March 24, 2006
Last night I was watching a show on MTV. As we all know, MTV has a lot of crap shows that we all can't stop watching and last night was no exception. Out of curiosity, I watched this one where some girl was turning 21 during Spring Break and they all decided to spend it here in Puerto Rico.
Hm...my first question was, "why in the world would you want to celebrate your 21st in PR since our drinking age is 18?" Turning 21 is not the huge deal it is in the states. Of course I understand that it's Spring Break and PR is a tropical island...warm...beach...good times. That I get, but not the 21st bday celebration. (I turned 21 in the states and had a great time I don't remember, but the "tradition" of it all still mystifies me)
So the show was overall boring honestly. There was one point that made me laugh. While still in their college in New Jersey, this girl's friends were talking about the trip. One of them says, "I don't even know where Puerto Rico is". Forget the fact that this person is a 20 or 21 year old COLLEGE student....How do you plan a trip anywhere without knowing where you are going on the globe?! Also, you go to school in NJ...every other person in NJ and NY is Puerto Rican. How do you not know where PR is located?! Even putting all that aside, you would think that just the fact that she was being video taped by MTV, she wouldn't say something like that. Or that they would've looked it up beforehand because you know MTV is going to make you look stupid with a comment like that.
Oh! I almost forgot! Apparently one of the other friends tried to upstage that statement, but I don't think she did. She asked if they thought if everyone here would only be speaking spanish. Atleast this friend knew that spanish is our first language. Also, that's a common question and the ability to communicate is a concern when you travel. I've been asked different versions of this question before.
So, what have we learned? Spending 5 min looking up info on the place you're about to visit is probably a good idea...especially if MTV cameras are following you.
PR facts: http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/rq.html
