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.