Read Through

9/28/12

One of the hardest things to do this summer in terms of preparing for my medical school adventure was remotely finding, choosing, and then arranging for an apartment on the island! On the evening the housing database opened  (using some wonderful friends' fast internet at 12:00AM) I searched, sifted, and evaluated the options. I was looking for a place under $600 USD/month which had things like water, furniture, pots and pans, and most important to me, a backup generator. After requesting several leases, I saw a post on the school's facebook group about a place that I had never heard of, but had everything I was looking for and was only a 10 minute walk from school. 

Home (away from home)! You can barely see my place here, but it is the house with the red roof near the center of the photo, behind the bright green building. (It is actually really hard to get a picture of the outside of the place; in the front yard there is a steep hill and at the edge are tall bushes and a palm tree, and from the road there are other buildings and trees in the way!) There were no pictures to go off of online when I was looking for a place, nor any real description of where the place was in relation to the school. As you can see from here, and here is already a hill from the school, my place is up quite a ways. It really is only about a 10 minute walk, but with groceries, a full school bag, and whatever else, it really can be trip. At least when I get home I'll be in really great shape!

Here is another shot of my place. The big building in the front is called Avies. It's a pretty nice place, but rather hotel-ish in my opinion. Mine is much more homey. And the view, but we'll get to that later!

There are, I believe, three student apartments in my house--another single apartment and a double. Luckily I got the great view (that wasn't included on the advertisement somehow! I just chose the top floor because I hoped it would be less buggy!), but I have a housemate who lives in the other single who is really nice. From Canada, we have quickly become walking buddies if we have to go anywhere. There is also a Dominican family that lives on the second flood (again, I believe! I haven't actually seen them up there, but I have seen them around) and Dominicans who live in the neighboring houses. The two room is currently empty, though I did just talk to two guys who might move in. I am thinking of staying here next semester. The worst part here is the mosquitoes, but I think I can get some new screens and hopefully some anti-mosquito candles to help with that!

I also really like my landlord. He is actually an ambassador (currently traveling with the Prime Minister in the US) for Dominica which is pretty cool! He has travelled all over the world; I have really enjoyed talking to him when I see him. I am definitely looking forward to learning more about the government and policies here from him!

 My place is a one bedroom apartment; I've got my own kitchen/living area, bedroom and bathroom. You can just see my (propane) stove in the corner. I actually think my place is really cute, the red and white theme is really nice. And actually perfect! At home I have a few red and white and brown Firefly posters, definitely going to bring those down on my next trip! I like to study in this room because of the breeze. I usually leave the door to the patio open if I'm home during the day. It's not too mosquitoey until it gets near dusk, and I've been getting better about closing the place up at night!

The best part. A big patio and my ocean view. 

 

Stepping into my bedroom...this is where I spend the majority of my time. Admittedly at first the mirror was slightly distracting but I've pretty much made this my home base!

0, 0, 0. I really have been finding that I do my most productive studying at home, so I'm here a lot!

The  rest of my bedorom. I really do like the theme, but my pale green sheets don't exactly go with it. It's not too bad though, maybe if it cools down I can pull out my cream blanket. (Strangely, 75/80 degrees at night is starting to feel cool to me! Definitely cooler than some of the almost 100 degree days!) The colors are definitely perfect for Firefly posters though! My room is almost never this clean and my bed is rarely made, but this was taken on a day the maid came. It's almost impossible to get a place here that doesn't come with an included maid service. I actually wasn't aware mine did until I came home one day to find the place sparkling. It is definitely a little strange, I really don't mind doing my own dishes and sweeping and all that, but I can't say that it isn't nice to come home to find the place all tidy! It definitely is different though. Laundry is essentially done the same way, there aren't laudromats in the typical sense here. Instead, you call someone who will pick your things up in the morning, do the laundry, fold your clothes, and drop them back off in the evening! Another thing that I am certainly not used to, but can't complain about!

That's it for now, I'll write more soon! Have a great weekend everyone!