As someone who grew up in a small Midwestern town and has never traveled outside of the United States of America, Puerto Rico seems pretty foreign to me. Of course, the island is technically considered a territory of the U.S., but it definitely isn’t anything like the United States that I know. The island is filled with its own traditions and history, vastly different to what I experienced growing up in small town Illinois. Before I journeyed to Puerto Rico, I felt very confident and comfortable in my ability to travel. I felt as though I had already experienced a lot of the world, and that I was much more confident and worldly than the typical “tourist”. This trip has definitely opened my eyes to the fact that I still have very much left to learn about the world and my place in it.
One of the things that I noticed immediately was that since I only speak one language, traveling anywhere where English is not the primary language will be difficult for me. Even being in a place like Puerto Rico, where nearly everyone is bilingual and roughly half of signs and advertisements are in English, I found myself insecure about ordering food or buying something and struggling to read signs and menus. Although learning a foreign language was recommended, it was never a requirement in my high school years and I grew up thinking that although it would be nice to know how to speak a different language, it wasn’t really important or necessary. Even though it is very common in America to only know how to speak one language, the rest of the world has taken a different perspective. As I mentioned earlier, nearly everyone that I encountered in Puerto Rico was bilingual and fluent in both Spanish and English. When I stumbled over the pronunciation of a Spanish word or stared at a sign in confusion, they would immediately switch over to English to communicate with me. In most European countries as well, students are usually taught multiple languages in school so that they can be able to communicate with people from different areas and cultures of the world. It is not uncommon for an European student to be trilingual or have an even greater depth of language knowledge, while in America, knowing multiple languages, although considered a valuable skill, is not common. When talking about international travel, people commonly say that Americans are disliked by people living in different countries. As a global superpower and arguably the most powerful country in the world, Americans can sometimes be viewed as rude, ignorant, or stuck in their ways. Another thing that I have heard is that Americans are very narrow minded when it comes to other cultures, and instead of appreciating and learning from new perspectives, they will try to “Americanize” things to make them easier to understand. Even though these viewpoints are just cliches and negative stereotypes, traveling to Puerto Rico has made me realize why Americans do sometimes receive these labels. My complete lack of ability to speak Spanish and my ignorance of many common Puerto Rican traditions and customs definitely made me feel like the stereotypical annoying American tourist. However, I hope to change that as I grow older by exposing myself to more cultures and perspectives. This trip has helped open my eyes to the fact that I still have a lot to learn about different areas of the world, and that I should take every opportunity possible to expose myself to new places and experiences.

Growing up in a Catholic household, I have always been familiar with the story of the Three Kings, but I didn’t realize how important of a holiday it was in Puerto Rican culture. On January 6th, the holiday is celebrated all across the island with festivals, parties, and, in Old San Juan, the procession of the Three Kings themselves. The holiday in my hometown isn’t very much of a big deal, with only a small ceremony at the church, which is very different from the big spectacle that is thrown all throughout Puerto Rico. However, it was exciting to see that I have something in common with native Puerto Ricans, and that even though the culture may be very different from what I am used to, we still have many similarities. Even though the picture taken below was of a Puerto Rican church, it could be from anywhere in the world. Christianity is a common tie that binds me to millions of people across the world, who worship in churches identical to mine and celebrate the same holidays and traditions as I do.I

In summary, these last few days spent in Puerto Rico have definitely changed the way that I feel about myself and the world around me. I now realize that I am not the savvy, worldly traveler, but instead someone young and inexperienced, with a lot to learn about the world. I am learning to celebrate the differences that I see in new places and new cultures, and have realized that no matter how different a person may seem from myself, there will always be some common ground. To be honest, I’m still not completely sure where my place in the world is, but by traveling, learning, and exposing myself to as many new things as possible, I’m sure that I’ll find it somewhere.

I had my bag packed and was positive that I had packed everything from a swimsuit to my tooth brush. I was staying the night with Maddie, another girl on the trip who lives in Chicago, so we could make it to O’Hare by 5 o’clock in the morning. We went and got dinner and came back to her house to finish getting ready for the trip. We were all settled in. ll was well. I went to bed believing I was fully prepared for the day of travel that loomed ahead. When we woke up, it all seemed normal I ate a pop tart and brushed my teeth, I laced up my shoes excited for the adventure ahead and gathered my bags and Maddie and I were out the door. For me, the forty-five-minute trip to O’Hare seemed to take forever. When we finally arrived, one of the other students Myles was also just getting out of his car. This only made us more excited about the opportunities for us ahead. Out of the car, we dragged our bags into the airport and stood with some of the other student on the trip talking excitedly about getting out of the frigid Illinois winter and to warm, sunny Puerto Rico. We then decided it would be a great idea to print out our boarding passes while we waited for the rest of our group to arrive.
That is when crisis struck. I was walking up to the kiosk for United and reaching for my wallet to grab my ID to print out my boarding pass when a sense of panic washed over me. Where was my wallet? I need my ID to get on the plane and it was nowhere to be found. I pulled everything out of my backpack frantically looking for it. It was not there. I opened my carry-on bag thinking maybe when I was putting clothes back this morning I threw it on top, but sadly no. By this time, everyone (minus one that missed the plane, but that’s another story) was there and ready to go through security. I was in a little bit of a panic, so what did I do? I, of course, called my mom. She was on her way to exercise class all the way back in Effingham, and honestly could not have helped me too much other than calming me down. After explaining the situation to her we got to work on locating my wallet. I once again checked my backpack and carry on to no avail as Maddie called her parents to look for the wallet back at her house. After Maddie got off the phone we were almost positive that I had lost it getting into or out of the car because her parents could not find the wallet where I had slept in the house. After hearing this, we walked outside and looked to see if I had dropped it there. Once again, nothing. At this point I was convinced that there was no way I was getting to Puerto Rico, and to make matters worse I had lost my wallet and would have to replace all the IDs and cards inside. But then, Maddie’s phone started ringing again. Her parents had found my wallet! I was elated to hear that I had not lost my wallet forever, but was still worried about how I was going to get to Puerto Rico because it was too late to get my wallet to O’Hare as Maddie’s parents were leaving for California from a different airport.
At this point, I had called my dad to get a picture of my passport, and was waiting with Professor Rodriguez in line for security with only my luggage and boarding pass. No ID. As we approached the front of the line I could only feel dread as I waited to hear that TSA agent to tell me “Sorry I cannot let you go.” When we finally go to that point, we explained the situation and they called out a code and another agent came forward and asked me if I had anything in my bag or backpack that would identify me like a piece of mail or a prescription medication, but of course I had none of those items. The officer from the TSA then told me that he would have to ask me some questions regarding myself to identify myself. As I filled out a form with some of my information, he dialed a number. We stood there for a few minutes making small talk about where I was trying to get to. As it turns out, he was heading to San Juan in the upcoming week and was telling me all about what he likes about Puerto Rico and asking me where we were heading. Then someone on the other end of the phone must have picked up, and I instantly got more nervous. I had done nothing wrong, but there was something about that situation that made me incredibly nervous. The officer started asking me questions about traveling and my residence and all kinds of things until he suddenly stopped. I was worried I said something wrong, but that weight was lifted as I learned that they had verified my identity and I would be allowed to pass through security and eventually board my plane. One last tiny snag hit when we thought about the return trip. I would need to have my ID in Puerto Rico to get on a plane back home. Luckily, one of Maddie’s friends that was taking her parents to the airport was able to mail my wallet to me and now we are just exploring, and waiting for my wallet.
Overall, I cannot be more thankful for being able to get on that plane. So far, we have had an absolutely amazing time here, but I would have never made it without the help of other people like Maddie, Professor Rodriguez, and the extremely nice TSA officer to get me here. I am so excited to have this opportunity, but if there are any lessons to learn from this, remember that politely saying “sir, ma’am, please, and thank you” go a long way, and if you forget your form of identification to the airport you will absolutely feel stupid.
(Pictured below is me, incredibly happy about making it to Puerto Rico.)

A