"I Like Your Face"

Hola mis amgios y mi familia!

I'm missing you all but I'm having the BEST time here in the Dominican Republic. The girls on the trip with me are so amazing. There's a couple that I feel like I've been friends with for forever already. We've all experienced so much together, it's really bonded us. We've also met a lot of Dominican students our age who are learning English. Some of them are sooo funny and one guy even told my friend Kelly, "I like your face." Which sounds just hilarious to us, haha.

We're leaving Santiago today and we're heading to the country in San Cristobal. It's about a 3 hour bus ride, which should actually be kinda fun with all of us girls. Saying goodbye to our host family today was sad, and it's going to be sad to say bye to our teachers and our tour guide, Jasson, too. We've all gotten so comfortable with each other in such a short amount of time.

So far we've learned a lot about the culture, we've had a cooking class where we fried plantains and cheese (yes, fried cheese), and learned how to dance the merengue, salsa, reggaeton, and bachata. Last night we went out to a bar to celebrate the end of our classes and we got to practice all of the new moves that we learned. It was soo much fun! We also tried some local drinks that they have here like Mamajuana, Brugal Rum, La Presidente and La Bendicta, the latter two of which are beers. Delicioso!

I won't be able to post for at least another two weeks, so hasta luego!

Te amo muchos!
Sapna

Yo quiero una American pa manga mi Visa

¡Hola!

I´m finally here in Santiago and the first couple days have been a wonderful, fast, interesting blur! I don´t have long but here´s a couple highlights of my first day in Santiago. We arrived at the airport and were picked up and taken to our host families. My host mom´s name is Lourdes and she lives with her older brother, Fabio. I´m with three other girls at the house. Lourdes and Fabio speak not ONE WORD of English!!!! It´s ALL Spanish but it makes the learning experience amazing. Her apartment is on the third floor of her building which is right down the street from the beautiful Restoration Monument, which we have yet to visit.

We started class yesterday and have learned SO much about the language, the culture, the people, etc. The people here call me "una tiguera" because they think I´m a huge flirt since I hold eye contact when I talk to people. Oh, dear. Apparently eye contact=flirting! That may cause some problems, haha. The teachers taught us a song that is SO popular here. The lyrics are as follows: "Yo quiero una Americana pa manga mi Visa" which translates as "I want an American for my Visa". Granted, everyone says the lyrics to us when we pass them on the street, or blares the song whenever they drive past us. It´s hilarious, but it´s actually a good song though. The people here are obsessed with New York so when they find out I´m from Texas they don´t care so much.

Overall, it´s been a experience filled with no water, let alone hot water, a lot of speaking Spanish, and walking trying not to get hit by cars. :)

It´s been a wonderful time!! I can´t wait to tell you more!

Love from abroad,
Sapna

And I'm Off!

To all my lovely readers,

So it's finally here. Departure time. Only a few more hours until I leave for Miami which is where I'll end up meeting a lot of the other students in the program. I'm excited, but man I'm kinda scared! It's a good scared though. I finished packing today, all thanks to my cousin, Neha. And then after I packed, I spent the day with the people I love the most in the world--my friends and family. My cousin and I went to get a pedicure--a little pampering and relaxation before all the wonderful craziness. And then some wonderful friends came over later and we did nothing but talk for hours. It was great to catch up with everyone and be together. Those moments are becoming more and more rare and though we were still missing a couple people from our group, the time together with those who were able to make it was still necessary.

This time tomorrow I'll be in Santiago, with my new family! I've always been impatient so waiting has been difficult. I always end up trying to anticipate what's in store. However, my well traveled bestie, Megan, has been the best at getting me excited. She told me not to expect because I'll be wrong. Don't hesitate, just do anything I have the chance to do because that's why I'm there--to try new things and take a risk. She said have fun, take lots of pictures, and learn something new. It's probably the best advice someone could have given me.

The hardest part of going is being away from my family and my best friends. They are the world to me and they're my security blanket. With my family and friend's support, I know I can do anything; but when they're not by my side, I tend to become more insecure with my decisions. I start to feel a little lost. Though I pride myself on my independence, I like to be able to have them a phone call away. However, because I won't have this luxury in the Dominican, this will be a good challenge for me. I'll have to feel their support without actually hearing it directly from them.

Anyways, it's officially 3:00am and I have to wake up in 4.5 hours, SO I need to put an end to my contemplating, prepare to say "see you later" to the U.S., and for now, let my dreams run wild.

I'll post another entry the next time I have internet access!! Wish me luck! :)

Lots of love from,
Sapna

And The Packing Continues

Hey there!

And the countdown continues! Less than 4 days until I leave for la República Dominicana!! My dad and I did some shopping for a few random things I couldn't find around the house today. Luckily, my brother already had a lot of the camping gear I needed like a hiking bag, mosquito net, and a ridiculous looking rain jacket. I've been apprehensive about how I would put everything into that hiking bag, but after I started to pack I realized that it's like Mary Poppins' bag and it can fit a LOT of stuff. :) Which of course, makes me happy and less relaxed, haha. Though every time my dad sees me wearing it, he laughs and then tells me that I look retarded. Not a good sign!...

Ah, I can't believe it's so close! It STILL doesn't feel real!

4 days and then I'll be in Santiago!
Here are some images of the beautiful city that I stole from the Internet--a peek at what I have to look forward to!

--The Santiago skyline

--The Restoration Monument in Santiago

And during my trip I intend on following ISV's philosophy: "take only photographs, leave only footprints, waste only time..."

--S.

It's Officially Summer Break

Hello, hello,

So, on Saturday some lovely people helped me move out of my apartment in Austin despite the wretched heat. Luckily I had already moved two car loads back to Houston, so it [only] took one truck load and one car load to move the rest of my stuff. So Chris, Whitney, my brother and I loaded up the cars, traveled 3 and half hours and finally managed to call it a successful moving day.

With school done and moving out of the way, I can finally focus on my trip to the DR. I've started the packing process, and man is it tedious. The next month or so is going to be a whirlwind because I move back to Austin the day after I come back from the DR! Today I unpacked and then repacked so now I'm all ready for the move. I figured I should take care of it now while I have the time.

Ok, enough about my packing stress. I'm channeling all my energy into packing, but the thought of actually going on this trip is making me so nervous! I'm excited, don't get me wrong--it's going to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I'm going to have the opportunity to do things I've only dreamed about! I'm so grateful that this trip is happening during a time in my life when I am able to appreciate and enjoy it. I don't personally know anyone going, which was a perk when I first committed to the program. But now, that perk has also brought some apprehension along with it. For the first time in my life, I'm going to go somewhere where I don't know a soul. I'm on my own to make friends, adjust to a new culture, and explore not only a new city, but a new side of myself.

I'm hoping this trip will help me gain some perspective on life: what I want out of it, what I can get out of it, and what I can do to make the most of it. I've faced some issues with these during the past year or so. I hope that this trip will help me eliminate some confusion and find a little direction. Now, I don't expect this trip to change everything in my life and provide a ridiculous epiphany or anything; I just want a little attitude change.

For now, I'll just focus on how I'm going to pack 5 weeks worth of stuff into ONE hiking bag! How's a girl supposed to pack clothes from volunteering to surfing to sightseeing to bar hopping all into one bag?! It'll be my first accomplishment with regards to this trip! ;)

Wish me luck!
Sapna

Making It Possible

So I just want to spend a second and thank everyone who made this trip possible for me. It does cost a lot of money, so I had to spend some time seeking donors who would be willing to donate. And honestly, without these people, it wouldn't have been possible. So here's a giant thank you to:

Mr. Doug Perkins
Mr. Jamie Thompson
Mr. Bobby Jones
Mr. Zarir Sethna
Mr. and Mrs. Kiran and Nilu Udeshi
Mr. and Mrs. Jagdish and Hama Patel
Mr. and Mrs. Prathmes and Triupti Patel
Mr. Pravin Patel
Mr. Ankit Patel
Mr. Hamant Patel
Lufkin Subway, Inc.

Also of course, I wouldn't be going on this trip if it weren't for International Student Volunteers. And by the way, if you're a student and have 4 weeks off anytime during the year, ISV has programs in 8 different countries across the world. You should really check it out! Click for the link to the ISV Website!

And thanks to all my friends who encouraged me to go for it, and to those who have already helped me start packing (even if while helping, you laughed at me because of how ridiculous I look in my hiking bag--cough, Chris!)

I'm a very lucky person to have such wonderful people in my life. <3

AH, I'm just SO excited!!

--Sapna

10 Days

Hello world!
I decided to be predictable and blog about my journey to the DR. It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience and I want to be able to come back and read every detail about this trip. ISV requires us to write daily in a journal for our benefit and I'll end up blogging those entries so my friends and family can all keep up with my adventure.

Only ten days until I leave! It feels so surreal, I can't even wrap my mind around it yet...I'm beyond excited though, and have already started talking to the other students who will be traveling with me. We're a group of 19--18 girls, and 1 boy. No need to say that it shall definitely be an interesting trip, haha.

My pre-trip preparations will be commencing this weekend! I'm sure I'll blog about my packing dilemmas.

Until then,
Sapna