Trip to Roseau
Although I didn't sign up for the tour to Roseau, I decided to cross my fingers that they wouldn't ask for the ticket we should have all received if we did sign up. I was lucky and they didn't care, so off to Roseau I went. The drive was an hour and a half outside of Portsmouth and this road was definitely bumpier than the one from the airport a few days ago. In any case, there were 3 vans full of students and the van I was in decided to breakdown! Yes, it broke down in the middle of the road about 45 minutes into the drive. It was pretty hilarious actually, there was such confusion about what caused it to stop. The drivers started asking students to help or predict what could be wrong. One guy turned to me and said, "We're trying to be doctors, none of us are mechanics or have any idea what to do with a car." Pretty hilarious. We left the van in the middle of the road and those of us that were in the van dispersed throughout the remaining two on our way to Roseau.
We made it to Roseau and the first thing that we see in the marketplace is a massive cruise ship. If I could imagine the Titanic it would like like this ship.
A group of 6 of us walked around the market together and immediately we saw Rituals. It's the Dominica version of Starbucks as you can see by the photo below.
After leaving Roseau, we headed back to campus and rested for a bit before dinner. The meeting spot for dinner has become Tina's grocery store which is a landmark in town. To give directions here it's basically, "make a right at Tina's or when you come to the pink house make a left or one of my favorite's is keep down the main road, you know, the only road in town past the KFC." We decided to go to Champs for dinner that night and for Romilda, Ripsy and I, it was our first venture. This guy named Jake, whom I met on the plane ride to Dominica is absolutely hilarious, he had been to Champs the night before but obviously was not paying much attention to the direction of the place. We got lost a few times but finally made it up the enormous hill, no really it was a baby mountain and arrived at the decorative restaurant/bar. We walked in and noticed some other students we had met previously. They recommended the Tropical Burger, so we all jumped on it.
They joined us, a guy named G.P. and Duod, funny thing is Duod completed his Post-Bacc at Berkeley as well. It was great to meet another East Bay person. We all talked for hours about our ambitions towards medicine and what we hope to get out of Ross. Jake told us about a business endeavor that all of us should bid on (it will remain disclosed because of verbal binding agreements we promised to one another last night;) and we all practically laughed all night. They all now know about my MJ obsession, seeing "Human Nature, Billie Jean, AND Thriller" played while we were there. Probably, not a good thing to tell people especially when they then expect you to show dance moves. It was a great first experience at Champs, with great company, plus the view was fantastic.
When we were getting ready to leave we were approached by the woman that owns Champs, she is originally from Holland and has some cuisine on the menu that reflects this. She informed us of the New Year's party that will be happening tomorrow evening at Champs and most students will be attending. The only problem that we saw was the price 100 EC or $50.00, which is a bit much so we decided we would come up with alternative plan in case we can sneak ourselves in. However, you all know how I talk my way in and out of things, so I spoke to our waiter, Ike, about pulling some strings so we didn't have to pay as much and it worked! He told us all to get to Champs tomorrow by 10 p.m. and he would get us in and even have a champagne toast (with a countdown Jeano!:) at midnight for only 20 EC or $10.00, which is great! We were all really excited to hear that, so we shall see what happens...
There is a shuttle that comes back and forth to Champs (due to the baby mountain) for students, so we decided to take advantage of that on the way down last night. It was a sight to see all of us squeeze into this tiny four-runner, 5 of us in the backseat, one in the passenger seat, and the other in the trunk! Did I mention in the previous posts about Dominican's driving on the left side of the road?? Well, in case I didn't, they do! Quite the ride home, let me tell you. I told the group about a club near my house and we checked it out, yet there was no one there but a few locals listening to some Aventura. They were really nice and one person introduced us to this guy named Ron, who is the go-to person for lobster, shrimp, crab, and more! We concluded the night with a walk back to my apartment, since it was late that evening we had the entire group go on a walk to Glanvillia. I guess my apartment is as nice as I thought because all of my friends started raving about my queen sized bed, how huge the space was and amazed that I had already decorated, but you know me...I don't mess around with putting up my photos and whatnot. ;)
We made it to Roseau and the first thing that we see in the marketplace is a massive cruise ship. If I could imagine the Titanic it would like like this ship.
We were able to eat a great meal at a place called Pearl's and have some fresh juices from all over the island. They have at least 14 different types of mangos, that gives you an idea of how amazing the produce selection is. The meal consisted of baked chicken, salad, rice/beans, sweet potato, a type of fruit called dwalla (sp?) and salad.
However, after saying that, what you should also know is the cost of food here is pretty expensive. I know that I will be eating a lot of pasta, which as Ashley has already told me shouldn't be any different than what I'm used to ;) But seeing that many things are imported to Dominica the cost of purchasing foods and products are very costly thus for the people to make any kind of profit they have to sell it for sometimes twice as much as in the U.S. It will be a challenge but I think I should get by just fine. There are some new friends of mine that have decided we will try to have potlucks every week at each of our apartments to minimize the cost of food.
After leaving Roseau, we headed back to campus and rested for a bit before dinner. The meeting spot for dinner has become Tina's grocery store which is a landmark in town. To give directions here it's basically, "make a right at Tina's or when you come to the pink house make a left or one of my favorite's is keep down the main road, you know, the only road in town past the KFC." We decided to go to Champs for dinner that night and for Romilda, Ripsy and I, it was our first venture. This guy named Jake, whom I met on the plane ride to Dominica is absolutely hilarious, he had been to Champs the night before but obviously was not paying much attention to the direction of the place. We got lost a few times but finally made it up the enormous hill, no really it was a baby mountain and arrived at the decorative restaurant/bar. We walked in and noticed some other students we had met previously. They recommended the Tropical Burger, so we all jumped on it.
They joined us, a guy named G.P. and Duod, funny thing is Duod completed his Post-Bacc at Berkeley as well. It was great to meet another East Bay person. We all talked for hours about our ambitions towards medicine and what we hope to get out of Ross. Jake told us about a business endeavor that all of us should bid on (it will remain disclosed because of verbal binding agreements we promised to one another last night;) and we all practically laughed all night. They all now know about my MJ obsession, seeing "Human Nature, Billie Jean, AND Thriller" played while we were there. Probably, not a good thing to tell people especially when they then expect you to show dance moves. It was a great first experience at Champs, with great company, plus the view was fantastic.
When we were getting ready to leave we were approached by the woman that owns Champs, she is originally from Holland and has some cuisine on the menu that reflects this. She informed us of the New Year's party that will be happening tomorrow evening at Champs and most students will be attending. The only problem that we saw was the price 100 EC or $50.00, which is a bit much so we decided we would come up with alternative plan in case we can sneak ourselves in. However, you all know how I talk my way in and out of things, so I spoke to our waiter, Ike, about pulling some strings so we didn't have to pay as much and it worked! He told us all to get to Champs tomorrow by 10 p.m. and he would get us in and even have a champagne toast (with a countdown Jeano!:) at midnight for only 20 EC or $10.00, which is great! We were all really excited to hear that, so we shall see what happens...
There is a shuttle that comes back and forth to Champs (due to the baby mountain) for students, so we decided to take advantage of that on the way down last night. It was a sight to see all of us squeeze into this tiny four-runner, 5 of us in the backseat, one in the passenger seat, and the other in the trunk! Did I mention in the previous posts about Dominican's driving on the left side of the road?? Well, in case I didn't, they do! Quite the ride home, let me tell you. I told the group about a club near my house and we checked it out, yet there was no one there but a few locals listening to some Aventura. They were really nice and one person introduced us to this guy named Ron, who is the go-to person for lobster, shrimp, crab, and more! We concluded the night with a walk back to my apartment, since it was late that evening we had the entire group go on a walk to Glanvillia. I guess my apartment is as nice as I thought because all of my friends started raving about my queen sized bed, how huge the space was and amazed that I had already decorated, but you know me...I don't mess around with putting up my photos and whatnot. ;)
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