This week was my absolute favorite on the island so far. It was full of once in a lifetime experiences that I wouldn’t have wanted to share with anyone else other than my UA in the Caribbean classmates. On Monday, a group of us decided to go on a sunset horseback ride. I had a gorgeous white stallion named Regatto. He was a little slow, but he was a noble horse. We went on a long journey till we reached a cliff that looked over the water where we would have a fire and watch the sunset together. The conditions were perfect for a gorgeous sunset of vibrant color, and we got to witness such a beautiful moment together which was a core bonding moment for us on the trip. After we watched the sunset, we took our horses to the ocean and brought them in the water which was insanely cool.
I think about how great it would be to have the job of our tour guides Danny and Davey. A lot of people here don’t exactly have the same work ethic as people in the U.S. and everyone is meant to enjoy life opposed to being worried about work. I’ve been noticing throughout the week that life moves a lot slower here. As I was just enjoying my banana split at Bar Code which is a restaurant/bar here, our waiter did not check on us once, and forgot one of my dinner companion’s banana split. If this were to happen in the states, I believe the dish would’ve been taken off the bill, however here it seemed like an inconvenience to our waiter that we brought it to his attention. Another thing on the island I’ve noticed from a public relations perspective is that everyone has asked us if we are medical students from the school here and are shocked when we say that we aren’t. This island isn’t necessarily seen as a place to party for young adults but from going out on this island, I think it should be more of a priority due to the exciting concepts of each and every bar or restaurant we go into. I think that college students should be targeted more by businesses and travel companies based in St. Maarten when it comes to vacation destinations because I think all of us can agree we have put a lot of money into circulation in the St. Maarten economy.
Our two class excursions this week were the Rhino Safari and the Catamaran tour. It was so incredible to see the entire island from the water and both days we went out were spectacular conditions. It was so fun to drive the rhino boats with my best friend Kate and get the chance to snorkel at the best spot on the island! The catamaran tour was so incredible and felt very luxurious because our tour that day was private. As fun as these tours were, we also got a real-life example to visualize our sprinklr lessons. We were able to discuss in our class about Crisis Management a possibly unethical choice the company for the rhino safari made. We purchased our photos from the excursion, and we received the photos of everyone on the tour which included a famous actor. If the photos got into the wrong hands and someone sold them to paparazzi, I think the company would be under a lot of criticism for releasing private photos like that.
We ended our week celebrating one of our classmates and dear friends Kendall’s birthday on Saturday. We heard from some people on the island that Kate and EB had previously met this week about a spectacular mountaintop party with a dj and incredible views. This Word of Mouth spread of information led to all 16 of us paying at least $80 each to go to this party. I must say I think it was honestly worth it. We took two ski lifts to get up the mountain and the view at the top was immaculate. After we were all having fun dancing, we got to watch the sunset and after that, the view was even more surreal. We saw every single light on the island, and it was an unforgettable once in a lifetime experience. I was so glad we were able to celebrate our friend’s 21st birthday under such pleasant circumstances and got to have fun, even though she was away from home. As we wrap up our time on the island this week, these will be the moments I'll always remember.
-Rhianna Enright
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