While in Puerto Rico, I had the opportunity to experience and learn from those who live there. I learned about part of the history of the country and its people, especially through an artistic point of view. From the second to last day we had the opportunity to go down to Old San Juan. It's a historic city a little similar to Old Sacramento, but more colorful and with more history. It was full of small shops, boutiques and apartments. We entered an art gallery that had various artistic mediums including masks, paintings, sculptures and so on. The gallery owner told the story of the different masks which were vibrant, all shapes and sizes and really colourful. Although similar in design, they were made of different materials and resembled African art. Later, we listened to the music and went down to the street where there were two canopies set up and tons of older people with chairs all around a makeshift dance floor. The musicians played salsa, love ballads and other traditional music. My mother and I danced for hours with the older ladies; they showed us their Puerto Rican electric slide and perfected our salsa dancing. During a break, we ended up talking to two women from Puerto Rico. They asked for the band to play a traditional song so they could watch one of the women dance and see how she incorporated elements of African dance. One of the women who had spoken to us then went on to point out the different parts of the dance and tell the story of why it had such a fusion. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay I was amazed by all the diversity in Puerto Rico and when you look at all the people there, you see a huge rainbow. They come in all shades, shapes and sizes. This speaks to their past and how it mixed so many cultures together. I could see how similar our stories were and this allowed me to feel comfortable and feel a sense of belonging. I really enjoyed it and loved how open people were in telling their story and how much they knew. This experience allowed me to see more similarities that we share with each other rather than differences that we have. If I ever have the chance to work with people from this culture, I will be able to be as open and warm to them as they have been to me. I will feel a sense of community with them too, because of our shared past. Having some of this knowledge also opens up my worldview a little more, and I appreciate the opportunities I have to do so.