We found Wi-fi

Hi. My name is William Barnett. I'm a sophomore music composition major from the College of Wooster. I never fully realized that when driving through the city of San Diego, when you cross an imaginary line, you cross into another world. When we first crossed the border, my eyes were drawn to the difference in infrastructure, the poorly built houses, and the sketchy people walking around. It was a little bit of a culture shock and at first I pitied the 1.5 million people who live in Tijuana, but as the weekend progressed, I began to realize that this world could not be described by poverty.

For dinner, we were taken to an amazing taco shop, all handmade with fresh ingredients and fantastic grapefruit lemonade smoothies in the fridge. While driving, we got a glimpse of houses and saw how artfully decorated they were, and how much pride that people take in their house. From Meriachi bands to Margaritas, Mexico is a place that's rich in culture and both a fun nation and people.The morning, we went to the beach and saw lines of fun shops and resteraunts, almost like what you would find in Malibu or Santa Monica in L.A. We also got to look through the two giant walls that separates Tijuana from San Diego and the four-wheeler that drove down by us just to stop little kids from climbing the wall. I could not believe what great lengths the U.S. has gone to keep those on our side of the wall out and how we can show so much fear and hate towards a country of such rich culture and happy people. Looking across the fall, I felt like America was so close to and yet so far, like I truly had entered another world.

One of my first questions was how the financial differences of Tijuana affect happiness. From what I've heard, people are happier here. People are much more family orientated, as they are all they have. Back in the US, where all our needs and comforts are met and exceeded, we focus on the things we don't have and our often ungrateful for the blessings we have.We came here with a goal to help the problems of others, but perhaps they might just help our problems too.