Mom and Daughter Coming to Tour UVI-STT -- student relocation advice?

Welcome to the relo board! First, I would check the days you are planning to come. Mid-late April is Carnival time and town and UVI schedules are a mess. Graduation is in May.

Re: UVI in general- there are some excellent departments, most notably Marine Biology. Unless something has changed, the dorms are not co-ed and have rules out of the 60s (no visitation, for example). This is usually a relief to parents. I think the women's dorms have been redone since our scholar attended, but she found them just fine. There is a cafeteria which is mostly local food, great for that freshman 15. The student body is small and very supportive of each other. One caveat is that drinking and drugs are ubiquitous. Students need to have their priorities straight.

Let us know how else we can help.

Thanks for your reply! Yes, we are coming during Carnival time and paying more for lodging and airfare as a result. UVI Admissions did confirm our appointment for a campus tour for a specific time and date. The timing couldn't be helped because we live in Louisiana and the only other week we could come was during our Mardi Gras break when UVI coincidentally also happened to be closed. We aren't interested in those activities, though. If she enrolls at UVI, she'll have plenty of opportunities to experience Carnival, beaches and other things that tourists and residents do in the future.

We want to see places like Tutu Park Mall, Kmart (seems there are two of them), the Post Office, etc. so that we make her relocation as simple and realistic as possible. As much as I'd like to visit places like Duffy's Love Shack and enjoy local rum drinks at poolside, it's more important that we find out if the food at, say, Subway is decent. I distinctly remember an incident where I was a late arrival checking in at Galleon House and I wanted to get a bite to eat. The innkeepers said downtown wasn't safe after 5:30 pm and insisted I needed a round-trip taxi to Burger King which seemed to be about three blocks away. I found this rather odd and didn't think the food was that great either, especially with the cost of taxi fare on top of it. The next night I ate dinner in a very expensive restaurant for no other reason than it happened to be next door and I didn't have to worry about walking around after dark. These are the sort of unanticipated expenses I wouldn't want a college student to face in an unfamiliar setting. For future reference, we would also want to find an inexpensive place for me to stay if I come down to just long enough to help her get settled into her dorm and then fly straight home. I don't mind spending a lot of money for a resort if I'm on vacation, but if I were to commute down there on a regular basis, I'd have to start cutting corners.

We sincerely appreciate your interest -- thanks again!

I didn't mean that you were going to be participating in Carnival, only that Carnival changes things. Some things will be closed, other things will not work like they should...

BTW, John Brewer's beach is on the campus, so she will have plenty of time to experience beaches as a student.

I am not sure what "inexpensive" is to you. You might check with Ronnie at http://www.crystalpalaceusvi.com/ for a local spot to stay.

Subway is not really where students eat. There are places closer to the campus that she will discover. We don't have a Burger King, so I'm not sure about that comment... Since you will have a car, you will be able to see where everything is.

There was a Burger King here in STT for a few years -- on the waterfront at Raadets Gade.

There are two food trucks at Brewers if a student wants an alternative to the cafeteria. They sell hamburgers and hot dogs and a few other things.

You can take the public safari from UVI to Nisky Center where there's a Subway, Domino's, Chinese place, Latin Caribbean place, and a KFC.

The closest post office is at Frenchtown, but you can get a private mail box at the business center in Crown Bay behind Tickles. The school probably has a mail box for students, though, so not sure why you need post office.

There are 2 guest houses similar to Galleon, but closer to UVI. Island View and Sunset Garden? Read TripAdvisor reviews. You'll need transportation

Zero: That was a LONG time ago. There was an Arby's too...;)

Yeah i remember buying a Coors Light in Burger King STT just so I could say I bought a beer in Burger King.

Hi, I am the mother of a teenage daughter who is an honor student. She attends a nationally-recognized high school for gifted/talented students where they put a lot of pressure on the kids to start touring colleges early. Most of her friends will be applying to Ivy League schools and public universities in our home state, but I think she deserves something unique and adventurous after all these years of buckling down to maintain her outstanding grades. I saw the website for the University of the Virgin Islands and made arrangements for us to fly down for a tour of the STT campus and take a serious look at the place.

We will be arriving from the mainland for four weekdays and we're not going to waste time and money on tourist activities while we're here (I've already been to STT twice as a tourist). We are doing a reconnaissance mission to see how my daughter would get by on a daily basis if she enrolled at UVI and lived on-campus. We want to see all the boring, mundane stuff like shopping centers, supermarkets, fast food restaurants, bus stops, etc. that you don't take notice of when you jump off a cruise ship for a few hours or seclude yourself at a beach resort. We will have a rental jeep and will be staying near the airport and campus.

Would any of you who have successfully relocated like to make any suggestions for our brief visit? Thanks for your help!

Congrats on being a "tourist" twice. Before you come all the way here for your "reconnaissance mission" for four whole days, read everything you can find on this site to answer any questions you may have. For instance: violent crime.

drinking age is 18 NOT 21

What does she plan to major in?

I would like to say a special note of thanks to everyone on this message board because a significant number of the responses I got were private messages and don't appear in this discussion thread for all to see.

For those of you who commented on my earlier post, no, I didn't make a mistake. There really was a Burger King but it was over twenty years ago. Seeing as how it wasn't very good, I'm not surprised it went out of business.

As for my daughter's choice of study, kids change their mind about majors all the time, but I can say for certain that it isn't Marine Biology. UVI isn't the only university we are considering, but it certainly is the most intriguing, and we are really looking forward to this campus tour.

Thanks again for all the replies. The negative comments have been just as important as the positive ones -- all are appreciated -- we'll be sure to let you know how our visit went!

Okay, I am putting this all together. You stayed at Galleon House and ate at Fiddle Leaf. Burger King was around then. Jimmy the Greek's place next door was really good and a bit less expensive. Ah, the memories! P.S. The chef at Fiddle Leaf is still around, but Burger King is long gone. So is Jimmy, God rest his soul.

All the best with your search.