USP

Yesterday was my first full day in Suva. After exploring more of the city, I took a cab to the University of the South Pacific, the largest university in the South Pacific. The campus is something else: it is very lush and has a wide array of tropical flora. The most beautiful aspect of the campus was the botanical garden: it made me appreciate just how tremendously different the natural environment is here compared to Hamilton College in Upstate New York.

I went the library, but unfortunately, there was a lack of texts on Fijian music (let alone of drumming). That being said, I was not disappointed, as I am not in Fiji to conduct research in a library: this fellowship provides me the unique opportunity to do actual field research. All in all, it was very nice to familiarize myself with the USP campus.

After spending the afternoon at USP, I returned back to my hotel for a short nap, to rest up for the weeklong, annual Hibiscus Festival. Well, I guess the jetlag finally caught up with me, as I fell asleep at six and woke up just after midnight. I will go to the Hibiscus Festival tonight (possibly even in the afternoon as well).

As of now, I am planning on going to Levuka (on the island Ovalau) with my taxi driver Jitan, to attend a traditional Hindu wedding. Hopefully, I will be able to interview the musicians that perform at the ceremony. I am not sure how long I will stay on Ovalau; although the guidebooks have said that travelers who intend to go there for only a couple days end up staying for a couple a weeks, so we’ll see.

With that in mind, I might not have internet access for a little while. I do have a cell phone (011 697 975 6007), but Vodaphone (my service provider) has had network troubles this week, so I have been unable to receive international incoming calls. Vodaphone said the network should be back to normal by the end of the week, so feel free to try calling then.