To the Dominican Republic and Back!

Hey all!

So I’m finally back from my 10 day vacation to the Dominican Republic! I had a lot of fun with my mom, cousins, and aunt. We stayed in an all inclusive hotel in Bayahibe, and when I say all inclusive I mean all inclusive. 24 hour buffet and FREE DRINKS! Day 1 we literally did not leave the swim up bar. No joke. First thing we did was head over to the pool and we didn’t leave until it closed. Which of course after triggered an underwater photo shoot that will never see the light of day (or better said, the pages of facebook). Sometimes when we would get lost we’d try to find that blessed swim up bar to get our bearings. Other than the bar we went on a few excursions to do things like snorkeling and buggy riding. My favorite excursion was to a Toros’ baseball game in La Romana. We had almost front row seats and got VIP treatment. We must have been the only tourists (white people) in the whole stadium because the stares were never-ending. Even the team’s mascot jumped up into the bleachers to take pictures with us. Ohhh! And did I forget to mention…we probably were on the afternoon news the next day because the videographer was filming us all night. So silly! After the game we went out to the discotecas to go dancing where again we were stared at all night and for my cousins who are fairer than snow getting caressed was another part of the experience.


The Dominican Republic is a really beautiful country with gorgeous beaches. The people received us very well and I was really happy with the time I got to spend practicing Spanish. I was my family’s personal translator which was really cool…besides when my mom almost yelled at me to do it, and my cousin Heather had me translate every silly word she said when she was drunk haha! I also got the biggest compliment I think I’ve ever received. One day the taxi driver was late for my cousin and I so we went to the front desk to ask them to call the taxi to see what was up. I probably only said “Hello, we are waiting for our taxi that was supposed to arrive 10 minutes ago. Do you think you can call this number and ask if he is on his way?” Well my cousin mumbled something in English so the front desk guy decided to speak English, but then he paused mid-sentence, switched back to Spanish and asked me if I understood English!!! I was shocked! This guy actually thought that Spanish was my FIRST and ONLY language!?! Outstanding! I was so mystified I told him “Of course, I’m American!” He laughed and said how he thought I was Latina. Honestly this for me was mind blowing. Hopefully I’ll be able to trick some Chileans in the months to come…

I had a fabulous time with my family and I really feel a lot closer to my cousins. I know that each of us probably had a moment where we were sick of each other and just wanted to go home, but I love them very much and I know they love me too. We’ve decided that we want to take a trip like that once every year. Next year everyone wants to come and visit me in Chile. My mom and my aunt will come together. My mom is dying to go snowboarding in the Andes, and my aunt says she wants to see Argentina. My cousin Heather will come by herself and I’m sure she’ll want to hit the clubs and go on a man hunt haha! Finally, my cousin Stephanie wants to come by herself and I’m sure that she’ll love the bar scene and whole vibe of Santiago. She has a really cool punk princess style.

As for now I have a little less than three weeks until my grand journey to Chile. Its time to relax yet still prepare for this year long adventure. One of my Christmas gifts was a wrapped piece of paper that said “good for 1 suitcase and all other necessities.” I really don’t know how the heck I’m going to pack. It will be so weird to leave winter for summer, yet still keep in mind that I also have to be prepared for an intense winter beginning my birthday month (June!). I know I’ll be so stressed the last week, but right now I can’t wait!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and holiday season. I’m glad I got to spend it at home with my family and pets. Christmas night my big Rottweiler Shakespeare died of a heart attack which was really traumatic, but I’m happy everyone got to see him a last time. He was sleeping comfortably on the living room floor by the Christmas tree. It was the best way he could have gone.


Have a safe and fun new years! See you next year!

Oh! And my mom’s friend gave her a pot belly pig for Christmas! It’s so adorable and it already seems to think it’s a dog. And it has a really high libido apparently (like all the other animals in this crazy farm house we call our home!)


Besitos!

I’m done!!!!!!! …with finals that is

Hello all!

I AM DONE WITH FINALS and it feels so goooooood! Here is my Facebook status in regards to my final:

Brittany Nicole Rinker I didn't kill it, show it who is boss, or make it my bitch. My final and I became friends in our one hour of knowing each other and I think I would rate our friendship a B.
3 minutes ago • Comment •LikeUnlike


Don’t you just love how when finals time rolls around you use Facebook to document every move you make. For example “I’m studying in the library...someone please come shoot me” or “Facebook is bad for you when you need to study. I can’t stop procrastinating!” Or if you’re not much of a status updater you enjoy joining extremely funny and witty groups that have to do with finals. For example “F.I.N.A.L.S (Fuck I Never Actually Learned Shit) or “You know you’re in college when…”

Here are some of my updates from this week of hell:


All in all I think I did a good job. I expect a lot of Bs this quarter which in college is AWESOME! I’m really pleased with how I did this quarter especially with my rare case of Chileitis or as some call it Chile fever!

What’s next?
My mom is coming down tomorrow and I’m moving to good ol’ NorCal! Well for like one day and then it’s off to the Dominican Republic. Now that finals are over I can actually get excited!! I’m leaving Monday the 14th at 6AM which really means Sunday the 13th at like 1AM… boooooooo! Oh well. I’ll be sure to wear something really summery in the airport and snicker with my mom at all the bundled up Christmas vacation travelers heading to their boring old hometowns. Muahahah.

On a side note back to the topic of finals; after finishing the test and leaving a detailed and thorough message on my mom’s cell phone about how well I did I immediately cut my hand on my bike. I guess we just can’t have it all....

Here is a pic of my boo boo. Owie.




Chile update: problems with my visa (the damn FBI not sending back my clearance) have left me to get my visa in Chile. I’m sure the process will be just as long and tedious but at least now I can relax a bit.

Bye bye for now! Next update: Dominican Republic!

Nipple Gate: A belly dance scandal

مرحبا بالجميع
That’s “hello everyone” in Arabic!

So I literally just got back from my belly dance performance and let me tell you, it went………………………………HORRIBLE!!!!!!!!!! The worst you could possibly imagine!!!!!!

No. I’m not being melodramatic. Let me explain.

So I just got a new beige strapless bra from Victoria’s Secret that works wonders and stays in place, but tonight I was wearing a black tube top so I decided to wear an old, crappy black strapless bra from when I hit puberty. Sorry, but I’m one of those girls that likes to match their undergarments to their clothes.

So the performance sabotaging, black strapless devil bra from middle school ruined my routine! It slid its way down almost to my belly button literally about to peak out of my midriff showing, little tube top! I actually could not tell if it was just the sensation of a new material on my chest or if my nipple was literally hanging out of my shirt. The thought actually crossed my mind, “I’m dancing and smiling and my nipple is out for the whole world to see.”

I consider myself a seasoned dancer. I’ve been dancing since I could walk. I’ve performed basically all my life. I tried to dance through the fear of having a room full of family and friends of the dancers’ and band, but I couldn’t let the idea that my boob either was going to pop out or it was already being exposed leave my mind. I tried to pull my top up on the sly but had no luck, my twins were itching to have their 5 minutes of fame.

Whenever I’m performing only a few thoughts cross my head. Shoulders back, smile, don’t look down, shimmy shimmy shimmy, and most importantly “I’m loving this! Please don’t end!” And usually my first thought after a performance is “I want to do it again!” On this beautiful night of December I was mentally screaming…no screeching “PLEASE BE OVER! PLEASE BE OVER!”

So the dance finally was coming to an end and yes….it does get worse. You see with a live band it’s a bit unpredictable. You never know if the 8 counts will get faster or even if they’ll remove a whole 8 count in its entirety. On this occasion we started one of the 8 counts a little late and threw off the entire end of the dance. I looked around and literally everyone was doing something different if not just standing there looking like a lost puppy. Finally I took my bow and my shimmy walk off stage has never been faster.

I’ll let you guys in on a little secret! I’m supposed to come back at the end of the show to take a final bow but you know what I have to say to that? F*CK THAT! Take a bow for the shitty and embarrassing performance I just did to a crowd of strangers? No thank you. I think I’ll sit here in my room, bitch about it to the world wide web, and then eat a microwavable chimichanga.

And with that I bid you adieu. Goodnight everyone. Enjoy the photos from Pre-nipple-gate. Sorry this post has absolutely nothing to do with Chile or even travel.

-Brittany
PS adding insult to injury a dear friend from High School commented in a picture I have on Facebook from the performance saying “I never thought you had that personality that shouts Belly Dancer.” Ummmmmm. Sexy? You never thought I could be sexy? M’kay thanks a-hole. At least he did say that he was seeing it now. But hey man, in my book I never became sexy and I’ve never brought it back. I’ve always been sexy!




Boo!!! Enough makeup and false eyelashes for you?

Happy blogging!

My first blog entry!

My first blog entry!

¡Bienvenidos a mi blog!

Hi everyone! Thank you for taking an interest in my blog! Allow me to introduce myself if you don’t know me already. My name is Brittany. I’m 20 years old and I’m a student at the University of California Santa Barbara. I’m majoring in Communications and Spanish and I’m starting to consider getting a minor in the Linguistics department specifically in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. This January I will be setting off on my adventure to study abroad in Santiago Chile at The Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (PUC, UC, or La Católica)! Saying that I’m excited is a HUGE understatement.

I’ve always known that I was going to study abroad during my Junior year of University, but never did I think that I would go to Santiago, Chile. If you didn’t know, I’ve been to Spain two summers in a row while in High School and I spent last summer at a language school in Costa Rica. I guess you can say I’m a bit of a travel junkie. I never have considered Chile though. Admittedly I knew nothing about the country until recently. I always had the dream of going to Argentina next. I felt that I had really seen Spain and I really wanted to hit South America. I’ve heard the most amazing things about Argentina. Well, truthfully not much, but what I’ve heard is that it’s the Paris of South America and manufacturer of beautiful people. That was definitely enough to sell it for me. Unfortunately the only Spanish speaking countries my university offers for study abroad are Spain, Mexico, and Chile. The possibility exists to seek outside ways to study in Argentina, but I decided that the stress of transferring units and not having the genuine support of my university would be too much for me. After I let go of Argentina I started to focus on Chile.

I stalked past participants’ pages on Facebook looking at every single one of their photo albums and asking questions here and there. I started to like Chile, but it wasn’t love at first click. In an info meeting I was a bit turned off by something one of the past participant’s said, “If you want to go shopping and stay inside go to Spain not Chile.” I hate to say it, but I consider myself an indoor girl. And shopping? Do I really need to talk about my feelings towards shopping? How could I go to a country where amazing shopping centers wouldn’t be my selling point? I’m not one to gasp at the beauty of a tall mountain or enjoy sleeping on the ground in a sleeping bag. City lights get my heart pounding. Sitting in a gorgeous plaza people watching with an ice cream is music to my ears. I’m a small town girl with a big city heart! I began thinking that Chile wasn’t the right choice for me, yet I didn’t give up and began researching more and more.

Chile is known as the Land of Fire and ice. It has everything you can imagine. (Desert, mountains, city, beach, and even glaciers and penguins.) Its capital, Santiago, is one of Latin America’s most modern metropolitan areas, with extensive suburban development, dozens of shopping malls, and impressive high-rise architecture. So, maybe it’s not the Paris of South America, but it does have its very own Manhattan, or Sanhattan as the Chileans call it. Through all of my research I have learned that this country is not just a land full of diversity with something for everyone, but a land rich in culture and national pride. Chileans are kind and welcoming people who love their country almost as much as they love their families.

I am so excited to explore this amazing country called Chile and meet as well as make friends with as many Chileans as possible. My Spanish is decent at the moment. I can definitely say everything I want to with a little bit of time and some mistakes. The Chilean accent is very different from anything I’ve heard and they have a whole different form called el voseo which is the informal way of addressing a single person. For anyone that knows a little Spanish it is like a substitute for “tú” Example: (Standard Spanish) tú sabes, tú hablas, tú tienes. (El voseo aka super cool Chilean Spanish) tú sabís, tú tenís, tú hablái. So, as you can see this will be somewhat of an issue for me being that my Spanish has grown into a reflection of Mexican Spanish with an almost nonexistent vocabulary of Slang which is mostly again from Mexico. Thankfully I have a few amazing pen pals that keep me giggling at all the silly expressions and slang of Chile. It should be very interesting to watch my Spanish grow and maybe even my accent change! Which brings me to my next point…

Call me crazy! Better yet, call me loca, but I think I might make a Spanish video blog channel on YouTube! I think I’ll try to put subtitles although I can’t make promises! I have no idea how to make or edit videos. I really want a Mac, but for now I’ll settle for filming with my camera on the count of my webcam sucks. I plan to make the videos relevant with my blog posts so if you don’t understand don’t worry you’ll probably get a more detailed and coherent description here anyways!

So this was a really long first blog post! My next posts should be more to the point….I think! Here is a quick update on my life at the moment and a few ideas for my future:

1. I have a belly dance performance tomorrow at 8pm with the Middle East Ensemble on campus at a sort of music concert with live dancing. I love performing! I’m really going to miss dancing; hopefully I’ll find some classes in Chile. I’ve actually been told that sports teams are really easy to get on and I’m actually considering joining the Swim Team! Wow it’s been a while! This is really thinking far ahead…we’ll see about that.
2. On that note, I’m also thinking of interning in Chile. Apparently any internship would be more than happy to have a bilingual American college student and I can have my pick at any internship. And when I say any I mean ANY. Apparently I don’t even need to meet any qualifications. In the info meeting a girl talked about her friend, probably a history major, working at the zoo feeding the seals! I kid you not. I’m considering teaching English, but I was also tempted to hear that a past participant that was a communication major got to work for the university’s radio station, which would be AWESOME!
3. I have two more final exams next week and then I’m free….
4. To go to the Dominican Republic!! Yes, I’m actually doing a trip with my mom, aunt, and cousins (for my late Uncle Bill RIP) and we’ll be returning about 3 weeks before I leave for Chile.
5. That is if I get my damn Visa! I’m having so many problems with that at the moment. Who’d of thought that the FBI is too busy to clear little old me of any criminal record! Hopefully I’ll be able to get this taken care of soon. I’m trying as hard as possible to not stress, but I’m leaving in about a month!!
6. I leave January 16th and I’m so lucky to have met a really nice and funny girl that is in my program and going to Chile too! Her name is Mel and we’ve gotten to know each other pretty well with the two Spanish literature classes we had this quarter. She sends me links to readings in English and for that la quiero (I love her). So, she’ll be with me departing from San Francisco, during our 8 HOUR LAYOVER in Miami ughhhhh, our short stop in Colombia, and finally arriving in Chile two days before orientation. We’ll be staying at the Andes Hostel in the Bellas Artes sector of Santiago. According to one of the past participants that “barrio” is the gay/homosexual area so we think we should be very safe!
7. The orientation is on the 20th of January. I’ll meet my host family which I’ll be staying with for a whole month while attending mandatory intensive Spanish language courses and cultural excursions.
8. After the first month I’ll be set free to find my own housing and may I say “muahahahahah!” Sorry, just had to get that out of my system. The price I pay for my little, crappy bedroom here in Santa Barbara can afford me a fully furnished, 17th floor, view of the Andes, penthouse…all to myself!!! I’ll get a short break and then school will start! By the way, the seasons are backwards. Summer = winter, winter =summer. So this year I’m kind of skipping winter with the Dominican Republic and leaving for Chile in January and all! I know, I know. I’m a lucky girl and I’m very grateful for everything that will be coming to me this year. (Thanks mom!)

Thank you so much for reading this huge first blog post! Hopefully my next post will update you all on my trip to the Dominican Republic! And hey! Maybe I’ll get to practice my Spanish a little!

¡Nos vemos en el futuro!

Besitos,
La gringa asopa (silly)
-Brittany P.S.I have a mirror image blog of this blog in not-so-perfect Spanish called memoriasdeunagringa. Chequea pa' que veas!