Life Back Home
I come from Puerto Rico, an island in the Caribbean that is roughly one hundred and ten miles from east to west and forty miles from north to south. As you can imagine it’s not a physically big place, but we do make our voices be heard around the world, for example when it comes to international competitions. Adding to this, we have a rich culture that I would never give up and that I will always carry with me where ever I go. Thinking back on Puerto Rico, you are never far away from a good time, for example I could walk from my house to the beach in less than two minutes to meet up with some friends. And probably in those two minutes I would meet one or two people that would kindly say “Hola!” (Hello) or “Buenos días!” (Good morning), strangers saying hello would not be anything out of the usual in Puerto Rican culture. Also, we had road trips on the weekend to other parts of the island, knowing that tropical weather is going to be found in any direction, inspires the volume of the latin rock music in the car to go up. Whether it’s going to the mountains to hike or to visit one of the sister islands (Vieques or Culebra) for the weekend, you will always have a good time when you are with friends or family. However, there are two elements that usually prevail in whatever you do when you are out and about on the island: Family and food. You can never go wrong with family, we do so many things together, from road trips, to parties at our house, where family members and many friends are invited to come socialize and at times to dance. Family is always there to relax or to talk with them about your day or problems. On the other hand, family also plays a spiritual role; every time we eat we would give thanks and usually it would be with the family that we attend church. All in all, life back home had a smooth pace, a comforting melody that is easy to fall in love with and feel extremely attached to.