Day 14 & 15 - AZ

So here it is, the project I've been spending my weekend working on. The entire project is going to take more than just one weekend, but at least from here on out the apartment will not look like a tornado just came through :P
Taking a look out how things were organized in the apartment, and all of the things we've accumulated (mostly I, Adam does pretty good, but I have just a touch of hoarder in me :P ), both Adam and I were in agreeance that it was high time to de-junk and make the place look like more than just piles of stuff. So, with the end goal to make our home look more like the neat and unified in design/style hotels we've stayed at on our vacations, I set to work by first determining what furniture stays, where it will stay, and what goes. In addition to that, also picking up a couple new pieces of furniture that work more appropriately for our space, and match more with the current style for each room. After dealing with the furniture came dealing with the piles of stuff the needed to go on them, along with sorting through said stuff to determine what actually was of use keeping and what could go. Of course, that process is what will take the next few weekends to do. Now, for some before and after pics :)

Living Room Before

Piles of stuff

Here's some new shelves that are a better size for everything in the living room... but I think there's something I can do with the bottom posts for the cat...

I've still got leftover sisal rope from making her first cat tree, so what better use than to make the bottom of these new shelves into many scratching posts. Hinata liked the idea too :P

Taking a break having a movie night with Adam... Hinata didn't last through the movie, such hard work for a kitty playing and exploring with all the new furniture and piles of things on the floor.

Albeit she was more than happy to wake me up in the morning :P

And here we have a few pictures of the new bedroom! Still need to better organize the items on the bookshelves, finally get some actual curtains, etc. But for now at least the room is functional again...

Instead of just having the TV on a TV stand, I decided to replace it with my desk, and now have a nice little study area in the room too :)

While playing with piles of stuff on the floor was fun, Hinata missed having open floor, especially for her late night races from one end of the apartment to the other :P

And here we have the living room. Don't mind the pile of drawers that goes to a bookshelf... Unfortunately, while it was a super nice bookshelf (thank you Jayme!), it ended up being too big and never really having a place that it fit. However, it does have a new home, and will be getting there sometime... eventually :P

So there you have it, that's what I've been up to these past couple of days. Also, I got my textbooks in, so I'm good to go in that department for class. Even more exciting, the lightrail extension that has a stop just down the street from here opened up and started running yesterday!!! I also discovered that it runs early enough that, with my current work location, I can ride it to and from work as well :D

Also, just so you all don't get worried, Adam has been doing well in Grenada. Classes have been going full speed ahead this last week, so he's been pretty busy going to class and studying. So far he's doing excellent in class and staying on top of his school work. While he hasn't had much time to blog and keep you all updated, he is still around and doing well. We'll get a blog post from him eventually, but for now he's focusing on the important parts of his stay in Grenada, and that takes up pretty much all of his time.

Day 13 - AZ

First day of school! Stayed up a bit last night getting everything all sorted out and ready to go. Skimmed over class syllabuses, announcements and emails, and got my binder all ready for the first day. The next order of business was books. Looking at each syllabus and what was listed as needed, from the ASU bookstore, would run me a grand total of almost $1000! So needless to say I've been spending my time finding cheaper sources. Thank you again Ryan for recommending addall.com to me those several years ago, it made the search so much easier. Combining used sales and renting the books that I really don't need/want to keep (like a book of medical terminology or case studies being used more as a supplemental resource in the class), I was able to whittle that $1k down to a more reasonable, albeit still pricey, $260. :D

All prepped and ready for school, my day began as normal, getting ready and leaving early in the morning for work, albeit today I started being considered a part time sub due to classes causing me to not be able to work full days everyday. Work of course had to be busy with a lot of the usual busywork, just all clustered together in one day. So it was hard leaving early to go to class, knowing that I would be leaving the rest of the crew to finish the craziness of the day on they're own, but luckily I have an amazing crew that's able to manage. Even still... I think they've earned some donuts for their work today :)

While on the lightrail I realized how much time I'd be spending getting to and from class over the next couple years. About 1.5 hours every school day, about 3 days a week. That comes out to be 4.5 hours a week that I can spend catching up on my leisure reading! Ok, in all likelyhood I'll be spending chunks of it reading course material, but still, it'll be nice to have some solid reading time again.

Classes went pretty standard for the first week of school. Class syllabus review, getting to know the instructors a little bit, and some of my classmates. In one of my classes we'll be forming up in to groups for the whole semester to work on our case studies, so that'll be exciting. All in all a pretty good first day at class.

In other news, I've been working on finding part time work to make up for the cut in hours from my old job due to schooling. Thanks to Adam, I've had a pretty nice in for getting a position as tutor at MCC, and on my way to class I got called in for an interview tomorrow! Hopefully I'll be able to get the position, as the hours and job itself are amazing for going to school. Thank you Adam for being such a good tutor while you were there and putting in a good word for me! :D

Now the hour grows late, and it's time for me to head off to sleep before heading to work for Friday. Unfortunately I did not think to take any pictures for this blog post, so it'll just have to be plain text... but I am planning on working on a project this weekend, and I will for sure have more pictures for that! Until next time! :D

Day 12

Hey everybody! It has been a few days, sorry for the delay in posting. Classes are great. Interesting stuff. I am glad I had to take the MSAP (medical school assessment program) this summer because a lot of material learned there is being covered here. I have already had 12 lectures, 1 lab, and 2 supplementary lectures and it has only been 72 hours! lol

Tomorrow I have my first anatomy lab. I bought some scrubs today! Brad helped me pick the color.

View from near the lecture hall on the first day of school.

Just as a side note! I am so excited for this movie. The book was amazing.

Martian Trailer

Back to studying!

Day 11 - AZ

Hello again all! Thought I'd give you an update on how things have been going back here at home.

I've been keeping pretty busy getting everything started up and work for the school year, and have had a pretty good first week all things considered. As tends to be the case when working out of a new kitchen, there were a few kinks at the start, but they've all been hammered out, and we're up and running pretty smoothly now. As for at home, I've been taking the opportunity of having a lot of stuff pulled out from the packing for Grenada to pull out even more stuff. Yes, it's pretty messy here right now, but the mess seems to be a natural consequence of de-junking and organizing. So in the end the mess will result in everything being much nicer :)

I'll be starting school back up this Thursday, so pretty soon both Adam and I will both be nose deep in books studying (though I have a feeling he will be more so than I :P ). It's been a while since I've been to school, and so getting school supplies has been kind of fun this time around. I even have my UPass all ready for the lightrail, and hopefully they'll be running all the way out to the stop by the apartment before too long. I was excited to see they were testing again just the other day.

In addition to life keeping me busy, I've also had family to keep me company and busy as well. Just this last weekend I went for dinner with Adam's Mom over to her brothers place, and the weekend before was family dinner with my parents.

Some yummy homemade tacos from dinner:

So overall, things are pretty same-old same-old keeping busy with work, but about to get new and exciting going back to school to finish my degree. :)

P.S. I just booked my first trip to Grenada to visit! So excited!!!! :D

Day 9

The waves were really crashing this AM.

Today was Grand Etang tour provided by school. The 4 hour tour left the campus and travels up to Grand Etang Lake. We then visited some waterfalls. Overall it was really fun.

This is a time lapse made by the school to Grand Etang

Waiting for the bus to leave.

View back towards Grand Anse Beach

Up in the mountains

Awesome foliage

Looking back towards the airport with campus on the left

Cool house at the entrance of Grand Etang park

Grand Etang Lake with tons of students making there way to the lake

Panoramic view

Pretty gazebo

Lots of students. There were 6 buses.

Hiking a trail back to the buses through the forest. Luckily there is absolutely nothing poisonous on the island haha

Lots of cool flowers

It looks like it is on fire

This is the first flower I saw on the way to the waterfall, Annandale Falls which was our next stop

And here are the actual fall. Lots of students were jumping in.

We paid 5 EC for a coconut. It was amazing

Then after we were done with the coconut water the vendor broke it open so that we could eat the flesh. Very tasty

This guy had a pet monkey. This is a mona monkey and is a species which was brought over from Africa on slave ships. They now populate the island.

This isn't my video but it gives you an idea about the monkey

Day 8

Hey everybody! More meetings yesterday but they were really beneficial. Each class this semester presented their syllabi and schedules. Look at the first week's material!

Pretty hefty but very exciting.

Last night Morgan and I went to that BBQ place again and got pizza. It was really good! It had great dough and fresh toppings.

Sunset last night.

On the way to Grand Anse area the driver had to stop for some gas.

This AM Morgan and I went into St. George's proper to see the fish, spice, and meat markets.

This is a view up towards the front gate. This is also the school bus terminal where you can catch a bus to the various neighborhoods around campus. We caught the Grand Anse bus.

We then caught a municipal bus into St. George's. Our first stop was the central mall so that I could pick up some cash from Western Union. After a huge fiasco, and a lot of patience and effort on Jared's end, I was finally able to get some cash!

Near the mall we met up with a very friendly local tour guide. He showed us the fish, spice, and meat markets. He also showed us great places to shop for supplies and groceries. The local Grenadians shop at these places so they're not very "touristy." This translates to much better prices than the local grocery store.

This is a picture from the spice market. The bright orange thing on the right is what chocolate comes from! You shake it and can hear the pods inside.

Morgan, our tour guide, and "second momma" (the local expert on all spices)

No wonder it is called the Island of Spice. Look at that jar of cinnamon on the left haha

Our tour guide then took us to the fish market. They were really friendly there and wanted us to take pictures of their catch.

When you buy the fish you can have them cut it up for you for a little extra fee. They also put it on ice for the transfer home. 

Mahi Mahi!

Our tour guide then took us up to Fort George. I highly recommend you look at the history regarding the fort and the events surrounding the communist coup. Grenadians really look up to Americans for what was done to help them secure their democracy.

Fort George

The 1983 Coup

The US Invasion of the island

A view from the fort towards Grand Anse Beach

A view towards St. George's Proper and the markets

Pirates of the Caribbean!!!

A view of the harbor

Just beautiful and so blue! Grand Anse beach is just below the hills in the distance.

Another view of the harbor

Our tour guide

Morgan walking through the outer wall of the fort into the courtyard where Maurice Bishop was assassinated.

There are many tunnels throughout the fort leading to cannon batteries.

Cannons!

Overall it was a great morning/afternoon. Now to study!

=D