Communicating Culture: TOURISM & MEDIA in PUERTO RICO: Puerto Rico, Culture, and Me: A Unique Experience

A Unique Experience

By: Rasheeda Kabba

As I reflect on my journey to Puerto Rico, I can only think of all the memories, relationships, and knowledge in which I gained from this trip. I feel as though I not only took personal experiences, but professional ones too.

One thing I gained was being able to be out of my comfort zone and function affectively as a professional. I interviewed people I normally wouldn’t have, asked stranger questions, and conversed with natives.

The tourism experience to me, means to emerge in the whole culture; not only going to places that tourist would go to (i.e. like the unexpected experience of going to the home of artist, Samuel Lind), eating local foods, and even finding out where the natives hang out.

I think that the role of media and communication play in tourism is very important as well. For us, we used the most common forms of social media that our generation views most for news, Twitter and Facebook.

Although, at times it can be difficult to tie media and communication together due to the fact that it is hard to submerge yourself in the culture when you are trying to relay news. I was still able to enjoy both aspects, but wish they could have been separated somehow or maybe we could have stayed on the island longer.

That could just be me, but at times it was a lot of work and not enough time for play. In the future, I hope that I will have the opportunity to go back to Puerto Rico and fully submerge myself into every aspect of the environment around me.

Looking back, I am so thankful for the once in a lifetime experience and the time in which I spent with those whom I traveled with. It would definitely be something that I would recommend to students who are thinking of study abroad.