Monday, June 11
Punta Cana
Last Thursday through Saturday I had the pleasure of staying at an all-inclusive resort with my fellow interns, coworkers from across the country and their families. We basically spent our days eating and hanging out at the beach, no complaints there! We also went kayaking and played beach volleyball (ok, if you know me you know I did not actually play volleyball, but rather watched my friends play). Basically a little slice of paradise! This definitely did not put me in the right mood to start work today but it was cool to get to know some of my coworkers outside the office.
Wednesday, June 6
A Tale of Two Smoothies
This story deserves its own blog post. I clearly take my smoothies very seriously.
It was early. I was at the Jacksonville airport. I had gotten there ahead of time since it was an international flight but not many people were there at 8am Saturday morning, so suffice it to say I had time to kill. I also had a craving. For a smoothie. I knew there was a smoothie place in the airport but decided to go to the gate first to make sure my flight was good to go and maybe check my email. After a bit I started getting hungry and was so excited to finally have my smoothie...
...but the smoothie place was closed. After inwardly fuming a little bit I remembered that Starbucks also sells smoothies! With renewed hope I walked confidently up to the Starbucks and waited in line...
...only to be told that they were out of bananas, without which Starbucks as an entity is incapable of making me a smoothie. I told myself not to worry; I would have a layover in the Miami airport, which was sure to have a smoothie place or at least some bananas in a Starbucks.
My flight from Jacksonville, however, was delayed, so I did not have a second to spare for a smoothie, much less lunch. I safely made it onto the plane, but I was empty-handed. I accepted my smoothieless fate and enjoyed the flight to Santo Domingo by sleeping a lot. Little did I know what wonders the city had in store for me...
...On the way to the hotel from the airport we stopped at the wonderful establishment of Barra Payan, where they sell, you guessed it, smoothies. Delicious smoothies. I ordered mango, and tasted sweet satisfaction as I drank it. I then proceeded to drink two more smoothies in my first twenty-four hours in the Dominican Republic, and all three combined probably cost less than the Starbucks would have. This I can definitely get used to.
It was early. I was at the Jacksonville airport. I had gotten there ahead of time since it was an international flight but not many people were there at 8am Saturday morning, so suffice it to say I had time to kill. I also had a craving. For a smoothie. I knew there was a smoothie place in the airport but decided to go to the gate first to make sure my flight was good to go and maybe check my email. After a bit I started getting hungry and was so excited to finally have my smoothie...
...but the smoothie place was closed. After inwardly fuming a little bit I remembered that Starbucks also sells smoothies! With renewed hope I walked confidently up to the Starbucks and waited in line...
...only to be told that they were out of bananas, without which Starbucks as an entity is incapable of making me a smoothie. I told myself not to worry; I would have a layover in the Miami airport, which was sure to have a smoothie place or at least some bananas in a Starbucks.
My flight from Jacksonville, however, was delayed, so I did not have a second to spare for a smoothie, much less lunch. I safely made it onto the plane, but I was empty-handed. I accepted my smoothieless fate and enjoyed the flight to Santo Domingo by sleeping a lot. Little did I know what wonders the city had in store for me...
...On the way to the hotel from the airport we stopped at the wonderful establishment of Barra Payan, where they sell, you guessed it, smoothies. Delicious smoothies. I ordered mango, and tasted sweet satisfaction as I drank it. I then proceeded to drink two more smoothies in my first twenty-four hours in the Dominican Republic, and all three combined probably cost less than the Starbucks would have. This I can definitely get used to.
La Capital
On Saturday afternoon I arrived in Santo Domingo! Our intern coordinator Patricia picked up me as well as three other interns that arrived at about the same time and we rode with our van driver to the hotel. Later after some other interns had arrived we walked to the zona colonial for dinner. It was not yet Dominican food but still good. The next day some of us decided to go to mass in the morning at the cathedral, also in the zona colonial. To be honest I completely fell asleep and didn't really follow what was going on, but it was cool to be in such an old building doing what they've been doing there for centuries.
Later we had a historical walking tour of Santo Domingo where we got to see all the super old buildings and be told many times that Columbus' body is indeed in Santo Domingo, not Spain or Puerto Rico or whoever else claims to have it. That night Patricia and her coworker Marisa took us to eat typical Dominican food: chicken, rice and beans, tostones (my fave), yucca, and salad. We later all went dancing, which I suck at, but it was still a lot of fun!
Monday and Tuesday were our actual orientation, so we went to the main office and heard from various people about different aspects of the organization: microfinance, Kiva, media, and the other services Esperanza offers its clients like health care. We also learned the nuts and bolts about what exactly we'll be doing as interns for two months. What is that, you ask? Stay tuned for a future blog about my awesome internship responsibilities!
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| La zona colonial during the day |
Later we had a historical walking tour of Santo Domingo where we got to see all the super old buildings and be told many times that Columbus' body is indeed in Santo Domingo, not Spain or Puerto Rico or whoever else claims to have it. That night Patricia and her coworker Marisa took us to eat typical Dominican food: chicken, rice and beans, tostones (my fave), yucca, and salad. We later all went dancing, which I suck at, but it was still a lot of fun!
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| The oldest street in the New World |
All in all my experience so far has been great! All eight of us interns (one of which is named Lucy too!) get along really well and it was cool getting to know the capital city for a little bit before I settle down in La Romana. First, however, all the staff from around the country are headed out to a resort for a retreat! It's beach time!
Friday, June 1
Otra Vez
Guess who's back? And by back I guess I mean leaving again. But back to blogging! This time I'm headed out to the Dominican Republic for an internship with a microfinance organization for two months. No, I don't actually know anything about finance, I will actually be doing more related to teaching English to the employees of the organization, who are Dominican. I will be living primarily in the city of La Romana with a host family, which I'm really looking forward to, but first I have orientation in the capital, Santo Domingo, with all the other interns. As usual I will do my best to keep anyone who reads this up to speed with what I'm doing! I can't wait for the adventure to begin tomorrow!
Thursday, December 22
El Final
Well I'm down to my last several hours in Spain! These last weeks have been super busy with a combination of school work, travelling to France, and trying to fit in Christmas shopping while also seeing every last thing I wanted to in Madrid.
In France I got to visit the city of Grenoble, where two of my friends live, for five days before heading off to Paris to meet my roommate for another five days. We basically did all the touristy stuff but the city was in full-on Christmas mode so that made things extra wonderful (even though it was cold and rainy). Here's an example of the lights around the city:
In France I got to visit the city of Grenoble, where two of my friends live, for five days before heading off to Paris to meet my roommate for another five days. We basically did all the touristy stuff but the city was in full-on Christmas mode so that made things extra wonderful (even though it was cold and rainy). Here's an example of the lights around the city:
There are also great lights around Madrid but my camera is pretty awful at taking pictures at night so none of those turned out too well. There was actually a fireworks show in the Plaza de Cibeles last Sunday which I got to see. The Christmas spirit is clearly alive here, even if it is different than in the US. For example, 3 Kings Day in early January is a much bigger deal here, almost as big as Christmas. The 3 kings actually bring kids presents on that day instead of Santa Claus (although recently Santa Claus is becoming more popular). My favorite part about Christmas in Spain has definitely been turrones and polvorones. Yum.
For our last day in Madrid we went to the oldest restaurant in the world for lunch, Botin:
And tomorrow I depart! This semester has of course been an incredible experience that has really made me want to travel more! Living in a different country for this long has been so cool, I hope to get to know other cultures as well as I've gotten to know this one. Happy holidays to everyone and I can't wait to see you all back in the good ol' USA!
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