Mi ultimo fin de semana en La Republica Dominicana!

This weekend was a great last weekend, and one to remember. We started off with a bang. Right after school on Saturday, our Italian student Alessio invited our class to his house to try his homemade Italian pastas. Let me tell you, this was the best pasta I have EVER had. Everything was homemade, all the way down to the noodles. We had three courses. The first was a typical linguine with fresh tomato sauce and tomatoes, the second was eggplant lasagna and the third was broccoli sauce with penne pasta. We also had wine, homemade bread and finished it off with some coffee with a hint of Orange. It was fabulous. After that, I headed home for some much needed rest. I was then immediately greeted by my host sister telling me that I needed to get up because we were going to TGI Fridays for happy hour. This was pretty fun. We met up with some friends and had a couple long island ice teas and bloody marys. I was feeling pretty good. After this, we went to Chef Pepper for some dinner where I had a marvelous Philly cheesesteak. My night ended well when I fell asleep a little tipsy and full to the television show Ghost Whisperer.

Saturday morning we were supposed to go to a BBQ, but our friend Teilor had a sick mother who did not want anyone at the house. Instead, we all did our own things. I decided to go to a beautiful hotel pool that was close to my house and nap in the sun for a couple hours. The weather was great and I made a couple friends from New York while I was there. It was a great time, and I only got a little red. I seem to use sun tan lotion every time, and yet I still continue to get sun burned. Then for the evening on Saturday I went to bed at 8:30. Probably not the most exciting way to spend my evening, but I was exhausted. The sun wore me out. I ended up waking up yesterday morning to my sister knocking on my door around 8 asking if I wanted to go to Higuey for the day. Well of course I did!

I grabbed my swimsuit, brushed my teeth and met our friends downstairs. We were going to a church in Higuey where our friend Edwin needed to make a promise to the Virgin of Thanks there. This is a tradition that many Dominicans have here. I did not understand what was going on, but I went with so I could support my friend. It was a two hour drive, but we had fun. I spent the majority of my time listening to the three boys argue about politics and how much it costs to live in the United States. It was actually pretty comical. For the entire 2 hour drive there, we only spent 10 minutes in the church which was really interesting for me, but hey, I couldn't complain, it was tradition. After this, we decided to go to the beach, only for the weather to make drastic shift. All of a sudden we were in the middle of a tropical storm and the rain was coming down so hard. I hate driving here in general because everyone is so dangerous and it is very unsafe, but add a little rain and I am petrified! We decided to go to the JUMBO store instead and get lunch. We ordered the largest pizza ever and ate every last bit followed by some coca-cola and chocolate. After this, we went to get our black label rum and headed back into the city to the Zona Colonial so I could learn some history about Christopher Columbus and Santo Domingo.

The weather cleared up a bit and I had the opportunity to walk around the Zona with a whiskey and sprite in my hand seeing the first part of the island that Columbus discovered. I even saw the house that his son lived it. Halfway through my experience, my camera died and it started to rain, so we were interrupted early. After this, we went on a sweet rampage and searched the entire city for a place to buy cake or desert. We finally ended up at BON, my favorite ice cream shop. This was then followed by the movie Salt. I loved it, and I can't wait for the sequel. I ended up coming home and skyping with my parents and then went to bed. I only have 5 days left in this country and every day I get more excited. I cannot wait to get home!!!

Elle