Everyone was so excited as we gathered for breakfast this morning because we all knew that we were in for a treat. After finishing a breakfast of cereal with the choice of milk or yogurt, we quickly gathered our belongings to get on the Guagua (the bus). Then we embarked on our journey to Playa Rogelio! After a long two hour bus ride, everyone was glued to the windows because we were all in disbelief of how beautiful this Dominican beach was. We rushed off the bus, put our things down, and bolted into the crystal blue water. The first thing we noticed was that the water was super salty, but on the plus side it was pleasantly warm. Once we finished our first 30 minute swim, we headed to the snack shack for a variety of tasty snacks. Us Glimpsers, enjoyed so many bags of chips, multiple virgin piña coladas, and a lot of different pastries. But we think that we can all agree that our favorite part of the snack shack was that we were allowed to request any genre of music to be blasted upon the beach. So of course we took advantage of this and we played all the bay area hits as well as some Spanish music. This sparked everyone to dance, and we had a good time doing so. After repeating the process of swimming, going to the snack shack and dancing, we took many group pictures so we would never forget this incredible experience. When we became satisfied with our time at Playa Rogelio, we departed back to Monte de Oracion (our hostel) to finish the rest of our evening.

Once we arrived at Monte de Oracion, we were gratefully given a 45 minute break to wash off all the salty ocean water. Once everyone was freshened up we ate a delicious dinner which consisted of pasta, bread, ground beef and fruit. Everyone ate ferociously because we were all worn out from a long day at Playa Rogelio. For the remaining 30 minutes of dinner time we conversed happily amongst each other. Then we had a very interesting seminar on immigration (you will hear more about this in tomorrow’s blog). To conclude our night we had our nightly meeting where we recapped on what we did today and passed the torch on to Calvin and Romina, so be ready to hear from them tomorrow!

All together today was one of the best days we’ve experienced so far. For most of us it was our first time ever stepping our feet into the Atlantic Ocean. It was amazing how we all bonded like a true family today, resulting in lifelong friendships and memories!