Alyssia
Psychology Undergraduate |
Alyssia
Psychology Undergraduate |
1/8/2023 Sunday, touch down in Cabarete! The fights were smooth. I arrived at the airport at four a.m.! It was really early, and I only got three hours of sleep the night prior, so I was super tired, but my excitement and adrenaline kept me wide awake (for the first flight anyway). As a group we went up to the check in desk at the airport and all had to unexpectedly pay 90 dollars or more to get an entrance health ticket to the Dominican. That was nerve wracking because no one was expecting to pay for something right away. After getting that small hiccup out of the way, we were off to TSA security check! Things went smoothly there as well. Then we went to our gate and boarded the first plane. That plane ride was only an hour and a half, and I had to sit next to a stranger! That was a new experience for me because I’ve never had to sit in an assigned seat on a plane. We landed in Newark and immediately started rushing to our next gate. This plane ride was four hours long, but our pilot got us there in three and a half! I started reading an enjoyable book in the beginning of the flight. Then halfway through I decided it was time to take a nap. I closed my eyes and next thing I knew we were a half hour away from touch down in Puerto Plata! Once arriving, we were greeted by sounds of music playing from three Dominican musicians. We walked through the halls of the airport taking in the hot weather. We all grabbed our bags and went through customs. Well, not all of us found all our luggage. Tamara (our professor) had a missing bag with all our school donations in it. So, while she was figuring out how to get it to our housing in the DR. Us girls were in our taxi jamming out to Spanish music with our new friend Maximo (the taxi driver). We drove about twenty minutes from the airport to the grocery store to do a quick shopping for the first two days, then to our new home for the next two weeks. Nanny Estates. It was raining when we arrived, which was a pleasant feeling after the humid taxi ride. We gathered our groceries and luggage and went inside our new house! Janinna and I were beginning to get tired, so we decided to go into the house first to look around. We chose the bedroom with the view. It's gorgeous in the morning. That night we met one of our partners from the DR foundation for dinner to talk about our next two weeks. That night we came back inside after the meeting and hung out; we had a couple drinks too. That night was the best night of sleep I’ve had on this trip so far! Overall, the travel day was a good as any travel day can be. I didn’t have to use too much Spanish on Sunday because it was a rest day so we were not out anywhere where I would have to talk to any Spanish speakers. 1/9/2023 Monday was a day of adventure! In the Dominican Republic they celebrate a holiday called Epiphany or Three Kings Day. Our beach was filled with kite surfers because Monday was the bank holiday celebration. That day we went for a kayaking trip along the Rio Yasika. We were in two person kayaks and my partner, and I were not the best at kayaking. I never realized how hard it could be to do something that from the outside looked so simple to do! We kayaked through the river to a restaurant called Wilsons which was partially flooded due to the abnormal amount of rain Cabarete is experiencing. There were a few stray dogs in the outdoor restaurant, and I wanted nothing more than to scoop them up and bring them all home to the states with me. I love them all. We had our first Dominican meal of chicken, cabbage salad and rice and beans. It was really good! On this trip I’ve decided to force myself to try almost everything at least once. I’m trying to expand my pallet as much as I can. After lunch we kayaked back to our starting point, and like I said previously my partner and I were muy mal (very bad) at kayaking. She only kayaked alone, and I have never kayaked before. On the way back we got so behind that we made good friends with one of the guides. His name is Frank. Frank did not really speak English and we didn’t speak Spanish so the language barrier made for some interesting conversation. He laughed when we would pronounce things incorrectly and then teach us the correct way to say it. We ran into the plants along the river a lot due to the lack of control we had over the kayak. Frank found this funny because we started saying “no las plantas” (No plants) and “no me gusta las plantas” (I don’t like the plants). He mocked us in a silly way, and we all laughed. He would ask us things like “is this how you drive at home?’ Which really made me laugh because I had totaled a car before, so I knew I’m not a great driver. I wish I could have told him that story, I'm sure he would have laughed about it. We continued these kinds of conversations throughout the trip which was about an hour and a half round trip. Toward the end of the trip there is this bridge that we have to pass under. Because of the rain, the river level was so high that we had to practically lay down in our kayak to go under the bridge! That was the scariest part!!! While we were ashore the girls and I got to meet our first domesticated flamingo which was cool. I’ve never seen one that close before. There were other animals as well such as a turtle which I befriended (see picture below). After leaving kayaking, the girls and I decided it would be fun to go to the beach. I got on my bathing suit, and we headed down the steps to the beach. While we were there watching the kite surfers and taking in the beautiful views from the rocks, we were sitting on. One of our friends, Anna, began to take pictures of our other friend, Grace. After a few quick photos were taken, Anna tried to step back to take some more but she lost her footing and fell! Her wrist looked crazy! She asked us to get our professors because we all knew that Anna was going to need to get that checked out. As we were waiting, a man riding a large horse approached us and in Spanish asked if we wanted to ride it. He even offered to bring four more. (This is a tourist trap and a way to make quick money on tourists). It was crazy timing, and we obviously didn’t take it!! After we got Anna up to our house, she went to the hospital to get her wrist reset. While she was gone the group decided to stay together to wait for updates. My house mates and I decided to make dinner for the cohort. I made spaghetti and meat sauce for everyone. We all had drinks and played games while we ate and waited for Anna to come back home. She made it home around 10:30 Dominican time and we all went to sleep. PS the DR is an hour ahead of the states because they don’t participate in daylight savings time!
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AuthorHi! I am currently studying psychology at Buffalo State College! I hope to be a clinical child psychologist in the future. I love to spend time with my friends and family and I love taking naps! You’ll catch Me on the couch every Sunday for the Buffalo Bills game! Im always busy learning or trying new things! :) Archives
February 2023
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