On January 5th I flew from Charlotte to St. Thomas. It left around 10 and I arrived around 2:30 Atlantic Standard Time. I traveled in warm clothes because it was 30 degrees when I left Charlotte, but as soon as I stepped off the plane it was 82 and I no longer needed them (didn't get a chance to change until later than night though). There was a slight mishap with my luggage. I brought my dad's guitar with me as a carry on, but they had to gate check it when I was boarding in Charlotte. When we landed in St. Thomas I went to pick it up from the gate and it wasn't there. I had to get an employee there to help me out and go find it, which she did! She was very friendly.

Bottom left is the view from the air. Bottom right is the view once we landed in St. Thomas.

The airport was one of those that's so small you have to walk from the plane to the airport. Navigating my way to baggage claim was easy, but once I got my bags it became difficult. I checked two 50 lb bags, had a carry on, and my guitar. The logistics of moving that by myself were not the best. My left hand was rolling a checked bag, and my left shoulder had my carry on. My right shoulder had the other checked bag and my right hand had the guitar. On top of that I was wearing my straw hat. I probably looked completely stupid.

Bottom left is the view of UVI from the runway. All the buildings you see are a part of campus. Bottom right is the entrance into the airport from the plane.

I made my way outside, and ended up splitting a taxi with a transfer student named Josh who was on the same flight as me. The university is neighbors with the airport so the taxi ride wasn't long at all. When we arrived we went to the Student Housing Office as instructed where I encountered more problems. The dorm assignment they gave me when I arrived was not what I previously was told. It took some time to get that straightened out, but eventually they got it reverted back to the original dorm. Then the key they gave me didn't work. I went back to the Student Housing Office to get a different one, and that one didn't work as well. Also, I noticed that there was still someone's things in the closet so I told them I thought someone may have already have moved in there. Then they scratched everything and put me in a temporary room until orientation on the 7th when they will get it all settled. More walking and more moving. I learned Island Time doesn't apply just to punctuality, but also how unorganized people are here.

Other problems that occurred:

Apparently Verizon does not get service down here, which I didn't previously know. Also, no one told me what my WiFi username and password was so my phone was basically useless. I couldn't text the other people I knew on the island and I couldn't get in touch with my folks back home. There were some scholarship issues back at USC that I needed to take care of, but I didn't have a way to do that anymore. The library was closed. The power went off several times. The lights in the bathroom didn't work. The toilet didn't flush. No one told me dinner was from 5-6 so I almost missed that. Also, since school doesn't start till the 11th no one is on campus. There are maybe 30 kids total on campus right now and I know none of them. The period from when the flight landed to dinner time I felt like I was walking into a mistake that was going to take 4 months to leave.

Then some good things started happening. I met a fellow exchanger at 5:00 during one of my treks with my luggage to a different dorm who told me about dinner. So when I finished moving my stuff (I never unpacked since I knew I was just going to have to move it all again in two days) I went to the dining hall and got to eat with two exchangers in my same position, Sam and Anna. That was comforting. Another girl, Megan, a transfer student, let me borrow my her phone to text my parents and girlfriend to let them know I was okay. Then another exchanger showed up, named Will, who has already done the NSE program at UVI once before. He is where I get most of my important information about the happenings here. Without him, the other exchangers and I would be completely lost. At dinner he told me how to set up the WiFi, so when I went back to my dorm room I got it set up. It worked! This made me feel a lot better. I got to FaceTime my parents and they helped me fix my toilet.

Then things got even better. About 9 of the exchangers (there are about 12 total) wanted to go into town. We met up around 8 and got a taxi at 8:30 to head into the closest city, Charlotte Amalie (Ah-MALL-ee-ya... never would have guessed that). There we went to a few bars and got to socialize and get to know one another. One bar was outdoors and had swings instead of bar stools. The warm breeze off the water felt nice and the temperature had cooled down with the night. It was right by the bay where the cruise ships moor and you could definitely tell the bar catered to the tourists. We did this for a few hours and got a taxi home around midnight (not charged by the distance, but by the person.. kinda weird). All the exchangers are really cool people, and I've begun to make friends. I can tell that this semester isn't going to be that bad after all.

I went back to my temporary dorm room and slept like a log on a mattress that had no sheets, in a room that had no AC. God is good.