2020

  Curaçao, a hidden gem of the Caribbean! With its colorful city and lovely beaches, it has more to offer than just that. This island is known for having a very diverse culture. While the majority of the population may be Afro-Caribbean, the residence also consists of Dutch, French, Latin Americans, and Asians! Once you reach the island, you will be able to tell the official language is Dutch, but Papiamento (Portuguese Creole language) is also spoken here on the island! Do not fret, this information may be shocking, but they also speak English here! Just don't let that stop you from learning a few new words on the way!   .  Due to being colonized by the Dutch, there is a majority of Catholic practices (Roman Catholics) on the island. It may come as a surprise since it is home to the famous Mikve Israel-Emanuel Synagogue, one of the oldest and continually used synagogues in the Western Hemisphere. Although the Jewish population expanded during their arrival in the 15...

While reading Caribe Gris, I began reading the original Spanish version. Since I'm bilingual, I thought reading it would be easy, which it was, but I began to question myself when they referred to Christopher Columbus' writings as "inutil". It was surprising to see the writer speak about Columbus in that matter. I didn't know what the main idea was about, so stumbling across that sentence made me question my translating ability. At that moment, I quickly turned on the English version, and to my surprise, they did mean to call his writings useless. The writer also called him out on his view of the world as being small, and the location of his lands being incorrect.      As I continued to read, I had to keep switching from Spanish to English every time I stumbled across anything that seemed a bit off to me. It seemed the writer had strong feelings towards the way people of the Caribbean were depicted through those writings. I knew the main idea had something to do...

       Some may agree when I say that from the start of our kindergarten days to college, we have never experienced writing in the form of blogs. During the overview of this class, I was excited about making a blog. Not only was it new for me, but the thought of making a blog never worried me. It was actually relieving for me. I have always dreaded taking English classes and writing in general, but blogs are more modern. They allow many to write freely, without judgment or pressure. For many, it's an outlet they use to express their thoughts and emotions. I know they come with risks from online trolls and hate comments, but what other people think has never really bothered me. Going into the creation of blogs, I knew a lot about them. I never second-guessed myself because everything seemed so simple.       When starting up my blog, I felt a bit lazy to customize my theme, but many of the templets shown were so bland. In the end, I couldn't go thro...

 "The island of giants," the first words used to describe the discovery of Curaçao and their original inhabitants, the Arawak, a group of indigenous people who migrated towards Curaçao, Aruba, and Bonaire from south America. In about 1499, the Arawak's would encounter Spanish explorers who would settle down on the island, govern over the ABC islands, and soon after, import the Arawak's as slaves to mine for copper in Hispaniola.  Fort Amsterdam in Curaçao After a century of Spanish rule, the Dutch would defeat the Spanish and govern over the island, due to their interest in salt mining. During that time, the Dutch West India company flourished, and Curaçao became a popular trading port, but with great success comes a price to pay. Seeing their trading ports thrive, it encouraged many other countries to try and invade or loot them. For this reason, they built Fort Amsterdam, one of the biggest forts built, and it prevented many invasions. It is still standing to this d...