Submitted by Ashlee Autore on the 2018 winter session program in Barbados sponsored by the Department of Geography…
After spending another week in Barbados, I think I should update the driving here: one of the buses we were all riding in, returning from exploring and learning about Bridgetown (the main city), was hit by another car. This car hit our front bumper and sped away. The locals all seemed to agree that this wasn’t the norm, at least not speeding away, but everyone seemed very relaxed and not really concerned. Of course, this leads me to believe it isn’t too rare of an occurrence. Other than that, I still appreciate how all drivers give friendly honks to each other.
During this past week, I’ve learned a lot about the culture here. Of course, the field trips with our guest speakers and field experts have been great, but what I enjoy the most is talking to strangers on the bus. The Bajans are all very easy to make conversation with (well, most of them), and they all seem really happy to have us here. I love learning about what they do here, for work and for fun, their family dynamics, their history, and anything else they’re willing to share. One man I met on the bus, Robert, told me about how he served in the U.S. Marines for 23 years, stationed in California. We were coming back from this weekly event called Oistin’s Fish Fry, where there are lots of shops set up along with restaurants and butchers. Of course, everything is based around fish. The most popular fish here is the flying fish. I’m sure there’s no menu on the island that does not have flying fish listed somewhere on it.
Considering we’re studying on an island, naturally, we get to see a lot of beaches and learn about how they’re different depending on where you are and the current projects supporting sand and coast preservation. During one of these field trips, it happened to be raining for most of the time. Although the island is technically supposed to be in a dry season right now, everyone has been commenting on how there’s an abnormal amount of rain falling lately. Almost every time it rains here, a rainbow can be found. We were lucky enough to find a double rainbow, right over the beautiful, blue water.
As an added bonus – one morning this week, I was finally able to see the native green monkey eating some fruit.
