Why I Want to Va a Puerto Rico! (I'm good at Spanglish)

By: Haley Hernandez
I will graduate with a minor in Spanish and last summer spent six weeks in Chile and Argentina. My experience last summer changed my life because it taught me a lot about myself and other cultures. I feel like the trip to Puerto Rico is my opportunity to combine journalism and my Spanish. Most importantly, I’m eager to learn about travel writing because that’s an important aspect of journalism but not a course available during the regular school semesters.
In the future, I plan to work for a television news station. No matter what station I work for, I know the importance of being bilingual and having worldly experience on top of excellent writing and reporting skills. I think the trip to Puerto Rico will not only help me work toward these goals but teach me so much more than I can even imagine.
This past fall semester as an intern at OU Nightly, it became clear that I want and need more hands on experience to know what I am good at and what I like. I am a firm believer that the best education is not always in a classroom and hope that I can have the privilege to study in Puerto Rico this summer to give me a journalistic experience that will help me to accomplish my goals by furthering my education in ways that are not possible sitting in a classroom.
I commit myself completely to everything I do and especially to furthering my education. I am a hard worker and I make it a point to learn from every experience. I would not take the learning experience in Puerto Rico lightly, instead I would use the two weeks as an intense training for what I want to do with my future.

Travel writing excursion

I am applying for this Travel Writing course in Puerto Rico for many different reasons. My future plans consist of moving to Italy to become a sports caster for a local news station. I realize that I will have to be very experienced in many different situations for this goal to be accomplished. I know international broadcasting is very difficult, and I need a lot of outside exposure. I believe this Puerto Rico trip would give me some of the exposure to different people, cultures, and languages that I need.
Being a freshman, I understand that most of the starting spots will go to upperclassman. I was told that I could wait to go, but I was never a very patient person. I’ve seen too many people’s dreams pass them by because they waited for a better time. I believe that there is nothing wrong with starting early; I think it actually helps you in the long run. I became involved with the broadcasts within the first two weeks I was here. I have been working part time, interning at the Nightly News, and working on the Sports Package for the past semester. I have big goals and dreams, and I have realized that I cannot accomplish them without other people’s help. I am doing everything in my power to make my goals a reality. I am planning on studying abroad in Italy the summer of my junior year, so I’m not sure that I will get the chance to go on another travel writing trip like this one. I would really appreciate it if you would consider me for a position on the team you are taking to Puerto Rico.

Posted by kimberly querry at 5:29 PM

Puerto Rico + Travel Writing: A Journey to Take

I'm eating an ice-cream cone on the plaza in Ponce. This was on our first night in Ponce and the ice-cream was a tasty treat after a long day!


By Chelsea Young

I imagine travel as exciting, humbling, and an experience worthwhile. I have always longed to travel outside of the United States, but have not had the opportunity to do so. I find other cultures and landscapes fascinating, and believe there is a greater world beyond that of my own to experience, communicate about and understand. Time and time again, while reading travel magazines or the newspaper’s travel section, I find myself drawn to the writing and eye-catching photography that accompanies each article. I strongly believe that participating in the “Communicating Culture: Travel Writing in Puerto Rico” program will give me a way to combine an interest, travel, with my area of study, journalism.

My experience in journalism is newspaper and magazine writing and design, and I would love to enhance that knowledge by learning the techniques of travel writing. I particularly enjoy creativity and using visual elements to tell a story, especially the way photographs and page design contribute to the form of journalism found in travel writing. Traveling another country and discovering its culture, while learning the techniques of travel writing would be of tremendous benefit in my exploration of this career track. The Puerto Rico journalism program would be rewarding in many ways, but perhaps the greatest would be deepening my knowledge of a subject I am passionate about and which may become a lifelong pursuit.

The Why's of Wanting to go to Puerto Rico

By: Dianne Lee

I am interested in the program because this is a once in a life-time opportunity to study abroad in a different culture. I have always been intrigue by cultures and this will be one way to gain more exposure about the world around me. The fact that I am from Malaysia also encourages me to take advantage of the courses offered here to enrich my student experiences at OU as well as to open up opportunities for me in the future as a travel writer.

I have traveled widely in the past to countries such as Australia and New Zealand. Taking this course is just another great way to put two of my passions together – traveling and writing. This will also give me a great chance to take my traveling experience up to a higher notch, where I could apply my writing skills to good use instead of being a mere tourist.

Besides that, this is the only study-aboard program that is relevant and suitable to my major. I have always wanted to study abroad, even after coming to America, but the duration and time have always been inappropriate. As this will be my last summer, I feel that it is time to take the leap and apply for this program because it will greatly benefit me in the long run.

In conclusion, I believe that JMC 4970/5970 is a fantastic program to be in because I will have the chance to experience a different culture and learn to write about it.

I said it's time to leave the states!

By: Dawn Scales
Jan. 28, 2006

For many years I have been interested in traveling and in the course of those years my passion for writing has definitely grown. I have obtained writing experience through reporting for two on-campus publications and a daily city newspaper. Taking that experience further is a constant need for me. Nurturing my skill, expanding the knowledge I know and encountering different cultures are all key as well. Traveling to San Juan, Puerto Rico will enable me to learn about the history of travel writing and its contemporary genres taught by Dr. Meta Carstarphen and Professor Kathryn Jenson White.
I always find myself researching, reporting and writing about issues that concern those of minority status, being those that have different ethnic backgrounds to those who are of completely different races. Even though English is required in all federal matters in Puerto Rico, Spanish is without a doubt the dominant language and I can’t wait to try out my two semesters of Spanish among native speakers. I think my longing to travel comes from wanting to connect the imagery I have seen with the actual encounter of a specific place and people. Being able to document happenings and creating bonds with individuals that I would otherwise not interact with is what keeps me going on a daily basis.
The Gaylord College, as I have noticed, works hard to provide further educational opportunities for us as students. I would like to have the pleasure of reaping the benefits of such scholastic programs.

The Importance of Travel Writing

By: Slater Rhea

March 31, 2007

As an American, and one who wishes to write about and to comment on the human experience, I desire very deeply to understand the lives of those outside of my immediate culture. Because of want of commonality with others, and a kind of universal citizenship, it is useful, and often undertaken to visit other distinct communities, to observe, and to report one’s observations. “What does it mean to be a member of another society?” and “What does it mean to be American?” are important questions which this “travel writing” attempts to answer; they are questions I seek to answer in my life.

From Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Marble Faun and Henry James’ American which deal with American perspectives in Europe to Richard Engel’s War Zone Diary about daily life in modern Iraq, the genre know as “travel writing” has been vital to American and Western thought. Because it is by definition observation made by cultural outsiders it offers a perspective which is freshly observant. Subtle, important differences in societies’ ways of life become apparent, and the knowledge of these can be powerful to both cultures.

To my mind, some of the most deeply affecting and meaningful literature about American life has come from foreigners, or those otherwise alienated from society at large. Alexis de Toqueville, a French citizen wrote eloquently about the early American experiment, Anzia Yezierska wrote about trying to survive in depression era New York as a Russian woman immigrant, and Ralph Ellison, a man alienated by his race brought the absurdity of American racial strife and segregation into grand relief in his Invisible Man. These writings by outside observers have been vital to the discussion of American life, in its distinct beauty as well as in its flaws.

Travel writing is important because it is an examination of one culture through the perspective of another, so that when we write about other cultures, we are necessarily writing about our own. It informs us of what is different, and of what is common. Experience beyond personal frames of reference is informative of benefits within certain societies, and of grievances. It is worthy, and necessary, and to experience and share it is one of my true personal priorities.