Nightlife over the Week

Our first day in Jamaica was full of traveling and greetings, but it was also full of “flinging,” one of their famous dances. We learned this from our TAs while they were giving us the full Jamaican Experience. Yes, we were there for learning, teaching, mentoring, and business but who said we can’t have fun while doing so? I mean, everyone else said we can’t, however, I proved them wrong by showing them that I can “hang,” or stay up late and wake up early. I proved this by going out our first night there. Initially we were supposed to leave for the club around 11, sadly, that didn’t happen. We finally left at 12:30 and that’s when our night began.

Upon entering the scene I was awestruck. In the states many girls, like myself, don’t dance because of fear of ridicule or lack of rhythm but here they don’t care. They dance to their own beat or they’ll help you get the hang of it. It was AWESOME. I love to dance and so do they; we got along perfectly. There is one notable difference: at home the women control the dancing but here, the men own it. As mentioned before, they will teach you the moves or they will teach you how to move. There is no judgment or wall flowers, everyone is moving and enjoying themselves freely. One dance I learned was called “Fling.” It’s kind of like our dance to NBAYOUNGBOAT but better. You just move front and back with your shoulders, nothing too hard. If I can catch on, I know everyone else can. Even when I was offbeat or doing it wrong they still hyped and encouraged me. Everywhere we went was different; some places played mostly reggae and dancehall whereas others mixed it with US music. It was the best of both worlds and I loved it. The nights I spent out were like NONE I have experienced in the US- not even in college. I loved every second of it and I would relive it without changing a thing.