I'm here.

[DonnieMD2B]

OK everyone, I am now here and love it. To start, getting here is rough if you go through San Juan. Avoid it with all costs. I took the ferry. Wasn't as bad as most say. You'll get a little wet so just have a rain coat with you. Classes started on the 3rd after orientation on the 2nd. Classes are not easy. Yes you will have to study. I study quite a bit. More than i ever have before. Today we started dissecting the cadavers and that was great. Everything you cover in lecture for anatomy comes together during your lab. I am extremely pleased with my choice to come here. I spent a night in Saint Maarten and met some AUC students. They were very nice. I didn't like Saint maarten at all, so even more pleased i made the choice to come here. We had the first semester party which is where you eat and mingle with everyone after the first week. Hung out with a lot of the upper semester students. Anyway.... The grocery stores are great. The meats we have found to be cheaper here than in the states and it taste great. We bought apples from Washington state and they weren't even that much more expensive. Everything you need is in the store and even a lot of what you want will be there. There is no fast food. And who would want it after eating at the local resturants. Its great. Huge portions mostly. The best Chinese food I have ever had. One of the best lasagna's i have ever had. Fresh baked bread daily. The grocery store delivers to your doorstep. There is even a pizza delivery place with pretty good pizza too. This weekend during a study break, i went over to windward side and used the atm without a problem. Then did a little shopping. hitched a ride there and back. The first hitch was an interesting one....in the back of a truck. Great views wish i had brought my camera. Was able to see Eustatias and St. Maarten. Then on the way back, hitched a ride in a van...not so exciting. The locals a extremely nice. Everyone for the most part says hello as you walk by them on the streets. People are very interested in finding out where people are from etc... Most know you are a student. Anyway, this has been a long post and I am going to wrap up but as I think about more things to add, I will be sure to post. Since i have only been here almost 2 weeks, i felt it was necessary to go ahead and give everyone a comforting hello and calm any uncertainties that most have. I know I used valuemd a lot to prepare for the move and i feel it is only necessary to pay it forward. talk to you guys soon.

[gianefiasco]

wow. great post. thank you so much for sharing. I got excited just reading it for my chance to get on the island and see what its like. Im starting in may. Please write more about your experience whewnever you get a chance!!:D

[TO*MD]

Nice post, much appreciated. What is the deal with travelling through San Juan? Also, is it safe for females to hitchhike from what you know..I read a post a while back that said that the local men can be a little extra, what is your take on that?

Thanks again, nice to see you are adjusting so well. I hope you plan on writing more in the future.

[miasma]

nice post. see you in sept!

[BTH]

Salutations "TO*MD":

Many of my female classmates have not had any problems whatsoever hitching a ride to and from Windwarside. They have not had any unpleasant experiences thus far. Of course, having said that, you should still use precaution. At night, make sure you go with someone. Otherwise, there have not been any unpleasantness about this situation that I have heard of. Ciao.

[TO*MD]

Thank you BTH.

[sabaspouse2006]

Nice post, much appreciated. What is the deal with travelling through San Juan? Also, is it safe for females to hitchhike from what you know..I read a post a while back that said that the local men can be a little extra, what is your take on that?


I've also been here two weeks today. When I have a little more time, I'll post a spouse's perspective.....but I wanted to comment on the men. It took me a few days to put my finger on what it was that was different here.

In my opinion, *everyone* on this island is incredibly friendly. Almost to the point that it gets tiring. :) The level of friendliness is the same for men as women, young and old. I think that normally the level of friendliness from a man would be definitely considered flirting in Canada. Here in Saba, it isn't flirting as far as I can tell, but I can see how some might consider it like that.

As I said, I've only been here two weeks and it is just my opinion, but I see people all being treated equally friendly. Just in my city at home, a man being that friendly would be seen as very flirtatious.

R/

[DonnieMD2B]

I havn't heard of anyone having any problem. While they may flirt, I see that they do show respect at the same time. I can only speak from 2 weeks experience as well. But I havn't heard of anyone have problems. in fact, just this weekend, there was a girl hitching a ride alone. saw her at school this week and she was fine. About San Juan...its just very slow. My flight was almost 2 hours late leaving for St. Maarten. So if you are stuck going through San Juan, make sure that you allow yourself plenty of time if you have a flight to saba that same day. Also, I took the edge over. It was nice. There is another ferry that travels at different times than the edge so you may want to check that out. I am not sure of the name of the company. If someone else knows it, I am sure they would be very kind to share. I will try to do some research for it as well. Not sure but I think my next post may not be until next week at the earliest. Lots of Anatomy to study. Not to mention histo. First block exams are next week so everyone seems to be getting anxious since we have just had the largest amount of information thrown at us at once. But we are all trying hard and should do fine. Thats it for now.
Donnie

[TO*MD]

Thank you sabaspouse2006 for a female perspective, I can handle friendly. Hopfully I'll be less sceptical as time passes.

DonnieMD2B, thank you again. Best of luck with the exams, I studied Podiatry before applying to Saba and we all felt the same way about anatomy. I look forward to your next post.

[Hoirch]

As my quadmate Donnie has said in his previous posts, this place is great. The school is excellent, the professors know their stuff, the other students are great, and the island is amazing. Do not get worked up about posts saying that there is a lack of essentials here on the island. I had a bunch of granola bars and other stuff sent down, and I went to the store and everything was there. I think I have seen 5 chickens and about 10 goats since I've been here. The only thing you have to get used to is studying every night, and getting used to "island time". Almost everything seems to be closed b/w 12 and 2 pm. And even when things are open, people here move at a much slower pace. If you're not in a rush than it doesn't matter. But when you're rying to get groceries before the store closes and anatomy lecture is starting in 5 minutes, then you get pretty rushed. Some places don't even open somedays for any paticular reason. Anyway, I've only been here 2 weeks and I'm already used to it. It's a great place to study and it has exceeded all my expectations. Well, later folks,

Hoirch

[sabaspouse2006]

I havn't heard of anyone having any problem. While they may flirt, I see that they do show respect at the same time.

I just wanted to clarify that I do not think that the men actually *are* flirting, just that is how the friendliness would be perceived back home. It does take an adjustment to exactly how friendly everyone is here. I think it would be easy to misunderstand someone's intentions here (ie. assume they are flirting when it is simple friendliness). Hope that makes my view clear as mud. LOL.

R/