My World Away From the Real World; Dominican Republic

Dominican Republic has always been my home away from home. There's so much to do, so much to see, and no matter how many times I've been there, it never really seizes to amaze me.

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Dominican Republic is that place for me;

It's peaceful and so hectic at the same time, I feel safe there, it brings me so much happiness as it does tears from time to time. It's clear to see how impoverished DR is, but it's truly a beautiful place with mountains, beaches, and anything you could possibly want to see in between.

When it comes to the economy and the population, it is constantly growing and that's one of the reasons as to why I just can't get enough of it.

So here's why I'm so attached to it;

I am a Dominican (mom) American (dad) and I always say that I've had the absolute best of both worlds. For as long as I could possibly remember, my parents sent me to Santiago which is about 2-3 hours away from the capital, Santo Domingo, to spend every Summer with my family. When I was 12 years old my parents made the decision to move from Miami to Georgia and while they were transitioning, they (finally) let me go to school in DR, but only for a year.

My mom insisted I go to the school that she graduated from, Colegio Dominicano, where I developed life long friendships with the kids of my mom's old friends... its a really small world over there. I had not only furthered my skills in reading, speaking, and writing in Spanish, but I had also furthered my love for my country, specifically my city of Santiago de los Caballeros.

Of course, I moved to Georgia once the school year had passed, but my travels to DR like tripled because I just missed it so much. By the time I graduated high school I had already started planning my move to DR. But that didn't happen. It took me some time and a ton of fights with my family to realize that if I really wanted to study and make something out of my life, I at least had to start in the United States.

My family finally gets it -- kind of...

I traveled back and forth from Georgia to DR especially at 19 years old when I met a guy (a DJ who assumed I knew exactly who he was) who I had no idea would one day become my husband. I fell in love with the night life in Santiago and it's not because I'm a party animal, but because my friendship with those people who shared the dance floor with me went way passed just that.

I think my family finally understood that when, for the first time in a long time, all I asked from them was to spend my birthday with me in Dominican Republic.

As my parents observed my interactions with my friends and the rest of our family, they got a sense of how much happiness those people and that place actually brings me.

There's just something about Dominican Republic, something about the people... you feel loved, cared for, constantly. And here I am now, 21 years old, still loving my world away from the real world and still promising myself that, someday, I'll be living there.