The States

It was one helluva stressful week. Between trying to see all my friends from back home and packing up my condo, I had very little time to do anything else. I got into a neighboring city with a larger airport then my hometown and happened to have a large population of friends from college living there. It was also the site of my fraternity fantasy football draft. So I got in Thursday, chilled that night, and wondered around the city Friday to kill time while also changing my cell phone plan. Friday night, we had the draft. It was fun, but as I drank, I got annoyed with everyone. In hindsight, I should have expected no one to realize how different life in the Caribbean is compared to the states. Going from being in the majority, to becoming a minority in what is essentially a third world country in all aspects but name is not the same as living in city x. I also found that despite really enjoying living down here, it’s a lot easier to complain about things then it is to talk about all the things I like. I also think the things I complain about are a lot more interesting then what’s enjoyable. I think mostly, because anyone who has visited the Caribbean has a good idea about the things I love about living down here. The cheap booze, the no open container laws, oh yeah, and it’s a tropical “paradise.” There are few places as beautiful as where I live right now. And if I get bored of where I am, its no big deal to go to another island that is just as and maybe more beautiful then where I live. But as frustrating as it is to get things done down here, the reasons why (corruption and apathy), are so much more interesting. Not to mention, just because a lot of tourists see the tourist spots, a large portion of the island is run down and a lot of the truly local population is below the poverty line. So I guess, what I was most annoyed with was everyones perception of my life was sitting by the beach getting served drinks with little umbrellas, and their inability to understand that its possible to be white and see racism against you.
So outside of the draft, I spent the majority of the first half of my trip thinking about how much I would rather be back on the island then up in the states. It didn’t help that I’m not a fan of city x in the first place and it took me 3 and half hours more then it should have to get back to my hometown, and I was driving in the rain. You can drive the whole island in under hour, and 35 mph is the highest speed limit I’ve seen. A bit of difference there. This part of the trip reassured me that I am fit for island life, and that I really enjoy the smallness of it. Not much to say right now about the rest of my trip while packing. It was stressful and tense with my mom, but I got everything off and was able to get back up to city x with all my stuff in time to meet C and goto a friends wedding. The wedding was a blast, and I’ll leave it at that.