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At 24 years old it may be a bit too early to call it the adventure of my lifetime, but I can’t imagine beating my stay in the Caribbean. I’ve always been a timid person, not a risk taker, but I mustered all my courage to quit my job and move to Grenada for two months. I’d envied my sister for living there with her husband as he attended medical school. Then I realized I could live there too. My motivation was to escape winter, lounge on the beach while reading, have adventures, and as cliché as it sounds, I wanted to find myself. I was immersed in a whole new world, rich in culture and full of life. I discovered a side of myself I never knew, a boldness I didn’t realize was in me. Until then my life was work, work, work. I grew tired of the monotony. My life in Grenada was the opposite. Legally, I couldn’t work anyway. To make a little extra money I did online transcription, but it wasn’t much. It certainly didn’t cover the expenses of all the wild things I ended up doing. I had accounted for travel expenses, food expenses, rent, and excursions. It wasn’t my original plan to rent a moped, but I sure am glad I did. It made my life so much more convenient, plus I got such a rush from riding it! At first, I was terrified to ride it. Probably because on my first day with it I was thrown from it after crashing into a curb . Minor injuries only. I didn’t give up on it though. After that, I was nervous to go on the main roads, but I found a short cut that led me to the place I liked to go. Container Park was the cool hangout spot. It was a little array of food places and bars made out of shipping containers. They did karaoke nights on Thursdays. I attended one night, hoping to make friends. I never imagined I would become a karaoke queen. I used to have horrible stage fright, but karaoke (and alcohol) makes you feel brave, like it doesn’t matter what people think or if I can even sing. My second time going I had driven to my short cut spot. On a dirt road off the street I lived on there was a little cliff with a rope for people to climb down. It led right to Container Park. I parked my moped at the top of it. After karaoke, I climbed up to find the moped was gone. It was only my second day with it, and it had already been stolen. The next day was a whole debacle of speaking to police and campus security, which ended around noon with the moped being found down the road from where it was stolen. I had to get comfortable riding on the main roads so I could take it where I wanted and park it in an actual parking lot. Soon I fell in love with it. I drove all over the island, including Grande Anse beach, where I got my scuba certification. I saw the beautiful creatures of the coral reefs and discovered the danger of ocean life. AKA don’t touch ANYTHING! I learned this lesson after hurting myself on fire coral, and by touching a sea urchin. Grande Anse was also the place where I volunteered for Get Grenada Swimming, an initiative to teach islanders to swim. Surprisingly, many natives of Grenada can’t swim. I spent a Saturday morning in the ocean teaching children how to swim. It made enough of an impact on me that I now work as a kid’s swim coach. I found a passion for excitement, for exploring, for diving, for cruising down the street with wind blowing in my face, and for singing in front of a crowd. Those things used to scare me, but I unlocked my wild side, my brave side, my risky side. I climbed a mountain, dived in the ocean, modeled in just a bikini for artists to draw me, and sang my heart out live. Those days will stay with me always.