Sunday, July 11, 2010

St. Maarten: The Medical School & Our Old Apartment

The last time he stood on these steps he was just beginning medical school, and look where he is now! It was great to see the medical college. Funny thing...they actually stopped us at the gate and asked for ID! WHOA! They have made a few changes since we lived there. They never used to card or ID us. HA HA HA. We actually had to explain that we used to go to school there and that we were coming for graduation. It took them a minute to confirm that and then they let us in.The old sign. Brings back a lot of memories. I am amazed that we went through all of this and now we are finished and actually in residency. WOW! It is still hard to take that all in.I had to get a shot of this. This playground was one that Tyson, Payton, Laura and I frequented about every day. But back then, it didn't look this good. They have actually painted it and added a baby swing and reinforced some of the places that needed help. I give credit to the Spouses Org. for taking care of this. I don't think the Medical School did anything to make it any better. I am pretty sure the SO raised money from their burrito sales to pay for the renovations.

After seeing a few professors at the medical school we headed over to Palm Court to check out our old dwellings, and they have improved them somewhat. My finger is pointing right to our apartment, and the level above it was just in the beginning stages when we left. Now it is finished. I am impressed. Usually it takes a long time for much to get fixed on this island.The grounds around our old place were still very beautiful. I had to have pictures by them. I had missed those beautiful flowers.
This is a shot from outside our old apartment gate. Now before there was a whole bunch of apartments that had been destroyed by the hurricane in 10-15 years ago and they were just an eyesore. The bus drivers would stop by them in the mornings and pee into them and then throw their trash inside the broken doorways and windows. It was a mess and smelled very bad. I also remember seeing several BIG rats coming in and out of them. Since we left they have tore some of the places down and it looks tons better.
A picture of the golf course. It looks the same. I cannot believe people will pay big bucks to play on it. You think they could fix it up just a bit!

Just another shot of this beautiful place. Some things have changed for the better and others are still the same. It was a great day to just go and reminisce about our lives here.

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