A Girl with a Blog

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To me blogs are where you share your new and breakthrough ideas. I have never written a blog before so I was a little nervous when we were first assigned to create one. What was I going to write about? Would it be interesting enough for others to read? These were some of the questions that hunted my mind. Nevertheless, I took the challenge and found myself surprised about how easy it came. We started simple, a post describing ourselves, and then we went along with analyzing the literary texts we discussed in class. Turns out I had more to say about them than what I realized at first.

It was a fun experience and one who provided me with a lot of learning about myself and about the process of writing itself. I learn how to think critically and how to organize my thoughts into coherent sentences to make my posts interesting and attractive to the public reading my blog. I also learned about presentation. When crating a blog per se or writing a post, it is important for it to be presentable, attractive to the eye and easy to read. Combining the color schemes, knowing which picture to add, what quote to use is all part of the blog’s presentation and it is also a way to personalize your blog, to put your signature on it. I tried my best with this and I think I succeeded. It may not be perfect, but it is mine, they represent who I am and what I wanted to share and I believe this is what makes a blog worth reading.

I would recommend writing a blog to anyone who asks, whether it be for a class, a way to express yourself, as a diary or as a way to share a revolutionary idea. It serves as a way to connect with the rest of the world in a fun way.

Tourists vs Natives

Jamaica Kincaid

That the native does not like the tourist is not hard to explain. For every native of every place is a potential tourist, and every tourist is a native of somewhere. Every native everywhere lives a life of overwhelming and crushing banality and boredom and desperation and depression, and every deed, good and bad, is an attempt to forget this. Every native would like to find a way out, every native would like a rest, every native would like a tour. But some natives—most natives in the world—cannot go anywhere. They are too poor. They are too poor to go anywhere. They are too poor to escape the reality of their lives; and they are too poor to live properly in the place they live, which is the very place you, the tourist, want to go—so when the natives see you, the tourist, they envy you, they envy your ability to leave your own banality and boredom, they envy your ability to turn their own banality and boredom into a source of pleasure for yourself.” ~ Jamaica Kincaid, A Small Place

This quote is one to which we can all relate since most of us can be in the position of either the native or the tourist. I can understand why she says that the native does not like the tourists. It is a matter of envy, of feeling that green monster inside of you because you wish you could spend your time doing neglecting your responsibilities and enjoying life’s pleasures. It is even worse when you have someone from another country, culture and background, different than yours, coming and enjoying the natural wonders your country has to offer and that you should be the one enjoying by birthright. Someone who sees the place you live as paradise, when in reality it is something far from paradise for the natives. Someone who doesn’t understand the hardships the natives go through, doesn't understand the culture or the history of the place they visit. It is funny though, that those lucky enough to escape their native land and leave their reality behind for a few days or a few weeks, keep the circle going round and round. Now they are not natives, but tourists whom are looked down by the natives and that visit a place without really knowing the place. 

I have been one of those lucky enough to live as a native and as a tourist. I cannot say that I haven't make fun of or felt annoyed with a tourist, because I have, but sometimes I try to put myself in their shoes, after all I have been a tourist too, maybe even in their own birth place. I think a major difference is that I take the time to learn something about the place I am going to visit. I think it enhances the experience, it gives you perspective and better understanding of what you are looking at. Visiting a famous landmark without knowing its story or contemplating a famous painting without knowing its context is not worth the trip or the money spent. Without previous knowledge you are just another one of those superficial tourists that goes there for the sake of saying "I went there and I took a picture there". 

My Inner and Outer Journey through Pictures

Decorating the journal to reflect my inner and outer journey was an especially fun thing to do. I admit I was not to thrilled at first mainly because of the trouble of having to cut and paste the pictures to the notebook. But just so you know, I am glad to say I was wrong about this assignment. I had a lot of fun because it was a trip down memory lane. I got to remember past trips all around the world and special moments with my friends and family and that they are always there to celebrate my triumphs and help me get through adversities.  

 I decided to represent my outer journey on the cover of the journal and the inner journey on the back. For my outer journey I mostly used pictures of my two trips to Europe, one for my “Quinceañera” (15^th birthday celebration, a very important milestone in every Hispanic girl) in 2009, and one for my High School Graduation Celebration in 2012. Like many tourists, I have more than 3,000 pictures for both trips, mostly because I took pictures of about everything, food, trashcans, and weird street names in languages I couldn’t understand, you name it. Since this is a lot of pictures to choose from, I went with the ones I stood in famous landmarks that represent a European country. To name a few, I decorated with pictures in front of the Big Ben and Buckingham Palace in London, the Fontana de Trevi in Rome, Stonhenge in Salisbury, England, the Eiffel Tower and the Arch of Triumph in Paris, and the Branderburg Gate in Berlin. I also put a couple of pictures of me in the USA, one in the Statue of Liberty and two in Walt Disney World, a place I love to visit even though I am 21 years old. The front cover was really fun; it represents half of my ever-growing bucket list of places to visit. I am quite grateful for my family for making this possible and that I am privileged enough to be able to visit this countries and learn about their cultures.

The back-cover, also known as my inner journey, is mostly a chronological line of my life. I intended to represent the milestones I have gone through in life and also to represent who I am as person. There are pictures of me as a baby, pictures of my life support, aka, my friends and family, pictures of my graduation, volunteer jobs and my goal to be a Doctor. It served as a way for me to realized how much I have grown both physically and emotionally and I am proud of this. There are moments when you feel like you can’t go on, but I believe that with strength and perseverance you can achieve everything. I am happy that I have lived so many great moments and I hope that I can keep adding pictures of them in a bigger album.

Tourist for a Day: Old San Juan, Puerto Rico

I have had the privilege of being a tourist in a great number of countries. As a child, I used to do a lot of what we call “internal tourism” or tourism in your own country. As I grew up, so did my responsibilities and I can honestly say I haven’t been a tourist in Puerto Rico for quite a while. One of the places most frequented by tourists in the Island is Old San Juan. For me Old San Juan represents my workplace because I do research at the Institute of Neurobiology, a building right next to El Morro. Because of this I stopped looking at Old San Juan as a place to. To get a change of perspective, I decided to become a tourist for a day in Old San Juan.

Mocha at Don Ruiz

 From what I gathered I had to visit El Morro Fort, fly a kite in the Fort’s yard, taste some Puerto Rican Food and visit some of the shops in town. My mother was my travel companion. She is pale and blond and often she gets confused for a North American, so she was the perfect tourist buddy for this experiment. We spoke in English and people answered back in English, so we must have done a good job at pretending, although I am not really sure if they truly believed us.

We started the day with some breakfast at Don Ruiz, a local café located right at the heart of Cuartel de Ballajá (Ballajá Headquarters). Don Ruiz is a charming little shop with a rustic feeling. There were tourists and and locals enjoying the taste of coffee and sandwiches before continuing their days. I had a cup of Mocha and a tuna sandwich and they were both spectacular. Add to that the excellent service provided by the owner and the baristas of the shop. Afterwards, we went and visited some of the local shops, gift shops and some of the big brand shops like Coach or Guess. I didn’t buy anything, but it was interesting to notice the different little trinkets and souvenirs the shops carried, usually all of them had a “Coquí”, the native frog of Puerto Rico, or they had the flag or both. It is funny to think that these are what mainly represent us as a culture.

El Morro Fort

Kites over El Morro

After some snacks, we bought some piraguas and went to El Morro. I couldn’t remember the last time I went inside the Fort; therefore, everything was kind of new to me. I felt just like a tourist here, because I had the opportunity to learn about Puerto Rico’s colonial history and its relationship with the ancient Fort from the place where it all happened. There were some bits and pieces of the story that I didn’t know and I was excited to learn about them. I loved to imagine what were the lives of the soldiers like in their very uncomfortable looking beds and while they were guarding the “Garita” (sentry box). The view was spectacular from the Fort, so that added bonus points to the experience. Once we finished touring El Morro, we flew some kites over the courtyard in front of the Fort. This was a flash to the past since I remember doing this with my family when I was a little girl.

El Jibarito Restaurant

The day for exploring was nearing its end, so it was time to try out the authentic Puerto Rican food. We decided to visit El Jibarito Restaurant located in Calle Sol, San Juan. On Trip Advisor it is classified as #74 of the 704 Restaurants in San Juan, #87 of the 755 Places to Eat in San Juan and it has a Certificate of Excellence. It is a 4.5 out of 5 stars Restaurants. This was the place to go. Once we got there, I noticed that both tourist and locals were there and they all seemed to be having an excellent time. The restaurant was decorated with a full Puerto Rican themed, with the colors of the buildings in San Juan and with some Salsa music in the background. As appetizers, we ordered a plate of “alcapurrias” and “sorrullos” with Mayoketchup, a Puerto Rican mayonnaise and ketchup with garlic dip. These traditional Puerto Rican fritters were delicious. For the main course, the server recommended either “Mofongo” (made out of plantain) or the Christmas Plate. Both my mom and I ordered “Mofongo” filled with chicken with “Salsa Criolla” and we had it with the best strawberry frappe I have had in my entire life. The food was beyond amazing and I was perfectly happy with the choice I made until I saw what was the Christmas Plate. It was composed of rice with chickpeas, sweet plantain, “pasteles” and pork. It looked mouthwatering, I will have it the next time I visit the restaurant. I noticed the servers were especially attentive to us and they seemed very satisfied when we told them we loved their food. This was the perfect way to end the day.

As a local tourist, I got a change of perspective of one of the best area Puerto Rico has to offer. Exploring everything as if it were the first time I did makes it all more enjoyable and it presents new opportunities for me to learn more about my own birthplace and culture. I am glad real tourists have the opportunity to enjoy the beauties of Puerto Rico for at least a few hours just as I am blessed to do

Just a Chapter in My Book of Life

            A long time ago, in the Milky Way Galaxy, well not that long ago just 21 years to be exact, , a girl was born to Ileana and Albert. The mother wanted to name her Ileabel; the father, Sophia and after some dispute they settled for Lauren after some Back to the Future movie character. Albert was a fan of the movie and liked the actress that played his daughter’s namesake. She was the first baby in the family after approximately 12 years, so naturally she was loved and a little spoiled by all of them. Two and a half years later, a new baby came, a boy they named Carlos, after his maternal uncle. Although there was some little jealously at first, as one would expect, little Lauren was very excited and happy with the arrival of her new playmate. They were a happy normal family; there was really nothing out of the ordinary. This is the story of who I am, what I have become so far and whom I hope to be.

            Some of the earliest memories of my family are all happy ones. I don’t think I had a lack of anything. Ileana and Albert were excellent parents and they provided for everything that a child would need. One of my favorite childhood memories has got to be those times I got to played as a Doctor and my parents and brother were my patients. For as long as I could remember, being a Doctor is something that I have always wanted to achieve, even though there is no one in my family that followed that profession. Mom and Dad obviously encouraged this goal of mine and I still have the notebooks filled with childlike drawings of Hospitals, ambulances, and my patients’ (my family and collection of dolls) medical history. My bookshelves were not only had the expected fairy tales, but also it had some medical education books for children. Although I don’t remember half of it, I can say those first seven years of my life were all rainbows and magic. Then on October 2001, exactly five months after my first family trip to Walt Disney World, my father died. Suddenly my life and that of my whole family was turned upside down. His death was unexpected just like it almost always is with young people. I was just seven years old and my brother was 4, we were both too young to really understand what was happening and why. That time and the few years after that were probably the darkest times I have ever had the misfortune to pass. Nevertheless, with the help of my grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends we moved on and the pain diminished and we all somehow worked together to piece our family back together stronger than ever. You could say we are a tight knit group.

            The rest of my childhood and teenage years were probably really boring in the sense that nothing really extraordinary happened. Only Life happened. I studied, went out with my friends and graduated High School just like any other person. I still want to become a Doctor and as of right now while I write this little story I have a year and a half left for my first year in Medical School. I grew up and laughed and cried, gained and loose, learned new lessons and gained new experiences, accomplished goals and I am close to achieve some more. I owe it all to Mom, who has raised me and supported me in every step I have taken and to the rest of my family too. Each of them has taught me valuable lessons and contributed their piece on who I have become. It is my most fervent wish to be someone they are proud of. 

Bhutan and the Pursuit of Happiness

Bhutan

In this chapter of his book Geography of Bliss, we find Weiner on a trip to Bhutan. Bhutan is a country that could be considered paradise, with its wonderful and majestic mountain views, is isolated location and of course, its selectivity. What strikes me peculiar just as it seemed for him is that this country has a Happiness Policy. Their strive for this emotion and they make sure everyone who lives there considers themselves happy, they even measure the nation’s progress by the level of happiness of the people. This seems odd to me probably because happiness is an abstract concept. How exactly do you measure happiness? Is happiness the same for everyone?

There are a few scenes in this chapter that really make me question this policy. It makes me wonder is these people are truly happy and free to live their lives as they want it. One would think that having freedom is a form of happiness, but these people do not appear to be as free. Take for example the light they took away from the street because their benevolent King did not like it. If he is not happy, then the people are not happy. Aren’t they allowed to be free thinkers? Another part that stayed in my mind was the part where they talked about their low crime rate. I must admit this got me wondering mainly because they used my birthplace, Puerto Rico, as a comparison. Since I live there I can testify about Weiner’s opinion. He says that in Bhutan, crime is almost unheard of and this obviously contributes to their overall happiness. Then he says there are “outliers” like in Puerto Rico, a country that is crime ridden and happy. This I feel is somewhat true. Once, Puerto Rico was considered one of the happiest countries in the world, but this was before our economy went downhill and crime became another daily hassle. Puerto Ricans are happy, that’s true, we never miss an opportunity to celebrate and we try to have an optimist view of life, but I believe that we no longer consider ourselves one of the happiest countries.

Another part that made me question their policy was when Weiner visited Karma. He told Weiner that he has “achieved happiness because he doesn’t have unrealistic expectations”. This blew my mind. Here in the Western culture, achieving great things and setting high expectations is our force drive. Personally, it is when I reach one of my goals is what I consider some of the happy moments in life. When I first read Karma’s explanation I felt like these people in Bhutan were conformist. Afterward I realized that there must be a balance with expectations, they shouldn’t be unrealistic and unreachable, that would lead to unhappiness, but having great expectations and meeting them is a source of happiness.

Happiness, I believe, is a matter of perspective. I believe there is no policy that could truly achieve happiness for a whole country, but that is just my perspective. Who knows? Maybe they are truly happy in Bhutan and we should be imitating them.


NOTE: I didn't know where Bhutan was localised so I am attaching a map below for those who are as clueless as I was. You can't never know enough!

Bhutan's Map location