Thread: My take on Xavier Aruba,

Well I made it to this Island, I haven't posted anything because I have been swamped with studying. Thus another reason why many current Xavier students dont come on valuemd to often.

This school facilities are nice, and the teachers are actually good. Alot of the teachers make thier classes boards oriented. And that is most important thing. One thing I didnt know when I got here was, that there is an exit exam that we must take before leave to atlanta for clinicals.

Immigration is still a huge problem, and it doesnt seem like its going anywhere. One of our teachers didnt even come back to the island yet because of this problem.

The island itself pretty much sucks. If your here on vacation, then its absolutely amazing. But if your living here, A. you wont have time to enjoy the great things, B. Everything is expensive and C. the living standards suck. There is no such thing as hot water on this island, infact its rare to find housing with hot water. The best time to take a shower is when the sun is out shining bright, it warms the water pipes up. Alot of the apartments are way over priced, and I honestly believe that the students are targeted here big time for thier dollars. Can you find decent housing at a decent price, yes you can, but you have to look for it. I ended up living at Punto Di Oro, owned by this money hungry enterprenuir by the name of *****. His places are really nice, but way to expensive, I took the place because I am here only for 3 and half months, and I was sick paying the hotel. But I do plan on moving out asap. He will charge for every lil thing. Since I am here for a short time, he included plates, pots, pans and ect..for an extra charge, internet is an extra charge, and to top it off utilities are included up to the 100 dollars. He also owns a car rental, and he rents to the students at an overpriced charge of 400 dollars month ONLY if you sign a 1 year contract. If not then 450 a month. Yes a car is necesarry here, if you take cab back and forth it adds, and they also charge in dollars. I recommend that you go to a Surinami indian guy named ******, he is honest, trustworthy and will work out a great deal for you on his cars. Lets just say you will be paying alot less than 400 dollars a month. No the cars are not brand new, they are strictly point A to point B cars with working AC. And thats all you really need. And another tip,,,the housing guys here, they are gonna send you to the expensive places, where most likely they get a kick back.

As for food, well there are alot of options, there is everysingle rest imaginable here, and they are allover the place. But again it adds up. So your better off doing grocery shoping which is also expensive and making ur own packed lunch. As for the desi people reading this, you can actually buy desi spices, shaan masala packs, and what not at the grocery store,,,even daal. LOl they have a few indian rest here, they offer student specials, at the price of about 10 florins.

Speaking of florins, most students bring down thier atm card and take money out from the RBTT atms, becaue they dont have an extra charge. I opened an account with RBTT so I can money wired in, I lost my ATM card. So anyways alot of students go to CMB bank, I chose RBTT because A. all the banks here automatically convert your dollars to florins, B. RBTT changes it at the rate 1.77 and CMB at the rate of 1.75, and both banks sell dollars at 1.8. So i chose RBTT for the better rate. Now this sucks, because I am depositing dollars, so when i want to take my dollars out, I HAVE TO BUY THEM BACK. That is complete crap and the lady tells me this is aruba, we have florins here, so everything is in florins. Okay sure thats why everywhere you go, you get charged dollars, and people even give you ur change back in dollars, infact this country runs on the dollar. I was really bothered by it, but again its thier country not mine.

As for the most important thing, the school is a good school. Its run profesionally. Actually its run like a corporation literally. They are very student freindly and willing to help you. The school is planning on doing some big things this year. Dr. ***** (majority owner of school, and runs the atlanta GMC group) spoke to us and told us that they plan on a new building, they are gonna also plan on a big marketing and informative stratagy to make off shore medical school more of a common and acceapted thing amongst the American medical community. And he sounds like he is on to some big things. He plans on getting this school recognition, and aims at trying to become the number one school in the caribeans. Is it possible??? yes it if you play your cards right. From what I see this administration is awesome.