News Flash!

I am excited to announce that Josh and I have found and officially reserved our new apartment in Grenada for June 2011!  I can't believe that we are already getting everything figured out for our next big move.  We arrive in Grenada on June 21, 2011. It seems like just yesterday I was packing all of our belongings for England, and already I am thinking about packing everything back up to move to Grenada.  This first year has just flown by.  Josh has midterms starting Monday for Term 2 which means that he is almost half way done with his last term of year 1 of medical school! Crazy!  God has truly blessed us this year. 

I wasn't really prepared to start looking for a place to live in Grenada already.  In fact, I am finally just starting to feel settled here in the UK.  But, most of the students here in the UK have already started finalizing plans for their move to Grenada and I didn't want to be behind.  I started scouring the internet looking at apartments online.  You have to ask very specific questions when finding a place in Grenada, ones that you might not normally ask a landlord when moving into an apartment in the US.  For instance:

1. Is there air-conditioning? ...... This is a must considering the average temperature in Grenada year round is 82 degrees Farenheit and it has about 80% humidity.
2.  Is there hot water year round?  ....Apparently, some apartments only provide hot water during the "winter" (wet) season.  Crazy huh!?
3.  Is the apartment near a bus line? ...... We are not sure whether or not we will be able to afford a car in Grenada.  But the only way to get to the school and the grocery store is by bus if you don't have a car, and according to friends, the bus ride is a trek in and of itself.  So being close to the bus stop is of the utmost importance.
4.  Can you pay your utilities to the landlord? .... I guess opening a bank account in Grenada is impossible, so therefore things like direct debits, bill pay, etc. are not used.  In order to pay bills, you must go DIRECTLY to the source for every utility bill EVERY month.  You can see how this might be a huge hassle if you have to pay for water, gas, electric, cable, and internet separately, every month, without a car.  If you can find a landlord who you can pay all the bills directly to, it is much easier.
5.  Is it close to your friends? :).....This was probably not on Josh's "Apartment Top Priority List,"  but it was definitely on mine.  I have come to realize that this life I am living that is jobless, and basically husbandless most weeks out of the year has to have lots of friends nearby all the time.  Therefore, being within walking distance of friends is always a plus.
6.  Is it extremely overpriced, or just moderately overpriced? ....EVERYTHING in Grenada will cost more.  Or so I'm told.  Most household items, food, etc. are imported which drives up the price of things.  And because there are so many American students on the island, the landlords can charge an arm and a leg because they know the students have to have a place to live.  It's not fair, but it's Grenada.  We'll deal with it.  So we go into knowing things will cost more, the question is how much more?

All these things being said, Josh and I have found a place to live that meets all of these standards.  We even had my SO friends Blaire and Lyndzee go check out the place I found, just to make sure that it was clean and inhabitable.  I am so excited to be moving to somewhere warm and with a beach that is just minutes away from our apartment.  I may be white right now, but I plan to worship the sun when I get to Grenada in June.  One of the other great things about this place is that it is pet friendly!  We plan on taking one of my parents four dogs to the island with us.  I can't wait to have a dog around the house.  Take a look at our fantastic new place and let me know what you think!


Apparently our apartment is on the top floor, the balcony to the very right of the entrance.



The place has a large fenced lawn area where you can bring your pets out to play!

One of the two bedrooms.

It includes a washer AND a dryer! Very rare for Grenada.

I think our place looks great, small, but clean and relatively new.  I am excited to put my own touch on this place.  I'm sure at some point there will be an "after" post.  So watch for it come June!