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I've been home for a few weeks, and now I'm actually moved into my dorm room at college. Looking back on my trip, all I want to do is return to Sunny Sosua. I had such an amazing time with all the people I met. I loved that the program had people of all ages. I learned so much from the Europeans and fellow Americans who were older than me. Everyone seemed to have great advise about life and college. The Dominicans were nothing but welcoming of North Americans and always seemed to have a great sense of humor. Dominicans are known for their love of cracking jokes, and I found myself laughing all the time at little things that someone would say.

I’ve been on many trips in my life, but I have never felt so sad to leave a country, as I have with the Dominican Republic. The beaches are incredible, there’s a wide variety of food, and the people are fun-loving. I actually found myself in a funk when I came home. Thursday and Saturday nights I think about how I should be at Ojos, dancing to Bachata and Merengue, or to techno music upstairs. I think about how easy it was to get on a Motoconcho (motorcycle taxi) to cross town, and the silly songs that the drivers would sing. I walk past boys in the United States, and I don’t hear “oye mami que bonita.” I almost expect it now, because every boy no matter what age would say that. It’s kind of a confidence booster, and I almost miss it (almost is the key word).

My spanish grammar has improved drastically. I now am more confident with the differences between preterite and imperfect, and subjunctive and indicative. I am better at ser and estar, and por and para. I understand better he little things that I learned a lot of years ago (but still mix up).

I miss my friends from around the world, and still keep in contact with them. Every time we connect over Facebook I find myself cracking up. I suggest to anyone who is interested in learning Spanish and immersing themselves into Dominican Culture to do this program. I will always remember this summer as my favorite summer, and plan on returning next year.

The Hostel

One of my favorite things to do here, is visit friends who are staying at the hostel in Cabarete. The hostel is recently renovated, and is designed like a castle. One of my friends from the school stayed at the hostel and we went over to hang with him one day. We met all kinds of interesting people. There was Leo, the boy we were visiting, from Seattle who had been here for three months. There’s a guy named Harrison who just graduated from Cornell(?), and is here to surf before he has to go home and start working. There’s also two guys who came here and now teach kite surfing. One is from the UK, and the other is from France. Lastly there was a guy from Germany here, although all I think he was doing was partying. People come and go from the hostel, but those boys are/were there for a long time. It’s so fun to meet so many different people, from different cultures. Everyone gets along really well, and I’m always howling with laughter when I hang out with them. They also have some pretty sweet Barbecues.

I had never heard about Kite Surfing until I came here and talked about it with the Hostel boys. Kite surfing is really, really popular here. Cabarete is one of the top 10 best kitesurfing destinations in the world. People come from all over to learn and show off their skills. When I went horseback riding I was able to watch some of the surfers because we passed through Kite beach, and it looks like such an intense sport! The professionals can jump really high into the air, and twist into all kinds of positions.

I would LOVE to spend a few weeks at the hostel one year, and learn how to kite surf. It’s somewhat close to kite beach, and transportation is cheap within Cabarete. I feel like the word hostel gives the image of a dirty, grimy, cheap place for students to sleep. This place seems more like a nice residence hall, with good facilities.

Relationships in the DR

Culturally, the Dominican Republic is very different from the United States. I've learned so much about the importance of relationships here. Lately the government has been cracking down harsher laws on prostitution. Two weeks ago, in Sosúa, the police went through the streets arresting women. Almost any non-foreigner female who was out was arrested for prostitution. It doesn’t matter if a woman is actually involved in that business or not, they will still get arrested. Many clubs were shut down, and the people of Sosúa couldn’t do anything about it. It’s hard to prove that a woman is being a prostitute, but the Dominican judicial system believes the people are “guilty before proven innocent.” There’s a teacher at my school who is Dominican, and is dating a white man who’s 10 years older than her. The police tried to arrest her because they assumed she was not in a legitimate relationship. It is hard not to look at every “cafe con leche” (coffee with milk as the Dominican say) couple and not assume that the girl is a prostitute. It’s so common here, that when someone is actually a real couple, people have a hard time believing it.

On the other side there are “sanky-pankys.” A “Sanky-Panky” is a man who dates foreigners for their money and/or citizenship. Sometimes the men will ask their girlfriends to pay for their meals, or buy them things. Other times they are only in the relationship to get citizenship to travel and live somewhere else. The worst kinds of “Sanky-Pankies” are those who are after both. Whenever any foreigner girl is in a relationship with a Dominican boy, people think that he’s a “Sanky-Panky.”

For those in real relationships, men are not always faithful. Dominicans are known for having multiple girlfriends. I watched a movie the other day about a married Dominican man who constantly lied to his wife and went out to the clubs. My Spanish teacher explained to me that this happens all too often. While this does occur in the United States, it seems that it is almost accepted here for a man to be unfaithful. Machismo is very much alive here.

But of course, there are couples who are happy and don’t fall into any of the categories. One of the cutest stories I’ve heard was about one of the German teachers at the school. She’s from Lichtenstein, and married a Dominican man. They have three kids who speak both Spanish and German, and are happily married.

People seem to be very interested in relationships here. In the United States, when first meeting someone, usually two people talk about simple details. Here, almost always, one of the first questions asked is “are you married?” Just the other day I was asked “is he your husband?” and the guy pointed to a 35 year old. I thought that was one of the funnier moments of my life, being that I’m 18. Nevertheless, I don't think I'll ever fall in love with a Dominican. They seem too complicated!

Horseback Riding, the Beach and Waterfalls

It’s so hard to keep posting because I barely have time. I’m always in class, at the beach, on an excursion, dancing, out to dinner or sleeping. There’s just so much to do and somehow I’ve already been here three weeks. I cannot believe that I’m going home in 6 days. I’ve absolutely fallen in love with this country.

On Wednesday I went horseback riding on the beach. I was on a horse named Kitkat, who was an angry horse. He kept on head butting the other horses and trying to race them. We walked and trotted for most of the way there, and then on the way back towards the end we cantered. The waves kept on crashing and the horses were splashing in the water, and it was also raining, so by the time we got back we were soaked. It was a two hour ride and afterwards we all could barely walk.

Thursday I went to Playa Grande again. It took an hour and 45 minutes to get there, but it’s such a fun ride. I went through small towns, past beaches, next to forests and through the mountains. It’s nice to see typical Dominican life, because I’m living in a resort town.

Yesterday I went to the 27 waterfalls. We had two tour guides who gave us helmets, life vests, and brought us on a hike through the mountains. We hiked for about an hour, and although it wasn’t necessarily a hard hike, it was extremely hot. I talked a lot with one of the tour guides who is a really big baseball fan. He likes the Phillies and hates the Yankees, so we got along. We talked a lot about David Ortiz and Albert Pujoles. I learned some baseball terms in Spanish (which is always good to know). When we finally got to the waterfalls, we jumped off them. The jumps kept on getting higher and higher, and towards the end my heart was POUNDING. There were even a few rock slides that freaked me out. The last jump was 30 feet tall and it took my friend Julia at least 10 minutes to get up the courage to jump. It was scary, but super fun!

After the waterfalls we stopped by a fish restaurant. The place had no menus, and instead we went into the kitchen and picked out the fish that we wanted. We had 9 people and we ordered 4 large fish, fried plantains, french fries and potato salad. They cooked the fish and gave it to us whole. I’ve never eaten a fish that hasn’t been cut into smaller sections. I thought I’d be freaked out, but it didn’t bother met at all. The meal was delicious and ridiculously cheap. We paid 1000 pesos for 9 people, which is a little more than 25 dollars. Meals are not that cheap in Sosúa, but outside of the resort towns everything is a lot cheaper.

I only have 6 days left, but I plan on living them up. I do NOT want to go home, but I’ve been so lucky to be here for so long already! Hopefully this week doesn’t fly by too fast.

This week

This week has been packed with all kinds of crazy things. I've gone to dinner at some of the most delicious (and cheap) restaurants. There's an italian restaurant ran by a man who moved from Italy, that has the BEST pasta. There's a french resteraunt ran by a man who moved from france that has some really good, but different, pasta. There's a comedor (which is a restaurant that's styled like a cafeteria) where I can get traditional rice and beans and chicken. All the food here is delicious. I'm starting to get to know some of the locals a little better. I love everything about this place. The people are so friendly, there's always something to do, and the weather is so warm and nice.

A few days ago we had a bbq at the school. We went to the grocery market and bought meat, sauces, veggies and all kinds of goodies.
I chopped vegetables in the kitchen with Karolina. She's from norway and possibly one of the most sarcastic and funny people I've ever met. Don't mess with this girl.

I've gone surfing twice. It's really difficult! The first time we went was in the afternoon, and the current was too strong. I didn't really get a chance to try to get up because I was being pulled into the rocks. Everyone dragged me out of bed at 6:30 am yesterday to try in the morning . I ran into a friend who I've met down here, who's a surf instructor. He was renting a board and saw me and Karolina and gave us some free pointers. I ALMOST got up, but I was too scared and fell back. It was a big wave and I could feel exactly what surfing was supposed to feel like, but I just didn't get up (if that makes sense). My friend of course was doing all kinds of crazy tricks, including turns and surfing on one leg. It's amazing what some people can do!


These pictures below are some of my favorite pictures so far. To get into Cabarete, which is the next town over, you have to drive 15 minutes. We take a carro público (public car) which costs a little less than a dollar per person. The drivers try to fit as many people into the car at once, so we had a photo shoot the other night while we were squished. We're always cracking up in the carro públicos because everyones on top of each other.

Dancing at night is so fun! Most of the students go out to Cabarete to dance at a club called Ojos. They play Bachata and Merengue and everyones dancing. What I think is adorable is that there's a german instructor at the school who married a Dominican man. They come out with us when they can get a babysitter and her husband teaches all of the girls how to dance. Otherwise we dance with people we know, or other students from the school.

I had an excursion the other day. We first went in a boat and traveled down a river. There were all kinds of crazy looking birds and wildlife. I felt like I was in The Jungle Book or something.

We then were brought strait to a very Dominican beach. It was filled with kids playing in the water, adults playing dominoes up on shore, and lots of music.
After we took a short bus ride over to Playa Grande. This was a huge beach that had great waves. Because we went on a weekday, there was almost no one there. We basically had the whole beach to ourselves.
Each of us got piña coladas in pineapples. They had bits of pineapple floating around, and after the drink was gone there was still a little fruit left at the bottom. I can't believe how lucky I am to be so close to so many amazing beaches!

Puerto Plata

Yesterday I had my first excursion. We went to Puerto Plata which is only 30 minutes away. First on our agenda was to take the cable car on top of mount Isabel de Torres. While we were waiting for the cable car a magician came out and started doing tricks. He was really good at some, but others I could see him slipping things into his pockets, or he'd drop something. Basically I was laughing really hard because he was a little too clumsy to be a magician.



We got into the cable car and it brought us up to the top of the mountain. It was absolutely breathtaking, because we could see a lot of the northern part of the Dominican Republic.





It was partly cloudy, so the whole mountain peak was covered in a mountain. Although it was kind of a bummer we couldn't see the view from the top, the cable car gave us a great view. Plus it was cool to walk around a cloud.

At the very tip there's this statue of Jesus.

The mountain had all kinds of trees and gardens around it, so we went on a mini hike through the forest.

This is a building with the Dominican flag on it. I thought it was cool.

After that, we went to the amber museum. They had hundreds of pieces of amber with bugs and leaves and other things inside of them. This dinosaur has amber teeth and amber eyes.

A lizard inside the amber

Fresh Coffee

After that we saw a guy making cigars, and he let us make them.

Lastly we went to an old fort. It was right by the beach and it was windy and beautiful. We hung out there for a while because it was so peaceful.

By the fort they were selling coconuts. I'm always amazed by people who have machetes.

It was such a great excursion! We got to do so much in just one afternoon. I was supposed to go surfing tomorrow, but a couple of guys in my program got into a motorcycle accident last night and now there aren't enough people going. The poor boys are devastated and hurt. I probably won't go surfing on Saturday, but I am for sure going to learn how to before I leave!