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.
You presented very interesting ideas and concepts that can be used in our open house presentation. I believe that many people visiting our booth will be from the Midwest, like you mentioned earlier. Many people stereotype Agriculture and simply think of corn and soy beans when agriculture is so much more.
Just like you discovering a new culture, our open house viewers can discover different types of agriculture such as tropical agriculture. One interesting concept you noted was the idea of “Americanization.” This has played an extremely large role in agriculture, especially in Latin America. We should maybe talk about how Americanization of agriculture has compromised Latin American Culture.
It also is definitely worth noting the language barrier. We can talk about how agricultural engineers must adapt to a plethora of problems not just technical but culturally and socially.
One way that the themes presented in your blog can be used in our open house booth is to show how culture and other facets of society affect agriculture. For example, the theme of language barriers that you presented while describing the difficulty that you have had on this trip as someone who is not fluent in Spanish. This theme is crucial in agriculture because effective communication is vital for when agriculture/sustainability specialists need to properly convey a point to people of various backgrounds. On the poster, we can explain the importance and benefits of being proficient in more than one language in the ABE field.
I can relate this post to my own life as well. I’ve traveled a significant amount before taking this journey to Puerto Rico, and was pretty confident in my abilities to assimilate right in to nearly any culture I would come across. However, my lack of Spanish speaking ability and knowledge on many of the island traditions have left me feeling more like a lost tourist than ever before. I think this would be a great aspect of the trip to add to our booth. The countless traditions we have witnessed, especially the large celebration of Three Kings Day, are a great way to show our viewers that even though the island is a part of the United States, it has its own unique identity as well. One way we can do this is by possibly interviewing a local and getting a quick take on what Three Kings Day means to them as a native Puerto Rican.