I did get an oppertunity to see some of the awesome beauty of Jamaica one of the very first things I noticed was the beautiful vibriant flowers they are everywhere and the most amazing colors I have ever seen. Im not normally a flower person but I was awe struck by these. We went to Dunns River Falls and I am ashamed to say I didn't make it up. I am so short that my legs couldn't reach to get me up the next level. I thought I was going to drown. It was very funny though. I was rescued by a fellow student and escaped on the next exit. It was such a beautiful place. We also went to the Bob Marly House and I really enjoyed that. I wanted to go to Cranbrook Farms to see more flowers but just didn't have the time. Fren Gully was absolutely breathtaking to me. Many of the girls slept on the bus trip from ocho Rios to Kingston and back but I could not I was afraid I would miss something. I just couldnt soak in enough of it all. I could have stayed 6 months and still I don't think I would have gotten enough. My most favorite place was the market place though. Thats where I went to sit and just talk to people lots of people. The worst thing I learned is that the US made loans to Jamaica under totally absured interest rates that would be illegal here in the states. It made it impossiable for Jamaica to pay the loans back. Then the US demanded payment, added more interest for late payments. The only way Jamaica could repay the loans was to take away from their people, education, health care, housing they had to cut any government funding programs for the people to pay the US. Basically what we did was rape them and add interest. I was truly ashamed of my country when I learned this. Jamaican children do not get an education unless their parents can afford to pay tution and books and lunches and buy uniforms. Most of the people cannot afford all this, so a lot of the children do not go to school. Sometimes we don't realize how good we have it until we get the oppertunity to see how other people live. The women I met in the market that couldn't afford to send their kids to school take turns teaching them what they know using old text books. They really work together to help each other like a little community. Gratitude and humility I got a dose every day. It was so very wonderful. I truly love Jamaica. I could live there and be very happy. I didn't go to the beach the entire time I was there, it wasn't about the beach. Although there is one thing I didn't understand. If I ordered a coke in a restaurant I couldn't drink it b/c it tasted like it had rum in it. I asked repeatedly to make sure It was just coke they assured me it was just coke. I had my instructor taste it and smell of it. It didn't smell like rum but it did taste like rum. so I had to drink Ting or water, I couldn't drink the coke. Even if it didn't have rum in it just the taste wasn't a good thing for me so I didn't chance it. Not worth it.