I NeverThought I Would Have This Opportunity

I am very excited to be in Barbados. During undergrad I never had the opportunity to do study abroad and thought that my only chance to visit a foreign country would be on vacation. However, upon enrolling at of UofL I learned of this ISLP opportunity to Barbados. The great thing about this, and the part that I find to be very interesting, is that we get to learn about higher education here, work with professionals on two of the college campuses (University of the West Indies and Barbados Community College), and get to learn about Barbadian culture.

When we first arrived my first thoughts were, “Golly…It’s hot here!!!” Since then I’ve somewhat acclimated to the climate, but have found that I wasn’t as prepared as I thought. Today I came down with a bit of sunburn even though I used sunscreen. However, that small inconvenience is worth the experience of learning about another culture.

Yesterday (Day 2) we went on an island tour. Our day began at the Sunbury Plantation House, which is over 300 years old. During our tour we saw what life would be like on a sugar plantation in the 18th century. The walls of the house are 25 inches which makes it withstand hurricanes. The house was filled with artifacts and furniture from the era and the people who lived there. One of the rooms had wall completely covered with a camera collection! It’s probably my favorite picture so far. The cellar was filled with antique carriages and riding equipment. To sum it up, the house was filled with all types of collections ranging from horse drawn carriages to eye glasses to children’s toys from the era.

On our island tour we drove the entire island! There are 11 parishes in Barbados, which I think are like counties, and each parish has a parish church. As we were on our island tour I began to take note of the terrain and driving. Barbados is actually very hilly and in some places there are hairpin curves and steep inclines. Here they drive on the left hand side of the road and when going around blind turns the driver always honked the horn (it’s more like a little beep beep than a honk), I’m guessing to alert oncoming traffic that we were coming around the corner. Also, they drive on the left hand side of the road and use roundabouts about most main intersections. This is probably some of the British influence. They were a British Colony so you do see those influences.

There’s a lot more that I would like to share, but I will wait until next time. But if you’re feeling like you need to know more about Barbados and what we’ve seen our trip, check out the bearded trees. I saw several of them today and they are amazing! They grow up and then down and are unlike anything I’ve ever seen.

Carrie Harris 2nd year graduate student