days fifteen and sixteen

Classes – water pollution and total cost were the topics in each class. Alex and I went to the local grocery store (only 4 aisles, versus the tens of aisles at home) for some American style food – potato chips and sun chips. After a filling lunch of harvest cheddar sun chips, the group piled into Skell’s van. As the last person outside, I got to sit in the most coveted seat: between the driver and passenger seat (it’s raised and has no handhold for when the van swerves…it’s really great). After a very bumpy 40 minutes ride, we arrived at Macoucherie Rum Distillery. It’s the only distillery on the island that uses cane right from Dominica – super cool! We saw the sugar cane growing in the fields, the grinders to extract the juice, the water mill powering the plant, and the distillery machines. The entire place smelled like molasses and alcohol, not much of a surprise. At the end of the tour we had some samples of their different kinds of rum – cleared out my sinuses very quickly! The distillery owns beach property across the street from the plant, and we got to hang out in the water for a while. We saw where the river met the sea, creating a mix of warm and cold currents that made standing in the water a bit difficult. The bottom of the sea was all stones, leading to everyone floating as not to hurt their feet. After some coconut right from the tree, we traversed back towards Roseau. Once again, Skeel took us on a detour, this time to a hotel a few minutes past the city. The professors checked it out for a potential place next time for study abroad, much to our dismay (the place had a pool, we were totally jealous). For dinner, all of the girls and Dr. Hasting went to Old Stone for Sarah’s birthday. My desire for American commodities is hitting me hard – I miss quick service! Dominican time is throwing off my instant gratification expectation. Once again, the night ended with TV (the Bourne movies were on!) and excitement for no classes on Wednesday! A delayed MLK holiday is fine by me!

Waking up at nine without class hanging over my head was great, minus the overwhelming pain in my stomach. Feeling groggy and in need to do something, I jogged the hotel stairs a few times before realizing the stomachache wasn’t going away. As per usual, a monolithic cruise ship towered over the city - I am amazed at how those boats float! I opted out of a trip to Trafalgar in favor of resting, hoping I’d feel better. A few hours of HGTV later, I was feeling a bit more normal. A cheese sandwich at the Laughing Lobster helped calm my growling stomach. I went to a Chinese place with Alex, Kristen, and Dr. Hastings for something to do – the food seemed pretty good, once I’m back to normal I’ll have to try some. To my delight, Twilight films 2 and 3 were on TV: the best worst acting and cheesy plot of all time, it definitely brightened my crappy day. The movie The Switch ended the night, it was adorable and was a cute ending to the day. Looking forward to some relief tomorrow!