Puerto Rico was awesome! I don’t even know where to begin. We arrived on the 6th at about 8am. The governor of Puerto Rico came to our ship to talk to us. Then, we had to go through immigrations. Once we were cleared for boarding, we just walked around for a bit. I walked around Old San Juan with my roomie, Whitney, and some of our guy friends. It is funny how the girl to guy ratio is 2:1, and we are still hang out with all guys. We ate lunch at Senor Frogs and had a few drinks. It was a blast. We danced and they held drinking contests. It was only like 2 in the afternoon haha. Our friend Walter won the beer chugging contest, so all of us got a few shot of Tequilla. Gross. Then, we walked around some more and went to the beach. I love the beach, but hate having sand stuck all over myself and everything. Ugh. After getting all sandy, we showered and got ready for a Welcome Reception. We went to the University of Puerto Rico and met up with some of the students. It was a good time. Afterwards, we all went back to Senor Frogs. I also hit up the casino and lost a few bucks. So I was at the casino with my friend Andrew and a few others. They were on the roulette table, but I wanted to play the slots. OK, so a creepy story….Soooo I am sitting on this slot machine and some guy sits next to me and asks if I am with Semester at Sea. Everyone knows what Semester at Sea is here. It is not everyday that over 700 American students arrive in your city. The guy continued to ask me questions about the program and about myself. This is normal. Many people here are very interested in the program and ask us lots of questions. The guy also told me a little about himself. He is from Turkey and came to Puerto Rico to open a restaurant. He asked me if I wanted to go to his restaurant. I am like “yeah, maybe we will stop by.” Actually, I am thinking “yeah right,” but I didn’t want to be rude. He kept asking me if I would go to his restaurant and I am like yeah yeah. Then, he says “OK, let’s go…its just around the corner.” I was like “now?” and he said “yes.” At this point I realized he wanted me to leave my slot at 1am and go to his “restaurant.” I was creeped out and told him no and told him that I was with my friends. He then offered to give me money to leave with him!! Omg I told him no and I said again I was with my friends and was not leaving and I pointed to them so he knew they could see me. I got up and went over to my friend Andrew and told him. I stood next to him and watched him play and next this I know, this guy is standing behind me looking over my shoulder. At that point, Andrew put his arm around me so the guy knew I was with him. We decided to leave and as we walked out, the guy followed. He walked into an apartment building next to Senor Frogs. We went back into Senor Frogs and a few minutes later I saw the guy! He followed us into Senor Frogs too. He was standing there by himself looking at me. Ew. We left right after that. Thank god I hang out with guys. It makes me feel much much safer.

Anyways, the second day was just as fun. I went horse back riding and met the love of my life, Peterson. He was a dirty white/grey colored horse. It was a blast. The scenery was amazing, and we saw a few giant Iguanas in the trees. Our guide caught a small Iguana and I got to hold it. I will be posting pictures sometime soon. After that, we hung out at the beach again and went out to some local bars that night. The locals are pretty nice. They were fun to talk to. The next day, a group of my friends did a rainforest hike in el Yunque. It was beautiful! We also swam in a freezing cold waterfall. Fun times. After, we went to Walgreens to get a few things we needed. We ate, and headed back to the ship. We left port at 11pm.

So, let me just tell you what I learned in Puerto Rico! It is way more Americanized than I thought it would be. Yes, I know it is an American territory, but they have their own culture. They carry US Passports and use US passports, but I still thought it would be different. Everyone knows English. So many signs, billboards, etc around the city were written in English. It was about half English/ half Spanish--way more than I expected. A few students told me that all of their college textbooks are written in English, but their classes are taught in Spanish. I thought that was very interesting. I told her I did not think Puerto Rico would be so Americanized, and she told me anyone who was somebody speaks English. She said if you don’t want to learn English, you don’t want to be a somebody. Their economy is supported by the US, but they are not a state. So, I asked a few people my age if they thought that PR should become a state. None of them really had an opinion. They liked it just the way it was. They consider themselves Puerto Ricans, not Puerto Rican Americans and have their own culture. There are three different political parties in PR: Statehood, Commonwealth, and independent. They are pretty self-explanatory. The two students I asked were independent and wanted to remain the way they were. One said she wanted to live in the US.

Ok, I am done. Just thought I would include that its not all fun and games, I am learning too! Classes are a lot of work. We have to stay on top of things. We can’t procrastinate because we don’t have the weekends to catch up! We go to class even on the weekends, but don’t have class while in the countries. We have to stop on top of things so we don’t have work to do when we are in port. We have to keep journals for every class and have required places to visit. We call this Field Practica. We have a list of options to choose from in every class. I still have tests to take and papers to write! They have actually make things harder because this trip was getting a “party ship” type of imagine. Definitely not! I have classes just like everyone else…everyday. We have no days to catch-up if we are behind, and we also have to plan what we will be doing in ports. In conclusion, Puerto Rico was amazing, but there is lots of work to be done. So be jealous, but realize that even though we have maid services and I am having a blast, I still have lots of work to do. :)