By Candice S., guest blogger studying Spanish and Latin Dance in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
So yesterday went rather smoothly.. I caught my flights on time, and there were no delays or problemas. I tried to follow the Amerispan packing rules and only take a carry on suitcase… haha! Unfortunately, the only part of the rules I followed was the “carry-on suitcase”. I didn’t really follow the packing guide, so my suitcase was bulging at capacity and the lady was like, “I’m sorry ma’am, but you’re going to have to check that bag. It has to fit in this,”..then she pointed at that little rectangular stand about half the size of my suitcase!! Haha! What’s funny is that I was really stressing at home thinking I was going to take that 40lb bag on the plane with me and trying to make sure I could lift it over my head to put it in the overhead compartament! I literally laughed out loud at myself.
When I got here, I exchanged my dinero and went through customs, which is always fun (..thats sarcasm). Then, I went to the salida to look for my airport pickup and there he was, holding my name, and looking like, “Really, chica. The last one out huh?" (Side note: Gracias Jesus for taking me to my host family’s house, it would have really sucked to have taken a taxi!) We had to wait a while because there was another girl who he was taking to her host family’s house, but she was having trouble in the baggage area.. Heidi es su llama, and she is my new best friend. She is from the Farro Islands.. near Iceland?? …and she still doesn’t have her luggage! Anywho, Jesus dropped us off at our houses, which are down the street from each other. What a blessing, she's super sweet and I don’t really know what I would be doing without her!
My host “mother” es muy simpatico! She sat and tried to talk to me even though it was like 1am when I arrived at her house! I say tried because I speak little espanol and she doesn’t speak a lick of English! But she is patient and kind. Its very interesting the way the homes here are set up. There is very little house indoors. When you first come in there is a living room and you keep walking and there is a dining room or something but then you come into an open courtyard and the rest of the house is off the courtyard. I mean its open air. The door to my room goes into the courtyard as does Dona Angela’s, the bathroom, and kitchen. Es muy interestante!
Today was our first day of class. Heidi and I are in the same class along with two otra personas, Denis from Switzerland and Fabiana from Belgium. Our maestra is Victoria. She is very patient and explains things really well. After school, many of us, including a few from the more advanced class, took a tour of Zona Colonial led by Vladamir, who is an amazing guide! We stopped and got lunch, rode a guagua, which is the main form of transportation here, where this large van with an open door comes speeding up and you hop on and tell the driver when you want to get off. It cost 20 DR Pesos. Just for some perspective its 32 DP to $1 US. So basically if you’re feeling adventurous it will cost you about $0.75 US to get across town. Ours wasn’t packed too tight but I have seen some pass where it looked like there was at least 15 people inside!
We walked all around Zona Colonial, which is the historic district. It had to have been at least 5 miles total (..maybe exaggerating). But we were walking for hours! Heidi is house mates with Bob, from North Carolina. I don’t know why that makes me laugh. He’s quite the gentleman. He helped me when I was struggling to get my backpack on, looking like a dork, and anytime a lady in the group stopped to take a picture or do anything he always waited so that we weren’t left behind or in the back of the group. He's super sweet . After the tour, I was exhausted and came home and slept for a long time! I missed my first dance class, but Ill definitely be there tomorrow! It rained this evening so Dona Angela put up a mosquitario for me so I don’t get eaten up by mosquitos whilst I dream. And now I feel like a pretty princess with a canopy! Haha!
Well, I guess es todo for my first entre. Wow! This is really long! Lo siento! Don’t worry, I'm sure once I get used to everything, these will be much shorter and much sweeter.
Find out more about AmeriSpan's Spanish schools in the Dominican Republic
See all of AmeriSpan's Language and Fun programs
Read all of Candice's blogs from Santo Domingo
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