Bienvenidos a Puerto Ricoooooo

Welcome to my blog about my studies in San Germán! =) Internet is extremely scarce here so I am not sure how often I will get to post. I also don’t know how people normally blog so I am kind of nervous but here goes! I labeled the sections in case you would like to ignore any because some of them probably suck and aren’t really about Puerto Rico…

I’ll start at the very beginning (a very good place to start)..((Sound of Music anyone??)) I doubt anyone cares about my travel experiences but I am going to share them anyway! That’s the point of a blog isn’t it? You get to say anything you want and whoever wants to read it can, but when you get annoyed, which you undoubtedly will, you can just stop reading!

Airport Adventures

On my first flight to Charlotte, there was a Gamecock on the plane…I was very excited. He graduated like 15 years ago and wanted to talk about the football team so we didn’t have much in common at all but it was still cool!

Then, my next flight from Charlotte to San Juan was a huge plane with 7 seats in a row! I had never been on such a big plane. It was delayed a little because the air conditioning was broken, but I was really excited because I thought the temperature was perfect and comfortable to nap in. After our delay and it got fixed, it was like 12 degrees and I was disappointed =( but then I got hot tea! =) I sat next to this adorable baby that loved to drum on his little book and that just looked at me and ranted in baby talk for like an hour. He was astounded by the bubbles I blew with my gum so that killed another 20 minutes. When we finally got to San Juan, it took us an extra half hour to land because there was an Iguana on the runway… Tropical island problems sure are ruthless!

My third flight to Mayaguez was a teeny tiny plane that sat 8 passengers! My backpack was stowed in the wing of the plane. It was so gorgeous getting to see the island from above. It was like a 30 minute birds eye tour and I got to see the mountains from one window and the bright blue ocean from the other. When we got off the plane I wouldn’t have even recognized it as an airport…Just a field with a piece of road next to it.

Animals I’ve seen

·      Horses and cows in fields on the car ride to San Germán

·      A lizard on a pillar as I was climbing a fence (I touched it!)

·      2 stray cats just hanging out on campus

·      Do ants count? They are all over my friends’ room but not mine thank goodness.

·      Chickens!

·      Not that many exotic ones but I’m hoping that will change soon!

Food!

·      The food here is basically all fried meat. I did find a few vegan things to eat such as a veggie baked potato and a mofongo! Mofongos are smashed fried plantains with garlic… I’m totally going to make my own and I’m real excited. I also see a lot of rice and beans in my future and I sort of can’t wait! I was unpleasantly surprised to hear that there isn’t abundant fresh tropical fruit stands on every corner…like I had imagined in my mind for some reason. They import most of the fruit so it is a little bit more expensive than it is in the states. There is a little supermercado on the edge of campus so I have a feeling that I’ll be walking there almost daily considering food will easily spoil in my non air-conditioned room. (Which, by the way I am totally thrilled about… now I won’t have to be the annoying roommate that sneaks over to the thermostat and raises the temperature… J)

My Spanish (spoiler alert: it sucks)

·      Ordering food is a joke when I have to ask for the ingredients in my broken Spanish and look completely dumbfounded when they list off what they are.

·      The majority of the other exchange students are better than me at speaking and understanding which is really helpful!

·      I however do bring a crucial element to the combat against language barrier… my super great ‘super-mini’ Spanish- English dictionary! I am obsessed with it! I randomly try to translate my thoughts and learn new words if I am ever sitting around. I didn’t want to look like that idiota tourist with her nose constantly in a dictionary so I covered it in bright pink construction paper and stickers…and now I look like an even bigger idiota ten year old with a  diary or something. I still really want to bring it out with me to social events but I fear that is completely crossing the line and will undoubtedly prevent people from wanting to be my friend! =/

·      I do try really hard in social situations though… but during conversation I like to discuss my sentence structure and vocabulary while whomever I’m talking to definitely doesn’t…they get confused and frustrated as to why I’m always halting the conversation for stupid grammar questions….Whoops.

Equípate para el huracán!!!

·      That means prepare yourself for the hurricane  and it was on a sign in the grocery store next to a bunch of canned foods. People freak out over hurricanes here and apparently one is coming but it will probably pass right by and not touch us…none have since 1995 but that statistically means we’re due for one. They totally aren’t a big deal, our buildings are made of cement so we are totally safe in them. They kind of sound fun…class gets cancelled and we all camp out in one of the buildings on campus and they make rice for everyone!

Mi Dormitorio

·      I have a huge room that is meant for four people but I share it with one other exchange student, and we are down the hall from the other two girls. So far no bugs woohoo!