Silvia Goes to Dominican Republic : 6-Months of Learning

I had to do a six-months internship from my university, in which at least half should have been done abroad. Since I am very eager to travel and know that you can learn with every experience abroad very much - much more than you would think before - I decided to do the internship completely abroad. The Dominican Republic was initially not on my wish list, as I intended to go to a French-speaking Country. The Dominican Republic was suggested by Studentsgoabroad and I ultimately decided to go to the Dominican Republic. You never know what would happen if you decided otherwise and yet I can safely say that it is the best decision that I could have made.

Approximately three months before departure, I applied for an internship at Studentsgoabroad. The whole process was a lot faster than expected. I was asked in which country I wanted to go, what kind of company and what are my preferred tasks. Studentsgoabroad found something for me really quick and gave me some advice regarding departure, visa, etc. The replies to my mails have never taken more than a day and all my questions were answered. Also during the stay, I was asked a few times, how everything was going. It would have been nice, however, to receive a few more information about the organization in advance to get to know the project better before I was in contact with Manfred.

I had applied for the tourism sector but was also active in the social media area where I learned a lot about multimedia programs like Adobe Premier etc. Above all, I got to know the platform facebook from another perspective. I've learned how to increase the range, what attracts people and what doesn't. As mentioned above, I assisted in the Spanish lessons and English lessons for young people. I worked one and a half months at the reception of a cooperating hotel where I also learned a lot. I also participated in a project, which consisted of tourist guide workshops on appropriate customer support. In addition, I launched an environmental protection project with a few other interns in which we held a presentation for the local inhabitants to create awareness about environmental protection. At the end of this project, we planned a beach clean-up event on the beach. Many international workers are employed in the organization and there are many volunteers and interns from all over the world. But there are also several locals who work for the organization.

I was very flexible with my working hours and I often worked from home. Many projects have taken place on certain days and were not regular and other projects were regularly and every week on the same day and at the same time. So at the beginning of the week, I always created a schedule with all the tasks I had to do during the week, whereby I developed more time management skills.

is the capital of the province of Samaná and compared to Santo Domingo, the capital of the country, or even with other cities it is rather small. Tourism in Samaná is rather special and does not focus on mass tourism. There are mainly Cruising tours (1 November - 15 April). However, there are also large resorts. The biggest attractions in the province are the whale season (15 January - 15 March), the Bacardi Island Cayo Levantado, which is very nice for diving and snorkeling, the waterfall in El Limón, the National Park Los Haitises and the two small towns Las Terrenas and Las Galeras, which have very beautiful beaches. One is called Playa Rincón which is one of the most beautiful beaches in the Caribbean and the whole world.

In November it didn't stop raining. Some of the houses are not built strong enough so that at some point the rain got inside. Within a short time, everything started to become moldy. In the remaining time, the weather was very good.

Be aware of crime scam! know who you can trust and whom you can't. If you stay for a longer time in Samaná, you will know all the traders and know who to trust. Otherwise, you can also ask the volunteers on the spot. In general, you shouldn't accept the first mentioned price. Dominicans accept negotiation and can almost always go down with their prices.

Most of the men on the streets will call after you. Don‘t get confused. If they are nice and polite, you can nicely answer. But if they are impertinent, simply ignore them and proceed safely. Unfortunately, they have never learned better than that, but at some point, the Dominican men will get to see the wave of emancipation. However, there are also very pleasant and polite men, as there are exceptions everywhere.

The typical food here is, for example, rice with beans, Tostones (Fried banana), chicken, yucca and Aroha (chicken meat with fries, mayonnaise, ketchup, baked with cheese). These things can be found almost everywhere. Fish is also very tasty and mostly fresh. I would recommend you, to have a look at your fish before it gets fried to make sure it's fresh.

In the evening, you can eat all these things at the Malecón in Samaná. This is a good place to end the day while relaxing and talking with your fellow volunteers. There is also quite different food like pizza or burgers. On the market in Samaná, you can buy fruits and vegetables, like tomatoes, bananas, avocados, mangos, and pineapples for a reasonable price. It is important to wash the fruits and vegetables properly before eating them, since they are more raw and natural than in Europe and sometimes they still have some dirt which can make you very ill.