Italy Video

Here is the video we made about our time in Italy! The first song is "You Don't Know How Much You Can Suffer" by Jan Morks Quartet, and the second is "Tintarella di Luna" by Jenny Luna.  Enjoy!

Eurotrip: Rome, Italy

Our last stop in Italy was Rome. We had both been to Rome before and had very different experiences: I went with my family when I was younger and fell in love.  Taylor went during a school break while he was abroad and didn't have the greatest experience (let's just say his bunk bed was shaking all night long thanks to some very oblivious/intoxicated guests in the sketchy hostel he was staying in...awkward).  I was determined to change his opinion about Rome.

Rome was quite the change of pace after being in Modena and Bologna -- there were so many tourists and so many things to do that at times it was overwhelming.  We decided to only do a couple of the big sights and then explored other parts of the city where we could breathe and relax. We ended up seeing the Colosseum/Roman Forum and the Vatican/Sistine Chapel, and then dropped by Trevi Fountain and Piazza Navona. 

Each day we explored a different park.  We found two different spots with beautiful views of the city - an endless landscape of buildings the colors of sand and sunsets, dotted with the occasional ruin. It's a pretty unique city to see from above.  Both parks felt like a quiet oasis above the city where we could people watch and take in the city from a different perspective. One day we took sandwiches and beer up for lunch.

We also spent a day walking around the Jewish Ghetto. It was nice to explore some quiet, pretty streets. We didn't have any particular destination in the neighborhood, so we just let ourselves get lost! On our last day, Taylor decided to get his haircut at a barber near our Airbnb, which ended up being a fun adventure. The shop was run by the sweetest old man and his wife.  Neither of them spoke any English so it was pretty funny trying to communicate with them!

TO DO & SEE: Beyond whatever tourist sights you want to see I would recommend taking walks up to see the parks I talked about above. The one near Travestere is up on Gianicolo Hill -- this one is a longer walk. There are a couple of monuments and a botanical garden to see on your way up the hill. Villa Bourghese is the park near the Spanish Steps. It is not so far removed from the city, but is a good place to go for a little break from everything.  Definitely spend some time in Trastevere -- it is full of sweet little streets and piazzas (I'm a sucker for narrow, cobblestone European streets...have you figured this out yet?) and a couple pretty churches. Like I said before, the Jewish Ghetto is also a nice place to explore.

TO EAT & DRINK: For lunch on our second day we went into a little meat and cheese shop on a side street intending to buy materials to make our own sandwiches, but the guy inside offered to make them for us. We chose everything and he threw it together for us.  We grabbed a big Perino beer and took everything up to the park. I would definitely recommend doing this for lunch over trying to find a good restaurant.  When you're out seeing tourist sights it's hard to avoid crappy/overpriced food. 

On our first night we went to a great little restaurant in Trastevere called Meridionale.  The walls are covered in old magazine clippings and it is furnished with retro, mis-matched tables and chairs.  Aside from the meal being amazing, it was also a nice place to eat because it was away from the busiest parts of the neighborhood. By far the best meal we had was at Il Duca, which is also in Trastevere. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. Taylor got carbonara and I had the best lasagna of my life.  We also got fried artichoke and prociutto e melone to start.  I still dream about it. After dinner at Il Duca we popped into a tiny little convenience store to get beers and walked around the streets with the crowds of young people. We liked doing this at night rather than finding a place to get drinks, but we did go out for drinks one night in Trastevere at a place called Nylon. They had good drinks, a cool atmosphere and nice outdoor seating that was perfect for people watching. 

Oh, and I can't write a post about Rome and not mention gelato. We had amazing gelato at Il Gelato di San Crispino.  It's all homemade and doesn't have gross artificial colorings and flavorings.  We read somewhere that it's a bad sign when gelato is super colorful. 

Look back tomorrow for the video we made about our time in Italy!

Eurotrip: Modena & Bologna, Italy

After our time in Strasbourg, Taylor and I took the train to Italy to spend some time with some of his family friends in 2 smaller towns/cities in Italy. We started in Modena, and then went to Bologna. It was great to experience Italy from an Italian's perspective for a few days and get to know Taylor's old family friends -- We had the most wonderful hosts and were sad to leave! (Thank you Laura, Gianfranco, Maurizio, Massimo & Wendy!). This is a collection of pictures from both places -- they are pretty similar, but Bologna is bigger.  They both have the most beautiful sunset colored buildings and little cobblestone roads. We spent most of our time wandering around and eating lots of amazing food.

In Bologna we took a walk up a big hill along the worlds longest continuous portico to see Il Santuario di San Luca -- the view from the top was beautiful! Afterwards our hosts, Maurizio and Massimo took us for a little drive around the hills and we went to a super yummy restaurant tucked away above the city.  

Above: First, the streets of Bologna. Second, beautiful buildings in Modena. My camera was full of pictures like this -- I can't resist those colors!

Maurizio and Massimo's sweet furry daughter, Wendy. We were both pretty smitten with this pup.

>Modena

TO DO AND SEE: Modena is a super small little town--we just had one full day there which was really plenty of time to do a little exploring.  We started in the center of town and walked around from there. There are a couple of churches to take a peek into (such as the Duomo di Modena), but what we enjoyed most was just finding interesting streets to walk around and little stores to pop into (our hosts recommended walking down Via Taglio). There is a Ferrari Museum nearby for car lovers -- I guess a couple of famous car designers grew up in the area. When we were there all of the piazzas were filled with displays of super expensive cars -- there was some sort of convention going on. Didn't interest me much, but I made sure to send lots of pictures to my car obsessed brother!

TO EAT AND DRINK: We didn't actually eat out in Modena so I don't have much to say about restaurants -- We were lucky enough to have an amazing cook as our hostess! But, let me just tell you now, don't leave Italy without eating prosciutto e melone.  This is what we had for lunch on our first day, and I was addicted for the rest of the trip. In terms of places to grab a drink--we were wandering around in the rain on our one full day in Modena and stumbled across the coolest little bar called Juta Café (on Via Taglio).  It actually really reminded us of Portland--the picture above (with the quote) is from there. I would definitely recommend stopping there for a drink.

>Bologna

TO DO AND SEE:  Definitely take the walk up the portico to see San Luca.  It is a pretty long walk but definitely worth it.  Or if you have a car and want to drive up I would recommend driving around the area afterwards to find a place to eat among the hills -- unfortunately I can't remember the name of where we ate, but we passed a lot of restaurants in the area that looked nice. While we were in town we saw a lot of monuments and really beautiful churches around the city--I don't remember all of their names, but that is something you can find in a guide book! We also enjoyed walking around the student quarter--it was a nice little area to explore. Do a little shopping if that's your thing -- There is a big Zara and an H&M that is way better than ones in the U.S.  There are also quite a few boutiques that have beautiful locally designed clothes...fun to look into but a little pricey.  

TO EAT AND DRINK: Oh my goodness guys.  We had the best food ever in Bologna.  Apparently it's the place to go for Italian food. Two restaurants I would highly recommend: Casa Monica (on via San Rocco) was a little more fancy and not strictly traditional (still Italian but with a fancy twist). It's a beautiful little restaurant that is family owned. On our last night we went to a restaurant called Tratorria della Santa (on via Urbana) that was very traditional Bolognan food. I had ravioli the way it is traditionally eaten--in a broth--and an incredible tiramisu. So yummy. The food is reason enough to stop in Bologna for a day or two.  In terms of drinks, we went to this really cool place that our hosts recommended called Le Stanze (on Via Borgo di San Pietro) in the student quarter.  The drinks were pretty good but they also gave us a strange (free) plate of random (slightly stale) nibblies...Which were not so good. But it is a really neat spot---apparently it was originally the 16th-century private chapel of the Palazzo Bentivoglio so it is painted with really beautiful frescoes. They also have a couple of tables outside--great people watching spot. It sounds like the actual meals there are quite good so I would still recommend giving it a try. On our way back we stumbled upon what looked to be a pop up bar in the middle of Piazza Marco Biagi. Unfortunately we needed to get back for dinner so we couldn't stop, but it looked like a fun place to check out.  I'm not sure if it happens everyday, but if you're interested maybe drop by around dinner time--that is when they were setting up!

France Video

Before we began our trip in Europe Taylor and I decided we wanted to try to make short videos from our time in each country we went to. Neither of us are particularly skilled videographers, but it was fun none the less! (The parts where you feel like you're in an earthquake from all the shaking are by yours truly...). Anyway, here is the video we made for France! The songs in the video are "Si tu vois ma mere" by Sidney Bechet, "Moi Je Joue" by Bridgette Bardot, and "Elle Me Dit" by Mika.  Hope you like it!

Eurotrip: Paris, France

Paris was the last stop of our trip in Europe, and definitely one of our favorite cities. Taylor had already fallen in love with Paris on a program trip during his semester abroad, but this was my first time in the city.  Even though it was a bit cloudy and on the colder side, I also fell in love. How can you not? We stayed in the cutest little apartment in the 14th arrondissement, near a subway stop that got us to all the sights easily. Every morning Taylor went and got the yummiest pastries from a patisserie down the street, and we ate breakfast out on the porch connected to our room.

Each day we went to a different market street where we walked around and got supplies for lunch. On our first day we went and had our lunch in the park near the Eiffel Tour in a rare spot free of crowds of tourists. On our last day we got rotisserie chicken and fat soaked potatoes to go with our bread and cheese and wine in a water bottle.  SO GOOD. On our second day we went and locked our love on Pont des artes (we're corny like that...)

As we explored the city we quickly saw lots of the sights, but stayed away from going into most of them. The only museum we went to was Musee de Orsay. I felt crazy not going to the Louvre, but with so little time we didn't want to deal with the crowds and long lines. Next time!

TO DO & SEE: The two streets/markets we went to that I remember were called Rue Cler and Rue Montorgüell. Both were nice but we liked Rue Cler better. It was definitely less touristy--lot of locals buying an armful of baguettes for the week!

Montemarte was one of my favorite neighborhoods.  There were lots of cool boutiques with locally designed and made clothing (some really great dress stores).  On our last night we went to dinner in Montemarte and ended up walking around as it got dark. After hearing some people talking about a beautiful view near by, we walked all the way up to the top of the hill that the area is situated around and found a building/church (?? our tour book probably knows what this building is but I don't feel like looking it up...it's the building pictured above).  Anyway, below this building were stairs filled with people looking out on a beautiful view of the city.  It was super full of tourists, but worth a few minutes to take in the twinkling city lights.

Musee d'Orsay-- we chose to go here instead of the Louvre because honestly, most of the art at the Louvre isn't really our thing (gasp!). We especially enjoyed seeing art by Dega and Van Gogh. Would highly recommend it! 

TO EAT AND DRINK: On our second night we set out to go to a taco place called Candelaria.  It is a tiny little place with a small area to order tacos (there is one table and a little bar space to eat at) and a really cool bar in the back.  The door to the bar is at the back and looks like it leads to a back room for employees or something. When we got there the line was super long and we were hungry so we decided to skip the tacos and come back for drinks after dinner.  The tacos looked really good though so I would definitely recommend giving it a try.

We ended up going to the restaurant right next door, called Clasico Argentino, which was an empanadas place. So good. And so cheesy. Afterwards we went to Candelaria for yummy cocktails.

On our last night we went out for a fancier meal to end the trip. We went to Miroir in Montemarte which was amazing. I had fish and Taylor had lamb.  Everything we saw people order looked amazing.

We also found La Famille (also in Montemarte) when we were looking for nicer places to go. Apparently they have really fancy, interesting drinks.  Unfortunately we didn't end up being able to go there, but it would be a good place to check out.

Check back tomorrow for the video we made about our time in France!

EuroTrip: Strasbourg, France

Hello, blog friends! Long time, no see. I haven't fallen off the face of the earth! Summer has given me a new burst of inspiration (and a little more free time) and I'm ready with lots of fun posts for your viewing pleasure.

As some of you may know, Taylor and I just got back from a 3 week trip around Europe.  Taylor was studying in Strasbourg, France last semester, so I met him there and we travelled around France, Italy & Spain. Over the next few weeks I will be sharing some photos, videos and recommendations from our trip.  It was an amazing trip, so I am excited to share with you all.

Today I'm going to share some pictures from our time in Strasbourg and a few bits and pieces about what we did/recommendations, in case any of you ever decide to check it out! I will share the video we made from our trip soon.

After one of the longest, rainiest winters in France, the sun finally came out the week I arrived in Strasbourg. We spent most of our time wandering around, exploring the city--we walked along the canal, went to the park, explored "petit France." We ate our fair share of pastries, tarte flambe, café, and Alsatian beer (Alsace is the name of the region Strasbourg is in). While we were there we also got to have dinner with Taylor's host family--it was nice to be able to see what he had been experiencing over the last 5 months.

We stayed in a room in an apartment that we rented out through airbnb.com.  I would highly recommend using this site when you travel anywhere! We used the site throughout the trip to rent out rooms and loved every apartment we stayed in.  It was nice having hosts to give us advice (the people who own the apartments are also usually living there), and by only renting a room it was just as cheap as staying in a hostel. Our apartment in Strasbourg was a perfect little place with a tiny little kitchen, creaky floorboards, and windows looking down into narrow cobblestone streets.  Our hosts were wonderful and very interesting-- we shared a bottle of wine with them one night and learned about the man's job as a circus clown! 

We spent one day seeing a few of the bigger tourist sites.  We went to Rohan Palace where we saw a couple of impressive exhibits, and then we went to the cathedral and climbed to the top for a beautiful view. [Below: The view from the top of the cathedral, stained glass in the cathedral, and German style buildings lining the river]

With each of these posts I'm going to share our recommendations for things to see, places to eat/drink, etc. We stumbled upon some really fun places along the way that we want to share!

Strasbourg is a pretty small place and while there are a number of interesting (more touristy) sites to see, the best way to experience the city is by just walking around and getting lost...here are a few places you might want to check out along the way... 

TO DO AND SEE: Grab some bread and cheese and walk to the parc de l'Orangerie for a picnic. 

In the evening walk along the canal and stop by the boat bars for a drink on your way back.

 Climb up the cathedral for a beautiful view.  If you go to the cathedral at midday you can buy a ticket to see the astronomical clock at work. Be sure to go back and see the cathedral at night as well. 

If you are into museums, check out Rohan Palace, which has a few different collections to choose from, though nothing we found particularly exciting.

Walk around petit france for a little shopping and to see a nice part of town.

TO EAT AND DRINK: Taylor's favorite place to go for coffee during the day or drinks at night was a cute little spot called Jeannette's in Centre Ville.  They have delicious mojitos.

Try some Tarte Flambe while you are there (sort of like the French version of a pizza). 

Taylor also recommends a place called La Lanterne for drinks and tarte flambe.  He says they have a happy hour on Wednesdays that includes specials on both!

San Francisco

A couple weeks ago I popped down to San Francisco for a weekend to visit my dad and brother while they visited colleges. I'd only been there one other time, but fell completely in love with the city! Needless to say I was pretty excited to get back there.  We didn't have very much time there so we mostly just explored the city and ate good food when we weren't visiting schools. We went to an amazing French Vietnamese restaurant called Le Colonial.  So good.  We ate so much we basically rolled out of there (the yummy cocktails didn't help either...).  Go there if you're looking for a fancier restaurant and are into that kind of food!  Anyways, here are a few of the pictures I took while there!

Foggy city skyline//Fun art at one of the schools we visited//Graffiti art in the Mission//Prettiest buildings in Haight//Me and my brother...when did he get so big?

Hope you're having a great weekend! xx

Look who was here!!

Look who came for a quick little visit!

Though it was quick Taylor and I had a great visit--it was so nice to show him my life here so he knows what I'm talking about all the time on Skype!

After we settled into our hotel I brought Taylor to meet my host family.  This could have been extremely awkward seeing as he speaks zero spanish, but it turned out being really fun--my host mom asked him questions through me and my host brother entertained us by showing Taylor all of his toys (and just being adorable as usual...).  We spent the rest of the day exploring the colonial zone and the Conde (a big street in the colonial zone where there are lots of stores, restaurants, bars, clubs, etc).

The next day after grabbing some breakfast we headed to Juan Dolio--when we arrived at our hotel it promptly started raining and the street began to transform into a large river.  A chain of not so exciting/wonderful events followed (a jail-esque hotel room, possible kerosene leaks, closed restaurants, etc) and in the morning we decided that juan dolio is not so great when its raining (its basically a little town that attempted to develop into a tourist spot but that isn't really nice enough to survive--so now theres just a bunch of depressing abandoned half-built resorts)...so we hopped on (and squished into) a guagua back to Santo Domingo.  Best decision we could have made!  Once back in the city we found a hotel in a really cool old colonial building and then set off to find lunch.  Taylor got to have his first true guagua ride to get to his first true dominican meal! It was a success :) For the rest of the day we wandered around, went to the "mercado modelo", and then went to Plaza España (where there was some sort of cultural event/musical happening) and had a yummy dinner!

Though everything didn't go as I had planned the weekend ended up being perfect :)

In other news: I've successfully completed one of my dominican college classes! I had my final for my Dominican Migrations class on Thursday and now I'm DONE! It's very exciting :) 

Also, a few weeks ago my friend Lucy and I rescued 3 kittens that some one had left to die on the street (unfortunately one was already dead :( ).  Two of them died within the first few days (our program supervisor is soso wonderful and took them in for us since there was nothing we could do), but one of them survived and is doing well! We went to visit him today and he's getting bigger and has much more energy and is SO cute! When I get some pictures I'll post them!

Other than that there's nothing big to share--it's strange how familiar life here is becoming! I've gotten into a routine and my family, the food, the city is all becoming so normal. It's nice :)

My host brother

Here's a little video of my host brother dancing to cell phone music. He loves making videos of himself!



Also, here is a song that I forgot to put on the dominican music mix!



more later!
xoxo

oops...!

So far I've been seriously neglecting this blog...sorry! Things have just been so busy (and wonderful) here! I have to write about my experiences for a class so maybe I'll put some of my entries up here, but I'll also try to start posting again soon (one of my classes ends in a couple weeks so I'll have some more free time).

But, to quickly sum up my experience over the past month and a half that I haven't written: school is great, hard (because it's all in spanish and because its hard to adjust to the teaching style and attitudes of the professors and students), but definitely a great experience. I still love my host family and feel very comfortable in my house--I get to have lots of superhero "fights" with my little host brother and my host parents are so sweet and helpful. I've also started my internship with an organization called COIN. My friend and I are teaching a class about HIV/AIDS/Sexual Health/Self Esteem/etc. to a group of Haitian youth--I'll write more about it later but its been lots of fun and a great learning experience (and a lesson in patience...I'll explain later).

Well, that's all I have time to share right now. I'll leave you guys with a little playlist of a few songs that play lots here (I'll make a better one later with more bachata and merengue, but this is what I have for now)

Enjoy!

xoxo

A bit on Dominican Food

So far the adjustment to the food here has been a little difficult—I’m not used to eating so many fried/salty/starchy/heavy foods! Though the food is good, it has been hard eating so much of these things that I’m not used to eating—there is not a whole lot of variety and they eat A LOT of food here! The main staples are rice, beans, yucca, and plantains. My favorite is definitely rice and beans!...Plantain is also growing on me though. I’ve also had soup (kind of like chicken noodle soup) and spagetti (I’m not sure what the sauce is that they put on it, but it is definitely not what we use in the US!).

(fried cheese)

For breakfast I usually have a whole wheat bun with cheese melted in it, though I have also had mashed plantains, cereal, and fruit. Lunch is the biggest meal for Dominicans (my host parents come home from work to eat it). We usually have some variation of beans and rice, a salad/tomatoes, and sometimes fish. There are always TONS of avocados at lunch (my host father eats multiple avocados at every meal). Today we had plantains in two forms, steamed (I I think?) and sliced/fried with spaghetti and avocado. Dinner usually varies—I’ve had mashed plantains, mashed potatoes, spaghetti, soup…Last night I had plantains with fried cheese (the cheese is white and almost looks like thick slices of tofu that has been fried—it squeeks when you chew it!)

Throughout the day we usually have “meriendas” or snacks—my favorite is mangos. The mangos here are so sweet and juicy! There is also always homemade fruit juice in my house—my host dad is very into fresh fruit juice! I’ve had mango, papaya, passionfruit, orange, watermelon…yum!

(plantains, rice, & beans)

My First Class and Dominican Birthday

On Tuesday I had my first day of class in the DR. Luckily there are a couple of other study abroad students in my class so I didn’t have to get there alone (this school is the hardest to get to and the farthest away). We left at 7:30 am – giving ourselves an hour and a half to get there. We walked up to one of the main streets where we could catch a guagua—we stood there for a few minutes shooing away full guaguas that were trying to get us to squeeze in until we found one that could fit us. This guagua took us across town to another large street where we could catch a different guagua that would take us farther north and drop us off right next to the university. We arrived at the university with 45 minutes to spare—the commute wasn’t nearly as confusing or long as we thought it would be…phew!

The class that I am taking at this university is Dominican Migrations—we’re going to be learning about Dominicans who leave the DR (mostly for the US) and those who are coming into the DR (mostly Haitians). My class is on the larger side for the college—maybe around 40 people (this is the largest class I’ll be in while here). My professor seems very nice, smart, and interesting and has had exchange students in her classes before (she seems to know to speak a little slower so we can follow!). Since it is a large class and it might be hard for everyone to participate our grades are going to be based around a few quizzes/tests and maybe a final paper—which is what we were told to expect from most Dominican classes (apparently it’s not uncommon for your ENTIRE grade to be based off of ONE final exam…ahh!). I think my main challenge with this class is going to be understanding the other students when they talk in class—they talk SO fast!

Tuesday afternoon after class we learned that tropical storm Emily would be coming through Santo Domingo—for the next 2 days we were told not to leave our house in case the storm got really bad. In the end we just ended up getting a lot of rain and it was a bit cooler than usual (a nice change!)…so we had to stay inside for nothing! …though it gave me a change to spend some time playing with my host brother—we did some drawing together, watched Finding Nemo in Spanish, made a paper racetrack and raced cars…I also got a chance to get to know some of the kids who live in the apartment complex and learned a bunch of Spanish clapping games (and I taught them “quack diddly oh so”, which they love!)

Wednesday was my birthday—I woke up to my host mom taping signs that said happy birthday to my door! A group of kids who live in the apartment complex made me a card and in the evening they all came over to eat cake and sing happy birthday with my family and me! It was a laid back but nice birthday :)

My host brother and the little girl (Elisa) who lives downstairs eating birthday cake

The card the kids made me

My door

My host mom serving up my birthday cake

My apartment (kitchen is to the right, and the bedrooms are the doors you can see in the back)

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

My first week in Santo Domingo was amazing! When I arrived in the city I went quickly through customs and emerged into the loud, hot exit ramp, which was surrounded by crowds of people holding signs, or calling out the names of the people they were waiting for. As I pushed my cart down the walkway I couldn’t find the person holding the sign for my program—I had a moment of panic, but quickly found the people who were there to pick me up. As we waited for other students to arrive I got my first taste of the Dominican heat!

My first week here was filled with lots and lots of orientation activities. We all got to know each other, learned a bit about Dominican culture, how to stay safe/healthy, how to get around on public transportation, and where we would be taking classes…We also started to get used to the FAST and often difficult to understand Dominican Spanish.

After our first night in a hotel, we met our Dominican host families. I am living with Doña Carolina, her husband Jorge, and her six year old son, Jorge David. They also live with Yudelca (not sure of the spelling…) who helps with cooking and cleaning, but is treated almost like Jorge David’s older sister. We live in a small apartment right off of one of the main streets, in the apartment complex where many of the other host families live. I got very lucky with my host family! They all love to joke around together and are very laid back—they are also great about helping me with my Spanish. So far I have been able to have some great conversations with my host parents and my Spanish is already improving. My host brother is adorable and is quite the little character! He likes to “do exercises” so he can “be strong like Papi”, and loves being goofy all the time. For the past couple of days my host mom’s mother and nephew have been visiting from Santiago (the other large city in the DR). Her nephew is three years old, so it has been fun having him around to play with—he loves asking me lots and lots of questions all the time!

(My bedroom)

So far I have had a few chances to explore the city with the study abroad group during orientation, but it’s going to take me quite a while to become familiar with the city—it’s so big. Santo Domingo is a large city filled with people and cars, but it doesn’t have many tall buildings like cities in the US! The streets are lined mostly by apartment buildings and small stores. There is a “colmado” on almost every corner—small stores that turn into a place for hanging out and dancing at night (the Dominican people LOVE to dance!). The noise in Santo Domingo never stops—there is always music, car alarms, honking, generators, kids yelling. Unfortunately I haven’t taken any pictures of around the city yet, but I will try to so I can post some soon!

There almost always seems to be traffic here and the driving is crazy—there are no rules! The majority of the vehicles on the road are public transportation. There are “guaguas”, which are vans that look as if they are about to fall into a million pieces. The “guaguas” are always stuffed full of people and follow a set route—I’m slowly learning the hand signals and phrases they use to signal where they are going. There are also “carros públicos” which are the car version of a “guagua”. There are also taxis, government buses, and a metro (but the government buses and metro go less places—as of now the metro goes from nowhere to nowhere, though the government is planning on expanding it).

I am living a block away from “el Malecon” which is the main road that goes along the water. If you look down this road you can see resorts where tourists go to see the country’s beautiful beaches and almost nothing else. For those who dare to venture out of the resorts there is the Zona Colonial; a popular area where there are many stores, restaurants, and bars. The zona is full of activity at night.

(Out the window of the bus we took on our fieldtrip)

This weekend the group went on a fieldtrip out of the city. We went to see el “Ingenio Boca Nigua”, which was a sugar processing plant where slaves worked. We also went to see a woman who says she communicates with Saints to help heal people and solve their problems—while there we learned a bit about Dominican syncretism. After this we drove to a nearby beach for lunch and a swim. There was a small café with a dance floor where a large group of Dominicans were dancing to LOUD music that could be heard all the way down the beach as far as we could walk.

(Ingenio Boca Nigua)

(Baths to solve any problem imaginable)

(Coco Beach)

On Sunday a small group of us decided to see if we could figure out the “guaguas” on our own and went to a nearby beach called Juan Dolio. It was a perfect day and the water was just the right temperature—the beaches here are beautiful!

Tomorrow I have my first class in the DR. I will be taking classes from three different schools—a small, Jesuit, predominately male school, a larger school where I will be in classes ranging from 30-40 people, and the school organized by the study abroad program. Tomorrow I start class at the largest school where I will be taking a class called Migraciones Dominicanas (Dominican Migrations). I’m nervous but excited to find out what classes in the DR are like. This week I also start visiting possible internship sites!