A Day as a Journey

I believe that an important part of traveling to a new place and experiencing a different culture is being able to look at said place and culture through the local's eyes, as well as taking into account the novelty of it all as a traveler. I tried to combine both by picturing myself being an exchange student in Puerto Rico. My little project started as soon as I left class. The campus was certainly different from the concrete jungle of wherever I pictured myself being from. Although the campus had some modern architecture, it was generally overwhelmed by nature. There was an air of serenity that no Ivy-league college could possibly offer. On my tour of the UPR I sat down to have lunch by the tower. As I ate a mouthful of a mix of mashed plantain and onions called mangú, I watched the people that passed me by. I couldn't help but wonder about their life-stories: Where were they from? Where were they going? What classes were they taking?, and so on. Each of their faces were so different from one another that it served me as a constant reminder that I was in the Caribbean: where mixed races and ethnicities could all enjoy the tropical shade. 

After lunch, I took my car out, since I had to visit my mom at the hospital because she was bitten by a mosquito with Dengue. Since traffic tends to vary from place to place in a lot of way in different countries, as a tourist in Puerto Rico, I expected to drive down a few beaten down dirt roads. Instead, I found myself in a five-lane freeway fending off on-coming cars. For an island, Puerto Rican roads are more city-like than I could have ever imagined them to be. However, when I got to the hospital, I expected to find a modern structure. I was surprised to be surrounded yet again by tropical plants and trees, and the soothing sound of the tiny, yet melodious coquí when I peeked over the hospital window. Although the hospital wasn't a hut in the middle of the tropical rainforest, it kept its connection to nature. Through my journey as a tourist in my own country I learned to stop and take a  moment to appreciate the little things my island had that a lot of places lack: diversity in every sense; from the people to the food, nature everywhere, and a mix of modern and old cultures and values.