The first days in Santiago

This has been my second day in the Dominican Republic and I have been enjoying myself so far. I

was nervous on my way to the airport because I have never flown by myself. I have always had my mom with me so

I figured this was going to be a challenge and I was afraid of things going wrong and getting lost. I managed to get around the airport with no problem. On the first night when I arrived at my host family’s apartment on Saturday night, the mom was very welcoming. I was nervous about staying with a host family but she made me feel very comfortable. Even though there is a language barrier I enjoyed trying to communicate with the mother. Even though I have a little bit of knowledge in Spanish it still can be difficult. She is very sweet which made me feel comfortable about living with a host family. I felt at home. The meals that she has made for us so far have been very good. She always asks us what we like.

She has two sons who know a good amount of English. They are cool and I enjoy talking to them. Yesterday we played cards along with my two roommates. It was really fun. I also enjoyed bonding with the other students in the program. Yesterday we walked around and stopped inside some places. We were trying to communicate with the locals. When we got back my host brothers took my roommates and I around the corner to a pizza stand. We sat there and ate and conversed with the locals. They were friendly to us. I was very nervous coming here but so far the first two days made me feel comfortable about being in this country. There has been things that I had to adjust to. The Yesterday I seen guys walking around with shot guns which freaked me out. I almost panicked because I was not expecting that. On the first day we visited the monument of heroes. I love the city so far. I'm ready to see what the rest of this trip has in store.