Tag Archives: Dominican Republic

Avocado Sandwich

Now that you know a little bit about my life here, I’ll provide you with a bit more of a detailed update. I’m sure you would love hear about my classes, but instead I’m going to talk about a few of the things that I’ve been doing outside class.

Sosúa

The first day that we had to ourselves was spent in a town called Sosúa. We were on the beach the entire day, and I did not even get a chance to explore the town. However I was still so glad about escaping the cold weather of State College, it did not even matter for me. That whole day was a bit of a “this is it” moment for me. The fact that it was January and I was on a beautiful beach with some newly made friends all seemed a bit dreamlike to be honest. Since then I have been back to Sosúa twice, to a beach called Playa Alicia. From what I have seen myself, Playa Alicia seems to attract more tourists than locals, but definitely has opportunities to meet both when wondering into the town for lunch. My most recent time there was last Friday, which is where I took the picture below. As you might be able to see I am holding an avocado sandwich. However, the “avocado sandwich” concept is not a thing that people eat here. I wanted to keep it simple for lunch; something cheap that I could throw together and eat relatively easily while sitting down. Not to mention the avocados here are excellent so any chance you can eat one is a good opportunity. After some quick browsing in the local supermarket, I grabbed an avocado and a roll and ended up with this.

Sandwiche de Aguacate

It’s not difficult to see that I was immersed in a blissful moment. I was enjoying my avocado sandwich on a beach and it really was as simple as that. I had heard stories all last week from home of friends having to battle snow and wind chilled temps to get to class. This picture is a great image of why studying abroad can be a great experience at times. Now, of course I am taking classes here, as well as learning Spanish. But I am also having the time of my life here. What I am getting at is that studying abroad has the ability to give you moments like this that you simply wouldn’t get anywhere else, like at home.

Santo Domingo

Another trip that I did was an overnight excursion to the capital of the Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo. Our first stop was a visit to an ingenio (sugar mill). This particular ingenio was the site of a slave driven revolution which ended up being the event that sparked the ridding of slavery for the entire island on which the Dominican Republic is situated. It was very humbling to be in the same spot of such an important event for the history of the Americas. Below I have a picture of the main building of the facility. The right half was restored to show what the building used to look like and the left half of the building has remained untouched.

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The second day of our excursion had a couple more things lined up for us. We took a walking tour around the Zona Colonial in the city of Santo Domingo, which has buildings and other incredible sites from the time of Columbus. We also went to a national park near Santo Domingo called Los Tres Ojos (The three eyes). It is an open air limestone cave with three small blueish green lakes. There were scenes from the Jurassic Park films that were shot here. Towards the end of the park, there was a pool that contained doctor fish. You may have heard about these fish as the ones that nibble dead skin off of your feet. I couldn’t resist after hearing this and had to dip my feet in for a few minutes. Sometimes it is the unexpected things while traveling that have the ability to turn a great day into an unforgettable one.

Playa Ensenada

The following weekend we took a day trip to a beach called Playa Ensenada. It is located on the North Coast of the Dominican Republic, west of Puerto Plata. At Ensenada, we went snorkeling; a boat took us out to an area, far away from any land mass. The spot we were taken to was an oasis of very shallow water. We were able to stop there for a quick swim break before heading to our snorkeling destination. The reef was located off on a tiny, tiny island, which measured approximately 25yds x 15yds. It was a very cool site to see. There was barely enough room to walk on this island because of the amount of people and snorkeling gear occupying it. After getting adjusted to my gear, we swam out to the reef. It was one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. There were so many fish swimming past me as I floated along. The colors of the reef were absolutely exploding. I felt completely weightless as my body and the flexible parts of the reef seemed to grab the current and sway back and forth in unison. I tried snorkeling once as a kid and hated it, but my day at Ensenada completely changed my mind about it. I finished up the day with some beach side pescado frito (fried fish), and a really nice nap on the ride home. My day at Playa Ensenada was one of the best days I have had here so far.

Video of the Day

I know I said in my last post that I’ll have a photo every week, but a photo could not do this moment justice. On the property of the ingenio, we found these plants that had fern like leaves, and looked pretty normal otherwise. However, when you touched the leaves with your finger, the fern folded up immediately. Here is the video of this all taking place. See you next week!

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Location: Santo Domingo, DR

The Big 3

Today marks three weeks that I have been here in the Dominican Republic. As I look over my first two blog posts I realized that I really did not give too much background info on my living situation here. Now that I have been here for a little bit, many of my first impressions have subsided so I think I’ll be able to explain things to you in a better way than I would have done so before. I’ll explain the three main aspects of my daily life. For the rest of my time here, I will share a photo at the end of my posts with an interesting experience that I had and would like to share with you.

Home

I live in a neighborhood of Santiago called La Zurza II. It is a middle class neighborhood situated about a ten minute walk from the University. The houses in this neighborhood are beautiful. I don’t have too many photos of the houses here but I will be sure to take some and share them with you in future posts. I live with my host mom and my host brother, Jorge. Jorge is 12 years old. Last week, Jorge adopted a puppy Chihuahua, Nikki. At the moment she is about as big as a guinea pig, and couldn’t have more energy. She is very fun to play with and gives me another reason to love living here.

School

I take all my classes at the University close by. It’s called La Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra, but since that is an absolute mouthful to say, we just say PUCMM in daily discussion (Pronounced PU-KA-MAI-MUH). I am majoring in business, so I cannot take classes which will count towards my major. However, I am minoring in Spanish, so I have come to a perfect place to focus on that. A few of the classes that I am taking are Dominican Folklore, Political Processes of the Dominican Republic, and of course Dance for Foreigners. These are all taught in Spanish by local professors. The professors here are very experienced at working with foreigners, so they are extremely patient and realize that struggling through conversation is the best way to learn a language.

Spanish

This brings me to the next aspect of my life here. You may be wondering how I could possibly live and function in a world where I can’t even use my own language. Well it’s not as scary as it seems, but still pretty tough. Although I have a couple years of classroom experience with Spanish, it’s a whole different ball game when you need to converse. As of now and for the most part, I am still hearing things in Spanish, translating into English, thinking of a response, then translating back to Spanish. Even then I still always seem to get something wrong. It can get frustrating at times, but I have wanted to learn Spanish for a while, so the fact that I can actually use it is a few years of hard work finally coming together. A whole day of classes thinking like this takes quite a toll on your head. However, it has definitely gotten easier since I’ve arrived. I can’t wait to see how much more my Spanish will improve while I am here, as it is more or less the inspiration behind my trip.

Photo of the week

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I apologize that this photo is a bit blurry. I came home from class one night, and my host mom had left dinner for me. Next to the plate there was a piece of tree bark on the table. As I looked closer I realized that it was actually a moth. I was instantly out of my comfort zone and started considering my options.  I’m usually pretty calm around bugs but this thing was huge! I carefully went to my room to grab my camera and something to use as a size comparison. All of what I just described amounted to this photo. See you next week!


Location: Santiago, DR

The Full Experience: Conchos

Since my last post, most of my week has been orientation. Much of it involved info sessions in a classroom type setting at the university, but some of it was very hands on. One of our afternoons was spent doing a scavenger hunt around the city in order to get to know our home a little bit better. It involved getting phone numbers from local medical clinics, stamps from the post office, and various other things. The most beneficial part of the scavenger hunt was learning how to get around the city. To rely solely on walking is pretty unrealistic. Like any city, Santiago has buses and taxis, but the one method of transportation that really stood out to me was conchos. Like buses, they follow set routes but what is different about conchos is that you can enter or leave the concho anywhere along that route. Each route also has a countless number of conchos in order to accommodate the demand. Conchos consist of many different makes of cars, but every one that I have seen has been a sedan, which has 5 seats. However, due to less enforced traffic regulations in the Dominican Republic, it is not uncommon to see more people than seats in a concho. In fact, I have seen as many as nine people in one concho. Concho drivers are paid based on how many fares they get throughout the day. So the more people they can fit in their car, the more money they can make. To be honest I think they are extremely efficient. It is without a doubt very dangerous to be in a car without a seatbelt, but it is just another part of life here in Santiago. Conchos allow people to get around the city very cheaply. People don’t seem to be bothered by the fact that they are potentially dangerous. They just need to get to where they are going.

If you are thinking about studying abroad, I hope this type of thing does not sway you from doing so. When I used a concho for the first time, I was absolutely out of my comfort zone. There were four people in the back seat and another two in the passenger seat. The temperature usually hovers around 85 during the day which definitely made it more uncomfortable.  But these are the type of experiences that I live for in a way. These are the moments that I will remember for a long time coming.

I will be starting my classes tomorrow, and am very excited about them. They will all be taught in Spanish which seems a little scary but I am looking forward to them. This and more in my next post. Until next time!


Location: Santiago, DR

¡Bienvenido a la República Dominicana!

¡Hola!

Thank you taking the time to read this blog. My name is Kyle Gerardi and I will be studying in the Dominican Republic for the next few months. I am a junior business major with a possible Spanish minor. If you are reading because you are interested in studying abroad, I hope to give you good insight and an honest viewpoint about my experiences. If you are a friend or family member, I hope you will enjoy the ride as much as I will. If I do not explain something well, please do not hesitate to comment below, and I will try my best to get back to you.

I have been out of the country many times before, including a four­­ month trip to Switzerland a few years ago and a seven week trip to Scandinavia last summer.  I have kept a journal on each of my trips, and will do the same for this one. I always write an entry before I arrive, as well as an entry on my flight back home. My first post usually contains what I am feeling, or what I am nervous about. I also include expectations about where I am going and what I will experience. It sounds a bit corny, but the best part about the writing that I do is looking back on it months or years later. It is quite literally a window to your own past and you can see exactly how you used to think. Writing is just as good if not better for documenting the specific details of a trip as photos. However, looking at pictures can ignite memories that may have been forgotten.

One would think that pre-departure nerves decrease with each trip, but the exact opposite seemed to happen this time. This is my first trip where I am expected to use Spanish on a daily basis. Spanish is my second language, and I have only studied it for two years. I am very excited about this opportunity because I have many friends at Penn State who can speak more than one language. I always thought it was fascinating, and am finally able to try it out for myself.

Thanks again for taking the time to read this! See you soon!


Location: Santiago, Dominican Republic