Day 6: Words to Live By

We got ready for our first full day on campus!



 We went to breakfast and had a traditional Jamaican breakfast with the country's national dish-
Acai and Saltfish. Acai is actually a fruit but it has to be cooked and when you cook it, it is like tofu or egg, you can change the flavor of the dish just by what you add to the pot.

It was very similar in consistency and taste to scrambled eggs. It did not taste bad at all but I also am not too fond of eggs to begin with. Callou is like a green vegetable and then we had fried dumplings (which was like festival so we of course were happy), fried plantains, and then there was the banana. The banana was wild green banana that they boiled and then left sit in the water afterwards. It was like eating raw potato. I tried it but it was not my favorite...or anyone else's for that matter.

Jason!

We met up with our student host that we met the day before- Jason. He is a senior in Political Science I believe. He speaks very quietly and humbly and he is a great help for us.

First, we set off to get IDs which I didn't know we were doing so I was really excited!

And then we hit up the IT place to get all of our electronics to work. It actually took a really long time, I was interested to know how their system operated.

Then we went on tour with Daniel, the president of the student guild.

The back of Daniel's head lol

The Student Guild (SG) is very similar to the Student Government Association back in the States. Only... they have TONS more power! The SG runs the entire Student Union that includes a complete grocery store, a sports bar, hair salon, a tutoring facility, and a couple other shops. They also negotiate the pricing of residence halls and they voted to extend finals longer to have more time to study.

UWI definitely has a rich history as we toured around campus with Daniel. The place that got to me the most was the library. Only the special collections room was temperature controlled, the rest of the library was spotty with the A/C.

I asked the librarian how do they combat the books from just melting on the bookshelves if they cannot control the temperature of the library.

Books that are literally melting on the shelf. There were books like this everywhere. 

 She told me that she hopes one day that the library will have full air-conditioning to stop the process the books have.

We then received a lecture from Dr. Peart about the Jamaican student and an overview of what Caribbean schooling is like. It was a great lecture, it reminded me about the American College Student, a class I took first semester at GVSU. He gave us the classifications of higher education in Jamaica and how students may find themselves at a Teacher's College or a Technical School.

Dr. Peart! 

 

He told be cautious when people tell us not to reinvent the wheel because it stifles curiosity. But the most important thing he said to us was, "If you don't change it, I feel sorry for your world." Words to live by.

This one is for Dad! haha