Student Testimonials

Sarah Shelton

Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

On January 2, 2005, my plane from Miami touched down on the first colonial city of the Americas: Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. I felt confident in my language abilities and travel skills that I had acquired on previous trips to Latin America. I felt I had a good understanding of the Latin American region from various classes and readings I had done in the Latin American Area Studies Program at University of Minnesota, Morris. Very soon I was to learn how much I really did not understand about such a complex region as the Caribbean.

The first few weeks in Santo Domingo I was awestruck and overwhelmed. The traffic was crazy, the city was congested and polluted, people talked so fast that I could barely understand what was going on around me, communication was very loud and direct, and the economic disparities were truly overwhelming to me: I saw "Hummers" more often in Santo Domingo than I had seen in the United States, and yet the poverty experienced by a large portion of the population in Santo Domingo was in my face whenever I went out.

Don't get me wrong-there were good things about Santo Domingo too. The constant rhythm of tropical sounds that pumped out of the strained woofers on every stereo system at all hours always added a fun and sensual element to life. The Dominican determination to always have a good party, no matter how hard the situation is was also a constant spirit lifter. Any night of the week one might see a party going on at the front door of a house with the dancing pouring out onto the sidewalk with the music being provided by a pumped up stereo system of a car. The only thing predictable about life was that the day was going to be unpredictable. A simple trip on the bus to school was a constant source of entertainment due to the extremely loud and opinionated conversations/arguments that took place on the creatively pieced together public vehicles.

During my time in Santo Domingo I studied in four different Dominican institutions in Spanish and participated as an intern at an office that provided free legal services to women and gave workshops that educated women on their rights. Through these diverse institutions I attended, I believe that I saw a good representation of many of the different social classes residing in Santo Domingo, which gave me a more balanced perspective than I ever would have gotten had I only attended one institution. I gained an indepth understanding of the Haitian immigration issues in the Dominican Republic, racial identity in the Dominican Republic, the urbanization trend that is happening all over Latin America and its effects, and the economic and political aspects of a country that is so completely dependent upon the United States. My language skills, both written and spoken, also benefitted greatly from my experience.

Even though I was truly ready to come home after an intense year in such an overwhelming place, as I reflect on my experience, I am very glad that I went. My experience gave me the opportunity to see the Dominican Republic from a perspective that most visitors never have the privilege to see. I also made life-long friendships with some of the people that I met. This experience enriched my understanding of Latin America and in particular the Caribbean region, and made me realize how incredibly rich and diverse the region of Latin America is.