By Carmen Pease
When Beverly Stringer decided it was time for her first-ever great escape, she added a unique twist to the ordinary idea of a spring break trip. Instead of going to a swanky beachside resort, the junior from Ohio University Southern Campus opted for a weeklong research project in the Dominican Republic -- a journey that has left a lasting impression on every aspect of her life.
The research project gave students a real-life application of the information they had learned in their folknography class taught by David Lucas, associate professor of communications.
Through this new research method, Stringer was exposed to the very heart of the Dominican culture as she bonded with the local residents to capture a clearer picture of the community's medical condition.
It was this opportunity to cultivate personal links that drew Stringer to the sun-drenched Caribbean island. Majoring in organizational communication, this project allowed her to become familiar with a different aspect of research -- qualitative research instead of the usual quantitative side.
"I'd never been out of the country before, so I was hesitant," Stringer said. And with a $850 price tag that forced her to take up another job on the side, it was a daunting decision for the South Webster, Ohio, resident.
"But I figured, why not further my education and my cultural experience? Until you're actually experiencing it, the education isn't very real," she said. "This gave me the opportunity to see that sometimes we're a lot alike, and sometimes we're very different."
Through the people's eagerness to tell their stories, the trip became "a very humbling experience," Stringer said. "They're basically just focusing on mere survival. They live in homemade houses with dirt floors, but they make every effort to keep them clean. It stands out in my mind how happy and friendly these people were. I envy the closeness they have with one another. Here in America, we have distanced ourselves, but there, they know each other so well."
And they didn't just limit this friendliness to their neighbors. During one of her visits, she befriended a local who took it upon himself to teach her some Spanish words. As she was leaving, he asked her to promise to learn Spanish to develop an even stronger sense of the culture. Keeping her word, as soon as she returned home, Stringer purchased a CD to coach her in Spanish and keep her Dominican memories alive.
"I have been building relationships on this trip that I ordinarily would not have had an opportunity to experience, had I not gone on this trip," Stringer wrote in a journal entry posted on the folknography Web site (www.southern.ohiou.edu/folknography). "As we sit around in our circle to discuss, or debrief as Dr. Lucas says, the events from today, we each share our experiences and feelings. Sometimes we laugh and sometimes we cry, but we are sharing. This has opened up an entirely new way of learning for me."
Carmen Pease is a student writer with University Communications and Marketing.
