Blog Reflection

For the literature class we made this blog to keep track of the work we did at the classroom. Counting this post I have 16 entries. The first blog we made was about ourselves, in which we talked about what we think we are. I said think but I feel that I’m always growing and changing and it is very difficult to express who you are. After that blog post we started to write about activities made in class, movies watched in class, and readings we had to make. Some were based in some instructions and some were freestyle. In my case I had never done a blog before, so preparing, adding gadgets, decorating, and all that was needed to make it organized, and pretty for the eye was a challenge, but I got the hang of it.

Now that the blog activity is over I went thru all the posts and realized that the posts were getting shorter, but always in the 300 to 500 words, maybe because I learned to be more precise and concise or maybe because at the end of the semester every student has more work accumulated from all classes in our shoulders and I wasn’t an exception. I also realized that we did a lot during the semester studying the class theme, journeys in literature. One of my favorite’s posts was the one about tourist for a day, because it was definitely a unique experience to act like a tourist in Puerto Rico, the country in where I live.

This blog activity was very different from the activities I do in other classes, mainly because I’m an Accounting student and literature and writing aren’t the focus of my curriculum. Because of this reason this activity was refreshing and unique. I also felt that with this method of writing and doing class work I helped the environment, because we didn’t need to print out every single post it was all on the web, going parallel with technology. I also liked that it was interactive meaning that I could receive feedback on my posts from the members of my group and that I could read their posts and see if other people have my same point of view, in what they differ, compare it with my interpretation, and that I was able to attach links, photos, and videos to make my point.

In conclusion, the blog was new and different for me, but maybe because of that I was able to learn about blogs, I was open for feedback, and I was able to express myself better. It was a great activity that should be more common in the university.

48th Annual Literary Contest

Last Wednesday, April 22, 2015 at General Studies at the University ofPuerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus took place the 48^th Annual Literary Contest Ceremony. This ceremony was dedicated to the life of Mark Wekander, a professor, a novelist, a poet, and someone who was very loved by all in the English Department. During the ceremony some students read Mark’s poems and a professor and friend analyzed them. The winners of the contest were also announced in this ceremony, the name of the student and of the work was mentioned and the first place of each section, poetry, essays, and short stories, read their work to the audience.

                The third and first places of the essay category were two of my classmates, and the first place is a member of my group in the class. Her essay was titled Do witches get financial aid? In the poetry category the winner’s work was titled “Godly Poet” and the short story first place winner was Do you got room for one more troubled soul? This last author didn’t read her story to the audience. The fist places in each category were female.

The mark Wekander’s poems that were read by students to honor his life and his work were: “”Lista”, “In Search of Here”, “Bodies and Souls Party”, “Driving On”, and “Accidents”. The main themes present in these poems were here and there, photography, animals in our life, and life and death. The professor explained all of these themes in the selection of poems made to honor Mark’s life.

After the ceremony was over there was an artistic presentation, in which two general studies students danced salsa, a social gathering with food and drinks. The ceremony was very touching, organized, and formal. The activities were to honor Mark’s life and to recognize the literary works of the students. 

Feminism in Poetry Panel

Last Wednesday I attended the ‘Feminism in Poetry’ panel at a student conference in the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus. In this panel three students read their analysis essays about feminism in three different poems. The poems were “Mirror” by Sylvia Plath, “Rape” by Adrienne Rich, and “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepard” by Sir Walter Raleigh. The one I liked most was “Mirror” in which the theme of beauty standards for women. The student explained that the author presents that these standards follows the woman in all ages. She also explained that the mirror can be very cruel because the women are looking for a certain reflection and society says what the “perfect” reflection is. Age makes it harder for women to feel beautiful in the terms of society.

The experience listening to this panel was different because it is not very common for me to attend this kind of conferences in which students present their works and knowledge. And it was different to be on the audience this time. The speakers were very calmed and what they were saying was clear. They were on an advance English class at the university. In this panel it was developed a very good discussion in the question and answer section.

Perspective about Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans Panel

For the class we made internet research about what are the perception US Americans and other citizens have toward Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans. We divided in groups and made the research in different aspects. My group and I did our research on the perspectives US Americans and Spaniards have toward Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans. We based our investigation in different aspects like tourism, culture, politics and economics. We divided the research son everybody had one aspect to study. We found our evidence on tripadvisor.com, abouttravel.com, “El País” news paper, happierobroad.com, and many other pages that had comments regarding does topics about Puerto Rico. We found that in most of the comments written by tourist about Puerto Rico were positive, but in the other hand the comments about Puerto Rico were negative. We think this happens because of difference, The difference in settings make that the tourists like the physical part of Puerto Rico, and the differences in attitude and culture makes that the tourist give negative feedback about the Puerto Ricans. We also found that the Spaniards were more educated about what is Puerto Rico than the US Americans.

 We presented our research in the classroom, but later we presented on a Student Conference at the university in a panel about perspectives of Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans. This experience was very different in comparison with other classes’ activities because we had to present in front of students and professors that were interested on the topic and then we had a question and answer part, but we didn’t had time for that part. I was more nervous to present in the conference than in the classroom, because it was more of a formal presentation in which there were going to attend more people watching. I think that was noticeable because I was a little stock with the words. 

Journal Reflection

For the class we made a journal based on the first thoughts activity in which we had to make five entries a week for eight weeks, following some anti-rules. I made 40 entries and ten life compasses, which is another activity that makes you identify how and why you are feeling some way. Throughout the time of the activity I noticed that my style and vocabulary maintained constant, but my creativity was developed in a good way. I noticed this in the way I expressed my thoughts and feelings. The anti-rules I mentioned earlier are: Don’t cross out, don’t worry about spelling, punctuation or grammar, don’t think, don’t get logical, go for the jugular, and keep your hand moving. The rules that I consider were the most difficult were the don’t cross out and forget about grammar because I automatically wanted to cross out something that I knew I wrote incorrectly and many times, some more and some less, stopped to think how to write a word mainly because I thought the word in Spanish and wanted to find the correct translation to English. At first the one about going for the jugular was difficult, because I wanted to have more of a formal entry so I wanted my thought to be fluent, but the mind is not that way. You think about so many things at one time and because of this I started to follow the rule in a natural way. There was one particular entry that I made on a Sunday before a very complicated week in terms of school work that I felt I followed all rules to perfection because of all of the stress I was feeling. In this entry I started writing and listing all the works and tests I had in that week, then I started to divide my time so I could get organized, and at the end I wrote that I needed to lower my level of stress, because I knew I could make it. This part I think happened because I was able to liberate a little of that stress. This was my longest entry because I didn’t stop to think, I went for the jugular, I didn’t worry about grammar, and I didn’t cross out. All I wanted to do was take all that stress out of my system. With this entry, this journal, and the life compasses I understood this activity was very influenced with your mood and with your internal journey. With this journal I learned that I have a style of writing, made me understood why I was feeling a certain way, and made me get out some feelings. Getting out my feelings was new for me, because I usually don’t tell people what I’m feeling and this made me understand better my internal journey. 

Jamaica Kincaid's "A Small Place"- Antiguans

In the second part of Jamaica Kincaid’s novel “A Small Place” she explains the political history of Antigua. She explains that Antigua was a colony of England during a lot period of time, but they finally were able to obtain their independence. The author explains how the English came to the little island and tried to impose their culture and their way of being. To do such thing they abused of the locals, mostly black people, because they thought their way was the only way, because they “thought” they were doing the right thing, that they were making a better environment for the locals. As JamaicaKincaid expresses herself, describing all the horrible things the colonizing we can really feel her anger towards them, because of the abuse and discrimination of the people that really belonged to Antigua, the men and women who suffered from the bad treatments of the English.

Jamaica Kincaid feels very attached to her people, the people of Antigua, because they have suffered and still suffer discrimination and disdain from the English un the colonization era and from the tourists that feel like they are superior, because of nationality, color, race, and many other factors that unfortunately are wrongly used to discriminate.  The author identifies with the Antiguans, because she has lived discrimination too.

If we compare Puerto Rico’s scenario is not that very different. Puerto Rico is a country that was colonized by Spain and was forced to adopt their language and religion. The Indians that inhabited the island when they “discovered” Puerto Rico, The Tainos, were also abused, mistreated, and were terminated. Puerto Rico and Antigua were both colonized and changed to what, in the heads of the colonizers, was the only correct way. The difference is that the Indians were terminated completely, so Puerto Ricans in the society of today don’t feel that attached to the Indians as Jamaica Kincaid feels about the Antiguans. Another difference in Puerto Rico is that we are still, in some way, a colony. We are part of the United States, we are the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. 

Jamaica Kincaid's "A Small Place"- Tourists

Jamaica Kincaid explains in her novel “A Small Place” how are the tourists that vacation at Antigua. Jamaica Kincaid expresses herself referring to the tourists in a very sarcastic and rude kind of way. It seems that Jamaica Kincaid have some resentment against tourist that visit the Island where she comes from, Antigua. In some aspects I agree with the author, because sometimes tourists believe things should be done the way they want, not having in mind the cultural differences and that different countries make things in a different way. Tourism should be a compromise in where tourists understand the culture of the place they are visiting and the locals should understand that tourists are in your country to enjoy it and have a good time. This is the part which the author, in my opinion, doesn’t understand. From the vocabulary she uses we can state that she doesn’t really like tourists. She believes that the tourists that visit Antigua don’t truly know the island or it habitants. This fact makes her mad because the tourists go to Antigua to forget the problems they leave home when they vacation, but the locals of Antigua don’t have that option to escape from their reality, because of poverty.

If we compare the attitude of the author towards the tourists that vacation in Antigua and the attitude of the Puerto Ricans towards the ones that visit our island it has many differences and many similarities. The main similarity is that the tourists that come to Puerto Rico and the ones that visit Antigua enjoy mostly the beaches and the many things we have that many tourists don’t have on their home lands. Me as a Puerto Rican that has been to the United States also agree with Jamaica Kincaid that the tourists don’t trust us, believe that we have a very bad driving, can’t imagine how we can buy expensive stuff. These examples bother the locals, both the residents of Antigua and the Puerto Ricans, because the vision they have of us is one mainly filled with ignorance. In the case of Puerto Ricans we don’t believe that it is a shortage of consideration that tourists visit Puerto Rico to forget their problems, because we can’t do the same, because a grand part of Puerto Ricans go on vacation, or do interior tourism if we can afford a trip.  

Reflection on "helping" by Jim Coopers

Jim Coopers in his essay “Helping” states a particular situation he encounters with the Puerto Rican students, he explains that cheating in a test for them was called helping. He believes that this happens because the Puerto Ricans were very united and cherished their groups and in the United States this didn’t happened because the students were very competitive. If we think about the culture of Puerto Rico we can understand this behavior, Puerto Ricans are very united and warm. Let’s move to the 21th century to see if this is still this way. Puerto Ricans are still very united and helpful, but in my opinion the students have enter unto competitiveness. Now the competitiveness do exist between students, every student want to get the better grade and wants to have the best job opportunities. I can’t deny that cheating does happen, but in a very different way than in the 1950’s, now a day students use technology as cell phones to cheat and help themselves. In another way students still have groups, but when it comes to group projects, no so many students like them. In Business Administration doing group projects is very common, but one of the reasons not so many students like them is because you are putting your grade in other people’s hand. This can tell us that much has changed since Jim Coopers was a professor at Mayagüez.

“When a student cheats is because the education system values more the grades than the knowledge” This phrase that I read once caught my attention, because after reading “Helping” I can conclude that this is what has added competitiveness in the student world. I believe that this is a bad kind of competitiveness, because is sadly true. The competitiveness that should be present on a student mind is the one that’s motivates the student to be better and to learn in a free way so that the he or she can enlarge their horizon. 

Reflection on "Teaching" by Jim Coopers

Jim Coopers talks about English as a second language in Puerto Rico on his essay “Teaching”. This topic is still prevailing of our society. Jim Coopers narrates his experience of coming to Puerto Rico from the United States to teach English at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus. His experience here in the 1950’s was kind of a bad one because he has some expectation, but the reality was different, the university students didn’t knew English. I can imagine that this was a frustration for him, but in my opinion he had to be more understanding, because on that time even some people didn’t know how to write or read in Spanish. Of course this wasn’t the case of university students at the University of Puerto Rico, but it was the reality of many Puerto Ricans. What does that tell us? That the Puerto Ricans where struggling with the establishment of a second language.  In another aspect I’m in complete agreement with Coopers with his suggestion to change the syllabus, because they were pretending that students that didn’t know a language started to analyze literature in that language, English in this case.

If we transport ourselves from the 1950’s to now, the 21th century, we can see that much has changed. The majority of students, not only university students know English. Since elementary students are taking English classes, in the elementary students take mostly grammar and English as basics, in middle school starts the combination of grammar and literature, and in high school the approach is to literature. This style reminds me of what Jim Coopers explains in his essay, that a student have to learn the language and then immerse in what literature and analysis is. Maybe that has been the reason more people and students know better English.

As I mentioned before in other of my blog entries, I consider that we Puerto Ricans are very privileged of having two official languages, Spanish as our native language and English as our second language. As a business student I really know the benefits that this situation brings to us. It opens many doors for us.

Social Classes in "A Room with a View"

A Room with a View is a movie based on E. M. Forster book that presents many class issues under the British stereotype. For me something that stood out for me was that the more intellectual you are, the higher you are on that class. In the beginnings of the 20^th century, arranged marriages are very normal. Some arranged marriages are because of family, aristocracy or money. In the case of the British class system and in the case of this movie, the center of the engagement Cecil and Lucy’s marriage was the intellect. What stood out about Cecil was his passion for books and the only thing about Lucy that called Cecil’s attention was that she played classical music on the piano. But, that’s enough to be happy in a marriage? Well, if we answer that question from a 21 century perspective the answer will be that that’s not enough, but if we transport ourselves to the beginnings of the 20^th century that will be completely normal, it would be the right thing to do. Lucy an open minded young woman was in the middle of what seems right for the society, marry Cecil, a very intellectual man, and following her heart and marry George, a free-spirited man, that doesn’t belong to an aristocrat family. In that period of time classes are more important than in this era. Know marrying the man you love is the common thing the right thing to do, but in Lucy’s time that’s not the reality. Lucy broke the parameters of what’s right or wrong, she destroyed the class ladder from the British society, being the intellect a very important high step in that ladder. If we think of today’s class stereotype is not very different, status prevails our society is one that sometimes has arranged, not by family but for status for yourself, “friendships” and “relationships”. 

Concepts of Identity Studied by Peter Roberts

Identity is a group of singular characteristics of a person or group that distinguishes them from others. Identity has different aspects like cultural and national identity. Cultural identity is typical aspects o the culture of a group that difference them from others and national identity is the sense of belonging to a nation. Peter Roberts in The Roots of Caribbean Identity: Language,Race and Ecology talks about that cultural and national identity of the Caribbean.

Home, language, and behavior are three concepts of identity that Peter Roberts presents in the introduction of his study. For Roberts “…home embodies a psychological factor of attachment, which probably issues from the basic animal instinct of territoriality, but is more an emotional bond created through experience of a place”. The author also expresses that “Language is in part a universal human factor and in part a factor of place: human language manifests itself primarily in speech as distinct languages, each of which is geographically determined”. He also explains that “Behavior is the biggest category in judgments of identity, one that covers a wide array including supernatural practices, entertainment, sports and games, and educational practices”.

As a Caribbean I consider myself very different from people of other continents or even from people in other parts of America. I am from Puerto Rico, a Caribbean Island, and that comes with Spanish as my first language and with so many cultural behaviors that differentiate me as a Puerto Rican from other countries and as a Caribbean from different sectors. In agreement with Roberts I feel much attached with Puerto Rico, my home. I feel part of it and I believe that I contribute to my country. I also believe that part of way of being is because of being a Puerto Rican. We Puerto Ricans and Caribbean are cheerful, loud, homely, and worm.

My native language is Spanish and my second language is English. Peter Roberts states that language establishes a barrier between sectors “Language therefore establishes bonds between all communities of human beings but at the same time set up barriers between communities”. I completely agree with Roberts that language establishes bonds, because you feel more comfortable and you identify with someone that speaks the same language as you. I also think that a barrier is set up between communities when you have different languages, because you believe they are different.

In complete agreement with the author I believe that “While behavior may in some objective way be the best criterion for judging sameness, it is the senses of sight (color/race) and sound (language) that provided the initial and usually most deep-seated conclusions about sameness and difference in identity”. Studying someone’s behavior you can like or dislike them, because if you see similarities you on the first judgment believe that they are the same as you, but in the other hand you can exclude someone from your circle because they have different characteristics in their behavior. 

Tourist for a Day

Last Tuesday, February 24, I went on the adventure with my friend Ana of being a tourist for a day at Old San Juan, a place that I have visited countless times. But this time was definitely different I prepared myself to be a visitor for the first time. I put on my tennis shoes, my shots, my t-shits, my cap, and my backpack and transformed myself into a tourist. Firstly I went to a shop and got a map, because I was getting into character, and what a better way to be a tourist than with a map. The store owner started to speak to me in English, because I think that he imagined that no Puerto Rican will need a map at Old San Juan, I responded to him in English and even asked for a good place to eat traditional food. Finally I went to La Mallorca with the directions given to me by the store owner and the map and ate chicken breast, rice, and beans.

After lunch, we went to El Morro and admire the view, took pictures, and ran and jumped on the green field.

After that exhausting walk under the sun we decided to go to a coffee shop and drink some good Puerto Rican Coffee. On the borders of map that I had were many sponsors, and one of them was ‘Café Don Ruiz’, so we went to that amazing and exquisite coffee shop. I drank a well deserved cup of coffee and Ana drank a frozen coffee with caramel.

After that we went for a walk and saw ‘El Totem’, the Princess Passage, the entrance of San Juan; admired the cobbles, the colonial architecture, and the balconies. We also entered this time really for the first time, souvenirs shops and saw everything you can imagine about Puerto Rico from key chains to towels. I also went to the Tourism Company of Puerto Rico and they gave me flyers, magazines, maps, and information about the different adventures you can do in Puerto Rico.

This unique experience of being a tourist for a day in a place that I have visited before many times, made me pay attention to things that I usually, in a normal visit, don’t pay as much attention. For example, in a normal visit I probably wouldn’t go to a traditional place to eat, definitely don’t enter souvenirs stores, probably don’t walk and admire all San Juan like I did last Tuesday. Another thing is that I was treated like a tourist because I spoke in another language and they treated me differently in the way that asked me about my trip and exhorted me to go to some places. If I talk in Spanish they assume that I know all about Old San Juan, and that is not always true. 

Pay attention to details

The way we observe is influenced by our perspective or point of view toward something. That something can be objects, circumstances, or even life. Some aspects of our identity like age, sex, or religion can also influence the way we observe. As Alexandra Horowitz explains in her book “On Looking: ElevenWalks with Experts Eyes” people concentrate in what they want to see or only at what they are looking for. We block out many things happening in our surroundings, because we are concentrated looking at only one thing. As Horowitz says right now you are missing a lot around you simply by reading this entry.

In my case being a twenty year old catholic woman influences the way I observe situations and life. Being young makes me see the world with joyful eyes, makes me see opportunity in all of what I encounter in my path, and makes me believe that I can contribute to my society in many ways because the future is on my hands. My religion makes me understand that I am not alone in this world, that I have God always by my side, and that I have to observe the positive part of every situation, because everything happens for a reason and God has a plan for me. Being a woman makes me observe with determined and gentle eyes. Determined because everything I do is to persevere and show many young girls that we can accomplish what we set as a goal and gentle because being a women comes with a feminine touch that makes us have the best of both worlds, to be determined and strong, but gentle at the same time. This gives us a different perspective about life in comparison with men.

I consider myself being very observer. I don’t talk much when I am on groups, but I definitely observe everything, and for me that’s a good quality. Observing people’s movements, glances, facial expressions, and other “insignificant” things I capture what they are thinking, their humor, personality, and a whole other things that I know only by observing. Being an observer has make friends come to me for advice because they know that I have an idea of what they are going through. I recommend to you to practice observing people and stuff around you because you will understand much more things. 

English and its Varieties

Oral communication is the more used method of communication. To communicate with speech, language is essential. In my opinion language is part of someone’s identity because it represents your culture. But the same language in different countries may vary mostly because of the political influences that country had.

We went to a conference on February 4, 2015 about a study in the varieties of English in the United States, England, Puerto Rico, and Malta. The results of the study were that Puerto Rico’s English is influenced by the English in the United States and that Malta’s English has more of a British influence. Another result that the researchers found was that Malta and Puerto Rico’s English have more in common than United States and England. This last result is very curious because Malta and Puerto Rico doesn't have any connections, but in the contrary the United States and England have had political relations. The similarities in Malta and Puerto Rico’s English are probably because the main languages in both countries are romance, Italian and Spanish. The researcher gave examples of phrases that in Malta and Puerto Rico has different meanings. He also explained that phrases used in one country can vary if they are spoken or written.  

English is the globally accepted language in the business world because is a language that represents a majority. With the results driven from the study by the expert we can assume that every person that speaks English speak it with some varieties and that depends of the cultural or political influences that person has. These differences don’t have a big effect on understanding each other because it mostly has one original base.

As a business student I believe that knowing many languages can and will open you many doors of opportunities in your professional journey also expanding your knowledge will enhance your internal journey, you will fly higher and further.  Because I live in Puerto Rico I am very blessed that I can speak, read, and write in Spanish, my main language, and in English my second language.

In conclusion, with the findings of the research we understood that one same language can vary from country to country and that depends mainly of cultural and political influences. We can see language as a journey because it changes throughout countries and their history. It’s like a journey because when you travel culture changes from country to country. 

Billy Mills Running Through Life

Billy Mills, an Indian of the Pine Ridge Indian reservation, had great dreams of becoming an important track athlete. To achieve his dreams he overcomes a hard journey, because of his ‘different’ race. Billy Mills started his running journey in the reservation when he channeled his energy to something positive, then he started to know that he was a good runner in high school where he had very good marks and the University of Kansas offered him a track scholarship. He started college with very good expectations, but those hopes started becoming dull with all the discrimination against him.

Billy Mills suffered discrimination, stereotypes, and he felt like he didn't belong. These stones on the road made his journey more difficult. He felt that the landing was furthest away. His teammates and even his coach didn't believe on his capacity till the end of the story. In the movie we can see that all of these affect Billy in a negative way because at first he won all the races, but he started to lose because of the frustration he felt. This frustration got mixed with the fact that he missed his home and his people, he forgot the reason he started running in the first place. His finish line in life started to blur, because of the challenges he had for being an Indian in a world of white people.

Billy left Kansas and his girlfriend with frustration and went back to his home in the reservation. Back at home he felt part of something again and he felt his passion for running again. Back at the reservation he recognizes and learns that his self-improvement, his personal journey, was part of his reservation improvement too. Billy Mills in a way gave back to his community. His people felt proud for his personal achievements and for representing the Indians in the university and in the world if he decided to participate in the Olympics.

After finding himself again in the reservation he continued his journey at the marines, training for the Olympics by his wife’s side. At the Olympics of 1964, representing his country, Mills again suffers of stereotypes and discrimination, but he proved every one wrong he came from the back and won the gold medal in the 10K event setting a new world record. When he won, his high school coach for the first time treated him as an equal. Billy kept his humility till the end representing his country, but also his Indian backgrounds.

Billy Mills’ life journey was one with many obstacles on the way, but at the end he landed where he wanted to from the beginning, being a great athlete that could represent his country and backgrounds doing what he was passionate about. Billy Mills overcome many challenges but never forgot his past and his people. Billy’s journey is still incomplete because he still gives back to his community and other reservations. 

Me, Myself and I

I have been on a journey for twenty years now. A journey with ups and downs, but that’s what life is about enjoying the good moments and learning from the downs in the roller-coaster. I have to be very thankful to God, to life, and to destiny that my life has been a good one, one with more ups than downs. Nevertheless when you go up, sometimes you have to come down, one of the most difficult time in my journey, called life, has been the death of three of my grandparents, two of them when I was young and one when I knew the true meaning of death, which made it more difficult. Their journey ended, but mine is still beginning, now I live my life with three angels and the grandmother I still have by my side, every step of the way.

Life has given me great company throughout my journey, my life. That company is my family that have been there for me every single day of my life, my friends that some come and go, but make the trip more fun, and people that have come to my life by destiny that are here to stay and complete the journey that have not ended with me. I believe that sometimes you have to be alone to think and reflect, but always having in mind that you have people by your side that care for you, and I am very blessed that I have that kind of people in my life that make my journey more pleasant.

I am a person that believes that traveling nourishes the intellect, the soul, and life. I have been very blessed that my parents have given me the opportunity to visit other countries so I can learn from other cultures and beliefs. I have been to the United States, Dominican Republic, England, France, and Spain. These countries have different cultures, languages, and beliefs, and are very different from Puerto Rico. These countries that I have visited made me acknowledge that not everybody is the same, that every person has different backgrounds, that everybody has different journeys.