"All travel has its advantages. If the passenger visits better countries, he may learn to improve his own. And if fortune carries him to worse, he may learn to enjoy it."

~ Samuel Johnson

To celebrate New Year's 2012 I had the opportunity to spend it visiting a friend's family in the Dominican Republic. This was the first time I ever had the opportunity to stay in a home while in a foreign country, as well as my first visit to a developing nation. The home stay taught me a lot about both Dominican and Caribbean culture. This opportunity will benefit me in future endeavors as I am aware of their culture.

In addition to learning about the culture I experienced a language barrier like none I had ever experienced. As most of the family did not speak English and we were in the non-tourist sections of Santiago and Santo Domingo few people that we met spoke English, thus teaching us how to use hand signals to explain what we needed.