Caitlin- rain rain go away

I have officially started some classes. Well…2 of my 5…this week another 2 start (hopefully) and then the week after that my last class starts…My Dominican-Haitian relations class is going to be amazing, one of the professors was Haitian Ambassador to the Dominican Republic during the 90’s so he knows all the cool stuff. I seem to also be taking a Spanish class, which is a bit of a joke. Today we gave 5 minute presentations on random important Dominicans like Oscar de la Renta and Juan Marichal (baseball player, was on the SF Giants for a long time, only Dominican in MLB hall of fame)…it took the entire two hour period…everyone made powerpoint presentations.

Two weekends ago I went to Las Terrenas, which is a beach town on the north easter coast of the island. The trip to Las Terrenas was less than uneventful, we all walked to the Caribe Tours bus station in Santo Domingo, got our tickets, got on our bus. Got of at Sanchez, then had to figure out how exactly we were supposed to get to Las Terrenas which was on the other side of the peninsula. Our guide books said “walk to the Texaco station and get a pickup truck” well there was no Texaco station… but there were pickup trucks! So we all piled in, the views were amazing miles and miles of palm tree jungles with view of the sparkling blue Caribbean waters. Then it started to pour, not rain, pour. All of us and all of our stuff were completely soaked by the time we got to Las Terrenas…not very amusing. Even less amusing was when our ride attempted to make us pay more because our hotel was “5km outside of town on a bad road”…it was in town less than two minutes the same road … But we made it, and now the only obstacle in our venture for a beautiful beach weekend was the rain… With the plan of spending a few days lying by the beach drinking pina coladas and tanning out of the question we were forced to find other activities to entertain ourselves. We played games in our hotel room, when it cleared up we explored around a bit, played some beach baseball, did a little swimming.

The next day we decided we would “hike” to El Limon waterfall. We got our ride to the head of the trail and started walking, we had heard that we would have to cross rivers but it was supposedly hikeable so we weren’t worried. Well lets just say the rain of the day before had other plans for us. The rivers were waist deep and the paths to them ankle deep slippery mud, so we hired horses and guides and went that way instead. An amazingly beautiful 45 minute horse ride through the mountains later and 10 minute hike we reached the waterfall. It was about 50m high, and one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. We all got to swim in the water and check out the caves behind the waterfall which were cool as well…That was definitely the most successful part of the trip to Las Terrenas…The next day we caught a direct gua gua from Las Terrenas to Santo Domingo, we were packed in like sardines and there was no AC when we went up hill but it was a lot easier than the pickup truck ride to the Caribe tours stop in Sanchez, and less expensive too.

Lets see other than that… I have been to the beach a few times, hung out at the pool at my gym, wandered around Santo Domingo…. We found a great place for live music on Sunday nights at the ruins of an old Franciscan Monastery it goes from 5pm to 11pm and is really fun. They play all kinds of music, from Dominican Bachata to Cuban Son to Merengue and Salsa, lots of people (of all ages, mostly older) get out and show there well practiced dance moves…a nice way to spend a Sunday night…

Santo Domingo has started doing this new thing where it randomly rains for two minutes and then stops and is really hot until the next time it rains. Its nice to watch when you are inside but not a great experience when you are walking somewhere…Sometimes it only rains in a certain spot, the people here say that its because of a bruja (witch)…

I had my first class at Universidad Autonoma de Santo Domingo (la UASD pronounced “la wa”) today. It is Santo Domingo’s public university, with over 100,000 students of all different disciplines…It was the first week of classes, but there was still a huge long line of students trying to sign up for classes, something that the University is always having issues with. Similarly in the first week of classes the professors and the students don’t generally attend class…My class is taught by the director of my study abroad program so I knew she would be there, but out of the 80 students that were supposed to be there only 24 actually showed, and at least half were American. There were also only about 20 desks in the room, so people had to go and grab desks from other classrooms…Getting a seat is gong to be especially exciting once all 80 people start showing up. Another funny thing was that we had to pay to get a photocopy of our syllabus and class schedule, our teacher gave out three copies to three people who took the papers to the copy stand outside of the building and got the copy of the syllabus for you…for 13 pesos (less than 50 cents US). Funny funny.

That’s really all that has been going on around here…I would like to give a big HOLA to JD, who even though he just got to Italy is escaping to Spain as soon as possible to return to his comfort zone. (Fun Fact: Supposedly being Peruvian in Italy gives you good street cred…suspicious.)

just thought you all should know.

about two weeks ago i got this email

Hey Obama Supporters,

I hope all of you are enjoying a relaxing break and looking forward to Al Franken taking his seat in the U.S. Senate. Plus I hear there's some inauguration business going on.

In other news, I was contacted yesterday by a reporter from the New York Times looking to do a story on students attending the inauguration with their parents, if any of you fit this description or know someone who does, please get in contact with her about the story. It'd be great to see some Wesleyan Obama supporters members in the national press.

Hope to see you in DC this week and I look forward to working with strengthened Democratic majorities in both Hartford and Washington.

Cheers,
Bradley Spahn
Wesdems President/Chapter Coordinator, Wesleyan Students for Barack Obama/Political Junkie

P.S. I plan on using this list only sparingly for things that I think are important or that you might be interested in, even though the election is now over, I'd encourage you to stay on, because there will be exciting things happening. I promise not to spam you.

Dear Bradley,



I am writing you on the off chance that you may be able to help me with a story I’m working on. I am looking for a young person who supported Obama and who is now headed to the inauguration – with his or her parents. The idea is to illuminate the generational differences in support for Obama, so I am looking for someone who persuaded their parents to support Obama or who maybe did not convince their parents to support him, but convinced them to go to the inauguration.



Do you know of anyone who might fit the bill?



Much obliged,

Shaila





Shaila Dewan

National Correspondent

Southern Bureau

The New York Times


dewan@nytimes.com (e)

404-624-1309 (w)

646-418-5320 (c)

404-759-2591 (f)



1270 Caroline St.

Ste. D120-354

Atlanta GA 30307




so i forwarded it to our very own ELLE CELESTE

and now


http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/20/us/politics/20generation.html?hp

I Primi Giorni

I’ve been here less than a week and it seems like it’s been months.  I’ve gotten more information thrown at me in six days than I’ve ever gotten in that amount of time before.  Add to that, the fact that it’s been in a foreign language that still sounds like drunk Spanish and you get my experience thus far.

 

All in all it’s been a blast so far.  My last night really set the bar pretty high.  Alisha really knows how to plan a surprise party. Right now, a shout out thanks to all of those who participated.  Let’s try and remember that those marghs were DEFINITELY as large AND strong as they appeared.  Thanks for the words of wisdom (if a bit slurred) from Garofalo and Tannenbaum.  Parl (& cousin) were a fun addition as always.  My soccer lasses always putting in a hundred and ten percent.  I’ll be sure to tell Matt & Eva about it.  Love you guys, keep it real.  Sneaky Asher and Netta just loving the party.  And of course Topanga, as always, the life of the party.  Just ask her for the pics.

 

The group flight was great.  There was the usual awkward introductions at the terminal then the 7-hour flight.  When we finally arrived in Bologna it was very early in the morning although my body definitely thought it was about 11pm.  The first day was long and I moved into my still empty room.  I live across the street from my program office and about a five-minute walk to the city center.  I probably have gotten lost and then found again a dozen times since I got here but I’m slowly getting the lay of the land.  My second day I was asked for directions by a fine looking young lady and I saw it as an opportunity to try out my best most European Italian accent.  I smiled and gave her directions best I could.  She said something (really unclear at this point) and then said thanks.  I think she thought I was from here so that’s awesome.  Let’s pray that she got to wherever she was going because a lot of my directions were extrapolations from a map I saw on a napkin on the flight from Frankfurt to Bologna the day before.

 

We’ve had a couple of tours of the city and it’s beautiful beyond belief.  Old red stone everywhere.  It seems like every bench and statue is older than either country I’ve lived in.  N. B. D.  The lady who leads us around is awesome and tells us crazy stories about the city and all the history.  I of course geek out about it constantly.  We were in the original building to the University and as we were glazing over all these different emblems on the walls of past graduates from like 17-hundred whatever, she paused and pointed out one of a dude from like 18-hundred whatever that had as its symbol the three wise men.  I then started to smile and nobody in the group knew why.  The lady then explained that the three wise men is the symbol of Lima and that that particular emblem belonged to some Peruvian dude who studied here way back in the día.  DATZ. WHATZ., GOOD. BOI.

 

I’ve really stepped my game up when it comes to my clothes.  I wear my fancy shmanzy Italian shoes a lot more.  I’ve found from just walking around that the pointier the shoe the more Italian you look, so I don’t mess with success.  My (many) pairs of sunglasses are finally socially acceptable in all their forms and even at night.  It’s pretty baller.  Also my (very) loose relationship with time rules like law in these parts.  I couldn’t have picked a better place.  I don’t think it’s even legal to wear sweatpants out in the world.  But hey, I could be wrong.  Regardless, I’m dressing like a real person these days, now I just have to maybe start to try to think about maybe acting like one.  [The previous statement is UNLIKELY].  Madras to be whipped out when it gets warmer so don’t you worry yourself Eleanor.

 

[aside:  Not to blow up Elle’s spot or anything but because she’s missing the first few days of orientation she bought herself Rosetta Stone: Español Edition.  Feel free to make fun of her on facebook or at eceleste@wesleyan.edu]

 

My dorm is awesome.  I live with all dudes on the second floor of the studentatto (aka Italian dorm) Poeti.  It’s awesome.  My roommate is this really weird film major from the south but we get along.  The other guys on my hall hate on him hardcore but the situation is stable.  Everyone here now is in the middle of exams so it’s weird to roll in and party like it’s 19 90 whatever but we’re making it work.

 

THE FOOD IS AMAZING.  There is no stressing this enough.  If you don’t read anything else in this post just take this away from it.  The pasta, the cheese, the ham, the fruit, and the wine among others things are the best I’ve ever had.  They have meals here that bookend other meals, which leaves little time in the day for activities that don’t involve eating.  At this point I’ve given myself to the food.  It’s just the easiest thing to do.

 

Somehow I was put in the highest level of our orientation language class.  I think there was some kind of clerical mistake but hey, I’ll have to deal.  We had a meeting with the doctor that works with our program.  He started the STD section of his speech by saying:  “Let’s not have any of you leave here with anything you didn’t bring.  Use protection.”

 

That’s it for now. I’ll be sure to check it later.

 

Holla at my gurl in the DR!

 

Best,

JD

Caitlin- Republica Dominicana

I arrived in Santo Domingo a week ago after a long long flight experience involving a two-hour delay in San Francisco that forced me to run through the Miami airport in order to catch my flight to the DR. The flight to the DR was quick, only two hours, unbeknownst to me there were 4 other girls from my program on both of my flights. When I got to SDQ I found that, unsurprisingly, my bags had not made the connection, and I would have to have them delivered to my hotel. Luckily the bags came later that day, some of the other girls had to wait until the next day to get theirs.

Orientation week was filled with datashows (powerpoint presentations) and lots of breaks to drink juice boxes and eat pineapple, papaya and other fruit. We went on a walking tour of the Zona Colonial the oldest part of the city, and a bus tour of the entire city of Santo Domingo that included all of the Universities where we have class. The CIEE/FLACSO building is only three blocks from my house, and is well equipped with a coffee machine, wireless and a separate computer lab. All of the staff is really nice and more than willing to help with any questions we may have. The highlight of orientation was our first experience on the public guaguas and carros publicos, the form of transportation that we are going to be using to get to our classes.

My host family is great so far, it’s a mother and her 11 and 13-year-old daughters. The 11 and 13 year olds bicker just like normal sisters and the 13 year old is obsessed with the Jonas Brothers, and a lot of times after dinner I sit and watch American TV like Gossip Girl, Grays Anatomy etc. with her, all of which is in English with subtitles. My doña (host mom) is great, cooks good food and talks to me all the time about the DR and US politics etc. I get three meals a day from my host family, and so far I have no complaints.

Today consisted of an excursion to a jinete (sugar plantation) that was the site of a large Slave Rebellion in the DR. It had been abandoned and partially restored. Then we went to a nearby town where a woman talked to us about the syncretism in the religion of the DR. While she was talking to us, townspeople behind us were yelling about how she was a witch. She practices voodoo and her specialty was all 21 saints but she channeled the spirit of Santa Marta the best. She also was explaining to us the different things with which you bathe and what you have to wear when you want a consolation from a certain saint not to mention the baths for good luck, money, good health, etc. Then we went to the BEACH! It was really nice to get to the ocean finally, we were at Playa Palenque for about three hours, most of which I spent in the water with a brief stint on a banana boat that cost 100 pesos ($3.25) and showed the most beautiful views of the shoreline and the mountains in the distance.

Next week we have off with only various visits to potential internship sites. Classes for me don’t start until the 19th and me and a few friends may take a weekend trip to a different part of the DR this weekend, and there will definitely be day trips to the beach all week.