Perfect scenario

Goodmorning everyone!

And what a good one it is,, well at least for me...*G*
Let me set the scenario for you:

Its ten in the morning, i just woke up, and i am sitting on my balcony in my lazy wicker chair, staring out over the caribean sea! with my glass of orange juice and my laptop on my lap writing this! Come on can it get any better then this? How lucky am I?!!! Ok I can already hear some of you thinking, isn't she suposed to be in med school? Yes I am and believe me I haven't forgotten cause its' great!
I seriously wake up every morning (at6:45) with a smile; the sun is already up (no more stupid drowsy wheather, no more turning on the lights, no more cold feet the moment you get out of bed!) and i am gonna to go to classes that I absolutely love. Every single course is goood and very interesting on top of that i have amazing proffesors.

Ok i know some of you are already starting to feel a litle queezy from all the overexcited happiness so i'll tone it down a little.
I'll tell you guys about my week and shedule. This week I already had my first set of exams (that's why I didn't email last sunday) on wednesday and thursday, which made monday review day and tuesday study day! And on friday its' straight back to lectures :-) I did good on my exams...*G*
But medschool is like studying for finals every single day. I couldn't believe myself when i found myself in the library 3 hours after I had finished my exams! And the same on friday and saturday evenings and nights. Funny he? Never thought i was that studyous...
But my usual shedule goes like this: i wake up at 6:45, bike to school at 7:30 (the bikeride there takes about 10 min. but going back is like 1!) then i have classes from 8 till noon and again from 1 till 3. After school i go home eat something and usually take a nap *G*, then i study for an hour or so before i go to gym on monday and fridays, swim in tuesdays and thursdays and to play basketball on wednesday. If we play the locals they kick our ass in skirts and bare feet!!! After that either another hour of studying or straight to diner. After diner i study anywhere between 3 to 6/7 hours untill midnight sometimes two/three in the morning...

But i have fun too, i think i have a good balance and i have made some friends. I dont really think you can call people you have known for a month "friends" yet but life here is so different and you really see them everywhere and all the time. You live with them (or right next to them), you have class wih them, you see them in the library, run into them in every store (1 of the 4!) and if you go out you know for sure you're gonna run into other students! (same goes for the proffessors b.t.w which is quite funny) Last tuesday i ran into one of my profs in the store where she told me that my exam had been moved to a new location and that i should focus on my kreps cycle!! She likes me... *G*
I usually have diner with at least someone from my building. last week i didn't have to cook once cause i had exams i got fed by different people in my building every night. But mostly by Tuli and Avneesh. They are two girls from my building and very sweet, i get along with them very well. Last fridaynight we had a lady's night, i made tacos and tuli brought a full pitcher of pina colada! The two other girls who were there were Arminee and Mauriel, they don't live in this building but are pretty cool too.
Then there is Janwe (hanway) who is bolivian/taiwanes/american an the baby of the building and also my buddy. In the four weeks he's been here he has gotten himself in so much trouble already and then i get late night phonecalls: "are you still up? I REALLY need to talk to you!" hihi he makes me laugh
Other one from building is Raffi, who's this very stable guy thats' always there for everyone all the time and is like a big brother to me.(shows me how to hang my laundry and stuff)
Right next door to me is Sam and Sam is just too sweet and too polite! He loves cooking and always leaves a bit for me to taste! He even tries to prepare his dishes in such a way that they are gluten free so that I can have them!! He is also a medic so he fixed me up last week when I toke my first tumble of my bike...(oops *G*)
Outside of the building are Mauriel who's so sweet, she's like a mom. She just has to take care of everyone. But the last few days we have grown pretty close and study a lot together. By the end of the day (fourish) we like to go to the beach and study there. Which actually works remarkedly well (really)
And then there is Julian. I dont really know how to describe Julian... He is definetly the most weirdest person I have ever met. I dont even remember how i got him but he's always around. He's like this litle stray puppy that picked me and is now incredible loyal..hihi.
But he's very sweet; for once he brings me coffee every single morning!! (he says its' for his benefit not mine) and brings me bottles of wine when he has screwed up etc....

Ok i think I have already talked way to long, i have to get to the library and get some studying done.
And by the way, the fact that I am so happy here doesn't mean for one second that i don't really miss you guys, cause i really do!!!
lots of kisses!

The beginning 2

Goodmorning people
I actually have time to write a bit of a longer email today, i think. I am on a tropical island but it is chucking with rain which actually gives my room a nice breeze! THe reason it is raining and sort of storming all the time is the fact that we get hit by the tropical storms from the hurricanes all the time. Hurricane Frances just past us and gave quite some rain but mostly a lot of rain. rain and more rain. The firts lessson i learned the hard way is that wearing flipflop in the rain is actually not such a good plan and have a torn up knee to prove it... But that's me for you I am sure I will have plenty more cuts and bruises before I leave this place *G*.

Beginning
So lets start at the beginning for those who don't know or don't remember... I am on Sint Eustatius right now for med. school. I got here last week tuesday after my wonderful trip through the states with Floor. Saying goodbye wasn't fun i can tell you... I met Daddy and Karen on St. Maarten airport and from there on we flew (in the tiniest plane possible) in 15 min. to my new home for the next couple of years. Dad was so kind to put me up in the hotel the first night which was really nice! The next day I had to get everything sorted here, which all went a lot quicker then i was expecting from a carribean island; i have a bank account (2 as a matter of fact) got a appartent (more is coming on that) and all the stuff that I needed for that was pretty obtainable. Dad had rented a car and that made everything a lot easier cause even though the island is tiny it is pretty hilly? And to find all the stuff you need you need to look and ask around a lot. So the first few days we spent running (ok maybe not running) around the island trying to get me sorted. On saturday and sunday we finally had some time to explore the island.

Island, called Statia by the locals
I like it.. It is pretty green and all the flowers are my kind of Pink and everywhere you are you can see at least one of the oceans. There is a big vulcano on the island called the quill.(yes it is not allive anymore) It was called the kuil by the dutchies but the english obviously couldn't pronounce that so they called it the quill and that is the word that stuck. Eventhough its' a dutch island all the locals speak english!! Which is very confusing cause most of them actually speak dutch too but prefer not too so whenever I enter a store or run into somebody I do not know what to speak to them; I will start of in eglish to later find out they speak perfect dutch but by then they wont change to dutch with me. If i start of in dutch it will turn out that they dont speak any at all because they came from a different island f.i.
The locals are extemely nice though and because the island is so small news actually travels faster then you can. the first few days people actually came up to me or pulled over to ask me whether i was "het nieuwe nederlandse meisje"; the new dutch girl! And when we came back from the hardware store my landlord had already found out that we had been there! Anyways I am sure you'll hear more about the island in later emails. If you wanna find out more right now here are a couple of websites:
http://www.statiatourism.com/
http://home.hetnet.nl/~kerveltuin/ (dutch)
http://www.eelkes.com/willy/archief/de%20mannen%20van%20het%20eiland.htm (dutch too i think)
http://www.eilandbewoners.web-log.nl/ (dutch again)

School
Will you are surfing you might wanna take a look at my schools site : http://www.eustatiusmed.edu
School is pretty cool. I started last monday and it is really nice. There are 74 new students but I take classes with only one other woman! Thats' because we were the only two who actually choose to do the 6 term program instead of the 5 term. There were 7 of us but the other 5 gave in to peerpressure and moved to the 5 term program the first day! So now I basically have one on one education which is pretty good! So far the classes are not too bad altough I do have to get used to a bit of a bigger workload. The organisation of the school is amazing however and so much is arranged for us (very un-dutch). The other thing that blew me away is the way the "seniors" are taking care of us. They arranged lectures with tips on each course and proffessor on how to get by on this island, they organised a mentor program where each first term has their own mentor. Mine is really nice made me a dvd with more notes and material then I could possibly know what to do with! Then there are dvd/cd's in the libary made by the seniors full with reviews and testqeustions and answers etc.,etc. Tonight the second termstudents organised a party for us the first terms at a local bar/restaurant including dinner and drinks.
Last night I got invited to a party at a seniors house where drunken twister was played and I had my first JELLOshot! wow those are strong...*G* anyways not feeling to good today so might have to stay away from those in the future...

Home
My appartement, I should say studio I have learned is really nice. It is rigth by the admin. building where the computer lab is and next to the only first dorm. In my complex there are 12 appartements of which 9 are filled by first termpeople. It is just one big room, like a hotelroom really with a small kitchen in there. The bathroom is seperate. I have pretty much everything i need in there except a bookcase unfortunately. My studio is on the second floor and all the way at the end on the corner of the building so I have a nice view and no people passing my room all the time. The studio's a linked by a gallery and I have my own balcony at the back. Pictures of my view are attached, pics from room will follow.

Ok I am getting really tired now so I am gonna say goodbye!

Last few notes
My adress is L E Sadlerweg but all mail (if we wanna make sure it gets to me) should go to the university. This is how you adress it:
Sophia Goslings
University of St Eustatius
p.o box 73, Goldenrock
Sint Eustatius
Netherlands-Antilles

Many of you didn't get my previous note on sms and phone. I have bought a local sim-card with a local number for my mobilephone. I can be called on it for free (well for me anyways) and I can use it to call (def. not for free!!) However i can NOT send or RECEIVE sms/text messages from other countries cause they dont offer that service right now. The reason why I haven't called anyone is because the phone company went and still is on strike and the phonecompany sells both the phonecards for my cellphone and the ones for the phoneboxes on the island!!!!!
So if you wanna talk to me the only is to call me!! *G* it sucks i know cause i really wanna talk to some of you anyways that's how it is...
MY number is + 599 524 1868 i have heard that sometimes it is hard to get through and someone will tell you the number does not excist but it does and this is the right number!! so you can all start calling me now.....:-)

ok and if you wont call at least email me (a lot) this is my new emailadress that i will be using cause it is not webbased which makes life a lot easier!

lots of kisses