Angela:  Now when you went over there you could already speak Spanish pretty well.

Lauren:  Right. I've been studying since the 6th grade.

Angela:  So how would you assess your language development at the times you arrived and how much did you gain by the time you left?

Lauren:  This is what I tell everyone when they say 'oh Lauren, teach me Spanish'; I try to teach you the basics. When I went over there I had been studying since 6th grade and I was in my second year of college. So I had a pretty decent knowledge of the Spanish language. But no experience, I believe, is greater than the ability to go over and force yourself to live in an environment where you're surrounded by the language and immersed into their culture.

You learn how to use different words and different texts and how they fit and different [inaudible] terms. You just learn how to speak the language and converse in it versus just speaking the language and knowing 'I'm saying hola, that means hello' versus saying something else.
…
Angela:  OK. How would you contrast your college experience over there with your college experience at Howard?

Lauren:  Well, I would say life over there is relaxed in general. So I don't remember seeing too many people walking up and down the halls crying about a class or a teacher. They're very intelligent people. But I think that the way they organize their education is very different versus here in the States it's either you know this or you don't and you're stressing out and going crazy and walking up and down the street with a cup of coffee every two seconds.

[laughter] So I think that once I came back to the United States I really had to refocus my mind to a different mindset. I just realized, I had a six month study abroad over there; but now I'm back in the United States, which is where I'm used to, and going to receive my education or my degree from.

Angela:  OK. So, what was your typical day like?

Lauren:  I would wake up around 8:00 or so; eat breakfast. Breakfast over there is a cup of coffee. You can have a sandwich. You can have eggs. You can have any type of meat. But I just eat chicken and fish. So I would just usually have toast in the morning because I'm not a big breakfast person, and a cup of coffee. That was my daily get in.
I must say, I brought back so much coffee and I ran out. So I'm missing it.

Angela:  Really?

Lauren:  Then, you would go to your classes. I had a class at [inaudible], I believe, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays two classes after that.

Sometimes I would bring my lunch. But other times, because I lived right around the corner from the school, I would go home for lunch, which is what they call, "la vandera of the Dominican Republic," which is just chicken, rice and beans, and sometimes a side salad. It's one of the greatest meals you'll ever find.

Angela:  Mmmm! So, do you know how to make that now?

Lauren:  No, I make tostones, which is fried plantains, the hard crunchy ones, the flat ones. I love making those.
I am good with rice and beans.  The chicken I just haven't learned how to build that sauce they make. I've looked at so many Internet recipes, but...

Angela:  Yeah. Well sometimes it's just never as good as you have it over there, that's all. [laughs]

Lauren:  I know! I'm trying to go back just for that. I found a couple of Dominican restaurants in Philadelphia, where I live, so that's been keeping me going until I get back over there.

Angela:  Yeah. Has the food been comparable in the restaurant in Philly?

Lauren:  I'll just say: there's nothing like the D.R. It's holding me over, is what it's doing.

Angela:  OK, OK. Oh, that's good then. OK, pardon me, I didn't mean to interrupt you about the food but it's so important.

Lauren:  No, I love talking about food! [laughs]

When I first began speaking with you this evening I spoke about how I was interested in the Afro-Latino culture. Basically this is just as simple as how we all ran into the United States??or, most of us African?Americans. The slave trade - we all got dropped off at different locations.

There were many thousands, millions, of people that got dropped off in the Domincan Republic but still have the rhythm and the soul - just like us as African Americans with the beat and the drums and the just moving our feet.

So that whole culture, in the Dominican Republic, is so different. So the way that they speak has a ring to it. It's not the same type of ring you're going to hear when you speak to someone from Spain or someone from Ecuador. It's just going to be a different....

It's a beautiful accent. I'm getting excited just talking about it. It's just beautiful.

Angela:  Well I could hear in the way that you describe some of the things that you were doing in the Spanish words. There are a couple of Dominicans I've run into. It sounded to me like you were saying the words the same way that they said the words. That's why I asked you because it sounded a little different to me.

Lauren:  Yeah, I just definitely tried to....Of course, some of them can tell that I'm not Dominican or whatever. But, then again, you can't tell because we all have dark skin. All have the kinky hair or the straight hair or whichever, however the wind blows. Black people are so diverse in our features and everything that we have.

But like I said, I tried to immerse myself in the culture. I don't think that you can go into a country and not try to totally push yourself at their learning. You can't stand off like, "I'm the outsider, I'm better than you." We're all here to learn.

Angela:  Well, that negates the whole thing. Yeah, there's no point in going if you're going to do that.

Lauren:  Right.

Angela:  So let me ask you this, then. If you could pick one thing that was the best thing about your journey abroad, what would it be?

Lauren:  Hmmmm. That's a tough one. One thing. [laughs]

Angela:  Well, pick two things.

Lauren:  One thing. OK. If I could choose one thing, so, say what the best experience about my study abroad experience in San Polla Lingual, I would have to say that it was the music.
Angela:  OK.

Lauren:  [laughs]

Angela:  OK; all right. So....

Lauren:  Can I just say one more thing?

Angela:  Sure.

Lauren:  OK. It was the music. It was also the friendships that you built with the natives.

Angela:  Why? Why for each of them? Why music?

Lauren:  And I.

Angela:  Why, why was the music? Why was the music so wonderful?

Lauren:  Like I was saying, a few minutes ago about the Winwood - just being able to hear the drum and hear the rhythm and the beat of merengue and bachata. You can never, you just can't replace; they're irreplaceable Latin dance [inaudible].

Angela:  I guess you can, do dance the merengue now, right?

Lauren:  Oh, yeah; definitely. I'm getting better on a daily basis.

Angela:  [laughs]

Lauren:  I try to go out as much as possible and dance merengue and bachata.

Angela:  OK.

Lauren:  But, as for the friendships that I've built, like I said, two of my best friends who were in my program - I'll be living with one by the end of this week, hopefully - you just learn, when you find a group of people, I think, that you're so similar to. They have the same interests as you and like want to study Afro-Latino culture because it's a hidden subject. We hear about black people. But they group us all together.

Angela:  Yes.

Lauren:  But I feel like we're the same, yet so different. That's something that we need to celebrate and appreciate.

Angela:  OK.

Lauren:  When you have friends that are able to appreciate that, that's just a beautiful thing. It's something that we cherish to this day.

That's it on study abroad in the Dominican Republic. Now let's go back to the countries / programs tab.