Here

This picture is one of my favorite Grenada pictures because it embodies everything I want to remember about myself and this place when I look back on these two pivotal med school years.

This is the place where I go running when I'm feeling ambitious (it's only a half mile from our house though, so . . . ).

It's where I visit when I need to get out of the house and just think. It's one of the only places on the island where it is always breezy and a comfortable temperature.

This is where I brainstorm and make goals. It's where I can be alone and look out at the choppy ocean (I much prefer a choppy ocean to a smooth ocean when it comes to looking out).

These tide pools are where Jared and I go on sunset walks when he's not locked up at school, and where we fly kites. Sometimes we just sit by each other wordlessly, watching the creepy black crabs chase each other around, and sometimes we dream together about our future family.


Jared got so excited one day when we were visiting these little tide pools during one of our regular sunset walks. "Laura, we have to come back here and take pictures of you flying a kite on those rocks. It'll be like you're flying a kite in the ocean!" He was stoked.

And I was stunned because never in his life has Jared ever been the one to suggest taking pictures. But last Sunday he brought it up again, so off we went. We decided that this would be a cool photo-shoot to do with a long, flowy maxi dress falling into the ocean and a giant mane of wavy hair flowing out behind me. You know the dramatic photoshoots--the ones you laugh at but are actually kind of cool? Unfortunately (actually, probably fortunately), clothes shopping isn't a thing here. I could go downtown to the cruise-ship mall and buy a tourist shirt or a skirt that looks like it was made in the 90's, but that's about it here as far as clothes shopping goes. That's why I don't even feel guilty about expanding my swimsuit collection any chance I get.

But anyway, here are a few other pictures Jared took (all candid, so don't make fun of me):

^^I thought this picture was cool because it's got that straight line going almost exactly from corner to corner. So artsy, Jare! (Also, keep in mind that neither of us is a photographer, and we don't pretend to be. We just enjoy capturing moments and places so that we can remember them later, and so that our mothers know that we haven't been swallowed in the sea. [Coldplay, anyone??])

You guys, sometimes living here is hard. I think I occasionally make that a little too clear on this blog, and I apologize for that. It's far away, and it's lonely, and it's out of my comfort zone. But living here is also wonderful, and I hope that's what we'll remember when we're done with these two years. It's never cold, there are tons of amazing fruits, and Jared and I are building this seriously solid relationship as we take on the tough living-abroad issues that most couples will never have to deal with. Oh, and down the road, traveling will seriously be a breeze for us. Thick accents? We can decipher them. Driving on the left side of the road? Puh-lease, I can do that in my sleep (and often do at 5 a.m.). Trying strange soups made of breadfruit and pig snout and oil (guys, that is legitimately the Grenadian national dish)? Feed it here. Jared is thrilled to finally be learning all the medical things he's wanted to know for years, and I'm getting crazy good at cleaning and keeping giant tropical insects out of the house. Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream!