We made it!!

-Nathaniel-
We got to campus around midnight on the 24th. To avoid confusion we took a taxi from the ariport, which was on a different island. We had to take two toll bridges to get to campus. Once we got to campus we had to split up when two different security guards showed us to our rooms. The housing managers let us in our rooms, but wouldn't give us the keys until we paid for the whole semester in the morning when the office opened. The building managers don't speak much English. It is funny because they run out of the office and to grab any student sitting around to translate. The students speak pretty good English. Of course we forgot to bring sheets so we ended up sleeping on the bare mattress for the first night.

The first morning we woke up around 5am or so ready to go. We went for a walk to see if we could find our way around campus with out getting too lost. Little did we know that we would be walking around the whole rest of the day trying to get registered, food, money, and our main goal sheets. The cafeteria was a little intimidating not knowing the process, but we have almost figured that out. We have to order and pay at one counter then they give us a ticket to give to a different counter where they make our food. We have been eating noodles and assorted buns/pastries. I don't think we have spent more than 3 US dollars on a meal for the both of us. We took our first bus trip after looking all through campus to find sheets. We went to this huge shopping center area not far from campus. It took at least 2 hours of walking around and asking people to find a department store. By the time we found sheets we were both exhausted. We finished unpacking, making the beds and we crashed a little after 6pm.

Our mission for Friday (today) was to get the internet working in the rooms. There is wireless around campus which is easier to log on to. I think we have figured out how to get the internet in the rooms now. Enough talking, here are some pictures we have taken so far.

-Dora-
View from my dorm room. It's been overcast the first two days, hopefully it clears up soon. It's been pretty hot and muggy.

-Nathaniel-
Here are some other pictures from around campus.

This is the main walk way through the center of campus we walked this around 10 times the first day. The walkway goes from the big entrance all the way down to the shore. It goes down a cliff so there are 3 elevators and a set of escalators on the way. The elevators go only from floor 10-11 to the ground; there are no stops on the intermediate floors.

They are doing repairs everywhere, and the scaffolding is made out of bamboo and plastic ties. Dora did the structural analysis and she says it is safe. I don't trust it, it looks pretty rickety.

If you have seen campus from Google earth you might recognize the track. The outdoor pool has water warmer than the air temp. Today there was open swim from 7:30am-9:30pm with a break for lunch. The hours might change for school, I don't know.

Until next time...