The rest of the week was filled with shopping, dinners (anything from local food to fine french cuisine) beaches, parties and a catamaran trip around the Island. All of it was amazing and just felt like I was on vacation. Once classes started I was rudely awakened from my vacation daze.