It is now our third day in Lautoka, our first stop of the semester. Our group all met in LAX without any issues and hit it off immediately, embracing our new family for the next two and a half months. We boarded, surprisingly, one of the largest two-story planes any of us had ever seen, and seated ourselves on the second floor, anticipating the endless journey across the Pacific that lay in front of us.Ā Some of us slept soundly, and others lay awake and talked, but once we reached the airport, we were all in awe and wonder of the new. It was not even 5 in the morning when we landed in Nadi, but the passengers of our plane were greeted with two men in zulus (like sarongs) singing cheerily with ukeleles in hand. From the airport we took a beautiful bus ride through the clear and fragrant morning air along the coast to Lautoka, where we found our hotel. We spent the day exploring the town, searching for food, visiting the local market, being greeted with ‘Bula!’ by everyone on the street (their ‘hello’), and orientating ourselves with the new environment, some of us in zombie states from excess of travel and lack of sleep. As we got to know each other, though, it became clear that everyone was over flowing with excitement for our journey together, and in general consensus that this day was one of the happiest of our lives.
The bar was set high for the next day, but easily met. After a delicious homemade breakfast of fresh fruit and bread from the market the day before, and more group activities and orientation, we jumped back on the bus to go south toward a beach. We had been warned by the guidebook that this was more of a locals beach, and unlike the pristine white sands of the islands tourist resorts, but once we arrived everyone was overjoyed. I guess its hard to have a mediocre beach in Fiji. It was as scenic and beautiful as any of us could imagine, and we spent the day messing around in the water and soaking up the sun. We returned to Lautoka, and headed to an Indian restaurant for a group dinner (the predominant food here seems to be Indian and Chinese influenced). We ended what was another outstanding day relaxing back at the hotel pool or falling asleep early in exhaustion. The atmosphere of the group so far is incredible, and everyone seems willing and eager to devote themselves fully to the enjoyment and immersion of the program. Its like we’ve all known each other for months already.
-Alistair