2013...a year of new beginnings...

By Andre Smith

I hope everyone had a good Christmas and got to spend time with their families. As I mentioned before, I was to spend the day with my American “family”; something I look forward to every year. The weather was superb! We started the morning with spicy bloody mary’s, a tradition and time to catch up. We then moved on to a delicious brunch overlooking the St. Lucie river and spent the afternoon touring the waterways on a boat. It was true bliss.

So the New Year has come and I can’t believe that we are already midway through February. We had a huge bash as work for New Years Eve, which was awesome as I got to spend it with my friends whom are mostly the people I work with.

I was fortunate to have New Years day off. It was time to celebrate the New Year with friends at one of my favorite bars called Gaunabannas. This place is pretty cool as it’s all outdoors and built under palm trees on the intercostal waterway. A great place to have cocktails and watch the sunset.

I also started the search this month for my own apartment. I kind of feel like I’m in an episode of House Hunters International. It’s a lot of fun apartment shopping and I’ve now narrowed it down to a shortlist of two, but have to wait until April before I can apply and hopefully get accepted. It’s quite a process here in the US to get an apartment, as there is such a shortage after the housing market crashed in 2008.  I just hope that I can get the apartment I want.

Work has been super busy since NY with events such as Superbowl, Valentines Dinner/Dance, golf days and just regular dinner. I’m so looking forward to the summer and some time to go and do some exploring.

I still sometimes think about how amazing this program has been and the opportunities that have afford to me because of it. If I hadn't taken that first step back in 2002, I would be now living and working in the USA!