Puerto Rico so far

On Thursday night after our field program briefing group of us stayed in the union (large theater) and played loaded questions. It’s a card game where a person asks a question and everyone writes an answer down. The reader must then try to guess which person wrote which answer. It is quite funny because some of the group wrote funny answers.
Today is Friday and the first day of classes. Most of my classes happen today, which is an A day. A and B days rotate and in all, there is 23 of each day when we are at sea. This morning I had global studies and music therapy. Global studies gives us an overview and background of the countries that we will be visiting next. Today we talked generally about Latin America, the Caribbean and Puerto Rico. We learned about the government presently and past and some of the music and dance culture. The teacher also focused on the influence of Africa and North America on the Latin American culture. Music therapy seems like it will be a very interesting course. So far we have talked about all the different ways that music can be used as a tool to learn other skills. It seems this will relate well to my health degree!
This afternoon I had introduction to international business. The classroom was very distracting because it had couches overlooking the water, which made it difficult to stay awake. The prof is really interesting and funny, so I think although the course material has the potential to be boring, it will be ok.
Today we planned on waking up early and heading into old san juan again for some sightseeing. Plans changed and the snooze button meant that we didn’t get up until quarter to nine. After trying to go for breakfast but finding both dining halls closed, we decided to head into town and stop for an early lunch when needed. We took a taxi to the center and soon found that most shops didn’t open until eleven, being Sunday, so we poked around some souvenir shops. At one rather authentic store, I found plantain chips, my favorite since Anna Kessaram used to bring them to school. In the same store I also found a chocolate covered marshmallow covered in rice krispies. Now although I don’t really like marshmallows, I decided to give it a try (see photo). It was delicious and I think I might start selling them in Bermuda when I get home. After some more wandering we headed for lunch at El Meson. It was filled with locals so we figured it would be authentic. After waiting in the long line and giving our names, we waited for the food to be ready. In Puerto Rico, apparently Laura sounds like Cora, so that became my temporary name (see picture). The menu included natural fries, so I decided to give them a try. They turned out to be regular fries (see picture also). After lunch we headed to marshalls and Walgreens for a little browsing of the shops. I did not buy anything!! We then went to a store called rainbow, which had many cute sundresses.
By early afternoon we were ready to head back to the ship before our evening excursions. We decided to sit and have a medulla (pronounced med-a-ya), a local beer, at a corner café. We were joined by Dante and Tucker, two guys I had met before. Spontaneously, a tram swung into the bus stop and we decided to hop on. The tour took us to parts of the town we hadn’t seen including the beaches and “la perla” neighborhood . Although very hot, it was enjoyable and a nice way to wind down the day. After we had down one complete loop of the tour, we hopped off and headed for the bus terminal. After waiting almost half an hour, the bus finally came and we paid our $.75 and sat down. Tucker, the last to board, apparently didn’t know that I was change only and stuck his dollar bill into the machine. The angry driver soon indicated this was not ok, and proceeded to dig out the bill with his keys. It was hilarious at the time, but Tucker didn’t think so!
After arriving back at the ship, I decided to take a little down town and organize myself and write some post cards. I will be leaving for a kayaking tour of a bioluminescent bay at 7pm.