Life was marvelous today in Loiza, Puerto Rico. I started my day at 8:30 AM to catch some rays before my group and I needed to add some final edits to our digital story assignment that portrayed what we have learned thus far from our time spent in Puerto Rico. Nothing can compare to starting my day, while reading by the pool, in 80 degrees and clear skies. Once 11:30 AM rolled around, my group and I added transitions and voice over to our Digital Story – "How Slavery Impacted Puerto Rican Culture.” I had an enjoyable time collaborating while producing this digital story, for we all have diverse personalities and come from varied majors.
At 1 PM, all groups had to be prepared to present the digital stories. The digital stories had to relate to the topics that we were learning and experiencing in Puerto Rico such as: history, community, diversity or social capital. While my group and I decided to produce our story on how slavery impacted the island, one of the two groups had presentations on the numerous ecosystems on the island (some examples from the video were the rainforest, mangroves, and caves), while the other group focused on the various forms of identity throughout the island (examples from the video included religion, sexuality, class, and race/ethnicity). It was interesting to witness how each groups’ digital stories were interconnected, but at the same time, so very different. On a side note, the digital stories showed me how I could identify every member’s personalities throughout the groups’ presentations, which is a testament to how close we have all become in just a few weeks on the island.
After the presentations and debriefing, we had the day off to do whatever we pleased. I chose to spend the day on island time, which is a way of taking life slow while following a relaxed schedule. Furthermore, after our presentations, I took a three-hour tranquil nap in the clubhouse by the pool. I woke up at 5:30 PM, just in time to workout with two of my classmates, Megan and Sam. Today’s workout consisted of running barefoot on the beach while the sunset over the Atlantic. (I’m sure that added salt to the wound for family and friends back home in the tundra of MN…sorry, we wish you were here, and miss you very much!) After, I followed a ritual nightly routine, which consists of hot tubbing at our resort and concluding the night amongst my classmates in apartment 7801. I can hardly believe that we have been on the island for almost three weeks now, but as the saying says, “time flies by when you’re having fun.”
