Both sides of the story

This was an incredible experience. Working in a community center teaching English to children was difficult, and balancing teaching English and taking university classes was something that I had to figure out. Overall, I think I got much more out of the experience in the DR than other ISA students in my program who didn't participate in the ELAP portion. I was able to see both sides of life in the Dominican Republic; the high-end academic and also how people live in underprivileged neighborhoods. I went for two hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It took me about 40 minutes to arrive at the community center by concho (the Dominican mode of transportation), and I taught one hour of class, gave the kids a 15-minute break, and taught the remaining 45 minutes. I then went back to the city and went to my university classes.