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Week 2 of February

The day after returning home from the unfortunate trip up Irazú was February 5th, aka the Super Bowl. Obviously the sport is not as practiced and followed in Costa Rica as fútbol (soccer), but it wasn't something us gringos could miss! Our friend Jackson who lives conveniently close to Casa Theus invited every student to his host family’s house for a Super Bowl party. I grouped up with some friends nearby so we could head there together, already thinking Jackson’s host family allowed him to invite all the students. This was not a concern for all of us in the beginning, gathering around the family room with Imperials in our hands and the game on, until his host family walks in. Apparently to our surprise, he told his family he was going to have some friends over for the game, but I guess he didn't tell them he invited all 53 of the students..

As Jackson went to another room to talk to them, the air in the room became uncomfortable, not knowing if we should leave right that instant or stay and wait it out. Finally, Jackson comes back and somehow he is able to bring his smiling and laughing host dad into the room to continue watching the game. Not sure how he pulled that off, but I am glad he did because we were able to finish the game and hang out a little more with his host family who, at the end, were welcoming.��

Many of the girls and I have been talking about finding a gym to sign up with for the couple months we will be living here. In San Ramón alone, I have never seen so many gyms and cross fit clubs in one town! TJ, a student who lives five minutes from me said he joined one that is a few doors down from his house. The owner was from Papua New Guinea who supposedly used to compete in weight lifting championships then retired here in San Ramón and opened a gym. A group of us went to the gym after class Monday to sign up for a membership. My first thought of the place was how hot and humid it was inside. The lights were off so it was dark and musty inside, with no air coming in or out. We talked to the owner, Randolph, who seemed pretty intimidating and hard to understand with his thick accent. He gave each one of us a health evaluation and said with each class he would personally train us to

On Tuesday, we all had to attend a talk after classes with a U.S. Embassy employee here stationed in San José. She went over some basic rules to follow as we adjust to our new homes here for the next couple months. She talked to us about the possibilities of losing our passports, getting in trouble with the police, involvement with illegal possessions like marijuana and cocaine, etc., among other things. She informed us that if we did get in trouble with the police or government, there would be a process of a multitude of things (court hearings that would take months, jail time, probation) that would probably take months and even in some cases, years, to finish. She introduced herself and her career in Costa Rica as an American. She was seven months pregnant with her husband who is also a U.S. Embassy employee. She said she had to head back to the U.S. to deliver her baby and probably refrain from her work for some months or even years. 

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Week 1 of February - The pictures of graffiti were found in San José after walking around the area of our hostel. Two pictures are of my group of friends and I who stayed in San José. The picture of two friends and I was after the tedious endeavor up Volcán Irazú, trying to stand straight from the gusts of wind at the top of the volcano. 

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Week 1 of February

This week, no big events happened during the week days other than attending my classes and the normal night routine. Both my science classes prove to be incredibly easier to understand and comprehend than the rest of the science classes I have taken in my education. Ecology is the type of science class that requires memorizing many terms to understand and apply them to the topic. Profesora Loria uses a different type of force in her voice that makes her sound so passionate about what she teaches. You can tell how much she loves ecology and the environment that everyday we learn something new about Costa Rica’s environmental issues and solutions to them. In my Tropical Marine Biology class taught by Profesora Gamboa, I absolutely love this class. I have never learned marine biology, let alone tropical marine biology. The class focuses on marine environments, something I have never learned before, and is definitely intriguing in that we have only discovered the tip of the iceberg in marine biology. 

My Spanish classes have already noticeably improved my speaking skills as well as writing/terminology. In all my years taking Spanish, the one skill that I always wished I could improve was writing, which came down to putting sentences together that sounded good and made sense, something I still couldn't exactly grasp. In the composition class I am taking, we must write an essay for every class, then review it and correct the errors the second time around, so basically two essays per class. I actually enjoy writing them and gain so much more when Profesora Rojas identifies the errors for me to correct them for a better grade. My communication class is a joke, considering we do not get anywhere in the course. I am still unsure of what we need to do in it. 

On Friday, the USAC faculty took us to San Jose for mandatory fingerprinting at the U.S. Embassy for our visas. This was supposed to be a day trip where they would take us back home on the same day but instead, my group of friends and I decided to take advantage of already being in San Jose and book a hostel for a night to explore the city. When getting our fingerprinting, I noticed how serious the employees were in getting the process done. I found this out the unfortunate way by goofing around with my friend T.J., which ended up having a security guard escorting us out and one of the faculty, Dahalma, convincing them to let us get our fingerprints. Word to the wise: do not goof around in governmental places like embassies. 

We booked rooms in the Backpacker’s hostel that included a pool, bar and restaurant. Once we arrived, we unpacked and relaxed for some time to get ready for the upcoming night in San Jose. Half the girls and I decided to walk around and shop for some trinkets. The most common stores I passed had the words “American Brands” in big letters. Although we did not find much in the strip we walked through, I did find a shoe store that was selling sandals basically for free. I ended up buying about 6 pairs. 

We left later in the night which was suggested by the receptionist because apparently the clubs and dance places don't really open or become filled until midnight to 1 in the morning. The first place we hit was Antik, a restaurant and bar. To begin, the building looks as it is named, antique and pretty old. When entering, we are told there are three floors. The first floor if more of a social drinking and eating area. The bottom floor was more electronic and dark, I personally did not feel comfortable. The top floor was the best, and clearly the most popular since it was completely packed. They played popular dance songs and had a fun, energetic vibe in the crowd. I stayed in this area the longest, while half the group left and went to other places. We were informed to be extremely alert and cautious due to the dangers at night especially in the area we were in, so we took a taxi back to the hostel.

The next morning, we planned a spontaneous trip to Volcán Irazu, which our friend McGuinnis said there were hot springs and a restaurant at the top. We were told there would be a couple bus rides to the top, an entrance fee, then accessibility to the top. Boy, were we told wrong. Not only were the buses humid and packed, we had to take several since the buses did not take us to the exact locations we needed to be. We went from San Jose to a number of places, to Cartágo, then to another clump of stops until finally the bus was heading toward Irazú. My friend Jess started to become nauseous and said she had to leave the bus immediately. We screamed from the back, “Para el bus!” but the driver ignored it. We were able to get the whole back of the bus to scream it until it finally stopped. As soon as the door opened, I walked Jess out, whose skin was pale and clammy. She fell straight to the ground and lied there while I tried to find something for her to drink or eat. It turned out the bus stop was only 100 meters away thankfully. Many locals and tourists stopped in their cars or walked by and gave her candies or bottles of water to have. Once she felt better, we got up and met everyone at the stop. Next to the stop, there were two stands: one for cheese wheels and one for plantain chips. I felt spontaneous, so I bought 5 medium sized cheese wheels to try and share ( I do not regret this decision no matter how random it is). We were told that once we reached the ticket booth some distance past the bus stop, we would have to pay for entry, then wait for the bus to drive us all the way to the top. To our dismay, all the information we were given proved to be wrong for us gringos, since the man behind the ticket booth wouldn't grant us entries until we payed him 100 U.S. dollars and whatever colones we could give him. Refusing to give up after how far we had gone, we gave the man the money for the entries. After the transaction was when he decided to mention we missed the last bus to the top and would have to walk about two to three kilometers up the volcano. I believe I was the last one on board to this idea, since I tend to be very sensitive with high altitudes, let alone doing exercise at high altitudes. After about 10 minutes trekking up the steep path, I started feeling dizzy. Instead of taking a break, I held out my thumb and waited until a car that passed by stopped and let me and some of my friends ride with them to the top.

Eventually, we all made it to the top, proud of the determination it took to get there. We also found out McGuinnis was completely wrong on the restaurant and hot springs at the top which was one of the only reasons I stuck through. Once we all met at the top, we were told we only had 20 minutes until the park closed... which was the cherry on top! We took as many pictures as we could and tried to embrace whatever scenery we could before we were forced to head back down the trek of death. 

Needless to say, this trip was definitely a learning experience for me to always be patient and to expect the unexpected. At least the cheese rounds were eaten before they could stink up. 

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The last weekend in January, in a nutshell. The first image is of me and friends, Izzy and Cailin, at bar Indiscretos on Friday night. The second picture was taken during a sunset in Puntarenas. The third image was captured before we began our journey up the forest for the zip lining extravaganza. The fourth picture is me, finding a mural painted in Jaco and wanting to take a cliché picture with it. The last is a few Mai Tai’s bought and thoroughly enjoyed by a few friends and I while we kicked it on the beach in Jaco. 

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January 26- 28th

Thursday, the 26th, was quite slow in the beginning. I had both my Spanish classes in the afternoon. We reviewed essays and wrote even more in my composition class. When I walked into my communication class, it seemed several girls had dropped the class. I took a long nap yesterday which turned out to be my night’s sleep. Friday, I spent most of the day with Mireya and her family in the house, where she invited many of her family members. They all brought different kinds of pasteles and several cubes of this dessert they called Budín. I guess its the latino version of bread pudding (hence budín). I was reluctant to try it and regretted that I did, remembering my mom made something like it years ago and I hated it. During the evening, all of USAC met up at Casa Theus, a bar/restaurant that had a live band and, conveniently enough, offered two for one margaritas only on Thursday night. I successfully called a taxi to my home and was dropped off right in front of our school’s gate along with many of the other students. Once everyone arrived, like a giant crowd of gringos that we are, we began our walk to Casa Theus, on the other side of town. We got lost a few times, took several wrong turns but finally one of the year-long students managed to get us safely to the bar. Our arrival most definitely took the bar and its customers by surprise, as we filled every empty standing space there was available. I felt terrible for the workers and owner because every student asked for a minimum of two margaritas and continued demanding more as the night went one. Slowly, more and more of the students left to other bars or clubs allowing more space to dance and talk to each other. Soon it was just about 10 of us when the owner came up to us with the check, with a total of 160 mil colones left for us. We started to panic and texted/called every person who was there to come back and pay for their margaritas. It turned out many of the students thought the bar would be so crowded that the tabs of their drinks would be forgotten, unfortunately false. Many came back to pay off the tab, but we were left with 100 mil colones left. Quinn, one of the girls with me, gave up and payed 60 mil, while the rest of us split the remaining amount. With that being the end of Thursday night, I learned the lesson of going out with a smaller group, or you are bound to have an unlucky night. 

Friday morning, a smaller group of students and I woke up early to catch a bus to Puntarenas, a 45 minute bus ride east of San Ramón, for a beach day. When we arrived in Puntarenas, it was like an immediate heat wave went through the bus. The air was thick with humidity and smelled of ocean. Luckily the bus stop is literally right across the street from the beach with a strip of restaurants and souvenir shacks right off the sand. On the other side of Puntarenas, there is a ferry that heads to the Nicoya Peninsula and back, but we decided to leave that for another day. The ocean water is mucky, brown and warm, so I avoided being in the water for too long. We stayed until the sun set, got back onto a bus to San Ramón for another night out in town. This time, we kept to our smaller group and stayed in the center of town, mingling around the different bars and nightclubs. Secretos and Indiscretos, two bars/nightclubs were the main hotspots all the students eventually lingered into that happened to be situated right next to each other. I left rather early to get ready for our USAC-affiliated trip today (Saturday). We were taken to a place in Alajuela for zip lining in the cloud forest. This was absolutely incredible, being that we were situated hundreds of feet up in the canopy and zipped past thousands of feet into the forest. Every several hundred feet or so, a station would be set up so an employee would stop you, get your harness and line ready for the next line, and push you off the station into the air. There was even a point where we had to be in a criss-cross position upside-down ( I’m sure just for a thrill) to view the canopy above us. As terrifying as it was, it was amazing. Once we accomplished that, USAC took us to Jaco to stay for a couple hours then head back home. Many of us decided to book a hostel to stay for the night in Jaco and experience it’s well known night life. The hostel we chose, Room2Board, was an experience within itself. Built right next to the beach, this hostel was more like a hotel of dreams. It had separate rooms with AC, several floors, a huge pool accompanied with a water slide and giant swan rafts, an outside bar/grille, and a roof with hammocks and deck furniture. I never want to leave! After the other students and faculty left, we arrived here and started our night routine, getting ready to walk the strip of nightlife. The first place we hit was a karaoke bar called Kokomo with, coincidentally, a two-for-one margarita special. We stayed here for hours, each of us taking turns singing and cheering each other on. After the third night of going out, I am starting to realize why non-gringos stare at us. The Americans (us) were loud, obnoxious, and overly confident compared to the rest of the crowd in this place. 

After leaving, and paying, we all made our way to Orange Pub for ladies night, a night club offering all ladies free drinks until 1 am. Good thing it was 12:50! As soon as we got there, the bouncer asked us for our ID’s. Luckily I carried mine, but my friend Gage did not bring his. The bouncer made a shooing motion with his hand for him to get out of the line. I looked at the man and, without thinking, pulled out money from my pocket. He eyed the money, about 7 colones, and reached for it while pushing Gage and I into the club. Just get me a drink, I told Gage, something all the students and I adopted as a means of owing each other money. As of now, I already owe many a couple colones, and vice versa. If we all keep this up, I have a feeling by the end of the semester we will owe each other >160 mil colones worth of drinks if we keep the saying up. Anyways, eventually all of us made it into this packed, humid space filled with a sweaty crowd of people all jumping in unison to the DJ’s music. Centered in the middle of the dance floor was the bar, looking like a battlefield of spilled drinks and bartenders with money being waived in their faces for more mixed concoctions. To the right, there were two or three platforms against the wall, presumably VIP areas that were sectioned off from the crowd.  I led the way into the crowd where we all formed a circle, right in the middle of the dance floor. At this point, we were just like everyone else in the club: dancing, laughing and feeling the music. I vividly remember the thought I had at this moment, thinking how I could’ve met such amazing people that I feel so comfortable around in a foreign country, all in less than a week. I mean, I would do anything for this group of people. This couldn’t be the peak of my trip, could it? Who knows what else these next few months has in store for me. 

Once the clock hit three in the morning, the club began to shut down. We finally left together, all walking back to the hostel...not the smartest idea considering we were a rowdy crowd of gringos. Fortunately we all made it back alive and fine. As soon as we entered our room, it was lights out. 

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January 25th

My schedule for Wednesdays are basically free, I have no classes however at 4 PM every Wednesday, there will be soccer at the indoor field across from the San Ramón stadium. Today, I went to a café called Café Aromas and worked on my homework, met with some friends, then got ready to play soccer. The games are optional meaning you don’t have to participate, but it seems like a good way to get some exercise in. When I showed up with the girls, almost all the students came! Either to watch, or to play. I also saw the four girls who have been here since first semester, talking to all the ticos in good Spanish. I was intimidated by this, thinking how they even met these people. I don’t know if I will even make one tico friend here! 

By 6 PM, I looked like I just took a shower with how sweaty I was. We all parted ways after and I decided to walk home, considering it is decently close to home. Not a very eventful day, but I think I am definitely going to try and plan some day trips to book for Wednesdays!

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January 24th

On my walk to school, I noticed that there is a store on my way to school that seems to sell mattresses or foam pads/something of the sort. Maybe this is a calling to me that soon I will most definitely need to invest in a mattress pad. My “bed” is currently a concave mat where you can actually feel the wood beneath it in the middle. 

Tuesday mornings are taken up by Tropical Marine Biology in the mornings from 8-11 AM, with a break at lunchtime and Composition at 1-4 PM. at 4:30, I had Latin Dance. Of course, I walk into my first class drenched with sweat after my walk to school and enter my morning class that had almost all the seats filled. Our teacher, Sonia Gamboa, was an actual marine biologist unlike my ecology teacher, but couldn’t speak English with the same level as Ximena. The class was taught in the basic way my classes in W&J were taught, but this seemed more of a beginner-level class, with her lessons being taught to us like we were young kids. For example, one of the first lessons she taught was, “Describe the ocean”. Blue, big, dark, ominous, etc. Apparently, all the lessons she will teach will show up on our finals/midterms, so I am imagining a section on the exam dedicated to choosing adjectives to name the ocean. God, I hope this class won’ t be hard!

Something important to note: Our host families are paid to make us breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day, so my outings each or every other day for some kind of meal were a complete waste of money. 

Some friends and I walked to the heladería, which is right across the main park, for our lunch break. This was one of the most beautiful ice cream parlors I have seen, with pastel yellow walls outside and lots of sunlight that enters, the lights weren’t needed inside during the day. They have an array of gelato and desserts along with meals as well. 

I have a feeling my composition class will be the hardest of them all. When I first met the students, I already had an eye for what kind of person each was. Well, as I entered this classroom, I could see that the more studious, intelligent students were in this class. I got nervous. I am not sure what kind of teacher I was expecting to walk into the classroom, but surely not the one who walked in. She came in with a backpack and water bottle, dressed in nice clothes but seemed to be damp with sweat. Her hair was a curly brown to her chest with minimal makeup. She’s on the shorter side, at the most 5′1′’. She spoke only in Spanish, and you can tell she knows no English. Her name is Alejandra Rojas, and she said she just came from teaching the Puntarenas USAC students and was in traffic. She spoke with high confidence in her ability to help us with our Spanish. We all needed to go to the copy store a few blocks from the school to copy the Advanced Spanish textbook. Although we were considered Intermediate Spanish III, she said the workload and knowledge of this class were comparable and even at times more difficult than the Advanced Spanish class that she also taught. We are supposed to compose two essays a week, as well as rewriting/editing the ones she would take. We will be given assignments every day such as readings which we will be quizzed on. Then, we will have four exams, each accompanied with an essay we must write. Considering that writing is my worst subject, let's hope that this class will improve my skills...I hope. 

After what seemed like an entire day, I used the time in between my classes to go to the copy store. All I had to do was ask for a copy of this textbook, and they copied every single page of this book (close to 400 pages), double sided. They hole-punched it, put a plastic spiral to keep the pages together and even put laminated covers to protect it! All for about five colones, or ten bucks...

By the time I arrived back to school, the students and the dance instructor all moved the desks out of the classroom to make room for the floor. The instructor, named Alan, was bouncy and moved his hips viciously every time he moved. He started us with basic moves for the Merengue and said he would teach us more over time. If only I could take a video to show how much this man’s hip could move....I feel like a woman couldn’t even move her hips that fast. By the time class ended, I was drenched with sweat. I left for home by taxi again, afraid to walk back home at night, and got ready to start my next day.

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January 23rd

My Monday schedule started with Ecology and Population Biology at 8-11 AM. After, I have a break until 4 which is my Conversation and Communications class, then cooking at 6. When I left for my walk, I was surprised how early everyone opened up. I left the house around 7:30 and most shops were starting to open up or already opened. It was cool in the morning until the sun rose high enough it hit my face, and that’s when the sweat started coming. I guess I would have to get used to coming in drenched with sweat to class every morning. My Ecology class is almost all girls with one boy. My teacher’s name is Ximena Loria. She speaks perfect English but seems like a tough kind of teacher. She said she wants to improve our skills in writing reports and becoming a better scientist, meaning lots of writing in the future. She immediately started with a presentation about climate change and brought up her opinion on Donald Trump (not a good opinion). Then, she asked us to converse between ourselves on basic ecology terms, and that was the end of the first class. After, some girls and I went into town to get lunch and explore until our next classes. 

My Conversation class was a small class with only girls. My teacher, Cristian greeted us with a game. The game was to repeat the words on the board that went as so: “Yo soy ___, la nacha sin tacha. El/Ella es ____, el/la nacho/a sin tacha”. The rule was if you stuttered or made a mistake, he would write a mark on your hand, and you would have to add up the “tachas” in the saying. (e.g, Yo soy Sofia, la nacha con una tacha) If you got three tachas, you were out. So he starts, and popcorns it to one girl, and so on. Every person said it slow but perfect, except one girl. He came over and gave her a mark on her hand. She tried again laughing and smiling with everyone but made another stutter. You could tell she was getting embarrassed. He gave her another mark. She then said that she wanted to quit because she would make another mistake. Cristian then told someone else to start, so we all continued until we all had three tachas. He tried to explain how this game was related to the class, and how we all had to work together to achieve something. How this had any connection to the class, I have no idea.

There was a half hour break between that class and cooking. Jess, a student from the previous class, and I both waited for the cooking teacher to come in. When she arrived, all the students and I piled into the room and took a seat. She gave us each an apron and we immediately went to cooking! Our recipe today was gallo pinto, juevos revueltos, and fresco. After class, I called a taxi home so I wouldn’t walk home in the dark, and got ready for my next day

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Day 2- Quick tour around town after orientation 

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Day 2- McGinnis Brannon and I riding coasters at the Palmáres parade

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January 21st

It is officially day two, and so far, so good. The only thing I can’t help but mention is that if my bed is going to be this uncomfortable, I might have to resort to buying a mattress pad to make it less stiff. I woke up today around seven AM pretty easily; I guess Sra. Mireya is an early bird. I heard her start her day around six AM making breakfast in the kitchen. As I got up, the matt of a bed left an imprint of my body that, even when I got home after being out all day, still hasn’t relieved itself of my body’s weight from this morning. Anyways, Sra. Mireya made a huge breakfast display on the table for me that included scrambled eggs on a tortilla, a fried quesadilla with queso blanco, gallo pinto, slices of papaya and watermelon, a bowl of cereal, plátano maduro, and a big array of fresh breads with natilla, Costa Rica’s kind of sour cream, and butter. Unsurprisingly, I ate every single thing she left for me. One thing I didn’t understand was when she greeted me with this: “Hola Sofia! Como amaneció?”. I asked her to repeat it and still didn’t understand. She said in Costa Rica, the word amanecer is used to describe to someone, “how did you sleep?”. She said that it’s just something that everyone says here and won’t really be said in other countries. Good to know, I thought. At around 8:30 AM, a neighbor picked me up for a meeting with all the students in downtown San Rámon. The neighbors, the Alvarados, also had a host student named Quinn, who greeted me shyly and told me how her first day went. We finally arrived at this venue, and walked in to greet all the new students.

The meeting was basically to introduce each student to each other and to become familiar with the faculty and places around. The students were of all college ages between 19 and 23, however, I think I am the youngest of them all (something I am used to). They handed each one of us a folder that contained some beneficial information such as a map of San Ramón, a card with the numbers of different taxi companies, and a little cheat sheet on cultural “tican” living. They also played a video at the end of the orientation about things you should probably do at your host home, which I will try and link at the bottom of this post. Something quite amazing that I realized was how interconnected all of us students were. We had time for all of us to talk and introduce ourselves, and many of the students had some kind of mutual friend. For example, a guy named TJ Goble from Washington State University, originally from San Francisco, CA is good friends with one of my high school friends, Austin Proteau. Austin lives just a two-minute walk from me, but I forgot he went to WSU too! They had some lab together and became really good friends. What a small world we really are in. 

After the orientation, Sra. Mireya was outside waiting for Quinn and me to walk home. She informed us of a parade in Palmares, a neighboring town to SR, where there is live music, food, and an amusement park. The faculty of USAC created a group page for all the students to communicate with each other. I am normally not the one to make plans, but I decided to make a change and take charge-- I posted on the FB page if anyone wanted to join me. 

Sra. Mireya sat down with me as I ate the lunch she already had prepared and warmed up when we arrived home. I was served a plate of salad, fried fish, a side of white rice, a side of chopped up, sauteed vegetable she pronounced as, “chayote”, and a bowl of soupy black beans with a boiled egg on top. 

This was my first plan in Costa Rica and I was already nervous. I had to call a taxi, find this park, go to Palmáres, come back and get home. I was tempted to just cancel plans and go to bed, but I gathered up my courage and got ready. Of course, I was blessed with unfortunate events. Selam, one of the girls, messaged me and said to meet at the Palmáres park. I figured this park was somewhere in San Ramón nearby that was easy for all of us to meet. I called one of the taxis, quickly ate my dinner of salad, french fries, beans, white rice, and tuna, and left my house. I gave the direction to the taxi, and we left. I realized something was wrong when we drove past windy roads, a highway, and all the way to Palmáres. I put two and two together, and I think Selam meant the central park of San Ramón. Thankfully, my mother was kind enough to give me international data so I could message Selam, who said this park was in San Ramón. I asked the taxi driver where we were, and he told me in Spanish, “Palmáres. Why?” I looked at him blankly and started to sweat with nervousness. I told him that I believe I mixed up the two parks, and I actually needed to go to the central park of San Ramón, He gave me a frustrated look. I told him my plans in Spanish as best as I could and he said in reply, “ Well I hope your friends will still be there by the time we arrive. There was an accident on the highway which could take an hour to pass.” I began to panic. I told Selam there was a possibility that I would not make it because we actually drove to Palmáres, but she said they were still waiting for a few others to arrive. The taxi managed to cross a few lanes of traffic heading the opposite direction, drive over the sidewalk, pass some patches of grass and take a short cut. Not surprised that the taxis here seem pretty ruthless, just like the ones I have experienced in Panamá. I told the taxi driver in embarrassment that I would, of course, pay him in total, to which he replied, “well, of course, you better.” That was a given. We made it to the central park back in SR, gave him the colones, and met the students. Selam brought her host brother who spoke perfect English, his friend, and two other students came. We drove in his car there, and they laughed at my taxi story as I chuckled with them, which were secretly chuckles of frustration.

The parade was huge; a club section, an outside venue with music, a bar area, and rows of food trucks. We all decided to go to the amusement park then ended the night with music and Imperial beer near the venue. We all bonded over our hobbies and experiences, talking about places we should go and see. Atrevete-te-te by Calle 3 played while Selam’s host brother explained to us the lyrics (quite explicit but catchy). He finally drove each us home at the end of the night. Sra. Mireya gave me a key earlier to unlock the door, and that is the end of day 2! I will admit, I don’t regret any part of today. 

To watch “A Gringo’s Guide to Costa Rica”, click the link below

https://youtu.be/nZD8AMojvzI

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Revising my journal

As I wandered around the airport before I boarded my plane to Costa Rica in January, I decided to do something new, and buy a journal. I decided that I wanted to remember everything that happened here and would write in it every time I experienced something worthy to write about. Now, I plan on rewriting all my entries that I have written in the past 3 and a half months, maybe taking out a few personal details here in there, but here goes everything that I have experienced, felt, learned, and loved about Costa Rica

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January 20th - Arrival

53 students including myself will be spending the better part of four months in San Ramón, Costa Rica living with a host family and studying at a university. This will be my first time away from my family and familiar surroundings for the first time, so I am definitely nervous. My goal for this semester is 1) improve my Spanish, 2) become more independent, and 3) find my passion in life so I can continue my route to my career and life after education.  

“I have made it to my new Costa Rican home! After an entire day of traveling, the students and I have officially made it to Costa Rica. The airport we landed in was in San Jose, so we waited for a bus to pick us up, then take us to San Ramón. The bus dropped us off at an intersection between a church and a park. We then waited for our host families to find us and take us to our new homes. My host mother and sister were the first I saw who greeted me with smiles and hugs and took my luggage, plopped it in the back of their car and drove me to my designated home. Apparently, we live in a private residence area named Otto Kooper with a security desk in the front. All the houses were big and modern looking. Mine was the second street, second house to the left. It is a duplex, where her other daughter, granddaughter, and ex-husband live on the other side. They grabbed my bags and led me inside. 

The first thing I noticed was that my host family does not speak an ounce of English, but I could actually understand everything they said to me which made me feel much better about my Spanish skills. They led me to my room which is on the first floor with my own personal bathroom. My new room as one big wardrobe, a twin sized bed that seems to be a mat instead of a mattress, a small wooden bedside table with one drawer, and a stock of blankets, sheets, and towels above the wardrobe. The house had an odd smell that I can't quite put my finger on, but I am sure I will get used to it. It is also very cool here, much cooler than I was expecting but I am so glad it isn't blazing here. As soon as I put my stuff in my room, my host mom, Sra. Mireya told me she made me food in case I was hungry. I could not WAIT to have my first Costa Rican meal. Sra. Mireya made me an empanada with cheese, a small omelet with a corn tortilla under it, and a salad of lettuce, tomatoes, and carrots. I shoved the food in my mouth as polite as possible, while talking with my host mom about where I'm from, what I like to do, what I eat and don't eat, etc. I noticed that Sra. Mireya was very timid. She spoke in a shy voice like she was afraid to raise her voice. After I finished, I gave her my presents of chocolate, Pittsburgh souvenirs, and a cardigan. She gave me a kiss on the cheek and said goodnight. I returned to my room, unpacked what I could, and now I am here writing this. Tomorrow around 9 am, all the students must meet at a place downtown San Ramón for an orientation. Now it's time for some well-deserved sleep!”