Finally, we’re here! The Social Entrepreneur Corps. staff met us and the other student group from the University of Maryland at the aeropuerto. The guagua picked us up and we made a stop at Olé to exchange money (“comprar pesos”) and browse, before arriving at our one-night-stay hotel in Santo Domingo.

Our floor’s on the 6th floor, and boy am I glad I packed light. My handy dandy Adidas Sports bag (only 26 llbs!) and my backpack. This is me looking out into the Caribbean Sea por la primera vez.

Yúca

Friends, you should probably know that Dominican cuisine is probably one of the things I’m most excited for. La Bandera, yúca, plátanos, …. and the list will increase when I move in with my homestay family. Or, as I like to say, mi familia dominicana. As the fellow Social Entrepreneur Corps. staff told us, me plátanaran. Turn me into a Dominican plátano.

Yúca is a type of root, and it tasted a bit like sweet potato. Chicken is in the middle! Maybe it’s cause I haven’t ate chicken since summer 2012 (and Chick-fil-A, by that lol) but this was so tender!!! For those who have safety concerns, the team here provides us with un galletón de agua potable, which is your standard 5-gallon water carrier.

People-watching, observing

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Mi primer día estaba llenado de sueño, calor, español, inglés, y introducciones. Ya.