As week one in the Sint Maarten comes to a close, I reflect on the amazing memories I have already made. If you looked at the students on this trip you would not know that most of us met each other only a week ago. We started our time on the island out with van trip all over the island. From a bustling town of Phillipsburg (The Dutch capital) to the vast agriculture that surrounds the French side, we were shown truly how many things this island has to offer. We finished our tour with lunch at “Sunset Bar and Grill”, located right next to the famous Maho Beach. We sat right by the water and got to watch the planes depart and come in right over Maho Beach. It was almost like the people on the beach could touch the planes coming it.
Thursday, we went on our first catamaran around the island, where we had a blast. We were able to anchor down where we got to snorkel, swim, dive off the boat, and go down the slide. I was even able to swim down the twenty feet and touch the bottom, which only made my ears hurt a little. On the way to our lunch spot we were hit with some hard ways that literally made some of us think we might go overboard. Once we reached our destination we were able to swim into our lunch spot where we were served authentic Caribbean chicken and ribs. Even though some of us got a little seasick on the ride home, we had a great time, that we will for sure be reminiscing about for a while.
As the start of the weekend hit and we had no class, so we were able to go out and explore the island on our own. We got to find new restaurants to try and get a feel for what the nightlife is like on the island. Saturday, we found the cutest breakfast and lunch place called, “Take A Break”. As we were eating, we got caught in a rainstorm and ended up running back to our resort. As we have been exploring the island you really get a feel for what the marketing is like. We have already seen that word of mouth is the best marketing on the island. The locals have been great secondary resources telling us all about excursions to do and restaurants to try. I ended my first week here by starting the day, with my friend Quinn, taking trip to the bakery for some coffee and pastries, then we stocked up on some snack at the grocery and got our hands on some bug spray. The mosquitos here are seriously no joke. We spend the afternoon hanging out at the pool, got in a quick workout and ended the day with dinner at “Fat Tony’s” for fifty cent wings with all our friends. I am definitely tired from the week we have had but I am so excited for the many things to come the rest of our time here.
