Another Week in Paradise: Week 2

By: Wilkie Gonwa

It's crazy to think we have already spent fifteen days in the paradise that is Sint Maarten. This past week was filled with insightful learning and of course lots of fun and relaxation. We started our week on Tuesday with another trip to Marigold and Phillipsburg to do some shopping. We got to experience the street market in Marigold and test our bargaining skills. It was very fun getting to explore each city more thoroughly and we could get more of a feel for what each city is like.

On Wednesday after class we all loaded up and drove over to the French side where we met a boat that took us to a floating bar called Balaou. We enjoyed some good eats and drinks while playing last man standing on the floating seating arrangements. Despite some of us waking up bruised and sore from throwing each other off the float, it was such a fun activity to do after class, and we will for sure be making plans to go back before the trip is over.

In class this week we got to work on our Sprinklr certifications and on Thursday we were sent out to our beaches to collect secondary research. We explored our beach Orient Bay, where we interviewed locals and tourist. We found a very unique wooden gym where we got to talk to the owners about the cliental that visit their gym and what their ratio is for retention vs. one-time visits. We gained such insightful opinions being able to interview a wide range of people on the beach.

Friday, we got to take a day trip to St. Barts, which will be a day we will be talking about for ages. It was most certainly one of the best days so far in the Caribbean. St. Barts is full of fun shops, tasty cuisine, and beautiful beaches. First, we had to conquer the ferry ride, where we quite literally thought the boat would tip over. Once on the island our first stop of the day was brunch at Bar De L’oubli with the acai bowl and coffee being a 10/10. We obviously followed up brunch with some much-needed retail therapy, then headed off to the Shellona Beach Club located on Shell Beach. We rented chairs and relaxed at the beach until it was time to catch the ferry and head back to Sint Maarten.

Saturday, we woke up and walked to Mullet Beach where we found our new favorite coffee shop, Da Sweet Tooth. The coffee and matcha were so good that we ended back there today to try some more. Saturday, I spent a lot of time at the pool reading my book before we did a big group dinner at Tortuga, where I had an amazing poke bowl. We all spent some more time at the pool today, before ending the night hanging out with our friends and sharing some laughs. I’m ending this week once again, but excited to celebrate memorial day tomorrow in the paradise that is Sint Maarten.