Attends, Attends.

Oh, la vie. Elle est belle, elle est laide. Elle est tranquil et bizarre. La vie, ca, ca c'est la vie.
A la Martinique.

ahhh

Attend should be the first word in French any anglophone learns upon his of her arrival to Martinique. Attendre-- to wait. You better be ready to wait, wait, wait. Wait for the bus, wait for your food. Wait in line. Wait for your appointment. Wait to be waited on. Wait, wait, wait. Attends, attends. "Caribbean Time" is not a joke-- it's a lifestyle. Punctuality is going to be a slap in the face 2 weeks from now.

Alllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllright. So, it's May 5th. Cinco de mayo (surprisingly not celebrated here... dommage). That leave exactly 13 days until my arrival back in the US of A. The world has changed so much since I left-- the crisis in Japan, the near governmental shutdown, tornadoes, riots celebrating the death of Osama. Naturally I've been grilled about all of it by my fellow exchange students--being American is a full time job in this bitch. I hope I still fit in when I get back. I suppose I've changed as well, hopefully we're just as cohesive as we were when I left.

A regular Campus Day

I've been keeping myself busy during my absence, that's for sure. A few weekends ago, Carin, Ines, Christian and I rented a car and did a tour of the island. Initially I was going to be the driver-- but me+stick+mountains=imminent death for everyone in a 10 mile radius, so Christian took over and was a boss. The group dynamic turned out to be amazing. Carin from San Diego, Christian from Germany and Ines from Peru turned out to be the most excellent of traveling buddies. The four of us made our way to some of the most beautiful places on the island. We met up with Stefan, his friends, Christos and Argyro, his girlfriend as well as a ton of others at one of my favorite beaches, Anse Couleuvre in the north. On our way, we got a bit turned around, so we decided to take a lovely detour and drive as far as possible up the Mountagne Pelee-- a volcano that erupted in May 1902 and killed 30,000 people. The volcano gives an incredible view of the island-- you can see the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea at the same time. The temperature change is startling, and the natural power of the volcano is virtually tangible. Once you park, you can climb the mountain to the summit, but we left that for another day.

Christian and the Car

Anse Coulevre

View from Mount Pelee

We also made our way to small towns on the way, and the next day went to Les Salines, which is meant to be one of the prettiest beaches on the island. But the beach didnt meat our now snobby credentials, so we left to another, did some shopping and roamed the south. Having a car breathed a bit of life into all of us; I can't stress how poor the public transport is . We plan to rent another one for a week or so, and really destroy this place before we leave.

 Ignore them, even when they are laughing.

Ignore them, even when they are screaming.

SO, most of the time we are in the town of Schoelcher-- livin' the schoelcher life. Schoelcher is basically a suburb of Fort de France, but too small to be considered anything other than a village. The campus is considered Schoelcher, but the "town" where the "businesses" are (a pizzaria, kabob place and  like 6 creperies) is down what I like to call Mount Campus ( a heinously steep hill we walk down to get into town and to the beach, and UP TO GET HOME FML). I will leave with fond memories of Schoelcher, but it is, to be polite, an honest portrayal  of life in Martinique. Some of the homes are just skeletons of old, dilapidated foundations and frameworks. They look as though they could tumble at any moment. They are dirty, broken and nestled in the streets that often wreak of piss, corpse and vomit. It's only saving grace is night fall, when their true nature is masked by darkness. The Schoelcher cats rule the streets, constantly hunting in garbage cans and using the beach as their personal litter box. The crack heads are in full force as well, fighting, mooching and befriending naive foreigners. But the beach, corner bar and dock have become our second home, amongst the poverty and character that makes the town. Some of the residents don't have running water or electricity. But somehow, they find happiness in their ocean view.

Lovely Night for a Sing along

Friends on the dock

Schoelcher Plage

Schoelcher

It's been quite an experience being here. La Negritude, colonization and identity issues have a whole meaning to me and my perspectives. I love the place that I live, but its waring me down and I have a huge respect for those that call it home.