External Journey: A way to explore our culture

"We travel, some of us forever, to seek other states, other lives, other souls" 
-Anais Nin, The Diary of Anais Nin 

     In our English class named "Journey in Literature" we focused on the journey we take during our lives. Our journey can be divided into two categories: Internal and external journey. The internal Journey help one to discover our personality, what Identifies us as a person; Our external journey helped us to find what identifies us as a culture.

     With the help of the blog, we made our external journey. Creating a blog was a new task for me, and a felt a tittle lost at the beginning, but it was a very effective method to analyze our lectures. During the semester, we analyze different novels and stories that we can relate to our society. One of the novels, Jim Cooper's novel called "Down on the Island", was a novel that showed us the educational system during the 50's. I really loved this novel because it showed us the things that we need to improve to be a better society.

     What I really loved most about this blog was that I learned that we are tourists of our own country. The activity titled "A day as a tourist" gave me an oportunity to explore the Island's content. It was a great experience for me.

     Finally, we, as locals, do not appreciate the beauty of the Island. We need to promote internal tourism to know our island's history and heritage. I started with the blog, I was really a tourist, but now that I Know more about the culture of Puerto Rico, I really feel more as a traveler in my own home, and it is because now I am beggining to appreciate the Island. I am looking foward to keep discovering the beauty of Puerto Rico, which is the main objective of my external journey.  

   
     

Inner Journey

"There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that is your own self"

 -Aldous Huxley

      One day, I woke up in the morning and the first thought that came to my mind was: Am I really doing the right thing? These and other reflective questions crosses our mind very frequently, questions that need answers preety soon. We tried to look for solutions: talk to a friend about the issue, read motivational videos, but, for people like me, it is not a really effective method.

     In my English class, it was assigned a Journal for 8 weeks, which I will write 5 reflexions a week about the first thoughts that we found in our heads, and they need to get out; Second, 3 compasses a week, analyzing my internal journey. At first, I found this as a project, but throughout the course, it was more than just a project. 

     The English Journal helped me to find my internal journey, answering most of the questions in my mind. It was a way to express my feelings or thoughts. It is not so easy for me to talk about the real Giovanni, and at the beginning, it was a little hard to express myself on a paper, but with dedication, it became more fluent to write about my ideas and concerns. The journal also helped me to improve my english writing , especially improving my english grammar. I was not a good english writer when I wrote my first 10 reflexions. 

     Two of the reflexion's rule was: First, do not get logical; Second, do not worry about spelling and punctuation. It was not wasy to put all my thoughts in a 10 minute writing exercise without checking my spelling and I tried to get logical so many times that it really wasted significant amount of  writing time. 

     Througout the semester, I became more confortable with the journal, and it became an everyday hobby. At the end of the exercise,I was more relaxed or happier. I talk to my friends about this creative task, and how good it was to have one from now on.

     Finally, the journal, along with the compass, helped me to evaluate myself and try to correct what I was doing wrong. With the help of the journal, I am looking foward to keep discovering the journey of life, ready for the challenges that I found during my trip, and willing to explore more about the world that makes our internal journey more interesting.

   

Panel "Immigration and Puerto Rico today"

Last wednesday, College of General Studies of the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus presented an English Conference titled: "Students Interventions in General Studies: Interdisiplinary projects and creative initiatives". The activity consisted of several group of students from different english courses presenting their research writing.

One of the panels presented that day was one named: "Immigration and Puerto Rico today". Two girls presented thir research about the topic, but they also shared their personal experience about being an immigrant, and how difficult it is to be accepted and respected in a country which Xenophobia is a very serious issue.

Even that they are from an intensive english course, and they are not so fluent with english, it was the best panel of the Activity that day. They presented how Xenophobia is present in Puerto Rico, as Well in Dominican Republic. Even that the issue affect them, they were in favor of immigration. Also, they also offered real solutions to the social issue.

This kind of problems are happening constantly, and it is unfair to judge people according to they nationality. Personally, I loved what they did. It vas a brave action from them to challenge their limits and talked about their personal experiences in front of an audience.

Panel Titled: "Mini Sagas: My creative Process"

Last tuesday, the College of General Studies of the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus presented an English Conference titled: "Students Interventions in General Studies: Interdisiplinary projects and creative initiatives". The activity consisted of several group of students from different english courses presenting their research writing.

One of the panels presented last tuesday was titled: "Mini sagas: My creative process", by a group of students fromthe professor Mildred Lockwood. 

The Minisaga was like a poem, and it had to be exactly 50 words. It is not an easy project, but the students presented their respective mini sagas with enthusiasm and charisma. Some of them talked about appearances, love, and Identity. It was a very creative writing, well elaborated. 

Personally, I like each of the minisagas presented, I am looking foward to read more Mini Sagas in a future.

Puerto Rican culture, according to "The Rum Diary"

"I tend to avoid alcohol"
(Pause)
"[Takes a bottle of alcohol], When I can." -Paul Kemp

     American Actor Johnny Depp protagonizes a movie called "The Rum Diary", which is based on American Writer Hunter Thompson's Novel. In the movie, Paul Kemp (Johnny Depp) has not been a successful writer and Journalist in the United States. Besides, he is a heavy drinker which it can be influenced by his unsucessful journey. Instead, he takes an offer as an writer for a newspaper in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The newspaer business which Johnny Depp applied to work was going to close soon.

     The movie takes place during the 1960's. Like many other foreigns, Kemp came for the first time to the island without any knowledge about the actual status of Puerto Rico, its culture, the lifestyle of Puerto Ricans, etc. He just came to Puerto Rico to take advantage of the oppotunity that it was presented, just thinking about the job and he did not wanted to relate with the local environment, as well as the tourists that were intervewed in the Bowling. What Kemp did not expected was that here in the island is where his journey just began to start. 

    Kemp was assigned to write about horoscopes, but when he begins to relate with Sala, he begins to see the reality that locals face everyday. He can analyse how poor are puerto rican society. He really want to wants to talk about the economical status of Puerto Rico, but his boss does not, becuse it will affect Puerto Rico's tourism. Besides, he also tells that puerto rico's society is not an interest for tourists: they just visit the island because of the beautiful beaches, partying, and the local Rum. Kemp also sees the tourist perspective when he meets Sanderson, a realtor who, with other people, want to beging working on some prime real state.

     As the movie goes on, Kemp gets more involved in Island issues, and he want to work with the sitation. At the beginning of the movie, Kemp was a tourist who was not interested in Puerto Rican Culture, but as the action progresses, he contemplates and is awared of the poverty in Puerto Rico. We can see the transition from tourist to traveler.

   At the end of the movie, Kemp goes back to the United States, and he became a very successful writer.This movie can be compared with Jamaica Kinkaid's novel "A small island". The movie, as well as the novel, shows us the mentality of tourists when they vacation somewhere, just caring about the hotel and entertaintment, avoiding the real issue that is affecting the local people, struggling to progress as a nation.

Internal Tourism in Fajardo, Puerto Rico

     Bright Sun, clear water, hot sand...These are the three things that I enjoy when I visit a Beach somewhere in the Island. Saturday was my lucky day: I was looking for a place that I have never been to. A couple of friends helped me to find that place, and after a hour long reunion, we finally had our destination. We went to a beach in Fajardo called Seven Seas. A couple of friends and I started our Journey, with a BBQ and a refrigerator with beverages.

     We arrived to the beach, and the place was not full as expected. It was nice and the water was warm. While my friends were playing volleyball and swimming, I was analyzing the environment, which it was very calm and clean. 

     Later, a local person talk with us about and mentioned a little beach called Playa Escondida, which it was very close to Seven Seas. We were very interested and excited to go there. After walking 20 minutes from Seven Seas to Playa Escondida, we finally arrived.

     Playa Escondida is one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever been to. The water was magical and very clear, and with a sunny weather, we had an amazing time as a group. This experience was awesome and made me realize that sometimes, as locals, we do not appreciate the places that makes Puerto Rico unique, and we need to act as tourists/travelers to enjoy it. 

Something more than just a love story.

Sometimes, when we are in another place vacationing, we feel like we are in a dream place, like something special can happen in that country. In the movie "A Room with a view" presents a love story between Lucy Honeychurch, a woman who comes from a wealthy family, and George Emerson, a lower class person who really loves Lucy. The novel not only just showed us what true love it is really aboout, it is a movie that shows us more than a love story.

It all starts when Lucy and her older cousin Charlotte Bartlett travel to Florence, Italy as tourists. Lucy and her cousin complains because they did not have a room with a view, because they were staying in rooms with no view. Later, traveler Mr. Emerson and his son George offer their rooms with views for Lucy and Charlotte. We can see the Kindness from the travelers. Like Me. Emerson said: "I don't care what I see outside. My vision is within! Here is where the birds sing! Here is where the Sky is blue."

The resident's kindness can vary, depending on which country you come from, and which social class are you related. From the beginning, the residents (Italians) tried to be kind with the tourists, and they showed to the tourists that the want everyone to know about their history, but the tourists were not fully interested. Some tourists just do not appreciate the things that makes the place unique. Like Eleanor Lavish said to Charlotte: "Every city has its own smell." We can compare this movie with Jamaica Kinkaid's novel "A small place". We can see in both stories how tourists did not care about the residents and the island history, they just cared about the beauty of the country/island. It is a very ignorant thought coming from the tourists.

In contrast, the Emersons were really travelers, because they were very interested in Italian Culture, they respected the residents.

Also, on this movie we can see the difference between social classes. This is how identity is established in every person of the movie. By the standards of Lucy's social circle, George is clearly an unacceptable match for Lucy, even that he is clearly the perfect match in all other ways. He really values Lucy for herself, and he wants her independent and free, but lucy gets engaged with Cecl, an upper social class mas who is very dislikeable and disrespected everyone that, according to him, was lower than him. He sets a dominant and arrogant posture. He even said: " I have no profession. My Attitude is that as long as I am no trouble to anyone, I have the right to do as I like." 

Even that he is a wealthy man, Lucy stays with George, proving that real love does not have a social class. The movie it is very entertaining and original. I recommend it.