International Blog

I apologize to anyone who read my post and was lost without some background information. My name is Emily Ruskamp, and I’m a junior Journalism major/Econ minor spending this semester in the Dominican Republic through the Encuentro Dominicano program. There are 13 of us Creighton students here this semester and we’ve been here two weeks, though it’s hard to believe it’s only been two weeks. We’re living in Santiago at ILAC, the Institute for Latin American Concern. We spent the first week in orientation meetings and activities, including a weekend trip to the capital, Santo Domingo, and a scavenger hunt around Santiago to help us become familiar with the city. Last week we started our classes; we’re all taking Spanish and a course about the DR, and some are taking an extra class. Donna Pawlowski from the Communications Dept. is down here now teaching a course and brushing up on her Spanish.

The other students studying with me here are: Andy Bauer, Anna Budinger, Celyce Graves, Cameron Hinkson, Adam Kavan, Cat Keating, Sean Kenney, Dee Kimata, Meagan Lard, Kate McKillip, Heather Robertson and Greg Wittenburg.

In addition to taking courses, we each also attend a weekly service site, ranging from schools and tutoring to a nursing home and a few others. I started service today as Hospicio, a nursing home and hospice home. I should have more to share about that later. In two weeks we will go on our first immersion in a campo, or rural community. We will each be living with a family for 10 days while building an aquaduct system for the community, which will allow them to have running water. I think some of us (including me) are a little nervous about little things like showering with buckets but I know that I am extremely excited for the experience.

That’s a basic run-down of the program. More to come soon!

By Emily Ruskamp

I never really listened when they told me about culture shock at the study abroad meeting. I guess I wasn’t too worried about it–I mean, how different can people really be? We seem to have a pretty wide variety of people and cultures in the US and they seem to fit together pretty well… right?

Well, I tell you now, I was wrong. Yes, of course, all people are created equal, we’re all the same in our roots, and all that. But when I’m sitting on the torn-up cushion of the back seat of a rusty mini van that smells like a mixture of body odor and humidity, and the woman next to me–or more accurately, on top of me–is holding her baby (who, by the way, appears to have ring worm), and the man on the other side of me is asking me to hold one of two large, bulky paper sacks… and suddenly I hear a pounding on the roof and the vehicle stops, and I think, somebody must be getting off ’cause there’s no way we can pile a 17th person into this 11 person van. Then I feel the man next to me scooting over to make room for two girls to squeeze in, and the van takes off. I find myself looking out the window, watching as homes, businesses, outdoor bars, small groups of people hanging out talking and an occasional dog or two pass by, and I think, “Am I really here? Is this reality?” Yep, it sure is.

Having taken the gua gua, as this form of transportation is called, a couple times now, I’m just beginning to get used to sacrificing my personal bubble. Of course, I could just call a taxi, but then I run the risk of telling him a wrong turn and driving down a dark, somewhat creepy street (but don’t worry–that never happened).. but when in the DR, do as the Dominicans do… get cozy.

By Emily Ruskamp