We confused the staff a bit last night at dinner; they were under the impression that we were leaving Thursday. However, we got a better deal on airline tickets to leave today, Wednesday.
        Roger left for an earlier flight at about 6:30 this morning. Our flight wasn't going to leave until 2:20 pm, so we had plenty of time. We packed up fairly quickly; Kala and I already did most of our packing last night.  Then we cleaned up the lab and set our last batch of snails free in a slow-moving pool of the stream next to the station. They were all painted with pink "snail polish". It will be interesting to see how they disperse the next time Dr. Hains returns.
        We said our goodbyes and then headed down to Canefield to fill up gas in the rental car. On the way, we saw Tiffany's and just had to go in after getting gas. I can officially say I've been to Tiffany's in Dominica, and bought something! Tiffany's is a restaurant, bar, art gallery, and gift shop. She had stacks of soaps of many different local scents and walls covered in local artwork. One wall was a dedicated showcase to a young artist with a very different style. It was dark, gory, and reminded me of a biological sci-fi horror. But there is a reason for these odd paintings and sculptures; the dark backgrounds emphasize the 3-D fingers and toes emerging from the paintings with startlingly accurate nails and creases. Small sculptures show immense patience in moulding the medium (they dare not reveal its contents) to the shape of a brain and adding a pair of sunglasses to it. While most of the Dominicans worry about the boy's mental health, Tiffany sees talent and passion and gives him tips to perfect his work. I see his dark theme as a way of showcasing his creativity in moulding and smooth painting.
        Then we went up the hill past the station to Miranda's for fresh fishcakes (large hushpuppies with some hardly-noticeable fish meat in them).  They were much better hot and fresh than the first time we had them at the end of the day. She also gave us some baked mac & cheese (except instead of macaroni she used some other kind of noodles). 
        We went on to the airport where we ran into another group from the US. We debated over whether they were missionaries or a university group.  My money was on missionaries.  We talked to one guy and found out that they were from Macon University in Georgia. Some of the students were researching sea turtles and some of their work included teaching science classes in a primary school. I was randomly selected for special screening, as was one of the girls from Macon. They made us be the last ones to board the plane, but we got a chance to talk. She said some of their stay also included missionary work; they stayed for 20 days. The screening was a very easy process. The lady gently patted major concern areas (side of waist and ankles, just places that one would typically conceal a weapon). She opened my laptop bag and I helped her move things around, telling her where things were so we didn't have to waste time. I didn't feel so bad boarding the plane, people were still in line to get seated so time wasn't an issue. 
        Once we got to San Juan, we went through customs and immigration, which didn't really take that long, we just had to have our passports and boarding passes out constantly. We got Kala to her terminal and waited until she left, then Diane and I looked around at a duty-free shop and sampled perfume and lotion. We joined Dr. Hains at Air Margaritaville for one of the best burgers I have ever had. I got the Mexicali burger with several different types of cheeses, jalepeno peppers, and tomato salsa. 
        I didn't sleep on any plane rides until the one from Miami to Atlanta. Somehow Dr. Hains expected me to help him stay awake on the drive from Atlanta to Clemson.  I hope he took a caffeine pill because I didn't have much to talk about so I continually dozed off. I did, however, wake up once every minute the entire ride to Clemson to try my best to keep a look out. Unfortunately every time I blinked I took a 45-second nap.  We met my parents and boyfriend at Waffle House right off the interstate in Clemson.  The first thing I wanted to do was brush my teeth, then Jared and I got a snack for the road and I stayed wide awake that whole ride telling them about the awesome food and different things I experienced. We arrived at home at 4:30 in the morning; I didn't wind down and go to sleep again until six.

    When the island came into view of the airplane, we saw some magnificent, lush mountains. It's a shame they wouldn't allow electronics to be on to take pictures. As we circled about the north end of the island, we saw rooftops along the prominent roads, rarely far from the roadside other than a few agricultural properties. Some land was grassy and we could see abandoned ruins of shanties damaged by hurricanes, but most of the land was uninterrupted tree life. Among other forest leaves that look similar to the Appalachain mountains from a distance, if you can imagine them without pines, the palms and other tropical trees towered in their midst. 
    Upon landing, immigration and customs was very quick considering that two flights came in at about the same time. My luggage was a bit dirty, but customs did not bother to go through our bags; probably because they recognized Professor Hains and knew why we were here. We rented a small SUV, which Prof. Hains drove on the left side of the road, and took the older of two routes to our lodging at Clemson's facility called Springfield in St. Paul. When we stopped for gas an older woman walked up o the car asking for money for bread; though we apologetically denied. The ride was roughly an hour long beside the coast, through mountains, over rivers, and past shanties and people walking along the road. A couple of times we passed some guys who made cat calls going "Sssssssss"; Prof. Hains said that last year some of the girls on the trip caught the guys' attention and they were called "white chocolate." Gosh I hope they don't say that to me! I'd rather be called sugar or butter; I don't like white chocolate...it just doesn't cut it as chocolate.
    When we got to Clemson's property, Prof. Hains went off-roading a little to show us an old guest house called the "Bee House" and grabbed up some lemon grass for us to smell just by reaching his hand out the window. It was planted as an experiment for agricultural diversification. Clemson also has an overgrown area of banana trees.
    After getting back on the main road, we entered the Springfield-Archbold station, a nice set of buildings and a beautiful garden. There's no powered air conditioning, but there's really no need. We are so high in altitude that even the middle of the day is comfortable outdoors. Most of the windows have screens on them & slats so we leave them open. Our group from Clemson is staying in the Stream Guest House, just on the other side of a stream from the rest of the buildings. Texas A&M has a larger group using the dorm rooms; they leave Tuesday. There are 3 bedrooms, 2 of which have on-suite bathrooms. We do have hot water! It is heated as it comes out the showerhead at the flip of a switch. The ladies' room has two single beds and a bunk bed; I'm on the top bunk next to the window. :)
    Before dinner at 7, Kala, Diane and I went down through the garden to a pool in the stream just a short walk through the forest. We noticed crab legs along the path where birds left the remains of their snack. Some of the rocks down by the pool were a bit unstable, giving us practice for future excursions. Prof. Hains has told us that Springfield has soap that we can use to bathe in the pool. 
    At dinner we had some kind of purple potato-like things called "dasheens". I'm sure that's not the correct spelling. They are a root plant but when we saw the plants growing on the roadside they looked strikingly similar to elephant ear plants. After dinner we ventured into the laboratory to grab some outlet converters and other equipment for our studies. Then Roger, a teacher in Charleston's alternative school, showed up by taxi; he had taken a later flight on a different route. We finally settled in for the night.


    

My parents drove me from Inman to Clemson University, where they dropped me off at Long Hall with Professor Hains. We had a leisurely ride to Atlanta, stopping at a McDonald’s outside the city which had a sign posted for “No loitering – 30 minute limit”. At the airport I used a digital self-check in and then gave them my luggage.  There we met up with a teacher from Charleston, Diane.

My first motorized flight ever was pretty nice. That is, after a long wait at the end of the runway and closing my eyes as we went gained speed and went up. I enjoyed looking down at Atlanta and the surrounding area from my single window seat behind Professor Hains. However when we got into the clouds so high that the ground was no longer visible, I realized there was nothing underneath me anymore. My stomach felt a bit queasy so I had ate some crackers to distract it. Then the ride was fairly pleasant. I finished reading my textbook for this course, The Dominica Story: A History of the Island by Lennox Honychurch. We might hear a lecture from the author during our stay. Just to fill you in, I have been trying to finish this book in little spurts for over a month. I usually can’t handle more than 6 or 7 pages at a time, especially in the latter part of the history which was denser with names and political parties. I was enthralled by the first main chunk of the book; talking about the formation and population of the islands called the Lesser Antilles (islands formed from volcanos along the clash of continental plates) and the transfer of ownership between the French, English, slaves escaped from other islands, and freedmen. After finishing the book I played a computer game called Minecraft on my laptop (it’s about like digital Legos).

Anyway, once in Miami we didn’t have to wait long before the next flight to San Juan, Puerto Rico. There were 3 seats on each side of the isle and I was in the middle of the right side. One young man, probably about 15, was returning home on my right; a grandmother was on my left, close to the rest of her family. Once in San Juan, I met another undergrad student, Kala, who is graduating after completion of this course. We stayed in a hotel room together in a Best Western which is part of the airport. The start of the day is so amazing here! I woke up at 5:00 this morning to bright light shining in the room, although I decided to sleep until about 10 til 8. Once we re-checked in, Kala and I split a chicken wrap meal at the airport’s Margaritaville. That brought the price down to a reasonable amount and we both felt full afterwards.

I am writing this entry as we are in flight on the prop plane from San Juan to Dominica, right next to the propeller on the left side. The plane is not full so I moved up from behind the propeller to get some good photos, although I have only seen one shot worth taking since they have allowed electronics to be turned on. I am very happy that I brought my leftover candy from going to the movies earlier this week to snack on this plane ride. I’m sure the chocolate will melt in no time in Dominica.