Journal Reflection

I guess my journal experience was something I expected it to be, a very fulfilling, stress relieved and personal moment. It was fulfilling because most of my thoughts turned out to be many worries I consume concerning my studies or personal issues but I found a way to just put them in writing and once they were written they were forgotten. Of course, not literally but I made a way to get them out of my sight. This relieved my stress since I let out all my anger and found a way to organize my ideas and plan ahead to establish a better day. Not only that, I found the journal experience very personal. At first I was scared what my actual thoughts could have turned out to be, but when I saw the weeks passed I felt confortable talking about serious things that normally I don’t talk with many people and it wasn’t scary at all, I was just knowing myself a little better. I guess this was good for me because in some way it was like an internal meditation in where you start seeing in what you believe in and your different opinions about certain things. At the end of the day you find yourself more and more and I think it’s very important for us, especially at our age, to have that connection with yourself, or better yet to find yourself.  Obviously there were days I just didn’t wanted to write anything and my entries were short and with no real topic. Concerning the life compass assignment I found out that I’m not always in a spiritual mood where I wish to change that. Maybe it was the fact that most of the time I wrote my life compass I was at the university or at home where I really wasn’t surrounded by anything that I could feel a spiritual vibe. Concerning mentally, my life compass was always high and awake. For my Life Compass Graph, I looked for the average number in each week for mental, spiritual, emotions and physical. 

Being a Tourist

I wish to see Puerto Rico completely. I enjoy going to the beach a lot and so a couple of months ago my habit of going to the same beach changed. I decided to go once a week to a different beach, far or close, I organized my studies and my free time to do it. And so this break continuing with my new idea, I went with my friends to Arecibo to show them a beach named "Poza del Obispo". It was my second time their and I wanted to take them to show them what a beauty it is. After a little road trip, I explained to them my assignment as to live like a tourist for a day and told them to help me and take some pictures around and just have a little fun with it. My friends were up for the challenge and so we walked the whole beach (The beach is connected with two others beaches so it was a long walk). There was also a little hiking involved and after 1,000 pictures we surely had a blast. I'm pretty sure nobody thought we were tourists because, first of all there were not so many people and second of all, our English is surely not really convincing to others. But it turned out to be an awesome day where as we wish to make another road trip to another beach and do the same. I guess the fun of it all was that we started really appreciating what we have before our eyes. Sometimes we take for granted our home and it's funny how others who don’t even live here appreciate it and value it more than some of us. I’m not saying we do it un purpose or with any negative connotation, I’m just saying that we get caught up seeing it everyday that we just loose it's value. I'm glad I did this assignment because it gave me a different view towards my homeland and how I should change my perspective. 

A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid

As I was reading "A Small Place" by Jamaica Kincaid I couldn't stop myself from relating this novel with my hometown (Puerto Rico). I saw how this strong women has strict feelings about her hometown, government, and tourists, and I don't mean the same feelings for all of them.A couple of quotes to show her themes would be first, the first sentence of the novel where she states, "THE ANTIGUA that I knew, the Antigua in which I grew up, is not the Antigua you, a tourist, would see now." I see how she makes a separation between the hometown she knows and the one that tourists go. It is important to recognize these distinctions because she later on explains why and I feel in some way connected to that. Maybe it's because Puerto Rico is a tourist place where people enjoy visiting on the holidays to enjoy the sun and the beaches. I sometimes wonder if the people who visit here really sees the problems that are occurring with our government and not only that but the economic issues that we deal with day by day. Maybe I'm a little exaggerating because our social problem is not really as huge as Jamaica Kincaid explains in her novel, but still I could see it becoming that way if we continue and worsen our problems. Also, Jamaica Kincaid illustrates how messed up is the system in the government and how affected she is by it. This can be seen when she says, "Do you ever try to understand why people like me cannot get over the past, cannot forgive and cannot forget?" When I first read this, I felt so connected to this sentence. She really shows how much it bothers her and I also found how interesting how she classifies herself saying, "people like me" where she literally feels judged and categorized. Finally, she keeps talking about the government and the tourists where she makes an example of a library that needed to be fixed and never was. This can be seen when she says, "'REPAIRS ARE PENDING, and here it is many years later, but perhaps in a world that is twelve miles long and nine miles wide (the side of Antigua) twelve years and twelve minutes and twelve days are all the same.” I quite like this example of her because one can see how the government promises new opportunities and visions where nothing is really done. I can relate to this with Puerto Rico because most of the time that is what happens in our government. I mean the governors that get elected here make so many promises that at the end of the day they don’t even make one true. So I felt in that moment as I read Jamaica Kincaid story her anger.

Literary Contest Ceremony

On March 2, 2016 we had our Literary Contest Ceremony, it was an incredible experience. It was really quite like no other since I participated and had honorable mention with my poem titled "Cousin/Prima". I was really proud of myself since I've always had a thing for literature especially poems. I like the art in poetry, but yes, it was a beautiful ceremony where I learned a lot of the "literary world". Not only that, it was a good feeling to be mentioned in a contest like that since I made an original piece and I've never been prized like that in my life. So I really felt a good enthusiasm when I was mentioned because it made me realize that some people like my work and it's a great feeling. It makes me wanna keep writing and try to get better at it. Who knows? Maybe my path can change and be a writer instead!