Until We Meet Again...

And so starts the week of the endless good-byes.  Good-bye to the island, good-bye to coworkers, peers, colleagues, and friends.  It's been just about 8 months since I moved to St. Croix and started at Hovensa.  It's been a whirlwind of a time.  Hard times at work, fun times on the island have all been worth it.  Yesterday was my last full day of work... and today I go in for my exit interview at 2:30pm, and that will be it.

A lot of people leave tomorrow, but I'm staying here until the 30th.  I'd like to really get to enjoy this island (not that I haven't already) before I have to leave.  I have a little bucket list I guess.  I want to see the sunrise and set over the horizon on the same day.  I want to eat at a few more restaurants I haven't tried yet.  I want to visit a couple more beaches I haven't yet.  I want to see the tide pools.  I feel like I just have not been able to do everything because I took it for granted that I lived here, and now I won't be living here, and I need to take advantage of all these amazing things to do.  We'll see, I have about 10 days to get it all in.  A friend of mine doesn't leave until Wednesday, so I'll have someone to do these things with maybe.  Suzzy and Brandon are here until August, but they will be working every day.  Their end-date is July 31st.  I'm really excited about that because it means they will still be able to get married here, and it gives me a great reason to come back!  I'll be returning to this island in August to be in my best friend's wedding, and I cannot wait.

So here goes... when I leave here I will head to New Jersey for a week to spend with my family and hopefully catch up with some friends.  Then I am off to San Francisco to visit with my best friend from camp, Lisa, because we should never be separated.  From there I will work my way down to Los Angeles, to get my Philly girl in that LA world self on.  I can't wait to see my old roommate and my good friends again.  Finally it will be to New Orleans for a new life adventure.  We'll see what kind of blog I come up with there.  Maybe I'll figure out how to write more often. (:

Under The Sea

Yesterday I completed my SCUBA dive certification course. I finished 3-dives in one day. I feel so comfortable under water now. I am so glad I finished this course before I left. I can't wait to go again. What once used to feel severely unnatural, feels completely natural. I no longer mind the idea of 10's of feet of water over my head, breathing from a tank, and swimming with fish. It used to terrify me, but taking this course and learning how to properly and successfully dive, I feel very happy doing it. My Dad is coming at the end of the month, and I am so excited to go diving with him and take him off the wall.

Enjoying It While It Lasts

So I may be counting the days until I no longer am gainfully employed, however it doesn't mean I'm not loving each day I count. I am especially grateful for the weekends. The past few weekends have been truly memorable. Brandon got a boat just a few weekends before the layoff (I think I mentioned that before), so we've been going to Buck Island quite frequently. The days are enjoyable and relaxing and crazy fun all at the same time. The nights have been frivolous and exciting. The work days are short (standard 8-hours as opposed to 10, 11 or 12), the evenings are productive, and the weekends are crazy.

Last weekend a bunch of us went to St. Thomas. Suz, B, Mer, Yanc, Sach, and I left after work Friday and arrived just in time for happy hour. It was a short flight by seaplane to hop over to our neighboring US Virgin Island, and the weekend was off to a great start. The evening's events included drinks at the hotel, appetizers at a near-by restaurant, drinks, more drinks, and some late night snacking. Saturday was a ferry skip over to St. John and Margarita Phil's for 32oz margaritas, and a day of laughter. Chiso met us back in St. Thomas... showing up late since he had some Saturday morning obligations. Sunday was the final day of our weekend getaway. Lunch at Hooters (St. Thomas feels so stateside-like) and a monorail up to the top of the mountain. Everyone left a little earlier than Chiso and I. We stayed for a couple more hours enjoying island drinks, the ferris wheel, and good company.

It is going to be a shame when we all have to leave here. No more weekend getaways, no more boat days, no more sunshine, and worst of all, saying goodbye to all the friends I've made. Who knows when I'll get to see any of these people again after this. I hope I never forget any of these experiences... any of these people... or any moment of my life on the island.

Lay-Off's are Real Life

Well I guess it happens to the best of us. It's almost like, as soon as I get used to being somewhere, I am put into a situation where I have to give it all up and move on. My company is shutting down, and as of April 20, 2012 I will no longer be an employee at Hovensa. It kind of stinks, you know. I was really enjoying what I was doing. I met so many great people, and in just a few months we're all going to have such different lives. My journey begins again to find another adventure. Who knows where I will be? Alaska? Australia? Maybe I'll come back to California. That would be great actually, because at least I'll know people and I'll be where I wasn't quite ready to leave before. This life on this island has just been a pitstop in my ever-running journey. This is my never-ending story.

What else can you do when you find out you're going to lose your job? Other than spruce up your resume and cover letters, throw them out there, and work with recruiters... you party! I mean, we only have 12 weekends left. We have to party, because it'll all be over soon. We got the news on Wednesday, so Wednesday night we all got together and made the best of it. Needless to say not everyone could drive home. It was interesting. Thursday was certainly unproductive. Thursday night I had dinner at Suzzy and Brandon's place. They bbq-ed, and the co-op's (our friends Meredith and Sacha), my friend Chiso, and I went over and we just forgot about our problems. We laughed, we cheers-ed, we ate, and we had fun. Friday night the same people came over my place and I had my first little dinner party. I made a lasagna, and put out a balsamic salad and wine, and I wore my new apron. It was a lot of fun, to just spend the time with the people I know I will soon not be able to do this with anymore.

We took it quite easy Friday night, because Saturday morning we got up and piled the booze and snacks onto Brandon's and Layne's speed boat and we partied it out to Buck Island. Buck Island is a National Reef Park island off the North Shore of St. Croix. The beach is gorgeous, the water is wonderful, and the experience was so much fun. I may or may not have gotten my finger jammed (resulting in a necessary split the past two days) in an effort to catch a football... but that's beside the point. It was such a long day though, that Saturday night ended early, and that was that.

Overall, aside from the bad news we received last week, the weekend was good, and we had a lot of fun just spending it with good friends, eating good food, and having good times.

I'm really going to miss it here.