Seconds Semester, Block 1... CHECK!

Well, it has been a while since my last post, and rightfully so! Second semester is MUCH more busy than first semester! Having 4 classes (even though 1 of them is more or less a blow off class), as compared to 2 is quite a change! The extra time that I had last semester do a lot of stuff is not there anymore because in order to keep from falling behind, I have to put in more hours for the extra class-load!

We had our exams last Monday (3 big exams in one day is BRUTAL). And I'm sure next semester will be even worse! I passed all 3... not necessarily with flying colors, but I passed nonetheless. Our class hasn't faired great so far this semester, but it was just the first block. Gotta learn how the profs test and what not, so hopefully it isn't a lost cause for a lot of ppl. We started the semester with 67 people from our original class of 102. Before exams, we dropped down to 62 in every class and there have been several who are in a big hole after one exam and will end up dropping a class. That puts us sub-60! YIKES!

This weekend was a good weekend to relax for me! I went scuba diving on Saturday morning and we went to some of the best dive sites on Saba, called The Pinnacles, which are large rock formations that start about 1,000 ft below the surface and come up to about 100 ft. below. It was my first deep water dive and it was really cool! We could only stay on the bottom for about 15 mins to avoid having to decompress due to Nitrogen buildup, but it was still really neat! We dove at Third Encounter and then at Man Of War Shoals (about 80 ft deep). It was awesome... got to see a lot of cool fish and really colorful coral! We saw a nurse shark and some other people on our dive saw a Caribbean Reef Shark and a Black Tip shark, but I wasn't fortunate enough to see it!

Well, its been a long few weeks with all kinds of stuff going on, but like I said, I don't have a lot of free time and all the time I had this weekend was taken by Scuba and an SGA activity last night, so I'm behind on my studies!

OH, real quick, my scooter is STILL NOT HERE!!! I'm about to flip out because it was supposed to be here almost 2 weeks ago, but because of the hurricane and the lack of a work ethic by some of the people around SXM, it still isn't here. I got word that it is now on Statia (1 island closer) and should be here tomorrow (Monday). But I'm not holding my breath... I just REALLY want my own form of transportation so that I don't have to wait on the buses that drive me crazy a lot of times! I'll keep you updated on the scooter progress and have some pics once I get it!

The Hurricane Saga

Whew! It has been a LONG 5 days of travel! It all started on Saturday evening (Aug. 28th), when I left Fort Smith for DFW. Spent the night in Dallas and got to see a good friend one last time before she gets married.

Following a very short night of sleep, I arrived at DFW airport around 4:15am to check in for my flight to St. Maarten. I'm pretty sure I scared a newlywed couple in the airport that morning too. They made a comment that they were going to Anguilla thru St. Maarten. And I looked at them and said I hope that we can make it to St. Maarten because of the hurricane... At which time they look at each other and say "Hurricane??" HAHA! Oops... hate to break it to ya, but yes, there is a category 1 (soon to be category 3) hurricane headed straight for St. Maarten.

So, I make my flight to St. Maarten and the boat from St. Maarten to Saba has been postponed until further notice. Little did I know that "until further notice" meant tonight (Wednesday, Sept 1).

For the last 4 days I have been sitting in a hotel room watching Shrek 2 and Garfield on the hotel TV. They barricaded the doors so we could not leave the hotel and posted security guards everywhere! Riding out the Hurricane, which was a Category 3 by the time it was pulling out, was fun. I have some cool pictures and video that I will post once I get to Saba and have some decent internet.

After the worst of Earl leaves and we are doing just fine, that is when the power decided to go out. We lost it over 3 times that day with intervals of about 1,2 and 3 hours long respectively. The worst part was not having air conditioning because it was sooo hot in the room that I was sweating just sitting in the room talking. We had fun playing games by candlelight tho!

So, Earl is gone.. we are ready to leave and surprise, here comes Tropical Storm Fiona right behind Earl. It keeps the Dawn II from making a trip to pick us up, but luckily she wasn't bad at all and the boat is making a trip tonight!

This trip back to school has been fun, overwhelming, exhausting, relaxing, hot, boring, exciting, and hopefully will soon be OVER!

Pictures to come soon!