A Perfect Travel

A tourist cannot exist without a traveler and a traveler cannot exist without a tourist because it is a complementary issue. Usually a person starts being a tourist and then change into a traveler. Sometimes is a growth divided by stages. The truth is that the traveler gets its name because the tourists exist and they are not doing both internal and external journeys while traveling. Traveling has and will always be an important aspect of any given society. The explorers travel to experience new fronts in term of geographical regions, and the tourists, to look for new markets and also to exploit resources. Tourism as monetary activity is characterized by high levels of flexibility. The meaning of travel is to go from one place to another, as on a trip; journey. Tourists travel but they are not travelers. This interrelation expands in all the world and we can participate in it, from a place so vast like India to a little island like Puerto Rico.

I never had the chance to make a spiritual journey but after this reading Holy Cow I am considering it. I think it is fascinating how in countries in which one does not have control of once life faith is stronger than countries that do. It is fitting that a self-avowed atheist does this spiritual journey because she can look at religion with objectivity minus any preconceived notion that a person of faith usually shows. Experiences that make us became travelers.  I do not blame tourist for their thinking because I know that I’ve been a tourist too. But I hope that in the upcoming trips I may have, I will become a traveler, and I will have the privileged of being part and enjoy what really is important; and I think it is knowing and bonding with people different from ourselves without discriminating. That would be a perfect travel for me. 

Paris

I promised to my sister that someday, I will take her to Paris. Travel to Paris is the biggest dream of my little sister Coralys. She is 10 years old, but is very mature. She always impresses me and makes think a lot. Coralys is always searching information about Paris in the internet; she likes to view pictures of the Eiffel Tower. That is her favorite place in the world even when she hasn’t been there. Her dream becomes my dream. I want to go to Paris with my sister and (I’m not proud of it) be a tourist. 

I don’t know too much about Paris or France, in fact, I don’t want to know. I want to be surprised by the charms of that place. My sister knows more than me about Paris! Haha, she told me that she loves the Eiffel Tower history. When I can’t sleep she told me the history of the Tower like a bed time story. I enjoy a lot this moments with my sister, it makes us closer and gives me more desire to accomplish our goal. One of my gifts to her is making real this travel. 

Movies On Travel

The movie that I chose to my project "Movies on Travel" is "The Bucket List". It is a 2007 American comedy-drama film directed by Rob Reiner, written by Justin Zackham, and starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. Two terminally ill men escape from a cancer ward and head off on a road trip with a wish list of to-dos before they die. Corporate billionaire Edward Cole and working class mechanic Carter Chambers have nothing in common except for their terminal illnesses. While sharing a hospital room together, they decide to leave it and do all the things they have ever wanted to do before they die according to their bucket list. In the process, both of them heal each other, become unlikely friends, and ultimately find joy in life.

Edward and Carter begin an around-the-world vacation. They go skydiving together, drive a Shelby Mustang, fly over the North Pole, eat dinner at Chevre d'Or in France, visit and praise the beauty and history of Taj Mahal, India, ride motorcycles on the Great Wall of China, attend a lion safari in Africa, visit the base of Mt Everest in Nepal (which was unfortunately shrouded in cloud), visit the Great Pyramid, looking out over the pyramids of Khafre and Menkaure and visit Hong Kong. Certainly they have a lot of external journeys, or one journey with different stops. While having this external journeys they also discovers the main issues of their lives and realize that they are escaping from the conflicts they have with their families because they do not want to face them. Its take us to interpret their internal journeys.

I chose this movie because it has both external and internal journeys. While they are "traveling" they experience internal journeys. Certainly this movie has a beautiful message with a life lesson. I think it is the perfect movie to compare and link not only external and internal journeys but also tourists vs. travelers.

Working in Groups

Working in groups never been one of my favorites, but I have to say that my english group have been a really nice experience. We all get along and enjoy the assignments. We always help each other and since now, all our works have been with excellent grades! We synchronize very well. I have to thank them for teaching me not only to work with five people together, but also for giving me encourage talking in front of the entire classroom. When they were in front of the classroom with me and was my turn to talk, I always felt safe because I knew they were going to help me if I needed. 

Kimberly, Gabriel, Luis, Lemuel, and Laura, thank you for giving me a great semester with the priviledge of work and study with you. I hope you enjoy working in group with me. Thank you for teached me and correct me when I said something wrong, haha. Wish you all the best in your future classes and remember that I am not only a partner in a work group but I also can be your friend. 

My experience with the blog

Oh...the blog! The blog has been a really headache! Haha, I’m kidding, is only that I always forgot to post in the blog! Is has been a great journey, writing in the blog and being creative, I like it! I always find a picture or a link that I want to connect with my entries and it’s so amazing to share my thoughts with a lot of people! I wrote about all the journeys I have in this class and also the ones that I didn’t know until I learned what was traveling.

This is the second time that I had to do a blog for an english class. First one was in high school, specifically 12th grade. The blog assignment was part of the method of evaluation, so I know how to work with it, but I enjoy more making this blog than the first one.

Here I experienced the same thing that happens to me with the journal. At first my writings were small and with few words, but then the thoughts came easily and writing became more fluid. The blog is a wonderful way to share our knowledge with others, and also it makes us more open in the media, technology, as a discipline to explore and use in our class. 

My Journey Journal

The journey journal was a great experience. I liked it very much and also I learned a lot of myself and the world that surrounds me. Like I said in my oral report, at first, writing in the journal was so annoying. I did not know what to write about so I tell my day to the journal. If my day was normal, happy, interesting, boring, etc. As time passed I began to understand that the things I was writing were the journeys that I was having day by day. And I realized that the experiences I have, that were so common like moving from one classroom to another, were a journey. 

Certainly since I began in this class I have experienced a lot of changes, beginning with my english skills. I think the journal is great resource to learn about ourselves. This class teaches me to view everyday like a journey, to view each simple detail like a life experience. Every day is a challenge for me. I like to think that I wake up every day with a journey in my hands. Sometimes its makes my day easier, it’s working. Even when I have a bad day I try to focus in the belief that not all journeys are good, but all journeys teach us a life lesson. 

Writing in my journal was a relief. Its allow me to know more about myself. My interests, my thoughts, who I am, who I am not, who I want to be and who I don’t. My external journeys are nice but I enjoy internals journeys more, because those are the ones that I share with my journal.

Student Conference Panel Reflection

Last Wednesday was the Student Conference Panel: Tradition and Innovation of the English Department. Professor Pittmann chooses me to be the moderator of this activity. I was very excited but also nervous because i had to talk in english in front of englis professors and english literature students. I was making a big deal with this activity; I practiced in front of the mirror the day before the conference. Even I copy paste the mini biographies of my peers in a formal paper that I used in the conference.  I accepted to be the moderator because I thought it would be a great experience to develop my english skills and to face my fear with the language, and certainly, it was.


During the conference I was very concentrated, even the professor realized that. She gave me a bottle of water and I did not open it until the conference ended. Thats the level of my jitters. My peers did a great work reading their papers. The "tourists vs travelers" conflict were discussed from different perspectives. It was really interesting. My peer Luis Manuel who was sitting right next to me was really nervous. I asked to him why he was so nervous, because he speaks english very well! And his essay was excellent. He answered me: "that happens". And I understood that even when you are great in something, been nervous is the ingredient that never lacks. 

When the conference finished, professor Pittmann told me that I did a great job. I felt like I had faced my fear with courage, haha, a little bit of drama. But yes! It was really a great challenge for me. And I am proud of my decision of take this opportunity and accepted it. I am very grateful to professor Pittmann's for considered myself to this work.

"Holy Cow" Reflection

Macdonald’s book “Holy Cow” makes us experience a journey along India and its spiritual way. Its a very interesting story that tells us how Sarah deals with her stay in India for two years. At first she doesn’t wanted to come back to India (after hating it in her early twenties) but then she found herself in love with a reporter stationed in New Delhi, and does indeed come back to India. During her two years as a Western journalist (on sabbatical) in India, she explores a wide variety of Indian religions: from silent meditation retreats to bathing in the Ganges to miracle healers to wild Christian celebrations. 

I saw Macdonald as a tourist in the beginning of the book because she hated it; the heat, the garbage and especially the third world conditions that disturb her; she also got sick. In some of her narratives her expressions sound more like a tourist at the beginning. But in all the history she presents us her experiences and the beliefs of the people she got to know. While she knew people, she wrote about their perspectives so we can notice her transition from tourist to traveler.

The story does become better in terms of content once she starts actually living in India and she transforms from a tourist to a traveler. That happened when she decided to learn to let go and just be. She does this by being more open-minded and trying to understand the culture instead of judging it.  I mean when she decided to explore India and of course try out the different kinds of religions and its practices: Buddhists, Christians, Jainists, Jews, Muslims, Parsis, Sikhs, and Sufis. Certainly Macdonald is a traveler. Despite that her narratives were a bit negative, she knew what she was talking about and criticized it. Her spiritual journey was an adventurous one. She describes what she sees, and while she may be judgmental about certain issues she encounters, she acknowledges that she is making judgments based on her own cultural understandings. MacDonald delves into the Indian psyche, but with her writing style, manages not to sound pretentious, or all-knowing, or assuming at all.  I believe that despite her cynicism while reading the book, she present us a life changing transformative experience. In fact she thanks India for making her. While reading the story we can notice that the changing narrative of the book is a reflection of how she's actually growing as a person over the course of the book.

Comparing Antigua & Puerto Rico

 In Kincaid’s story A small place, the author presents us her perspective of what she understands is a tourist and also she makes us see that the outsiders point of view is not the only one we must consider. Her childhood was the engine that makes her write about the Antigua government and the tourist industry there. Her expressions about the tourist were very strong and one could feel the resentment she has to them. 

I have to admit that I did not get identify with Kincaid at first, but then when I did the research of tourist in my island, all that came to my mind was Kincaid’s book. In my tourist vs. traveler reflection I selected the main difference between a traveler and a tourist. There is a difference between look and observe and between hear and listen. That is how I difference a tourist from a traveler. The traveler maybe is not fit fully into the problem, but knows about it. For example: Travelers know that San Juan is surrounded by homeless (as tourists also know), but unlike these, the travelers seek how interesting and attractive can be a place with all that San Juan owns. Tourists evade things and also people that do not fall within their “perfect paradise” thought. Like what happens in A small place, Kincaid throughout the book puts blame on British colonial rule for the corruption of the government and for crimes such as drug dealing, prostitution, and the selling land for tourist attractions. The same selling land business the government of Puerto Rico has here. 

Kincaid challenges the reader to look beyond the beauty of a place and explore the reality and truth behind that beauty. She converts us ito travelers.

 

A room with a view

The thing I liked the most in the movie a "Room with a view" was the fact that Lucy is a musician. Lucy is a proper young woman. Some can tell by the way she plays Beethoven on the piano that there is a seething passion underneath her proper demeanor. She is a proper young woman. Some can tell by the way she plays Beethoven. The love, the passion and the issue of she being an outsider sometimes, is interesting. The emotions, the lies, and the incidents make this film a drama with a great potential. In fact, it’s a classic from 1895. I love the characters, the environment, the plot, and the travels that she faces. Internal and external journey occur in this movie, specifically to Lucy.

My week as a journey

This week was a little nice. I don’t know how to see my week as a journey. Is like finding adventures in the middle of the things I do everyday. Well, at college it was a normal week. Studying, my classes right now are a lot of chemistry because the biology one is like chemistry! So I am a little bit exhausted about chemistry. And hello Carolyn! This is just starting, so poor me! Last Tuesday was a very rush day. I began with spanish literature and then I went to the DMN building to take my humanities class. I saw it like travel to one country to another in the same day, because first I was learning about Puerto Rico and then in humanities class I move to the Greek period! Is very interesting see my days with that point of view, like I am traveling everyday. And yes it is! After the Greek period I went to the Music Department to take my third class, Jazz workshop. So there I learn how to develop my jazz skills in my instrument the alto saxophone. An also I learn about the most famous musicians that apport really wonderful stuff to jazz genre. So yes! My weeks are like journeys too! 

 

Here is a video from a song named "Älone Together". In the jazz workshop we are practicing this song. I hope you enjoy it!

 

A day as a journey

My last journey was this morning since I came out of my bed until I arrived to college. I had to write about the experiment for today in chemistry lab, so I did it in the car while my mom was driving. I am kinda comfortable doing it at the last time. That is really bad! Anyway, when I arrived to college at 7:50am I decided to sleep 20 minutes until my chemistry lab began at 8:30am, but I didn’t. I remember that in my second trip that was to Disney World in Orlando Florida I cannot sleep but obviously that was because other reasons. I was living a great time with my family in Disney, but right now I am trying to found a journey in my days, something that makes me happy; because journeys like the one I had this morning was not so grateful. I hope I can experience a journey everyday, I don’t know, maybe something that can bring an adventure to my day, because right now all it’s the same. Sometimes I saw movies to escape from reality and try to live other life with other history; and try to dream awake while watching it. I love movies! But I don’t always see them to have a journey. Sometimes is for fun. But wait! I think have fun is a journey too! So maybe laugh and cry while viewing a movie is a experience like a journey. I never before saw it like that! I need more fun in my days to have more grateful journeys; I think is enough with my routine journeys.

My First Journey!

I only have travel two times in my life but the most shocking experience was in year 2007. My first journey was to “Republica Dominicana”. It was a family trip, organized by my aunts. One of my uncles is “dominicano” so he invited us to spend the summer in his family’s house. We were very excited because no one of use has been before in “Republica Dominicana”. What didn’t know was that the neighborhood where my uncle’s family live was a very poor place. People really kind attend us like kings. When we arrived to the house, they have served the dinner in a very large table, and they start to act like servants. I didn’t like this attitude, it shocks me. I was in a very humble place. People there live without potable water and without electricity. Almost everyday my family and I went to the lake near the house to take a shower. The children that live in the neighborhood wait for us to get out of the lake to give us our towels. They still acting like servants. I tried to stop them about acting like that but they told me that wasn’t a big deal. They want us to spend a great time in their home.

Besides this wasn’t a travel of luxuries and wonderful massages in a spa, I really have a great time because I discover another way of seen the world. I was surrounded by people that despite their poverty and the conditions they live, they were happy and enjoy life everyday! It impacts me! That journey was a deep reflexion, and a teaching experience. 

Ps. I will upload photos from my trip soon. :)

Welcome to my blog!

Hi peers! Welcome to my blog! I hope you enjoy my entries and find them interesting! Please dont doubt about comment your opinion and tell me your ideas. My name is Carolyn and I am a student in the University  of Puerto Rico Recinto de Rio Piedras. My major is Interdisciplinarian Studies in Natural Sciences. I want to be a psycician. I am also a musician, I play the alto saxophone since I was 10 years old. It is great part of my life and a talent that I enjoy. My biggest treasures are my family and my bests friends. I am very grateful to God with the life I have and the opportunity to wake up every day to experience a new jouney. Dont be afraid and travel with me here in my blog! We can discover a lot of places, internal and external, here. 

Helping

In chapter 8 of the book "Down on the island" by Jim Cooper, he speech about the confusion that may exist between Puerto Rican students about the meaning of "helping". He says that students help each other on tests for your peers to do well and get a good grade, but they didn't realize that help in that way is also considered cheating.

I think helping is fair, but "helping" when you're taking a test, thats another story. It is not fair to the student who sacrificed himself studying to get a good grade. Many young people today are still acting like this, and of course some adults also. When I was in public school this type of "helping" happened all the time. It was such like a normal thing. I disagree with this behavior but I do not blame the students of that time because they didn't saw such a bad thing in "helping". Right now in college it still happens but not as much as high school, and much less in a faculty like natural sciences, where I am, and where everyone are competing with each other. Certainly here some students know their limits and know when and when not to help, because unfortunately this is a department in which you have to take advantage over others in order to progress. And I know that many students know what that means, inclusive some students didnt help others when they can and is not considered cheating.

I think this behavior of many years before has changed a little, specifically for college students that have whose priority is to be the best, and certainly that makes sense but we must sit and think about it and dont be selfishs and overdo it.