Blog of The Blog: A New Tool

In the past four months, as part of the Journey in Literature class, we have been posting blogs regarding our experience in class, our points of views and reflections of conferences and analysis of lectures assigned in class. This being my first blog, I have to say it has been a creative way to integrate the concept of memory of what have you learned in class with the concept of learning to publish blog posts that some external to the class might find amusing or even enjoyable. While the struggle to keep up with the blog posts was real, it has enhanced my ability of writing in computer and just letting the words flow out of my mind to the tips of my moving fingers.  Before the blogs, the mere fact of starting to write was a bit hard. Now without giving too much thought, I just start writing and the ideas just keep on flowing. This has not only benefited my writing skills in this class, but in all other courses as well. My spelling grammar has become much easier to notice also, now I can spot with more ease the mistakes I make and fix them at the moment. Memorization has improved, especially the blog along with the journal. Why? Because once I read an assigned lecture, I am forced to remember it with details in order to write a blog entry. My classmates and I, agree that we will not close this blog after the course is over; some of us have been getting visits from people from other countries and is also a means of staying in contact with each other and the professor. Here we can post how our lives are going, obstacles we have had to face and goals we have accomplished. After all, the “Journey to an A” (name of the group) may have come to an end, but it is far from over when your classmates have become much more than classmates, they have become friends.

More Than Meets the Eye

In 1877 Henry James wrote a novel called Daisy Miller inspired out of a rumor he heard from a friend of a girl traveling to Europe with her mother and brother and getting into some sorts of flirtatious conflict with men. Henry James then wrote Daisy Miller, a rich and pretty, American girl traveling through Europe with her mother and younger brother. Daisy wants to be exposed to European high society but refuses to behave as a European lady of society. Despite this, Daisy Miller seems to have an attractive attitude of being carefree and ongoing with other people, especially men. She met a man named Winterbourne who seem to feel some sort of attraction for her because she is not easy to figure out and because of such, he is mystified by her.  Winterbourne with time start questioning, along with other individuals, the behavior of miss Daisy Miller. She acts to careless and seem to be a flirt with any man. Daisy had met a man named Mr. Giovanelli. While not much is said about him, it seems he too, is careless around and with Daisy. One night as Winterbourne was passing over a coliseum, he spots Daisy and Mr Giovanelli together. He thought of this behavior as reckless, irresponsible and self-respect lacking. However he was still concerned about the health of Daisy Miller. It was said that many people that spend the night outside in the moonlight could contract Malaria, known as “Roman Fever” He confronted Mr. Giovanelli with this and eventually left. A few days later Daisy became gravely ill and died of what seem to be Malaria. Before leaving the world behind she said some final words, directed towards Winterbourne. She said she cared for what he thought about her, even though she said nothing before. Winterbourne then, began to question if he had misjudged Daisy as a reckless woman and a flirt. It seemed there was much more to her than meets the eye. He realized, deep down she was being herself. She did not let society dictate her behavior neither as a woman, nor as a high class of society. She opted to live a life carefree of what others thought. Clearly she might have projected herself badly, but she was never a bad person. The moment she died and Winterbourne realized this by her words, he felt overwhelmed and had to leave Europe for some time, he had lived far too long in Europe. Eventually he comes back. He needed might have needed a break to find himself and think about who he and Daisy was other than individuals judged and controlled by society. This teaches us that we should never judge someone entirely by their behavior. We do not know what feeds this behavior and what background does it have. The moment you judge and try to tell others what to do, you become slave of those demanding words and actions, if something were to happen to that person. Words become a burden.

Here is a trailer of the Daisy Miller movie, not for underage people. 

Presentations of Literature Contest Winners

On Wednesday April 22, the University of Puerto Rico at Rio Piedras celebrated the success of students that participated in the Literature Contest that took place about four weeks ago. The contest categories were: Short Story, Essay and Poem. The contestant had to choose one category and write a piece of literature with their own creativeness and ideas.

All students in the INGL3135 course, also known as Journey on Literature, had to participate in order to earn credit. Some students saw this as an obligation and submitted whatever piece of old literature or blog they could find from other literature courses. However, there are always students that are willing to give the extra miles in every little aspect of their life and in every opportunity, as random as it might be. From the INGL3135-001 course section was two winners. A third place essay winner, Ana V. Pérez and a first place essay winner, Marilú Crespo. These two young women gave their extra mile in the contest despite the very last minute notification that we had to participate.

The essay of Marilú Crespo, a young and astute accounting student aspiring to become a lawyer, was called “Do Witches Get Financial Aid?” They essay is about how some people (mostly students) get favored in obtaining financial aid over others. She establishes that maybe by being a witch and having mystical power she might land a scholarship of some sort by getting a high score on the LSAT, which might ease her law school debt. She also wrote about how law school aspiring students, have to earn a “useless” bachelor’s degree before being able to apply to law school, instead of being allowed to pursue their dreams from the first instance and focusing in passing the impossible LSAT with a score of 170-180 so they could get a chance at the so “mystical scholarship” that very few people are able to obtain through questioning means. With no doubt this was an essay winner, not only was she able to establish a situation most aspiring law students go through, but she also brought it forth with creativity and a sarcastic tone that one can easily find amusing. 

Perspective Conference: An External View

Last Wednesday on April 15, I went to the Perspective of Puerto Rico Conference at the Amphitheater of the University of Puerto Rico at Rio Piedras. For the past four weeks the Journey On Literature course has been working on presentations regarding perspective of Puerto Rico from virtual sources such as Twitter.com, forums and travel sites. The presentations were focused on positive and negative opinions and reviews of the island from Americans and Spaniards regarding their experiences here on Puerto Rico.

On the presentation, students discussed the social, cultural, economic and political point of views and perceptions from the websites. Other groups focused on how tourists criticized the island not because of the sites and places they visited, but because of the puertoricans and their ways. Through some of the reviews, they found that some Americans do not read and get informed before commenting. For example, some comments showed that some people do not know puertorico is located in the Americas, others did not know we are a Commonwealth of the United States or that our currency is the same as theirs. Other comments criticized highly intellectuals citizens like Sonia Sotomayor and accused them of not being United States citizens, when it is the opposite. As a Commonwealth we are citizens of the United States and as such we are not immigrants when we move from the island to the states.

Reading the comments perspective and reviews of  Puerto Rico during the presentation made me a bit restless. As a non presenting participant, I got the chance of seeing all the presentations all over again. The first time it managed to make me angry. I wondered "How could there be so much ignorance still?". The second time it was easier but very disappointing. Watching all the presentations from the public was interesting because I could listen to people commenting and expressing their thoughts to their friends and colleagues. A person sitting behind me said "And we want to be part of the US, they don't even know who we are". Another comment from what seem to be a professor, said "so much hatred". I could not agree more. Together with ignorance, there seem to be projections of anger and hatred towards a whole population. This could easily be categorized as racism, the word no one in classroom dared to use.

While I did feel angry and overwhelmed by some of the negative comments presented, I refuse to speak badly of a nation and address them disrespectfully because of a few negative perspectives. I will also reserve the right to judge the people who wrote the comments as racists and I believe the number of negative point of views of Puerto Rico in the internet are as much, if not less than the number of good ones.

The Journey Journal Experience

      For the past two months I have been writing daily about the things in my mind in a ten minutes period. This was a project for my literature class that we call the Journey Journal. Let me say, it has been a journey indeed. At first you think we just write anything down until time is up and that is it. This is not the case. We had to write down our thoughts, anything that would come to mind. Good luck trying to keep up writing with your thoughts coming and going at the speed of light. Is not an easy task but like with any task, it gets better with practice & time. At first my hand would hurt because I would try to keep up with my thoughts, however there is so much you can push your hand to write faster. If you write first thing in the morning you will most likely write about your dreams because is the only thing fresh in your mind. This allowed me to remember my dreams for quite a while now and to be honest; I still remember them as clear as a day. The Journey Journal was a means of canalization for my immediate feelings. If I felt an overwhelming feeling I just grabbed my journal and write for ten minutes every thought, good or bad. What I liked the most about this project is that I was able to write about the most intimate things about myself and others without the fear they will ever find out because is a secret or private journal that only you are allowed to read. Be careful not to drop it! You might end up being either loved or hated if you wrote about other people. The journal has become a part of me in the past two months. It is now a habit to sit down and write. Words come out as fluently as water, you feel relaxed after writting and your hand is more efficient at writing speed. 

Dare to take the Journey Journal Challenge!

A Small Place - Antigua Identity

A Small Place is a novel written by Jamaica Kincaid, a writer from Antigua. The novel was published in 1988 and the work is an indictment of the Antiguan government, the tourist industry and Antigua's British colonial legacy. The novel starts off with the author describing what a tourist would see on their way from the airport to the hotel. It describes the streets, houses, government structure, rich people's houses and the beach site from a hotel room.

The novel starts to become a bit aggressive towards the tourist or the community of tourists in general. It begins to address the tourist as a distasteful and hated person by every Antigua inhabitant. It explains this is due to the fact that the tourist is able to escape the misery they might be living in the place they come from because they have money and the means of doing so. However, Antiguans are not able to do this because they along with most people from other country are poor and live under a government that do not allow them to get out of the country easily. For this reason they are jealous of tourists and mock them behind their backs by criticizing the way tourists express themselves and how ridiculous they look when they try to blend in with people from the island by eating with their hands. While this behavior should not be supported can you really blame them? 

You see, the author expresses how the Antigua from then differs from the Antigua of now due to the colonization of the British. The island along with its people lost their identity as a country and as individuals. Their pride and culture was hurt. She indicates England people missed their country so much they turned everywhere they went to into England and turned to British every person they met. When a country takes over another country alot of the regional culture is lost because there is a mix of two cultures where one is being imposed over the other for the comfort of the colonist. Languages are also affected by colonization. What better example than Puerto Rico being colonized by the United States? While we still speak Spanish most of the time, English has now become very common and much more than a second language. Our culture has also being affected, according to my grandmother and few ancestors. Some people go as far as saying we no longer have an identity as a country. I differ from the last remark but that is for another blog.

Down On The Island - The Bilingual People

Down on the Island is a novel written by Jim Cooper about the academic behavior of puertorican students in Mayaguez in the 1950s. During the 1950’s a young professor went to visit and teach English class in the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez. To his surprise he encountered the problem that students barely knew English language and in consequence the students would cheat on exams and homework. Even worse, the students would do this in front of him and with no shame at all. The students did not see this behavior as dishonest and unethical. It seemed it was an academical behavior supported and accepted in the school system of the island.

It is surprising the number of Americans who still believe puertoricans do not speak English. Indeed some older people never managed to even learn a healthy Spanish language, due to the late development of schools throughout the island in the before the 1950s. However this is not entirely true today. Many puertoricans, especially the younger population, are bilingual. Even the few that “do not know” English do in fact know but have never been able to practice it or have trouble in either writing or speaking but rarely is both.

I learned my English in middle school. It was the time I hit puberty and would listen to rock music all day long to brink of driving my mother crazy. My friends and I had one particular hobby which was watching music videos and American TV. We also enjoyed going to the movies and would challenge one another to not read the Spanish subtitles. This is the way many of the young bilingual population learned their English, and really good English. Combining the American media influences with the English courses we are required to take every year since kindergarten through college, we have been able to learn proper English and become a bilingual island.

Being a bilingual island has opened many doors for us as a country and as individuals. It makes tourists feel more comfortable because they can travel to the island without the constant worry of how they will communicate. It makes us more appealing to jobs and participation on entities because we able to communicate with a wider population than those who speak a single language. Moreover, we are easily able to learn a third language. Because both, English and Spanish is everywhere, it comes naturally to us without the need to study harder for it giving us a sense of two mastered languages. This in turn allow us to start learning a third language and making the process even easier. For example, English and French are alike languages, just like Spanish and Italian are also alike, still you will find Spanish words in the French and words similar to English on Italian. This is because Italian, Spanish and French are romance languages and English is derived from them. So, not only it is easier for us to learn a third language but it also broadens the spectrum of languages we are able to learn at a faster rate.

I wish Jim Cooper would visit the island at a present time. He would see that our English has improved and spread across the island, along with the unaccepted no-copy academic behavior.  

A Room With A View - Marriage Is Not Freedom

 Women in the past did not have the choice to choose who they were to marry. Since they were young their parents chose who they were to marry and many times these men were a lot older than the women. Some of these women would learn to love their husband with time but many never did. They were seen as fit wives to procreate and maintain the household in order but not to have freedom, choice and vote. The also had no right for education and expressing their feelings openly. The role of the men was to provide for the wife and children but they had freedom to go out with their friends and be around and about with no one to question them.

In the movie “A Room With A View” Lucy Honeychurch was setup for marriage which she willingly and blindly accepted because it seemed a good choice since he was a wealthy man. She was in love with another man. She was in love with the man that stole her first kiss and saved her from an accident in Italy. Lucy’s family did not approve of George Emerson because he was not a man of money and did not seem to be aware of the upper class manners of the Victorian times. Despite this, Lucy was able to overcome her fear and broke her engagement with Cecil Vyse. She ran back to the arms of her new neighbor…Guess who? Yes, George. He had moved back to England with his father Mr. Emerson and to the same village Lucy lived in. This was of course after being convinced by Mr. Emerson and Mr. Beebe that what matters is what she felt in heart and not what people approved or disapproved of. After a hot sex session with her truly beloved one they both realized they were where they wanted to be regardless what anybody thought. Like many English men in the Edwardian era, George died at what seems to be World War I, which started in the 1914, leaving behind a broken hearted Lucy.

The movie takes place in the transition from the Victorian Era to the Edwardian Era, an era characterized by peace and economic prosperity. Not until the late 20th century did women obtain the right to omit the promise of wedding vows. Marriage for women was a lifetime commitment. Very rarely were women allowed to have a divorce and even until 1891 if a woman attempted to escape from an unhappy marriage, she could be captured and punished by the law. This is to say that Lucy’s actions were indeed risky ones and she was lucky to have ended her engagement before getting married. Once she had been married, there was no going back.

Many women in the 21^st century have not yet realized how broad their opportunity to triumph in life is, because of the degree of freedom we now have and the rights to assume and develop our own identity through education, commitment and vote. While this is mostly true for women in America and most Europe and Asia, there are still countries that are underdeveloped and lack the opportunity America and Europe can give to women. There are also few religions where women do not have the right to education, choose who to marry and even what to wear. These are the women we have to fight for.

How powerful do you think the world would be if women kept away from education by economics and religious means were given the opportunity to study and work?

Comment down below! J

                                                                                     A Room With A View Trailer!

IDENTITY

IDENTITY is a lecture written by Peter Roberts. It establishes the way people identify themselves through, culture, nationality and language. In the lecture it is discussed what is home to different people. Some call home the place where their family and loved ones reside. Others call home the place they were born in and some people call home the place where their first language is spoken.

To me home is the place where my family is. I have lived alone in San Juan for the past five years while studying in the UPRRP and I have never been able to call it home even when I like it there. This is because no matter how many friends and distractions I have in San Juan when I'm alone my mind drifts off to my family in Arecibo. Surely some would say that feeling does not go away even when you move on, get marry and make your own family. I agree with them. One of the reasons I am trying to become a professional it's so that I can get a good job while staying close to my family and loved ones.

Strangely sometimes people call home or identify to people who speak their same language. When we travel to other countries that speak a different language and we hear someone talking in Spanish or English they almost immediately make us feel safer and they become our friends. Last year I went to an internship in New Mexico. I thought I was the only puertorican there until one day when I was waiting in a bus stop and a couple of interns that seemed to be older than me started speaking Spanish but with a particular accent. Puertorican accent. I remember at that moment my mom called me and they heard me talking with her. When I hung up on her they introduced themselves and said it was nice to meet another puertorican there. From that moment on the three of us became good friends.

My father used to be in the US NAVY. I told him about this reading and what he thought about it. He said, more than the language, was the nationality. He never suffered racism from other militants but he said that militants from the same country did get along better. They became almost instantly identified with one another. "Being away from home the next best thing you have close to home is a person from the same country and culture", he said.  

Identity is part of all human beings. 
We do it by nature and by need, whether it's by a language, a religion or a nationality. Identity creates new bonds with new people and break bonds with others, sometime for the better, sometimes for no good reason at all.

Tourist For A Day At Arecibo Old Town

Today I was a tourist for a the whole day. I was ordered to disguise myself and act as a tourist for a whole day as a class project. The purpose of this was to study the way people treat me, judge me or think and even act around me just for being a tourist.

To accomplish this project I went to my hometown, Arecibo. I knew if I went to Old San Juan I might see someone I knew there and It would made me feel ridiculous. It would also made me not stand out because Old San Juan is always full of tourists from all parts of America and even Europe. In Arecibo I went to the Cayetano Coll y Toste house at Old town. I knew tourists there would probably be from other parts of the island and not from the states or other native language place. I wore an orange maxi dress with a straw hat and some green contact lenses. The day before I tried to get a bit tanned by taking a walk on the beach while the Sun was still up. My mom and my best friend who I went with said I nailed it.

I have to say I was impressed by how nice I was treated. At first I was trying hard not to laugh because I thought the hostess at the Cayetano Coll y Toste house was onto me. But I did a pretty good job. They asked where I came from and what brought me to Arecibo. Of course I lied. I said I was from Brazil and that I went to Arecibo because of the Radio Telescope and was just passing through. They recommended me certain places to visit including "Cueva Ventana". I tried so hard not to laugh, I have been to that place so many times and here I was getting recommendations. The worst thing that could happen, happened. I got asked if I knew any words in Spanish, I was like "I'm doomed I'm gonna have to fake my Spanish accent but I don't know how Brazilians Spanish sounds like". I said "hola" and we all started laughing. I said I was in a hurry so they even gave me a mini tour around the house for free. I was amazed how interesting it was to be there. I have never been there before even though I was born two blocks away from Cayetano's house. Being there for the first time disguised as a tourist felt random to me.

After that we just walked around, pretended to take some pictures and just talked and talked in English to see people's reaction. As a bilingual island you would think people are accustomed to English language. But people would give us stares or just kept looking at us, especially the public bus drivers. It seems they are not used to people saying everything in English. I do not judge them, being born and raised in Arecibo I know we barely receive tourists there and many of the elderly people do not speak English, some barely know how to write in Spanish.

My conclusion from the experience is that since we do not receive many tourists in Arecibo, when one comes to the town they're overly polite towards the tourist to leave a good impression. I believe overall tourists are treated with more kindness because they contribute to the economy of the island and we need them to keep coming. There will always be someone who treats them with hospitality because they feel proud of being puertorican and living in the island.

Perspective

Through Amateur Eyes is the introduction of a book called "On Looking" written by Alexandra Horowitz. Here she writes about how she rarely paid attention to her surroundings or discarded most of the things that went on the streets and blocks when she walked her dog. However, as she clearly stated "Together, we became investigators of the ordinary, considering the block--the street
and everything on it", she began to pay attention to her surrounding. Not only that, she began to appreciate details with all of her senses, just like a dog would. She describes how each person has a different perspective and how this perspective was influenced by the person's experience, background and professional environment. I believe we can all relate to this. We can set up a subject and never arrive to the same conclusion or agreement because we see things and perceive things and situations differently because of these backgrounds and experiences. This of course applies to certain topics. For example, I am sure any person on their right mind would consider robbing as wrong and illegal.

I am a fifth year physics student. My job as a physics student and researcher is to observe with details the way nature behaves and explain those behaviors with mathematical models and expressions. I remember when I was a freshman student. I used to enjoy fiction movies and see life and surroundings as most people do, not paying attention to every detail and just enjoying the moment and appreciating the overall concept of things. When I went to Old San Juan I would be amazed about how big cruise ships are and how they could float. I would stay frozen when airplanes flew over my head and wonder how a 160,000 pounds airplane could fly. After taking core courses I now understand with details how airplanes work, how they flight, how ships float and I can see all the fake in fiction movies. I can see the physics everywhere, in cars, buildings, orthopedics and hospital machinery. I have learned to watch carefully my surrounding and try and understand what goes on with them and how they work. My brain is now accustomed to remembering little things most would consider irrelevant. I can for example remember people's clothes easily. Once I see a face I will know I have seen it before when I see it for the second time. I will remember the song at the background of a certain moment or situation. When I mention this to people, even friends, they go "how can you possibly remember that?". I tell them I have trained my eyes and applied what I have learned in class and that doing that has sharpen my sense of vision to details.

Each person has gone through experiences that make them either more aware or less aware of their surrounding details. Age, gender, culture. state of health and country of origin affects perception of people. They walk and see what I can't see just like I see what they can't see. This shows how interesting having a wide variety of friends or colleagues can be, it can help to see the world from a whole new point of view and learn from them.

Puerto Rico and Malta English Conference: A Review

An Introduction

Last week I went to a conference that I found had a particularly interesting content. The conference was given by a young German researcher who studied the similarities of the English language between Malta, Puerto Rico, United States and United Kingdom. He came to the conclusion Puerto Rican and Malta English were more alike and US English and British English were more different. The conference topic was beyond interesting, taking into account the history background of each English origin and the little/great relationships between them.

The Speaker

Unfortunately a good topic is not everything that comprises an outstanding conference. Starting with the well-known and respected speaker, while he didn’t lack charisma and humor, he did not speak with a clear and loud voice. He did not articulate well his lips and he had an accent which was not troublesome for most people. However, he had the habit of lowering his voice by the end of the sentence which is where most of the important information is presented.

The Slides

The most annoying and eye tiresome part of the conference was the presentation slides. The information was presented was not public friendly. A lot of emphasis was given to technicalities and not to the research itself, making the conference more enjoyable when it was about to end. The slides were crowded with sentences and small letters. Trying to understand what was written in them while struggling with the room lights was painful to the eye. While some of the audience did not find this a problem, the people in the back, me included, did have trouble concentrating on the presentation. A few of the people sitting by my side got up early and left. Some were not even able to take notes. I was more concentrated on my surroundings than in the conference. I do not blame myself or any of the people who left. Concentrating nowadays is hard enough with a cellphone and a laptop on hand. You could imagine how a speaker not owning the stage and a bad presentation can worsen the situation. 

The consequences

It is important for speakers to be able to communicate their information and findings clearly with their audience. What is the point of a conference other than enlighten successfully and entertain an audience? Failing at accomplishing this not only affects the reputation of the speaker but students grade are also affected if their professors ordered them to write a paper about the findings the material presented at the conference. This blog is not meant to be disrespectful. I am merely expressing the conference had an interesting topic and yet the combination of a non-rehearsed presentation and bad designed slides can turn even the presentation of a Nobel Prize into a one-more-waste-of-time.  

Running Brave: A New Kind Of Journey

The Movie

Running Brave is a movie about a young Indian man named Billy Mills. Billy enjoys running for fun and competition. He started running when he was a kid back at the reservation. With time he became talented and a natural and was now running for the track team in Arkansas State University. Being out of the reservation he faces the challenges of the outside world including critics and discrimination. Even when the reserve was under deplorable conditions he was still happy there, been with his family and people of the same ethnicity made him feel safe on his comfort zone. This was a new journey for him. The journey of being a professional athlete and making it to the big leagues and the Olympics, fighting against the tough currents of discrimination, the greed of other people and the doubts within himself developed over time. Relying on the people he loved and going back to his home, Billy found strength within himself to overcome the fears and negative forces that were holding him back and won the gold medal in the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games.

An External Journey

We do not have to be a runner or an athlete to go through the kind of journey Billy Mills went through. When we travel to other countries or even cities we get out of our comfort zone and we are at risk of experiencing or becoming exposed to similar social pressure and discrimination. Why? Because while some people enjoy change, new and different things, some others don't. This of course doesn't justify discrimination in any way, but it happens and it is very real and hurtful. This is what makes traveling a journey. It's not only about making the trip but to experience the different cultures and believes and even facing the problematic, if any, of people that don’t enjoy the change and culture of people external to their world. This may seem antisocial but we have to remember that when we travel we also carry the culture of our country and our habits, good ones and bad ones. It is important to overcome negative situations when you travel while enjoying the beautiful moments to avoid judging and creating stereotypes of other places.


An Internal Journey

Although strongly related, a journey doesn't have to involve traveling or moving to a different place. An internal journey is if anything, the most important kind of journey. Is the kind of experience that makes you grow as a person and as a society. It's what keeps you sane or insane. An internal journey is a journey where you confront your conscience and thoughts. Billy Mills had lost a few races and before he knew it he had trouble remembering the reason he was running for. His internal journey was finding that reason to continue running and keep pursuing his dreams to make it to the Olympics. Your internal journey is could be any conflict you have been dealing with for the past few days, weeks even years. It could be finding the strength to say no to the cupcake on the fridge or push play to the exercise DVDs. An internal journey could be how to become a better person everyday or how to win a person's heart. As a student, an internal journey could be about deciding which subject to study next when you have an exam about another the next day. It could also be deciding what you want to be as a professional or whether you will pursue graduate studies or not. Any little or important decision that troubles you or a conflict that you experience is an internal journey. A journey with yourself.

An Unexpected Journey

To many who have read The Lord of the Rings knows I took the title from the book one chapter one. Yet that's exactly what this is...or was. An unexpected journey. My very first travel out of Puerto Rico and to anywhere more than 50 miles was a surprise by my dad in the year 2000. I was home with my sister playing Barbies and dad came from work one summer night he said "wrap up your things girls, we're going to Disney". I cried from excitement. Not only was I going to Disney in Florida but it was going to be for a whole month! How awesome was that? I rememer the day we had to leave my mom dressed me up with a Hello Kitty shirt and skirt. I also had a pony tail with a beautiful pink bow on it. You know a moment it's unforgettable when you remember small details like clothes you or loved ones were wearing or things you said or didn't said. Anyways, that day I had many firsts. My first day out of my town Arecibo, the first time I got on an airplane which up to this day I keep thinking it made a big influence on me wanting to study physics. Yes, an 8 year old was that amazed of an airplane. They still amaze me everytime and they will always amaze me. When we got to Orlando Florida I got into a train for the first time also! Anyways, the following day we went to Animal Kingdom Part at World Disney. I have to say, the magic of going to Disney is so strong that you get chills everytime, no matter how old or how many times you have gone, when you pass through the welcoming entrance. I do not remeber much from this park, while I enjoyed myself it was not my favorite. Can you guess why? Dinosaurs. I love dinosaurs now that, you could say I am very aware they are not real. The thing is my parents made me get into rides I found scary and up to some degree I think traumatized me because there are still some of them that up to these days I'm still afraid of.

The next day we went to Magic Kingdom. Oh my god the Cinderella Castle! Can you imagine the reaction of an 8 year old who grew up on watching those movies to the point I made my mom roll her eyes to infinity when I told her to put it on the VHS. That's right. No Blu-Rays back then. To stay on subject I have to say that was my favorite park. The rides were perfect for adults and kids...even the cowardly ones like me. Like in almost every park there are thrill rides that are meant to make you scream even just a little. I went to a ride called Space Mountain. It was still there when I went back in 2009, but it was closed. I remember making a drama to not get on this ride but my parents made me go in anyways. I screamed my heart out. No more tears could be drawn from my eyes and I was pale as a paper by the time I got out. As if the Dinosaurs from the day before weren't enough I had the scare of my life (back then) that day. That was the one ride that made me afraid of roller coasters up to these days. The things parents can do. You know how at the end of those rides they take pictures of you and your loved ones together screaming? Well I wasn't on any because I would be so scared I shoved my head in between my legs. Besides that, I really loved Magic Kingdom. Everything was magical about it. The characters, the athmosphere, the smell of candy and toys and huge turkey legs. Anything a kid could ask for.

The third day on the trip was to Studios MGM, now known as Hollywood Studios. It  wasn't my favorite park. The rides are mostly simulators which you got to love them, but they will give you a headache after sometime. Either by 3D glasses or by smashing your head constantly against the car ride. The other days we went to Epcot Center which I found a bit boring back with the exception of the fireworks closing show at the end of the day. Up to this day it has been the most beautiful, mind blowing fireworks show I have ever seen. I went again in 2009 for the 4th of July and I have to say that even though for a lot of people Disney is overrated, they have to at least once in their lives go to Epcot park and spend the 4th of July there. It's worth every penny. Epcot was the last Disney park we went to on this trip. We went to Wet N' Wild which is a water park in Orlando International Drive. After I went to Wet N' Wild I couldn't go to the Las Cascadas de Aguadilla in Puerto Rico. I found it boring because there were so many rides in the park back in Orlando that it made it harder to appreciate what we had back at home. Another thing I did for the first time was to see in person a crocodile. There are lots in Florida, it's like there was one in every puddle there was on the street. Pretty scary. However we went to a park called Gatorland. Don't know if it still exist, but that's where I saw the first crocodile in person and tasted gator meat which I remember was exquisite. The last park we went to in Orlando was Universal Studios. It was fun but again, it was like Hollywood Studios back in Disney, so I did not find it that big of a deal like I do now. Now I just love it with the Harry Potter theme that opened last year. In fact, I went on October with my two best friends Michael and Kenny but that it's another journey to write about later.


In the last two weeks of the trip we went to NASA
 Kennedy Space Center. Another major influence

in my life that pushed me to pursue a STEM career. The space center was more of a museum and up to this day I remember as clear as a day the huge rocket from the 1950s lying across the hangar. The propulsion system alone was two stories high. A kid never forgets something so impressive. At last on the final week of the trip we went to Cape Canaveral where we took a cruise ship and went to the Bahamas. I have to say the Bahamas is a beautiful island in the tourist area where all the five stars hotels are. I recall asking my mom repeatedly why were all the trees burned, she kept saying because of wild fires but I did not get it back then. I get it now because I witnessed one a few years ago when I went to Mayaguez. More than the Bahamas, I would say I enjoyed the cruise ship itself. They had an international buffet where they would dedicate each night to a particular country. They also had a sports bar for kids with music and everything which is where I had my first piña colada! I also learned how to swim in the cruise ship pool. The whole pool was 5ft deep, how cruel is that? So I had to learn in order to enjoy it before we got back. And I did. I even made some friends from the states and I kept bumping on them everywhere in cruise ship. Sometimes I wonder what became of them. But that was it, the trip came to an end when we got back to Cape Canaveral and drove back to the Orlando Airport. I was sad we had to leave. Little did I know that was only the beginning of the many journeys that awaited me.