Random Notes

Some random notes that would be helpful for next year's students.

There are a few banks that take American credit/debit cards. One of them is Republic Bank; it as across the street from the post office. Rattans is a really cheap clothing store that also has cheap towels and washcloths. It's not great quality, but a good place to get outfits that will be ruined. On the way to the post office at the intersection before (right side) there is a couple story corner all purpose type store. This is a good place to buy supplies for school (that or Charrans the bookstore, although the name is deceiving because it has hardly any books). Upstairs they have lots of household goods like mosquito nets, clothes pins, cups, plates, bowls, measuring cups, etc.

You are given 2 sets of sheets and pillowcases and a flat sheet to sleep under. One set is bright orange, the other aqua. You also get a pillow and some people got tiny rugs about 2 feet long and 1 foot wide. The floors are bare like the ones at PLU. You get a bowl, cup, 2 plates, knife, fork, and spoon. The corner rooms have two windows which is nice for ventilation but the middle rooms are close to wifi. BRING AN ETHERNET CORD! 100 feet will stretch to the end of the corridor. It is worth it; the cheapest one in Trinidad is $80US compared to buying for $20 online. The wifi is really slow and often goes down or simply does not work.

Also, packages are beyond expensive to ship. A girl in our group had a UPS package that was a couple pounds and it ended up costing her and her parents $400US with shopping and duty. Aubrey got a package sent from the post office of some shorts she wanted and it only cost $20 for shipping and I think $10 in duty. However, for items with value under $20 you can claim it is a "personal item" you already owned so you shouldn't have to pay duty. I am going to see of this method works or not.

If you like reading bring a few paperbacks; there are really no libraries here for pleasure reading. However, I haven't been to the on campus one so I'm not sure if they have a fiction section. Also, bring pictures and posters! I brought posters out of national geographic magazines or magazines and printed some color photos at PLU with some extra prints. I also cut up some calendars which is an easy way to have nice pictures on sturdier paper. They lay flat on the bottom of my luggage and it was so nice to have color on the walls. I haven't really seen anything for decoration here so it's better to bring stuff. At the end they can just be thrown away.

Clothing here is comparable in prices to the US, especially the mall. If you have to do shopping, go in Tunapuna. Trin City mall is a long 2 story mall about 15 minutes away that has some American places like Coldstone Creamery, Subway, Auntie Ann's (I'm told it tastes different), and Cinnabon.

I'm not sure if I mentioned this before or not but the moon is different here. When it's a half moon instead is the right or left side being gone the top or bottom are in shadow instead.