Midterms done!

So midterms are done!!!! I feel like that movie where the kid runs outside and throws his papers into the air and pumps his fist as if to say "done!" Well, I am officially half way done with my term here on the island! We had an exam every day for 5 days and needless to say, when the week was done I was thoroughly wiped! I know, last night I was planning on going staying in and my friend Nick called me up around 11 and said "Be ready in 10, we are coming to pick you up!" Then he hung up.... so no rebuttal was made on my behalf and there I was 10 min later at the bar with some good friends... truth, I was very happy I went. I have met some really amazing people down here that have nothing but the best interest at hand for me and are trying to help introduce me to the way to LIVE island life while being a student...

Aus, Chris, Adam and I having a drink at the Beach House

So far so good I can honestly say... occasionally you are tired of the same old scenery around campus... walking to class and back to your dorm, then over to Taylor to study... the time absolutely FLIES by and before you know it the week is done! That week turns into two weeks, then a month then the month quickly speeds by the term  and before you know it you are on a flight back to JFK... So I'm sure you wanna hear about the grades.... I did well... I'm waiting on one more grade in Physiology but I the other grades that I got were good... after the midterm break we drop two classes and only have 4 classes from here to the end... so I am going to go for it all and try to do straight A's for my final grades.... why not right??? We study at Taylor... its about 40 feet from the dorm where I live and its also about 40 degrees in there! They have the air-conditioning skyrocketed in the buildings on campus... I bring a sweater and socks to put on my feet and recently I begun wearing pajama bottoms while I study... yeah thats right! I wear pajama bottoms when I study in public! I must say too, its quite a sight! So, if you ever think "Hmm... I wonder what Justin is doing right now on a Caribbean island??" know I am in my pj's with socks and flip flops and a hooded sweater on studying in Taylor Hall... trust me, its not exciting! After midterms we did go to the beach though... which was very nice! A ton of classmates all went and it was more than needed....

So now its about 9 pm and I am sitting in my room exhausted... Saturday night and guess what I am doing?!?!?!?! NOTHING! and I am going to love every second of it! Probably watch some football games online and just eat some ice cream... very exciting here in Grenada!

I do want to show you some pics here... so Im just going to put up pictures and insert captions underneath them...

OHHHHHH..... this pic deserves justice though... Ok... so today Chris, Adam and I were walking in downtown St. Georges when I heard those "island drums" playing, so I just walked into the place and this guy, around my age, was playing the drums... he smiled at me and asked how I was doing and I told him I was always interested in learning how to play those drums! He just handed me the drummer sticks and off I went! I was playing those drums like mad! Of course, what I was playing sounded awful, but for those couple of seconds in my head I sounded great! Plus, I have always wanted to play those, and having a chance to finally do it was awesome.....

This is a picture that I took while I was in town.... this is how they sell bananas in Grenada!! haha, I know my mom is probably looking at this photo and saying NOW THAT is what I call a farmers market!!! Yeah, you just walk up, tell them you want a couple, they take a machete and hack you off some and off you go! Fresh bananas!

So I told you all I was going to get a photo of those reggae vans that drive you around... this is just the side of one, but yes you can read... the side of the van says "blingers." I thought this was priceless..... but the inside of the vans are bare bones... just room for the people sitting and thats it!

This is just a tent of goods at the market in down town St. Georges... if you see one of them you know what they all look like... just a lot of locally grown things... mostly spices.  Grenada is known as the "Isle of Spices" and they truly are plentiful on the island and in these markets... everything is Nutmeg this, and Cocoa that... really is cool because if you are into cooking and preparing your own food then this truly is a must see for you because you can pick up some one of a kind stuff here...

Come on now... what would a post be from me without a pic of me on the beach!!!!!

This is just a quick shot of me and my friend Christine.... we are hanging out in my room with a bunch of people... this is after midterms... I think in this photo you can really see how tan I am... 

Like I said before, I have a great group of friends down here and when we hang out it is always a good time... very relaxing.. its definitely needed from the vast amount of hours we put in studying...

This is a good shot of what my weekends look like... thats Chris in the background.  My desk consists of thats right... 3 books, 3 three ring binders and a TON of notes to skim through and learn haha.  We go there every single say of the weekend (Taylor Hall) and basically study until we can't keep our eyes open any more. 

So with this I am going to leave you... until we talk again! Hey, I have a question for you all reading my blog... is there anything that you all want to see or hear about on the island??? I am always open to exploring and trying new things out and with all of your input I think it would make for only a more exciting adventure down here. Just comment and lemme know how you are doing too! I love to hear from all of you in the states.... Family and Friends....

Talk to you all soon!!! 

Im BACK!!!

The kid is back!!!! hahaha

Whats new everyone?!?!?! Just got back after a long days studying... I could have sworn I was on a Caribbean island! I haven't seen the beach in forever, all I have been doing is studying!

OK! I know what you all are thinking... but sometimes I need a break from studying and the Anatomy book that is about 800 pages doesn't make a good pillow.  We just had an Anatomy exam this Monday that was very hard.  Out of about 100 questions, there were many that could have gone either way with the answers... we shall see how this course shakes out in the end.  Our courses include Biochemistry as well which is another tough nugget... right now we are reviewing glycolysis and the TCA cycle, which I know some of you reading this blog right now know all about it but its very tough for me especially coming from a business background.  The cool part about some of the courses we are taking now is the clinical correlates.  For instance, we are learning about the cardiovascular system right now in two classes and hearing about what can go wrong and how physicians fix these problems is amazing! It is here, I get a small glimpse into what the light at the end of the tunnel will entail.  

I'm going to put some pics of the island and island life up here in about 10 min....

I know... I know... I'm bad at keeping up

Everyone, I want to apologize for no posting in what seems like FOREVER! Well see... there is a definite time difference between here and the states! I know all of you reading this post are thinking "what the heck is this guy talking about?" What I'm trying to say is, the last month may have crawled by for a few of you, but here I can barely remember it... the only thing I can tell you about the days is what I studied and how FAST they went!
The term is absolutely FLYING by! I truly, and honestly feel as if I had just got on the island! Now we are about 2 weeks from the dreaded midterms. The studying is going very well though! I took 3 quizzes two weeks ago and my average for the 3 was  3.5 on the GPA scale so I think thats ok, but I know I can do so much better! I made some dumb mistakes and there were some questions that I know I just plain missed, but that is the breaks of school.
I am going to throw some pics up of the school and my studying... figured it should give you a good idea of the day to day of Justin Roberts!
How is everyone back home? I miss you all so very much and I can't wait to see you all over break!

Comment so I can hear about all of your lives!

I know... I know... I'm bad at keeping up

Everyone, I want to apologize for no posting in what seems like FOREVER! Well see... there is a definite time difference between here and the states! I know all of you reading this post are thinking "what the heck is this guy talking about?" What I'm trying to say is, the last month may have crawled by for a few of you, but here I can barely remember it... the only thing I can tell you about the days is what I studied and how FAST they went!
The term is absolutely FLYING by! I truly, and honestly feel as if I had just got on the island! Now we are about 2 weeks from the dreaded midterms. The studying is going very well though! I took 3 quizzes two weeks ago and my average for the 3 was  3.5 on the GPA scale so I think thats ok, but I know I can do so much better! I made some dumb mistakes and there were some questions that I know I just plain missed, but that is the breaks of school.
I am going to throw some pics up of the school and my studying... figured it should give you a good idea of the day to day of Justin Roberts!
How is everyone back home? I miss you all so very much and I can't wait to see you all over break!

Comment so I can hear about all of your lives!

Week one done... week two here we come!

WEEK ONE DONE!!!!! I made it... in one piece. Classes are going well, but the pace of work is very fast. I am taking class every day of the week, and this week we start anatomy lab which should be very cool. Apparently there is a wet lab and a dry lab... we will be working mainly in the wet lab but I'm just excited to get in any lab!
Ill give you an overview of the week just so you can see all the fun you are missing here in Grenada! lets see... I wake up around 7, give or take about 5 min.  My roommate and I have breakfast which we make in the room together and enjoy a nice cup of Colcafe coffee... which basically is like drinking mud... lets just say when i get home I'm going to drink an iced coffee from Dunkin' with my pinkie finger up like its a delicacy! haha      After breakfast in the morning, my bag is normally packed and then I leave for class around 7:40.  It takes us a little while to walk up the hill which normally isn't bad, but the fact of 85 degree weather with 90% humidity isn't too fun before 8 AM.  Chris(my roommate) and I normally try to make that trek as quick as possible; I think our record currently stands at 5 minutes.

This is the view from upper campus, and directly behind me about 50 yards is where we have our morning lectures.  The steepness of the hill really can't be judged from this pic, but let me reassure you, its no joke!
The mountains in the distance really make this picture scenic... its kind of hard to see but I will try to get a better picture up soon enough.






So we have classes in the morning for about 3 hours and then anatomy lab once every week. It really isn't too bad of a schedule, but when you throw in about 8 hours of studying to do on top of that you have a packed schedule.  I can tell you that not only is my Anatomy book intimidating to look at, it doesn't make a good pillow either!!! So when the day winds down, I normally get back to my room around 10 or 11 and have time to pack my bag and get ready for the next day... check some emails/Facebook and then hit the sack... not too exciting!
This week should be interesting though. The material is really starting to pick up in class and I know the amount of info is only going to get more in depth... Especially with  this one class, Physiology.  The professor is a good guy but the material is a little dry and not really my cup of Joe... so it makes concentrating very hard!

When I get a little overwhelmed though I just take a step back and look around at the school... this really is a beautiful place.  This picture was taken right outside of our library.  As soon as you walk out of the library, I looked left and saw the sun setting. The sun is like clockwork here because we are on the equator... up at 6:30 and down at 6:30. No fluctuation on it at all... and when the sun goes down, it gets dark so quick!!!!
Well its about 11 at night and I need to get to bed but I hope everyone else is doing good back in the US!!!
Talk to you all soon!!!!!!!

Lets kick this off!

First day of classes. Thought this day would never come! We have had orientation things for the past week and classes have been lingering in the distance, but now I am officially off and running.  Woke up bright and early with Anatomy followed by two more classes and then studying.  Being back in school is definitely a change of pace.  Listening, reading, writing... its all going to take some getting used to again but when I look down at my textbook and the pictures are of cadavers and transverse sections of the human body I cannot help but to get excited.  This is what I truly want to do with my life.
The last few pictures I have been putting up have been me on the beach... and for all of you who thought I'm living the life, here is your payback moment... the next time I am going to get to see that beach will probably be after midterms haha
The last few days I had leading up to classes were great.  I really have met some good people down here, and everyone has a truly amazing story to tell.

Here is a picture of my roommate Chris (on the left) and our friend Adam.  we are walking on Grand Anse beach.

We picked a spot under a tree to put all of our things so they stay out of the sun. Now, this beach is lined with trees... and some of them provide a lot of shade... you would think that if you saw someone else's things there you might keep moving until the next tree to put your things down right???? Not exactly... at least that is not what one gentleman thought.  So we are in the water just relaxing, and we look up to see a guy standing in front of our tree... just standing.  Chris and I look at each other and say "is this guy lost? Maybe he needs something?" Then he walks over our stuff and sits down next to all of our belongings and starts reading a book... now our first thought was, he looks innocent just let him linger for a little bit. Then we decided to go over and say something to this guy, so Chris and I walk over and say to the guy, "Hey, our stuff is here and we aren't to keen on you staying here. We have a lot of expensive stuff in our bag and not for nothing, but we don't know you." He very bluntly said, well maybe you should have someone here watching your stuff. Believe me... i wanted to say right back to him, well maybe you should find another tree to read your novel jerk!!! But, the good man in myself, Chris let the guy chill... partly because we were going to grab something to eat anyway... SO MUCH FOR LOCALS BEING NICE!
Its very different from the nice culture on the island we have been experiencing.  I have adopted a motto, "if you treat Grenada nice, she will be nice back to you." Now what this means, is before you ask anyone to do something for you i.e.: ordering a sandwich, you need to ask that person how they are doing... if this is not done you are not getting your sandwich this century, and when you do it will be the smallest, driest sandwich you have ever eaten in your life.  When you go to the store always introduce yourself and be nice, because I have witnessed on numerous occasions already that the locals remember you and can either help/hurt your chances of getting your way... this seems to be the golden rule down here.
Sorry to go off on a tangent there... ok Im back... so we were at the beach... as we moved down the water we found these kids who we were playing with a few days previous.  About 4 kids, all of which are brothers between 10 and 15 years old.  These kids it seems, just wander the beach and hang out... no apparent responsibility on the summer breaks from school.  In fact, the previous time we saw these kids we built a sandcastle with them...

So, nothing very exciting here to publish but I thought, "Hey, its been a few days and I haven't published a post in a while." I hope everyone in the states is doing very well and I will talk to everyone very soon!
 sorry this post was so quick... ill write again soon.

J

YOU ALL READY FOR SOME CARNIVAL?!?!?!

So follow up post!!! Finally... I apologize its taken me this long to get to you all, but I have had some things to do during the day including my orientation (which is going really well... cover that later).  Ok, so the last post I covered up until I went to grab some sushi... lets continue shall we?


So, we come back from getting some sushi and I lay down for an hour or two. My luggage still isn't here and every time I call the airport I get "No Mr. Roberts, your luggage isn't here yet!" With this being said, I wake up, put back on the same clothes I've been wearing for two days now and head on over to my next door neighbors Adam and Kyle...good guys.  We catch a bus over to Grand Anse which is one of the top 10 worlds most beautiful beaches and let me tell you.. the pic doesn't do this beach justice.. .the water is pristine and the sand is like butter...

Grand Anse. The beach stretches for about 2 miles

For all of you who are reading this and looking at the picture, you are probably saying "That little jerk!" What I have to say in response to that is... ... ... well, nothing to be honest! This place truly is beautiful! Come out and visit!!! You will not be dissapointed!

We ended up taking off our shoes and just walking along the beach for roughly a mile.  I have to say this was putting me more and more at ease about where I am about to spend the next two years of my life.

So we end up cutting through a little shop area to the main road, and a small miniature van pulls up and the door slings open, with a guy asking us if we want to go to St. George's.  Now St. George is the capital, roughly 10 min from the university, and about 4 min from where we were at Grand Anse. So the cab pulls up, we get in and we take off.  Any of you who have the picture of the yellow cab from NYC pulling up in your head, THROW IT AWAY NOW!!! That is Norman Rockwell's version of the story! An old mini van from the 70's pulls up and the sliding door slings open revealing the drivers copilot!! He is in charge of the money and opening/closing the door for quick access. 

Off we go!!! 

Now picture this mini van FLYING through the streets of island on a road that is right on a cliff! I thought driving in a NYC taxi was an adventure, but this was a whole other level! THIS was taking my life into my own hands... and the kicker is they drive on the other side of the road! So here we are, in a bus driving about 40 mph on a cliff with island music blaring!!! it was truly a sight... to really get the whole picture I need to put up a picture of what one of these taxi's looks like.

So, after getting to the capital in one piece we hop out of the cab and we are in smack dab in the middle of Carnival! Now, Carnival is huge here.  Basically, everyone is drunk in the streets dancing and joining in on the parade that goes through the town.

Parade going through town

This parade stretches for miles!!! It entirely encompasses the inlet in St. George, which is about 2.5 miles in a half-moon stretch of road. Here there are countless street vendors selling beer, chicken and all sorts of things... I got a coconut chopped for me to have!!! Fresh coconut juice!!!

By the way, I stuck out like a sore thumb in a Calvin Klein shirt, cargo shorts and Ray Bans... Just saying! haha
We enjoyed all that Carnival had to offer that day, and ended up going home right around 7.






























I arrive back at my dorm, and I still don't have any luggage!!!! So I call the airline only to get the same response that I had received the last 2000 times that Ive called.  Now, Im getting irritated and I begin to think the lady just doesn't want to deal with me and when I call she is staring at my luggage wishing it would just disappear haha. I hop into a taxi on campus that is headed back to the airport, get on a line and when I walk into the terminal THERE IT IS STARING ME IN THE FACE!!!!!! I have never been so happy to lug three suitcases around in my life!!!!!!!!!
Armed with three suitcases packed with my life Im going to need for these four months, I made my way back and unpacked... 


So, the battle ended with the "Great Grenadian Luggage Disaster," but I am sure there will be more funny stories to tell shortly.


Anyway, I miss everyone back home. Mom and Dad, I miss our talks and just being able to pick up the phone and give you a call. You support my every endeavor and are always there for me, I love you more than you can imagine.... Danielle and Amanda, I love you two so much! I couldn't ask for two more amazing, caring, supportive sisters!
To all of my friends, I have tried to call a few of you already. If you haven't received a phone call it doesn't mean that I don't care, I just haven't got around to you yet... key word, YET!


For now, its about midnight and I am exhausted. Going to wake up in the morning and get a workout in before orientation continues at 8.


Take care everyone and send me emails letting me know how you all are doing!!! Or comment on the blog.. let me know how you like it.

the bay in St. George

Sorry for the delay... the next updates might have to come in increments

Hey everyone!!!! So here I am in Grenada... Officially.  Lets start from the top shall we? I was dropped off Sunday early morning by Rachel and Fran (thank you so much!!) at JFK for my flight.  At bag check the lady behind the counter did not charge me for my third bag, instead she just charged me for an overage and sent me on my way.  So here I am thinking, "Wow... this trip is really starting off on a good foot!" I say my goodbyes to Rachel and Fran, and then go to my boarding gate, get on the plane, get ready for lift off and then boom... we have to go back to the gate because the navigation screen on the plane was busted! So we had to sit on the plane for about 2.5 hrs... which wouldn't have been bad but the lady in front of me had a screaming baby and the guy next to me was all elbows! After they fixed it we were off and flying to Trinidad and Tobago... then hit our connection to Grenada.  I was so excited to get there, get my things and head off to the dorm but one thing... I HAD NO LUGGAGE WAITING FOR ME!!! Not even one of the three bags that I had were there... so I got into a taxi and headed off to the University.  In my room I had a sheet that the RA had given me as a favor and I used my messenger bag as a pillow... this was officially roughing it!!!

I also wanted to send loved ones a message to let them know I got in safe, but my cpu wouldn't have worked without my power cord that was in my LUGGAGE!! So there I was... nothing but a computer without power and my iPhone that didn't work... using my book bag as a pillow. This is Grenada I thought... I was not a happy camper.  I ended up falling asleep and woke up in a much better mood after some well deserved sleep (about 12 hrs)! I put back on the same clothes I wore the day previous (Don't judge me) and left to go explore a little bit.  As soon as I walked outside I was greeted by the Digicel sales people. Digicel is the largest cell phone company in Grenada I guess and they were having some really good deals.  I got a phone, charged it up with a good amount of minutes and off I was going! I knew the next flight in from my airline wasn't until 8 pm that day so I had time to kill.  I ended up walking over to the beach which was right next to my dorm and then up the hill on campus to check out some off the buildings like the student center and such. The campus in my opinion is gorgeous... all red tile roofs.  There is such a uniformity to this place which makes it very appealing to me.  Walking definitely helped get me back to a good baseline after the lost luggage incident.

This is my dorm... I live on the first floor so no stairs to go up!









As I walked, I ended up meeting some people that are going to be in the program with me.  We chatted a little bit and decided to grab some food... and if anyone reading this post knows me they know immediately what I went for!!! SUSHI!!!! The cook at the little hut we went to said they had just caught some tuna, so tuna it was!

what a good name right!!!

After the tuna I came back to the dorm and just chilled... I was tired from walking around and I needed to just sit for a couple of minutes.













So... everyone reading... I did more for the day which included Carnival and more sightseeing so please read the next post which I am going to do tomorrow! For now, it is about 1AM and I need some rest... I miss everyone and I hope you all are doing well back in the states.

So... I am feeling the stress

I created this blog because over my life I have been blessed with so many amazing people who care about me and have my best interest at hand.  While I am in Grenada it will be VERY hard to keep touch with all of you on an individual basis, but that is where this blog comes into play... VOILA! 

So, it is Tuesday night around 7PM and I am sitting in the living room with my family.  It feels good to be home and settled (AKA putting my suitcase down for a second).  My last few days in Albany were unforgettable, and spending time with friends was the very way I wanted to enjoy my last few days there.  It was so very hard to say goodbye to my Albany family... Rachel, Sarah, Fran, Mona, Kevin and Mary, Mark and Ryan among others... you all mean more than you can imagine to me and I cannot wait to come back to Albany on break to hang out and catch up in person!! I truly have been blessed by all of your friendships.

I am looking forward to my time though with just Mom and Dad before I leave.  I know they are going to be sad when I leave, but probably think I am a little jerk when I update pictures of me on a beach HAHA.  This is all becoming very real to me though now.  My flight is less than a week.  My schooling officially begins in less than 2, and I am leaving the country.  The feeling I equate to this, is the feeling I get right before a football game... the perfect mixture of confidence to know you can get the job done, but just the right amount of butterflies to keep you in check.

Well, I hope this update finds everyone doing very well.  I am sorry for the brevity of the post, however, I just wanted to make sure that I got this blog up and running.  Also, I will have Skype and will be getting a Grenadian cell phone which I will provide for people to contact me.

Til next time!