Now that it's raining more than ever, you can stand under my umberella

Ok, I'm pretty settled. Still finding places for a few things, but I figured I'd update everyone with how my first weekend here went! My future posts won't be so long or detailed, but it's been pouring the past three days, so I've had a little time today to sit and type!

Day 1: September 20th, 2008

I woke up at 4 AM, and I decided to pay any overweight charges so I could transfer 14 pounds of books from my carryon to checked baggage. Mom, Dad and I drove to the Atlantic City airport. We waited in a ridiculously long line to check in. Finally, I reached the counter, and the kind man working for Spirit Airlines decided to not make me pay overweight charges; he let this be known. With 15 minutes to go before take-off, I said a tearful goodbye to my parents, followed by rushing through security. Shoes off, sweatshirt off, liquids out, laptop out, walked through metal detector with flying colors, scrambled to put sneakers on (I had to tie them because they aren’t quite broken in enough yet), tried to fit everything else back into carry-on, and had to forego closing the zipper. I was the second to last person to board the plane.

I fell asleep immediately on the plane. Spirit has these wonderful headrests that lock in place so you don’t have to sleep like a bobble head. Shortly after I woke up, the plane landed. I walked around Ft. Lauderdale airport for a bit, then overpaid $9 for a Nathan’s lunch at 10AM, since my internal clock was completely off. After lunch (or brunch), I watched 2 episodes of Gossip Girl on my new iTouch. I then boarded the second plane. I sat next to a woman whose husband works in STT, and she travels there one week each month; she was very nice, but man, did she talk my ear off before the plane even took off. She warned, “You have to be a very simple person to live there.” I thanked her for the uplifting words of encouragement. Finally (or a half hour after this conversation began) I pulled out my book and pretended to read, even though I was too deliriously tired to comprehend the words on the page. I then paid $5 for a muffin and a small bottle of water on plane. I put on John Mayer on the iTouch and fell asleep. I woke up forty-five minutes before the end of the flight. I read People Magazine’s Best/Worst Dressed issue, and decided that People Magazine needs to fire whoever decided that Fergie was best dressed in 2008. The plane landed successfully (clearly, if I am writing this now).

Walking down from the plane, I noticed it was cloudy and rainy in STT, but still warm. I paid a 16-year old porter $5 to take my 100+ pounds of luggage to nearest taxi (which happened to be just 20 feet away). My taxi driver, Franklin, proclaimed he did not know where Pineapple Village was, and asked if I have a map. I did not. He then declared he would figure it out. He took us (about 10 people all going to similar places on the island) on the “scenic route,” which was actually rather short of a drive. I arrived at Pineapple Village, and he dropped me off after not being able to find #3905. A security guard offered to help me find the apartment. He looked as though I handed him a bag full of concrete slabs when he offered to carry my luggage, but he toughed it up anyway – for about 30 feet. We could not find 3905, so the officer suggested leaving my luggage sitting at the pool. Against my better judgment, I do so because of the weight. We eventually found 3905 about ten minutes later. It had stopped raining at this point, but seemingly invisible bugs began attacking me as I tried to find the phone number of apartment owner, since there was no one there to meet me with keys. After rifling through luggage, I call the owner, who said “Bill should be on his way in about 15 minutes”. I said thank you, even though I feared that within 15 minutes I would be covered in bug bites. Bill showed up with the keys as I hung up the phone. Salvation!

Bill struggled to unlock the door at first. This was not very assuring. Bugs continued to feast on me, and I began to drip sweat. Finally, the door unlocked. Then we came to another door to unlock, which fortunately was much easier. My initial impression of the apartment was buggy, a little dirty, a bit disappointing. There are odd islander hats hanging on the walls, which probably added to the disappointment. Bill showed me how to turn the air conditioning on, and then gave me the “grand tour”. He introduced me to my “open air bathroom,” which seems to be one of those odd island things. Bill eventually left.

I cleaned up a little and started unpacking. I took a shower, and then began to feel much better after the crazy past few days I had had.

Doug called and invited me out to watch the Phillies. I was greeted with a bottle of rum (a housewarming gift) and a beer in a coozie. Awesome. I met so many people, and unfortunately forget most of their names. One of the bartenders gave me a warm welcome, and then decided to call me “New Philly Girl.” I expected a semi-early night, since I was exhausted; however, we all know how that story goes. Phillies won! Got home around 1:45 and fell right asleep.

I'll update you some more on yesterday later today, after some more unpacking. Until then...

You know you love me.
XOXO
Island Girl

(Yeah, I watch too much Gossip Girl. Get used to it.)