The quite before the storm!

The last few days have been pretty quite. Tuesday I got a cell phone from one of the local providers called Digicel. My number is 473-414-2505. I can receive calls and text for free(even from the states). They tried to get me on a deal where on certain nights you can call the states at regular charge($0.90/min) for the first 10 min and then the next 50min are free. I got to thinking about it and was like who the heck am I going to talk to for an hour? No thanks buddy! That afternoon I took my roommate, James, to town to show him two very important points of interest, the store and beach. Wednesday, I got up and went to get registered for classes. They also assigned me a mail box and gave me my financial aid leftover check(I thought I owed them money). Party time!!
Address: Luke Norman, Box 109
St. George's University
P.O. Box 7
University Centre
St. George's Grenada, West Indies
Later that evening I went for a 3 mile run and almost over heated from the humidity. I guess it could have something to do with my lack of running in the last few weeks but I am going to try it again today and hopefully it goes better. Yesterday, I got up and went on a walking tour of the capital, St. George, in the already suffocating heat. We stopped by the fish market and watched the old ladies cutting up and preparing all different types of fish for sale. We then ventured from the relatively unpleasant smells of the fish market to the olfactory mecca, the spice market. For myself it smelled good but did not invoke a lot of interest as I don't cook and therefor have very little use for the spices. I will try and remember to bring some home for everyone to use that enjoying adding spices, other than salt and pepper(Mainly Ryan, Summer, and Sara). We saw some of the major POI in the area such as parliament, major churches destroyed by Ivan, castle where the coop took place in 1983, etc. It was good to see for future yet probably infrequent visits into town. On an aside, if you here me refer to town, assume that I am talking about Grand Anse, which a smaller town really close to campus. When I returned to campus I ran to where we were supposed to pick up our books. I was given 12 books(4 classes) that had to weigh in the area of 65lbs which I then carried over to my dorm. Didn't really feel the need to go to the gym after the walk. Later that day we went on another tour of a nutmeg factory and Concord falls. The factory was pretty interesting but it was really crowded and the guide spoke with a really thick accent. If you weren't really close you couldn't hear very well. However, Concord falls was pretty amazing!! We drove in these buses filled to capacity(30 people) up this very steep, curvy, and narrow road to the where a series of 50-60ft waterfalls were at. At one of the falls you could climb up on a ledge and jump in to the iridescent blue/green water about 20ft below. The pool was very deep and the water nice and cool. When we got back to campus I had to go to some "humanism" workshop. That was a waist of my time as all did was split into small groups and get asked stupid questions. Afterwards I came back to my room, read the book Ma(actually a very interesting read; I have about a 1/4 left) let me borrow and then crashed out for the night. Friday. I woke up pretty late, laid in bed and read until about 10:30(getting sleep while I can) then showered, ate some cereal and headed off to a Substance Abuse workshop. This is ironic due to the fact that at every event hosted by the university, beer is served. Furthermore, there is a full bar on campus! I get to what I think is the workshop, sit down and realize that I was in a Medical Law class. I know I was in the right building(even recognized another first termer) but apparently the class had been canceled(even more funny; actually I think it was postponed) and no emails had been sent out. I appreciate that!! So up to this point I had been pretty disappointed with the administrative side of the school. Just didn't seem like there was a whole lot of organization going on. Later this afternoon I went to the academic orientation from 1-4pm and I was thoroughly impressed with each speaker. Members of IT, Department of educational services(tutor/small group), and stress/time management team all spoke. Very informative and I feel much better now!! Post-orientation I went for about a 3 mile run(much better this time), showered, and then hopped on a bus to the IGA. I grabbed some granola bars, PB(I splurged and got Jiff), bread, milk, guava juice(trying new things), and sandwich meat. I also decided instead of going into my first week with a crick in my neck from sleeping on a couple of beach towels, I would buy a pillow. I don't know how much pillows run but I paid about $14 US for it. Too much? Not sure that I care at this point!