Halfway through the plane ride I was beginning to wish I had listened to my mom when she told me to bring something other than my iPod to keep my entertained. I had been listening to the same 200 songs over and over again and I was getting bored, really bored. I finally decided to just look out the window. The clouds were beautiful and so was the water. My first trip out of the United States, I had dreamed of this day for a long, long time. Finally, our plane started circling around and I could see the island from my window. The sandy beach and the turquiouse water had me almost jumping out of my seat!
After we landed, we hoped on a shuttle and minutes later we were at our resort. The purple building standing so tall looked almost like a castle, the inside, even prettier. When we got to our room, we were restless and couldn't wait to explore all around the resort! As we walked around I realized it was going to be harder to make friends than I had expected. All of the girls my age seemed to have friends or sibings to hang out with.
The next day, as we went down to the beach there were Jamaicans everywhere with arms full of homemade necklaces and shells ready to sell to tourists. One guy named Freddy talked my mom and I into buying some necklaces and every day after that he called me Princess whenever he saw me.
On one of our adventures down the beach we met another Jamacian who sold shells on the beach to provide for his five children. That made us realize how lucky we were to have a good education and to live in the United States where we have endless opportunities. As we talked and got to know this man for a bit, we watched him fish for food for his family's dinner. He took a piece of a baby fish, tied it on a string, and threw it into the ocean. A few minutes later, he pulled out a barracuda! It amazed us how close exotic fish were to our swimming area!
On one of our last days in Jamaica, my mom and I went to Dunn's River Falls, a waterfall in Jamaica that is a huge tourist attraction. We got on the tour bus where the guide gave us plenty of new information. In Jason Derulo's new song, "Don't Wanna Go Home," he shows a little Jamaican background. The line in the song that says "Day-o Me Say Day-o, Daylight Come and We Don't Wanna Go Home," refers to a Jamaican song that slaves sang while they were picking bananas. Although Jason Derulo switches it around a bit, it's still Jamaican culture.
In conclusion, my trip to Jamaica was successful. I'm very happy that we went on that trip because it gave me and my family some cultural experience and knowledge on how other people in different countries live. Although we've had an exchange student before, actually experiencing the culture first hand gave us plenty of knowledge. I think that taking trips and vacations are a wonderful thing to do with your family because they give you the opportunity to do things together and experience new things by bonding together, which is why I'm very thankful to have a family that travels.
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