A Small Place Chapter #1 and 2 by Jamaica Kincaid

   

        Antigua is a small island located on the Caribbean region. Their economy depends on the tourism, that's why they have so many hotels around the coastline.It was a territory of England until its independence in 1981; becoming the nation of Antigua and Bermuda. Now it forms part of the Commonwealth of Nations and its a constitutional monarchy were Queen Elizabeth II is the queen.

 "The thing you have always suspected about yourself the minute you become a tourist is true: A tourist is an ugly human being. Your not an ugly person all the time; you are not an ugly person ordinarily; you are not an ugly person day to day. From day to day you are a nice person..." page 14 Chapter #1 

     What the author explains in the first chapter is how when people come to Antigua they expect a relaxed vacation without even thinking of the people that live there. She also complains about the situation of the people and how even the cars are more new that the hospitals. She exposed how one of the streets built for the Queens visit many years ago is the only completed and clean they have. Kincaid tries to let the readers know about why is it that a tropical paradise doesn't care about education because one of the libraries they have is still under construction after many years.  Her main worry is that they're so focused in the tourism that all of the other stuff will lose value, like the essence of Antigua.

   "I met the world through England, and if the world wanted to meet me it would have to do so through England"page 33 Chapter # 1.  What she's trying to argue with these lines is that the old Antigua, the one that she grew in is no longer the same. Since England started to build in Antigua an all of the tourists came, their presence and the construction have destroyed the essence of the Antigua that was pure. It's no longer the same that's what she means because people will only see the commercialized version of Antigua and not the original one.

      I felt so identified with her writing because in Puerto Rico I think it happens the same with the old San Juan. People only come here to see something that was built so many years ago and they also pretend that we have to know English (I'm not saying it's a bad thing). When the tourist come, they only see the commercialized San Juan, they don't see the essence of PR in places like Rio Piedras that the poverty is at its peek.  So the tourist only see paradise that they called "The Jewel of the Carribean" where the sun is always set and everything is pink. They should know that in Puerto Rico there are a lot of murders and also that although our island is beautiful the people don't take care of it.

    As the author says: "Being a tourist makes us bad persons".It's not us, is the reality and what the society has created. But this can be changed by when  visiting a new place simply say: Is this the real city? I want to see the essence of it! So walk a little further and experience the joys and dissapointments of a new place. 

Tourist vs. Traveler (A room with a view)

 Have you gone around places and seen people that look like these? You immediately say TOURIST! Those are the kind of people that are amazed by every little detail that they encounter in a new place or city. They're the kind of people that take a vacation and want to be relaxed and carefree . As The Free Dictionary defines it "a tourist is a person who travels for pleasure, usually sightseeing and staying in hotels".

      Now if you see a people that's normally like this, you would say businessman but is more like a TRAVELER. The type of people that are always traveling because of work, but not the pilot kind, these people are on a plane due to meetings and affairs in other countries. There could also be another kind, the wandering type. It's the the one that's more like a tourist with a hint of traveler because they're always on a plane with the purpose of visiting many places but they don't stay for long.

    A Room with a View was a movie produced in 1985 by James Ivory. It explains the life of Lucy Honeychurch and how she encounters love when going on a visit to Italy. This movie was a success that still leaves its mark around the glove.

         Lucy Honeychurch was a TOURIST that loved to meet new places and that's one of the reasons that she went to Italy.It was common for a young girl that was entering society in those times to visit Italy and learn the ways of the world. Once she got there she found that the city was marvelous and also how the Italians live. That's why in a part of the movie she says when eating with the people at the pension "Don't you guys agree that people that visit Italy should have a Room with a View? " and when the movie ends the audience could see her smirk when other girl says the same think. Because she lived the experience and she became a tourist with benefits (she found her love). 

      If she would have been only a TRAVELER she may only have seen the buildings, the streets and how the people interact in the streets but not the essence of the people like she did. She could have said that she had been to Italy because that's the reality but she wouldn't have  experienced the magic itself.

    That's the difference between a tourist and a traveler, you could be to a place because you touched its ground like a traveler but you didn't experience its magic and radiance like a tourists does.

The Journey as a Metaphor

     We encounter many journeys in our life everyday. People walking by, looking around without thinking,  sitting in a bench listening to music or simply someone laughing at other.  These are the kind of experiences that bring happiness or change their emotions in a second. 

      

      What can influence someone? This question is what our mind is constantly trying to answer when doing something. For example, when you see yourself in the mirror you're trying to imagine what other people would think of you. When you're talking to much, you wonder if you're being to self centered or if the other person is bored.  When you don't say anything at all, your mind is actually wandering from here to there, experiencing an internal journey.

      This is why a journey could mean so many things that it involves, I dare say, everything! Is something where you lived a moment and wanted to cherish it forever. When you had a bad experience and don't want to do anything, well that's even a bad adventure, but a journey nevertheless. 

 

A day as a Journey...

       

      What is a journey?  It could be a band, a song or even a term used in everyday life.  This word is defined by The Free Dictionary as "The act of traveling from a place to another, a trip".  Normally people think that it means to go to another place or  country . To others is simply to start something new or let something go. But for me is about the spiritual journey and what part of this change affected my life and those around me.

      When my professor assigned me to start to write in my journal the first thing I thought was, what could I write about that would be interesting to others? It then came to my mind that it wasn't about me but about the things that one see as the eyes of a traveler.  

      One day I started to walk and closed my eyes to see what blind people see when they walk without their vision. The only way I could do it without falling was to count my steps and have my friend help me by guiding me. I noticed that their lives are not easy and that one should help another person when  given the chance.          

                     

             That same day I started to walk around the university and some flashbacks came back from the first day I started the University. I was so scared about what the people would have done and to know where the classrooms were located. If I was from another country I would've been so afraid because the people spoke another language and the University was so big that I don't know if I could find my way around.  Also making friends is not an easy task.

    All of these experiences made me realize that when I normally walk I see, but I don't observe. That's something we all should improve to have a better future.

    

Reaction to Chapter 8 (Helping) by Jim Cooper

" The leaders of these groups were usually students who had been to private schools or studied in the States" said by Jim Cooper in Down on the Island page 79 Chapter 8. This is in reference of one of his ideas to implement the English and fix its problems. He tried to reorganize the students to take a test and those who failed also failed the course. The students started to study and also gather together in groups to start learning something new.  His ideas didn't had an immediate effect but the students started to take the English seriously.

 I loved what he said in the chapter 8 (Helping) because it shows how people from other places wanted to start making improvements on the Island and weren't like Dr. Beckwith that he didn't care at all.  This small step started a new change that lead us to what we have today; a better learning in both English and Spanish. This has opened a lot of doors and understanding in not only a language but in both. 

    I know that thanks to the knowledge I have a lot of opportunities have occurred to me. For example when I traveled to the United States I was able to communicate with the other people without problem and helped my family that don't know a lot of English. Without this it wouldn't have been the same, don't you agree?

The most excited journey I ever had...

  The best journey I had was in June and July of 2012 to Canada and USA.  I was crazy to go abroad and learn the culture and different perspective of the people that lived there. The first week we went to Disney and Florida. What captivated me the most was that people were very organized, even in Disneyland!

          LOTS OF PEOPLE MAKING LINES!!! :OO

As the trip went on I saw the North and South Carolina. There are a LOT of green areas and not a lot of strangers who speak Spanish. I felt like a tourist because I had to talk, live and think in English; something I don't have the opportunity to do in Puerto Rico.

















The people tough I had 14 years, when I'm actually 18! This surprised me because I normally have a baby face but in Puerto Rico at least I look 17 to most people! The funny part of the trip was that after I spent more days away from PR, I missed the craziness of Puerto Ricans.


The places that I loved and impacted me the most were New York and Canada. In NY I couldn't see the Statue of Liberty, but I saw Chinatown, Madison Square and even got the feeling I needed. In Canada I was expecting cold and some snow because " there's always cold  in there"  but it was the opposite; there was breeze but not cold.  The Niagara Falls were my favorite place among these two because it connects history and two different cultures.

 How pretty!!!!

Well I loved everything about my trip and I don't mind that I paid for everything. I would do it again if I had to!     BYe BYE!!