Vertical Rays of the Sun (Vietnam)

Okay, I’m completely sun-whipped. I’m red and dark and my skin looks horrible and hot! I am so tired. Today I just got back from snorkeling at this reef where I swallow so much salt water not to mention drowning. Let’s start from yesterday though…

Quang and Khoa, his roommate, had labs to go to so they sent Duyand I to Sandal Resort, which we found out was for couples when we got there, but we still got in anyways. We got a day pass to go hang out and eat food. We had some breakfast at the buffet thing which was right on the shore and the scene was really pretty! After that I spent 6 hours lying under a straw umbrella on the beach. Duy went around to the pool and went swimming, but it was a bit too hot for me. I stuck to reading some Jane Austen, but after awhile I had to go swimming too. The beach was just so beautiful and I couldn’t resist. It was so chilly at first! That water is cold cold. Later Duy and I went kayaking, hence my facebook picture. It was fun except he was in the front and kept throwing water at me with his paddle. We had lunch and back to the beach where I swam some more, but I was really getting burnt up. Antigua is a great place to get marry cause there aren’t any kids around any of the resorts. Quang and Khoa came back later and we rented jet skis. Let me tell you! It may look fun when you’re on the shores and everything, but that was the scariest thing ever especially since it was my first time on them. Quang, having done this so many times didn’t go easy, he just turned up the gas and we FLEW across the water. I have never held on so tight to anyone in my life! I was screaming and scared, ya’ll know I don’t even like rollercoasters and this was something like that. He was going so fast, I was scared out my mind. It was like being in one of those James bond movie, except I wasn’t Bond, I was more like the prisoner getting tortured in the back. Quang then let me drive and it was soooo much fun! I felt less in the front and I pressed the gas to go extra fast. It was such a ride/rush. It was a little too much fun! So that was the most exciting thing of my day. We went home around 4 cause the sun sets a little earlier here and I went in the pool when we got back. Quang prepared us for snorkeling. I went to sleep early cause I was hot and so red and dark from all that sun. I thought I did a good job protecting myself, but I guess not.

Today we woke up at 8, Antigua is Eastern Time Zone, and drove to the dock in Saint John’s. They drive on the left side here and the roads are ridiculous! The school was doing a fun raiser and rented a sailboat to take kids snorkeling so we went with them. It was about 30 of us and of course I was the youngest again. I’ve never been on a sailboat and this had one of those netted things where you lie down and see the water as you’re moving. We got on and we sailed for about 40 mintues to the reef. The ride was so beautiful and we got to see a lot of the coast line and ocean. I left like I was in the South Seas somewhere. It’s just so pretty here and the water is amazing of course! There’s mountains and little islands and just the sky is so amazing!  Beaches everywhere, but I’m started to get a little sick of them myself. We got to the snorkeling area and we had our gear on. I thought I was ready, but I soon as I went in I took in some water! I was just suffocating for a bit and Quang was trying to help me with my stuff. I kept swallowing water and finally had to stand on one of the reefs so he could fix my stuff. Duy had already left back to the boat after a few minutes beucase he was having a hard time. I sort of got used to it and it was so cool snorkeling. Fish swim around you and I saw a blue sting ray. I enjoyed it, but I’m more excited to go scuba driving tom. We had lunch on the boat and we sailed slowly toward that beach I saw on my first day where there’s a fort ontop of the mountain. I was done with the beach so I just walked around and I took someone up to the top of the fort to see the view.  Oh, on the side of the beach, it’s really a lagoon, is Giogio Armani’s house. He has a huge house on the side of a cliff! It’s really amazing up there! We went back to the boat and sailed back to the dock. I got more Australian ice cream today.

Being on the island is fun, but it’s too much sun and beach for me. My skin can’t handle all this. Antigua is a pretty place to visit, but I don’t want to live here. It’s actually kind of lonely here and after awhile I would imagine it to be boring. I sort of had my first taste of living out the states cause Antigua is the first place I’ve been to that I don’t really have relations to even though I have Quang going to school here. I don’t know how I feel about things anymore. I realize since I”ve been here nothing feels foreign to me. That’s a good sign that I’ll be able to make any foreign place feel like home and adapt easily to knew places, but I’m so unsure. Antigua is beautiful and we’ll see how the rest of the trip goes. I still have 4 more full days here!