Moving forward

I spent time on Graduate School applications while I was in DC. I felt that International Studies was not specific enough, and I wanted to narrow the focus. I applied to a number of schools, and was accepted with scholarship to Pepperdine University. My soon to be roommate, Carla, wanted to meet me, so we set up time where she could meet with me at the house. I flew to the nearest airport to Malibu, and my uncles came to pick me up and take me out to eat. I had not been able to meet with my uncles much; they followed my Dad to California, and they stayed when he went back to the East Coast. A few days later, a huge box came for me that included pots and pans and everything else I would need for my new apartment. I shared my apartment with Carla, Missy, and Hanna. We had a task calendar on the refrigerator for who would clean up the bathroom, who would vacuum, etc. I met some amazing friends at Pepperdine, and enjoyed being able to go to Santa Cruze, Muscle Beach, and other famous sites. I didn’t have a car, and I had to depend on others for transportation. We would play inter mural tennis and volleyball. We went to Knotsberry Farm, and it was packed. I attempted the LSAT, but law school was not in the cards for me. I got tired of having to ask for a ride all the time, and I transferred to the Monterey Institute of International Studies. Monterey allowed me to transfer credits to the school and I felt good about being in a more vibrant community. Prior to the first semester, I took a Winterim in Japanese. I stayed at the old Fort Ord, most of which was a Superfund site due to all of the leftover ammunition from the Military.

At the time, I had my bike and would ride along the Monterey Coast. I met my friend Kelly during this time. She was studying Spanish. We had some good talks and were out and about often. I was looking forward to MIIS. I did work study and was a Bilingual Literacy tutor for the Pannetta Institute, opened by Leon Pannetta and his wife. I lived in a house with three other students. I had a roommate who was a Spanish interpreter, and one roommate from Vietnam. We knew when she was cooking because the whole house smelled like fish sauce. I would hold movie nights at the apartment and we would all kick back and have fun. Wine helps with that.

During the summer of 1999, I was chosen to be a State Department intern at Bridgetown, Barbados for the Narcotics Affairs section. I was beyond excited to be selected. Barbados was the first place I had been where there was no McDonalds. It didn’t matter because there was so much amazing food. I was living with the secretary to the Ambassador at first. I would take her dog for a walk to the nearest university that had a track. I wished that I could run but I was not very athletic at the time.

Since we were part of the staff, we had to get our IDs with photos on them, and the Embassy had Marine Corps guards. There were three male security guards, and, to my surprise, a female guard. I was impressed with some of the beautiful places in Barbados. We would spend some time at the Casuarina, a beautiful hotel that had a swim-up bar, and each year Barbados they would have Crop Over when the Bajans would dance down the street and have floats and dance to Soca and Calypso music. At the time, Alyson Hinds was a popular artist. I had the opportunity to go to Dominica while I was on my internship. It’s a beautiful island known for its lush beauty. My job there was to interview Police Officers and see if the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program was making a difference in the West Indies. I would speak to the officers and take notes and soon found out that the DARE program was not having its intended affect due to the DARE program being developed in the United States and was not culturally appropriate to those in the Western Caribbean. Kico came to visit me in Dominica, and he could not get over how bumpy his incoming flight had been. He and I could not get over how SLOW the customer service was. You could order food and wait for an hour until it arrived. We would ride in a van, and the driver took us to a magical place called Trafalgar Falls. The police officers I had interviewed arranged to get me a T shirt that said “Commonwealth of Dominica Police Force ” when we were ready to go back to Barbados for me and the Dominican for him, the driver gave us a huge bag of giant avocados. I wore my new T-shirt back to Barbados, and I awaited Colleen to pick me up ( I had moved to Colleen’s house in the middle of my internship) a lady was staring at me. I asked her ” Do you need my help with something ma’am? , and she responded that she had never before seen a white Police Officer. Laughing, I explained to her that it was a gift and I was not an officer. I had plenty of good times and memories of Barbados, but I had to go back to school.