Journal Entry 1

Here is the first required writing assignment for the IPSL program. It is in response to an excerpt from Langston Hughes' autobiography, when he decides to travel to Africa.



Stage 1: Hearing the Call
Langston Hughes

I discovered ska music when I was fifteen years old and soon realized that I had a deep passion for it. I joined ska bands, went to ska concerts and bought as many ska cds as I could afford with the allowance my parents would give me each month. As I became more familiar with ska music, I learned that it had its origins in Jamaica, the home of reggae and the ganga-based religion of rastafari.
Throughout high school I was never interested in traveling. One of my friends dreamed of traveling Europe and studying abroad while in college but that never appealed to me. My view was that I’d go into the American music industry and start my own record label, so there was no need to study abroad. When I got accepted to University of the Pacific, the great Study Abroad options they had did not matter to me.
As I learned more about ska music, I discovered that its roots weren’t based in a Jamaica where everyone listened to reggae and smoked pot. I became aware of a Jamaica that was different than what typical teenaged Americans viewed it as. I realized that there was something much deeper than drugs and reggae music – I realized that there was an entire history, lifestyle and people that belonged to this island and that I, along with the majority of teenaged Americans, was guilty of judging it stereotypically.
During my freshman year in college I attended a meeting for the Music Management Club and there was a long discussion about studying abroad. I talked to a girl who had gone to Australia and a girl who went to England, but neither of these places interested me. What did interest me was the way they raved about how much fun it was for them. I began to think that night…if I could go anywhere in the world, where would it be?
The next day, I went to the Study Abroad office and told them I wanted to study in Jamaica. My school has a reputation for being able to send students to a wide variety of places throughout the world, but when I said Jamaica, the office attendant literally laughed at my request. I knew that I wanted to go to Jamaica and that no other country would suffice because of my passion for its music. I scheduled an appointment with the director of International Studies and we discussed the options that I had.
I was told that if I could find a program to Jamaica that fit the University’s requirements then I could fulfill my dream and study abroad there. After doing extensive research, I found only two programs that went to Jamaica, and there was one distinct difference between the two: the service-learning component. I decided that service-learning was the better option because it would immerse me into the culture faster and more efficiently.
My director approved the IPSL program and I was ecstatic. For two long years I told everyone that I was going to study abroad. It seemed like it would never come, and now it is just around the corner.