Ross University Welcoming Committee

For the last two weeks my husband, two daughters, and I have been serving on the Ross University Welcoming Committee. While we have thoroughly enjoyed giving new students a tour of campus and answering their questions, we are also worn out from the experience! We have been checking in every evening by 4:00 pm at the Ross University Housing Office to greet the new students and their family members after their long and tiresome journey to Dominica. We've helped with their luggage, given them their Ross handbags, assisted them to their 'hotel rooms' and then escorted them around campus. This has frequently involved long periods of waiting in the office for the bus of students to arrive, not an easy task if you are trying to keep a 4 and 6 year old entertained.
For me, personally, the experience has been enjoyable. I remember what my first campus tour was like, and I have loved trying to assist the '1st semesters'. I'm usually quite good with names, but there have been so many over the last few weeks that I greet people at a complete loss for their name, even if they have told it to me multiple times. Many of the tours have gone late for a young family, and the girls have lost all desire to go to bed at a decent hour. While this has been difficult on us, I feel equally bad for the students arriving as they are mostly starving after their journey. The tour culminates as we show them to a local restaurant, but this has been regularly occuring as late as 8:30 in the evening. Almost all of the new students arrive too late to make it to a grocery store, and many have arrived on days when the grocery stores aren't even open. Those who have found the Ross Spouses Organization or ValueMd websites have been at least somewhat prepared for these hardships, but living off of protein bars and whatever other packaged food brought on the airplane can only sustain one for so long before you just want a nice, home-cooked meal.
Technically new students will continue to arrive over the next several days, but we have completed our committment for now, and are looking forward to our next adventure...
a trip to the French island to the North - Guadeloupe!!!

Happy New Year, Island Style

"What are you doing New Years, New Years Eve?" sang my friend last year around this time for a dinner theater. The song has been bouncing around my head off and on from the week before Christmas, all the way up until New Years night. At the last possible minute, we threw caution to the wind and signed up to go on a trip to Sunset Bay Resort for their New Years Special. We RSVPd for the whole family, and showed up for dinner around 8:00 pm with my friend and her husband and baby, and her cousin and the cousin's spouse.
I was really uncertain about the trip because I didn't know if it would be appropriate to bring children, and I am happy to report that the evening was delightful and attended by several other families as well! Sunset Bay Resort is owned by a wonderful French couple, and their cuisine is so good that Ross University likes to wine and dine people there. Their New Years Special involved a four course gourmet meal including Callou soup, Breaded and fried Lobster, Tournedoes, and a Crepe Suzette all for around $50 US. It was fantastic! The courses were served with plenty of time in between for the food to settle and create room for the next splendid concoction. We were just receiving our Crepe Suzettes around 11:00 pm, when the Madame opened a box of noisemakers for the children and party hats for every one. We finished dessert, took a stroll through the tropical garden to sit in some peace and quiet near the swimming pool, and then returned with plenty of time to spare for a New Years toast and count down.
There were many French families in attendance, and at least some of them were related to the Resort's owners. One family sitting near us had a little girl close to my daughters' age. It was amazing that the only language the children needed in common was that of friendship, and as the adults were enjoying the third and fourth courses the three little girls were dancing and frolicking like the best of friends, all without being able to say even two words to each other in a common tongue. I will cherish my memories of our New Year celebration here on Dominica for the rest of my life.