Day 32- Not Fit For Print

Well, our Monday night officially made up for the last Thursday night that we had.  The escapades of last night will remain unpublished to protect the privacy of all individuals involved.  I am sure that if you corner one of us we will spill the beans, but as I am a long way from home, you are just going to have to wait.  I do want to say, to all those out there who have never experienced it, it is not advisable to stay out until 2:30 on a school night.  For anyone who wants to do some quick math, I got up this morning at 6:15, which would equal my total time asleep to be less than or equal to not nearly enough.  However, the shower gods decided to spare me this morning and I got a warm shower, which can make any day a good day in CR.  And it could be that I am getting a bit loopy from the sleep deprivation, but today was awesome.  I got a lot accomplished, my advanced class is almost finished, we are reading things that are closer to our time period in my literature class and overall the day was very good.  But now I am blogging to procrastinate doing my oral presentation that is due in less than 12 hours.  So I should probably sign off for today so my world does not lose its peachy glow.  Oh and I will get to be home in 11 days!  Which is both exciting and sad at the same time.

Day 31- 2 Week Notice

Monday's suck no matter where in the world you are.  There is just something about the start of a new week that, while it should have so much promise and should be thrilling because you never know what is going to happen, just makes you want to pull the covers back over your head and go to sleep.  This is nothing other than my loathing of Mondays talking.  Today was also a difficult day, due to the fact that all the teachers just seemed to realize that we are only going to be in their clutches for a few short days more.  So tonight, directly before righting this, I wrote two pages of composition, a poem,  a paper for my literature class, and read 10 pages of Don Quijote.  Sounds fun huh?  I really want to enjoy my last weeks here, and hopefully I will get to do just that when I only have my literature class left.
Of course Monday nights= Quartel nights, which in turn equal no sleep.  Dance now, sleep later has become my new motto :). Besides, I deserve some fun after all that homework.  Even if that fun is going to make tomorrow morning come way too soon. :D

Day 30- Luxe

Today we are recovering from the epicness that was last night.  Or this morning...whichever way you would like to think about it.  Luxe is a very upscale bar near the nicest neighborhoods in San José.  The music was loud and the lights were bright.  A fun time was had by all the roomies present, as well as our sister tica and her friends.  But we may have overdone it a bit, since we didn't get back to the house until 4:30 am.  But today is Sunday, so other than homework we have nothing to do.  And I'm not sure any of us are actually doing homework right now.  I obviously am not :)
We had a great late lunch at the local pizza place, which was delicious as usual.  Now we just have to get ready for, well basically finals week, this coming week of school.  It might get a bit rough because I have a quiz, an oral presentation, and a test for my advanced class.  And it is one of my roomies final week in the house with us.  So when you put those two things together, I highly doubt that there will be much sleep to be had at the gray house on the corner.

Day 29- Plan B

The original plan for today was to go explore downtown San José.  But it was raining all day, and we didn't want to spend the day drenched and miserable, so we changed our plans.  I wish there was a way to send all of this rain home, because it is scheduled to rain for the next three or four days here.  Our Plan B turned out to be going to another mall with our sister tica and shopping for a few hours before watching the new Batman movie.  Which was awesome.  As were the heels that I found :)  Five inch heels will always make me smile, especially when we are going clubbing later tonight.  I really shouldn't have talked myself out of packing at least one pair, but oh well, I love the new pair that are now all mine.  Right now we are all getting ready to go out to a swanky club that our sister tica wants to visit, called Luxe.  It smells like a salon in the house, because hair is being straightened, polish is being applied, and the beautification process is commencing.  I will have to write tomorrow about our night at Luxe :)

Day 28- Exploring San José

Today's class means that I have just 4 classes left in advanced, and hallelujah for that.  It really sucks being the only one in the house with classes on Fridays.  Class was nothing special today.  I headed home directly afterward to meet up with the roomies to go to lunch at Las Leñitas.  We met up there with some other members of our program and had a delicious meal.  We were just in the nick of time getting there too, because just as we got under the roof, a torrential rain started pouring down.  It seems that the "little summer" that we had been in is fast disappearing into Costa Rica's rainy season.  We were not going to let a little rain ruin our plans for the day.
As soon as we stopped by the friends' house for some rain gear, we headed towards downtown San José.  We were planning on going to see the butterfly exhibit at the Museo Nacional, followed by some shopping in the artisans market, and finally just some general exploration.
The butterflies in Costa Rica are HUGE!  And their colors are so vibrant and diverse.  It was really cool to see.  Part of the group didn't want to look around the rest of the museum, but another group member and I did, so we stuck around for a bit.  I think the building that houses the museum used to be a presidential residence, but don't quote me on that until I do a bit more research.  It looked quite a bit like a castle.
When we were finished looking around, my friend and I went down the artisan's market as well, ready to get our shopping on.  I had been to the market once already, but I hadn't bought anything at the time.  Now I realize that I have only two short weeks left in Costa Rica, so I have to get a move on on this souvenir buying business.  I found some great things for the family and friends, but I am not quite done yet.  It began to pour once again as we were leaving the market, so we decided to try to find a bakery or a coffee shop and sit it out.  MusManni is a large bakery chain that is throughout Costa Rica and they have some great stuff.  So we all sat down to have a baked good and a coffee.
It was a long afternoon, full of walking and exploring, so we were all very glad to see Veritas once again, even though that still meant that we had another 10 minute walk to get home.  Once we finally got back to the house, we all had a show and tell with our booty from the afternoon.  I still haven't actually bought my self anything, so I should probably figure out what I want.
Supper was mini pizzas that a friend of our host mom made.  As it turns out, there was a bit of a party at our house tonight.  One of our brother ticos had invited a bunch of his friends over.  So we stayed in tonight.

Day 27- Dance Class

This morning I noticed that the tops of my feet and my abs were quite sore from the bungee jump yesterday. So I won't be doing abs at the gym or wearing real shoes for the rest of the week;  it was completely worth it :).  I did find my camera today, which is a good thing.  There is now photo evidence posted that I did bungee jump.

It was hard to go back to class today, since yesterday felt like a mini weekend.  But we are fast approaching the end, and I only actually have 5 classes of advanced left.  Too bad those classes are going to be jam-packed with tests, oral presentations, and quizzes.

Tonight our program set up a dance class as a social for us.  So I finally learned how to salsa.  Well at least a few steps.  The dance class was in a mansion that had been converted into a hotel.  The area of San José that we were in is one of the most historically rich parts of town.  All the buildings and homes are from the time when the coffee barons lived there and you can definitely tell.  It felt like stepping back in time for a bit and I wish that I could have been there to see the area when it was new.

After class, everyone was pumped to go find a salsa bar to try out their new moves.  So the adventure of Thursday night began.  We all split back into taxis to head back to Los Profs, where we would then plan our night.  From Los Profs, we went to La Caribeña, which was supposed to be a good place to dance.  Too bad it was completely empty, with the exception of two or three older men who were smoking cigars.  Back into the taxi we went, this time to El Bare Rio.  Unfortunately, it was closed.  By this time, all of us that were in my taxi were ready to call it a night, so we directed our dilapidated taxi back to the house.  We were not going to roll the dice again.  Maybe we will have more luck finding some fun this weekend, since we are going to stay in San José.

Day 26- Bungee

Since I am writing once again, it should be clear that I survived my bungee experience.  It quite honestly was one of the best things that I have ever talked myself into doing.  So I will give you a playback of my day. :)

This morning, I was awoken at 5 am by Pachocho (which means precious. My sister tica named him, because he was anything but "precious" this morning).  I finally got him to go back to sleep until I had to get up again at 6:45 so I could make it to VERITAS by 8 am for the van to Tropical Bungee.  I decided that eating breakfast was probably not a good idea, since I didn't want to see it again mid-jump.  So I said goodbye to my kitty and took off up the hill.

There were six of us who had decided a free fall sounded like a good idea.  The ride to the bridge took about 45 minutes due to traffic, and I was a little bit nervous.  Once we arrived at Tropical Bungee, we had to, of course, get out and sign a waiver.  At the bottom of the waiver, there was also a spot that you would have to sign if you did not jump.  Which I was determined not to have to do.

As we walked out onto the bridge, it was clear that we were the first group of the day.  As such, we were suited up and strapped into our harnesses in less than 5 minutes.  Before I think any of us were ready, they were asking us who was going to go first.  I might be crazy, but I was not going to be that crazy.  The bridge was over a ravine that was over 250 feet up.  Looking over the edge, I had to remind myself why I wanted to do this.  Soon enough, it was my turn to go ( I was the first girl to go, by the way).  So I took off my shoes so they wouldn't end up in the river below and jumped up onto the side of the bridge. They strapped the bungee cord to my feet and made me show them that I knew how to clip the return line to my harness.  Then, I swung my legs around, stood up and walked the plank.  Literally, the ledge that they have built into this bridge looked like a pirate's plank. Comforting, very comforting. When I dropped the bungee cord between my toes, I made the slight mistake of looking down. It was a very, very long way.  But then everyone started to count down from 5, and at 1 I was going to jump.  I am not actually sure that I waited for the countdown to reach one, because I looked out into the horizon and jumped.  There was a split second, when the butterflies in my stomach turned into eagles, that I thought "What in the world did you just do?"  I kept my eyes open the whole way down and I really can't accurately describe the feeling.  It was much more intense than the Tarzan swing from Monteverde.  And at the bottom of my jump, the bungee let me bounce and swing again.  The river at the bottom of the ravine is very pretty, but I am happy to say that I did not actually get to meet it first hand.  Hanging upside down, with the blood rushing to my head, swinging in the breeze and riding my adrenaline high, I was so glad that I took the leap.

What the instructors failed to tell us was-
1. How difficult it was going to be to catch the return line when you and it are both swinging in the wind.
2. How hard it is to clip a return line to a d-ring on your belt when you are upside down, with the blood rushing to your head and your hands shaking like leaves.
But I accomplished the task, and they hauled me back up to the bridge.  As fun as the jump was, I was grateful to be back on solid ground, because the wraps on my ankles were starting to hurt my feet.  Watching the rest of the group go, I was amazed that I found enough guts to pull it off.  I felt invincible and from now on, whenever I tell myself that I can't do something, I am sure that I will think back to that exact moment when my feet left the platform.  I mean really, what is more scary than a free fall from 250 feet?  And all of this happened before 10 am.

I have to say that the rest of my day has been pretty bland in comparison.  However, in my adrenaline induced euphoria, I failed to notice that my camera had fallen out of my purse, so I have to see if I can find it tomorrow.  And sad news about Pachocho; even though all the humans in the house loved him, the two bulldogs and he did not get along.  I was in favor of keeping the cat, but obviously I was out voted.  So Pachocho went to the local vet's office to wait for another great family to love him.  I now have to concentrate on my homework, so I will write again tomorrow, and hopefully there will be pictures of my bungee escapade.  :D

Day 25- Going a Bit Crazy

Dancing at Quartel until 1:30 am is fun.  8 am class the morning after doing that is not so much fun.  However, almost all of my advanced class went out, so it was pretty comical to see all of us dragging the next morning.  Our profesora got a good chuckle out of it.  And it was pretty funny :)
After the exciting weekend I had of thrill seeking, I decided on the way back from Monteverde that I wanted to kick it up a notch, and I signed up for bungee jumping.  But yesterday, it didn't look like there were going to be enough people interested in going.  Today, I was told that they were not going to put a minimum requirement on the participation for the outing.  I paid for the excursion, and tomorrow I am going to jump off a perfectly good bridge.  Just the thought is putting butterflies in my stomach, but I am determined to make it happen.
Since we don't have class tomorrow, we went out again tonight. (Although I am sure that not having class really didn't have that much to do with it. )  There was a girl at the bar who had had a kitten follow her, and she was trying to figure out what to do with him.  My sister tica has been saying that she really wants a cat.  So the little scamp came home with me.  He is making a nuisance of himself as I am trying to write this, so I will let you know more about him tomorrow.  Oh and my experience with bungee jumping.  Well, hopefully :)

Day 24- System Overload

My head is once again having a problem containing all the words that it needs to have in it to communicate effectively in two languages.  It feels like an overloaded circuit.  And what happens to overloaded circuits?  They blow.  And then you are unable to think, or speak, or pretty much do anything productive in either language.  Which means you can sit there and be frustrated, but not much else.  Welcome to my Monday.

After a weekend away from San José, 8 am class came around way to early.  But I made my way up the hill to Veritas and got through classes.  I am a bit homesick, especially with everything that is going on at home.  I hope that they can get the fire stopped and that everyone stays safe while fighting it.

I miss my Sandhills and I miss family and friends, but I have passed the halfway mark and I will miss the family and friends that I have made here when I have to leave.  I know that it will be bittersweet, but I am determined to enjoy my last three weeks.  However, the closer I get to the end of this journey, the more I remember things that need to be done for things in the States.  That sense of responsibility is not easy to ignore.  So I will continue to make my daily routine count for as much as I can, and try to cram as many memories in as I am able.  The roomies will help with that I am sure, because Monday night is Quartel night. I had better finish my homework so I can go :)

Day 23- Jumping Off a Perfectly Good Bridge

Breakfast this morning was from 6:20-7:20, which makes me glad that I went to bed at 10:30.  After breakfast, the canopy tour company sent shuttles to pick up our group.  Thirty minutes up winding gravel roads, and we had arrived at the cloud forest of Monteverde.  When we signed our lives away with a waiver, we also got to choose whether we would do the last zip line a la superman.  Why not?  I was already going to be zip-lining, rappelling, walking on an air bridge, and doing a Tarzan swing.  A little bit more of an adrenaline rush wasn't going to kill me.  So we all got suited up into our harnesses, helmets, and gloves, and went to get a lesson on zip-lining.  In broken English, we were told what to do and what not to do, how to break, and how to pull ourselves the rest of the way down the line if we screwed up and used too much break.  We were also told not to ever mess with our harnesses, which to me was a bit of a no brainer, since it was the only thing between me and a 200 foot drop on some of the lines.
We started on a practice line, to get the hang of breaking.  This was when I was able to take a bit of skin off my wrist with the cable, so it was a great start.  After a while, I got the hang of it, and the views were amazing.  Soaring over the forest below was an experience that I will never forget.  Some of the longest lines let you ride along for 30 seconds or more.  When I arrived at the final line, the one that I had chosen to do the Superman on I was very excited.  It really was like I was flying.  Then came the final obstacle of the day, the Tarzan swing, which was a free fall into a rope swing at 200 feet above the forest floor.
Shockingly, today I realized I was an adrenaline junkie.  A hard core adrenaline junkie.  Because that free fall was the most exhilarating experience that I have ever had.  A few of the people in my group were unable to complete this last part of the tour, but I had decided before I started the day that I was going to do everything.  Walking onto the bridge, while it was swinging from the first member of our group to go, was a bit tremor inducing.  As was looking over the edge into nothingness that the guide beside me said to jump into.  But the rush of the fall.....so sweet.  So I now know that if my mother asks me if I would jump off a bridge if all my friends were doing it, I will have to tell her yes.  As long as I have a harness or something to catch me.
Another thing that I discovered today; zip-lining through the forest and climbing up the sides of mountains to get to the next line makes a person very hungry.  Add to that the adrenaline rush and the inevitable crash, and I was ready to eat an entire cow and then take a nap.  After we checked out of the hotel, we headed back down to town to grab lunch and I managed to sneak in a bit of souvenir shopping :).  A very long bus ride back to San José, because of traffic and I was finally back in my Tican home.  I still have a lot of homework for tomorrow, so I will hopefully get this posted Monday night after class.  Oh and only three more weeks in CR!  Time flies like I did on the zip-line :D

Day 22- Jeep, Boat, Jeep

This morning began bright and early once again; the clouds and fog here move in later in the day and obscure the views of things like the waterfalls and the volcanoes, so naturally getting up at the crack of stupid is the only way to get to see them.  La Catarata Fortuna is a very beautiful place to see, even if it's not a very easy place to get to.  The path down to the river is very steep and somehow it was even worse going back up.  But the view made it all worthwhile.
Then it was back to the hotel to check out, which was a production.  Somehow, you can never make it easy to check 30 people out of a hotel simultaneously.  We said goodbye to the beautiful Baldi and went into the small town of Fortuna to grab some lunch before we left for Monteverde.  In town, there were many different little stores and restaurants.  I even met a very nice local whose name was Claudio.  Claudio was probably 90 and we had a great conversation before he went on his way down the street.
Our big coach bus had to take the long way around to get to Monteverde, which would have been about a seven hour ride.  The group went by van, then boat, then van across a more direct route.  The mountains of Monteverde are more to my liking.  We were on a small gravel road out in the middle of nowhere, which for some reason is something that I can relate to :).  It also appeared to be cattle country, although I shudder to think how exactly they fenced the mountainsides.  And yes, there were fences that were practically vertical.  This part of the country I could easily fall completely in love with.  The rain forests and beaches are nice, but the crisp, cool mountain air is addictive.  We didn't arrive in Monteverde until about 6, and the bus with our clothes on it didn't arrive until about 9 tonight.
A group of us walked into town, which was quite a jaunt, to get some food.  We found a great restaurant with a very funny waiter, and the food was delicious so it was mission accomplished.  The girl that I am sharing a room with split a container of tres leches and a carton of caramel-fudge swirl ice cream with me.  We are now both crashing from an extreme sugar high, so I believe that I am going to go to bed.  Which is actually a good thing, because I am going to be zipping through the cloud forest tomorrow morning at 7:30 am.  Good night everyone!

Day 21- On the Road Again

I had my midterm test this morning and my hand was a wee-bit cramped after almost 4 pages of writing.  Gotta love "los examenes de produción".  Then I had time to run home and pack for Arenal and Monteverde, before catching lunch with the roomies.  Finally, at 1 pm we were off on another adventure, this time to Arenal, to see a volcano and swim in the thermal waters around it and then on to Monteverde to go zip lining through the cloud forest.
After four hours on the bus, we arrived at the beautiful Baldi Hot Springs, Spa, and Hotel.  The hotel has 12 pools, all with thermal waters from the volcano.  There were wet bars, as in swim up to the middle of a pool wet bars, along with saunas, and a mountain.  The farther into the resort you went, you got closer and closer to the source of the thermal waters, so the pools got progressively hotter.  It made up for every cold shower that I have taken while in Costa Rica.  And then tonight, we went to eat at a steakhouse.  Think of every cliche that you have ever associated with a steakhouse and you can picture this restaurant.  The waiters were in full cowboy regalia; the only thing that was missing were the chaps and spurs.  And there was 90s country music playing.  It was a little bit bizarre.
Well it is off to bed because tomorrow is going to be a day full of traveling and seeing amazing sights.

Day 20- Not the other white meat

So, I did get my presentation finished and all went very smoothly this morning.  However, the night was very short and today was a very long day.  I don't have much sympathy for myself, so I don't count on anyone else having any either.  As my mama tica would say "qué torta", while doing this finger snapping thingy that I cannot seem to master.  I honestly don't think that she, or any of the ticos, actually have a bone in part of their pointer fingers.  I have no idea how to get my hand to do that.  But I digress.

It was a cereal morning in the house, so by the time lunch rolled around I was pretty hungry.  Standing in line at the cafeteria, I chose to eat rice, plantains, veggies, and what I thought was a mixture of chicken and vegetables.  Upon closer inspection I realized that. It. Was. Not. Chicken. It was tripe.  And for those who do not know what tripe is, it is offal (cow stomach).  Now normally, I am pretty adventurous with my food choices.  However, tripe smells.....funky.  It smells like cow stomach, which is not an appealing smell.  I did not eat it and I was not actually hungry any more. Note to self, in Costa Rica, always, always ask what something is. I saw many a plate with that meat and vegetable mixture untouched.  The funniest part being that some people did actually eat it without knowing what it was.  That was a fun conversation to have with them :)

Any ways, I have a test tomorrow at 8:00 am, so I am being lame and stayed in to study, while all my roomies go out to have fun.  But they don't have class tomorrow, so what is a girl to do.  Arenal and Monteverde this weekend.  I will try to write, but I might not have internet access.  So you might have to wait until Sunday for the next installments.  Be advised that there will be a lot of pictures once again.

Day 19- "A Little Bit Red"

I am quickly approaching the halfway mark of my adventure, which seems as surreal as the fact that I am in another country right now.  But time continues to march on and it waits for no one.  My day was a pretty great day.  I used my break in between classes to head to the gym for a good butt kicking.  In advanced literature, we watched a movie called La Celestina, which is an adaptation from a tragedy written about 100 years before Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.  To say that it was a "little bit red" was an understatement.  For those of you who would understand the reference, think Shakespeare in Love times about 10. Talk about awkward.
 Anyhoo, the roomies and I went to the movies tonight at the San Pedro Mall.  Before the movie, we each got a Twix McFlurry, which might be the greatest contribution that McDonald's has ever made to this world.  We saw Spiderman, which we initially thought was going to be all in Spanish with English subtitles.  But it was in English with Spanish subtitles.  It was actually kind of like a little slice of home for the evening, other than the fact that all the people who were talking during the movie were speaking in Spanish.  I might not get this posted until tomorrow because the big, ugly procrastination monster might have struck me.  Instead of working on my 15 minute oral presentation for advanced spanish, I went to the movies.  Oh well, pura vida and all that jazz.  It might be a long night. :)

Day 18- Daily Routine

After about a week and a half of classes, it is getting easier to get into a routine here.  Class at 8. Lunch at 12.  Homework until 3.  Class until 5.  And then more homework.  Ahh the glamorous life of a student studying abroad in an intensive program.  Being abroad in a tropical paradise is actually detrimental to getting good grades.  The only way it would be worse is if I were closer to the beach, because salt water is very dangerous to term papers.  But all in all, it was a normal day with no outstanding occurrences.  Tomorrow night I think that we will be going to the movies as a group and exploring around San José a bit, so my post might be a bit more exciting. :)

Day 17- Contact :)

Back to the slightly more real world of classes this morning.  The temperature difference between San José and Manuel Antonio is very distinct.  For instance, this morning walking up the hill to Veritas did not equal being drenched in sweat.  So it was a welcome change.  I am even more excited for this coming weekend, because we will be headed to Arenal and Monteverde....which equals ziplining, thermal pools, and another volcano.  And maybe bungee jumping.  We will see on that one.
Classes were very run of the mill today, but this week will be tough, because I have a quiz, an oral presentation, and a test in my advanced conversation class.  And I don't have much of an idea what I will be doing in my literature class, other than reading more poetry from medieval Spain (yay, not).  The really exciting news of the day is that I finally got Skype to work :)...yay for hour long conversations with the sister and the parental unit :D.  Oh and I got to see my kitty cat, who was her usual self.
After the tough time that I had last week, I am positive that this week is going to be awesome because I say it will be so.  Thank you to everyone who is reading this.  I hope that you are enjoying the ride with me.  Talk to everyone tomorrow. 

Day 16- Introspection

Finally, I am getting caught up on posting :)  It is Sunday night as I am writing this, and this weekend was amazing.  This morning, I got up and had a morning exploring by myself.  I had a quick breakfast in the hotel restaurant and then headed down to the beach.  I walked a ways before I found a spot to set up camp for the morning.  It is very hard not to think big thoughts when staring out into the ocean.  It is also hard not to feel insignificant next to the vastness of the water.  Going on this trip, cutting loose from the network of friends and family that I have had surrounding me for the past 22 years of my life, is a strange sensation.  Here, in this place of great beauty, I am alone.  There are new friends to be made, and there are always people around me, but I am alone.  I don't know if I have ever taken the amount of time that I did this morning to simply sit quietly and.....be.  It seems that in the states that there is always something that needs to be done, someone who needs me to do something, or a pressing concern that has to be considered.  And I know that all those things still apply even though I am still in a foreign country, but here I can let the sounds of the waves wash away those thoughts.  And better yet, I didn't feel guilty for not being busy with something.  The cure to those thoughts must be a combination of sand between your toes and the sound of waves crashing on the shore.  

I grabbed some lunch with a few of the program members and wandered around the small town, checking out shops, for the rest of our time there.  We loaded back onto the bus, headed for San Jose, around 2 pm.  We would have gotten back to our homestay around 5:30, but the bus broke down right as we were getting into the city.  So 15 minutes later tico time (which equals about 1 hour) we were finally home for the night.  A fantastic supper was waiting for us, and I have been blogging and uploading pictures ever since.  Sorry for not getting anything posted, but I should be able to keep up now that I am back in San Jose once again.

Day 15- Into the Rain Forest and to the Beach

After a very relaxing night, it is back out into the humidity.  You really do sweat by just moving your arm or think about moving your arm.  But one of the roomies and I began our day with a trip around the hotel and then down to walk along the beach before our tour of the National Park began at 9 ( in tico time it was probably more like 9:20)  Our group was paired with two amazing guides, who used scopes to pinpoint various creatures in the forest for us.  We saw spiders, snakes, lizards, sloths, a toucan, and monkeys :)
We ended our tour with the guides on the beach, and by this time, we are all soaking wet with sweat.  So a dip into the ocean was in order before any more exploring could be done.

Once we got cooled off, some of us decided to take a bit of a hike around the outside of the peninsula that the park is located on.  There were various lookout points, and during the entire time, it felt like Tarzan could come swinging through the trees beside us.  Sadly, there were no men wearing loin-clothes in the jungle.  However, there were a few Speedo-wearing men on the beach (ick). Spectacular views, just spectacular.
We ended our hike back on the beach were we got some more sun before a storm moved in.  The group headed up a different beach to get back to town before the storm broke.  Watching the, once again, sheets of water come down is best done under a roof with a cold milk shake in hand.  We waited out the storm before heading back to the hotel for a shower, as we all had sand in places that there should never be sand.

We headed back into town for supper and to look through all the shops that were around.  We got caught in the rain once again, which makes me think that while at Manuel Antonio no one is destined to be wearing dry clothing.  A Tequila Sunrise on a balcony overlooking the beach was the perfect end to the day, and we all headed back to hotel, since it wasn't even 7:30 yet.  Some....well socializing, with the group commenced and we were in bed by 11 :)

Day 14- Manuel Antonio

Class this morning from 8 to noon.  I did get all of my homework done last night.  Well everything that was going to be due at least.  We had a pretty relaxed day in class, since it was Friday and the teachers must not have felt like being mean.  My advanced class played a few games and watched a movie.  I know, sounds really rough.  But, after a quick lunch, I had to rush home and get my things because the bus left for the weekend at 1.  It was a little bit tight to get back on time.  The drive to Manuel Antonio was about four hours long and soooo beautiful.  We stopped at a bridge overlooking Rio Tarcoles to watch some crocodiles.  They were huge!  And it was a little crazy being about 20 feet away from a 10-15 foot reptile like that.  Then it was back on the bus to finish the trip.
The first thing that I noticed about Manuel Antonio was the humidity.  There was basically a wall of water right outside of the bus door.  When you hit it, you instantly began to sweat and feel sticky.  However, the views make the constant sweat worth it.  The hotel that we were staying in was gorgeous as well, and about 3 minutes from the entrance to the National Park.  We all got checked in and then a down pour of rain began to fall.  Sheet and sheets of water it seemed, came straight down for about 30 minutes.  The sun sets very early here; around 5:30 local time.  Which is a bit crazy.  I found my way back down into the small town by the beach for supper, and then a walk in the dark along the beach.  The waves crashing along the beach is so soothing, and helped to get rid of some of the tension from the past week.  It was advised that we not swim at night due to the strong currents, so I headed back to the hotel and took a dip in the pool before bed.  The morning was going to start bright and early with a rain forest adventure, so both me and my camera had to be ready.

Day 13- No Time

I was very cranky today.  After a night of not so much sleep because my stomach decided to rebel, classes were very long and it was a bit of a struggle to stay awake.  I also have a bunch of homework to do tonight, before I get to leave tomorrow for Manuel Antonio National Park.  So I am sorry that this is so short, and that it will probably be posted late, but I have to get to work.

Day 12- Spanglish

During orientation, we were greeted by a professor who had been teaching exchange students at Veritas for the past 20 years.  He said that it was always funny when students, while learning Spanish, suddenly lost their ability to speak all together, in both their native language and Spanish.  So after six hours of intensive Spanish today, the entirety of those reading this should be impressed that I can still comprehend anything at all.  Combine those hours of studying with reading El Canter de Mio Cid, a medieval text from around 1140,  in a form that has quite a bit of Ye Olde Español, and my brain is complete mush.  Like put in a blender and hit frappé mush.
However, today was a better day overall.  After a few pointed emails, I was able to be reimbursed for my plane ticket, and my elective class had one other student enrolled and it was moved to an earlier time in the day so it is still a go.  And it was my baby brother's birthday.  Which I am slightly sad that I had to miss this year.  But not to work lil' bro, you will be getting something very cool from CR.
Tomorrow is a normal school day with the exception of their being a barbque after classes, the first social of the year.  And this weekend, we are headed for the rainforest, so get excited for some great pictures! :)  Now, hopefully I can get some rest so in tomorrow's classes I am able to speak.

Day 11: July 10, 2012- A Not So Great Day in Paradise

Holy gringos batman!  There were soooooooooo many people at Quartel last night.  Which of course makes sense, since a summer program just started again for Veritas.  But my personal bubble was invaded once again and the roomies and I called it an early night due to the fact that we started school today.  So, at 7:30 am we departed for Veritas to discover our class schedules.  Advanced 1 from 8-12 and then PanAmerican Literature en español from 5-7 pm.
For orientation, we were shown a chart with an oscillating line illustrating the emotions that we were going to feel during our study abroad experience.  I think that I am on the down side of one of those curves right now.      And looking at the title of this post, you might ask what was so wrong with this day.  Well four hours of intensive spanish conversation after 6 months without practice is guaranteed to give you a headache.  Add that to the headache that my charlie foxtrot of a program is giving me and my head was about to explode around 2 pm when I got an email about my plane ticket reimbursement.  The program, that messed up the dates for our stay here in Costa Rica and therefore required that I change my plane ticket (costing me $561 out of pocket), is telling me that they will only reimburse me for the "change fee" of my ticket, which is $100. And finally, I was the only student in my elective class, which means I have to find another class that can be transferred back to my home University, which I am sure is going to be a piece of cake and a great time all around.  I need an upswing, because this paradise was not so much fun today.

Day 10: July 9, 2012- Orientation For Reals

This morning I had to be at Veritas at 8:30 am, which was 2 hours before any of my roommates had to be there, so it was a rather lonely walk up the long hill.  Upon arriving at Veritas, there was a bit of confusion because every other gringo who is taking classes for this summer session was trying to figure out where they needed to be.  In other words, it was a Charlie Foxtrot.  But soon, I was shuttled upstairs to a small waiting room to take my oral exam.  Thank goodness I brought my book because that was a very long wait.  Since I was reading "De cómo las muchachas García perdieron el acento" por Julia Alvarez, everyone pretty much left me alone.  During my interview, I talked with the proctor about the book, my life, fruit, and many other random things.  Things here run on Tico Time, which means that nobody gets in a rush about much of anything.  So our orientation, which was scheduled to begin at 10:30 really began at about 11:15.  And then lunch, which was supposed to be at 12:30 was actually around 1:30.  Ahhh Tico Time...gonna take some getting used to :)  After the roomies finished their oral exams, we headed to downtown San José to the Mercado Central.  Think Chinatown vendor-like stalls filled with all sorts of stuff.  Like polished wooden puzzles, jewelry, hammocks, and cuban cigars.  It will definitely be a place to return to when I am getting ready to find a little piece of CR for everyone.  Once again operating on Tico Time, the class schedule for tomorrow was not posted before we had to return home for dinner.  So I do not know which classes I was able to get into, or when exactly I need to be at the University tomorrow. Sigh.....
Tonight, everyone wants to return to Quartel for another night of dancing.  Is it a good idea with classes probably starting at 8 am tomorrow?  Probably not.... Am I going to go anyway?  Well I wouldn't want to be known as a fun hater, so of course :)  Hopefully I am coherent enough tomorrow to get to my classes and check in with whoever is actually reading this again.  Hasta mañana :D

Day 9: July 8, 2012- Another Lazy Day

Last night we ended up at La Calle, which is a street full of bars, snack shops, and clubs in downtown San José.  The place where we had fourth meal, as my roomie likes to call it, was called Monster Pizza.  I had a piece of pepperoni and mushroom that was bigger than my head.  But sooooo delicious.  I woke up this morning with a sore throat, which is not surprising since my sister tica had a cold when I arrived.  Hopefully I will get better quickly and it won't affect my oral exam in the morning.  My last roommate moved in on Saturday and the three of us went to the gym this morning.  We tried yet another small restaurant for lunch, and it was amazing.  I had tacos al pastor.  Amazing!!  Then I took a nap to try to feel a bit better.  So fingers crossed for tomorrow and my first day of classes :)

Day 8: July 7, 2012- Poás

I have finally caught up on my journaling, and I am writing this actually on the 7^th.  This morning bright and early, which equals 7:30 am, we boarded a bus for Poás Volcano.  The ride was so beautiful, if a bit nausea inducing because of all the curves.  It felt like we went straight up the side of the mountain for about two hours.  Poás is still an active volcano, not lava but sulfur fumes, and it resides in a crater that is a mile wide.  When we finally got to hike up to the crater, which is at about 8,000 feet above sea level, there was a great deal of cloud cover.  So we took another hike straight up the side of the mountain

(in this I am not kidding, it was a very steep pathway), to see another volcano that had been dormant for many hundreds of years.  Poás, when we returned, was finally clear enough to see, and it was spectacular.  There will be photos posted.  The water within Poás is so acidic- around 0-1 pH- that it doesn’t allow anything to grow in the crater around the volcano.  And it would melt the flesh off of your bones if you decided to skinny dip.  The trip back to the city was definitely worse; you try getting a coach bus down the side of a mountain smoothly and not induce motion sickness in any of its passengers.  We stopped for lunch and then departed at Veritas.  Tonight we are supposed to be going out again with our brother and sister tica, so I will write about that tomorrow.  

Day 7: July 6, 2012- Chillaxin in CR

My roomie and I had a very chill day today.  We got up late, lounged around the house, went to the gym, and in general had a lazy day.  There is something that I noticed though;  it doesn’t matter how beautiful the scenery is when you are working out, it still sucks.  The elliptical kicked my butt because of the higher altitude.  For all of those curious people out there, the city of San José is at an elevation of about 3,800 feet, which is about 1500 feet higher up than home.  After working out and taking a semi warm shower at the gym, we went and had a huge lunch at an amazing pizzeria that is right next to the local bar.  A trip to the store for snacks for our girls’ night in completed the day.  We had to be up early the next morning because we were headed for a volcano.

Day 6: July 5, 2012- Salsa

We began our day later than usual, which was good.  We arrived at the University de Veritas, where apparently I had to take a placement exam.  After never receiving an email from Veritas, I didn’t have a user name or a password to log on.  So I had to go into the office and get that.  But they gave me the wrong password, so I had to return.  And then that password wouldn’t work, so I had to go back again.  By the time I finally got to sit down and take this test that I was completely blinded by, I was very frustrated and very frazzled.  Add to that the fact that the computer lab that I was supposed to take this test in was now full of ticos talking at full blast, and I just wanted to cry.  Needless to say, it was a rough morning and I didn’t do as well on the test as I wanted to and, well I will not go into any more details.

Adri, the assistant residence director for our group, took us to the San José Mall, pointing out attractions and little places to eat along the way.  We will have to go back, because movies in Costa Rica are much less expensive than in the states.  She also pointed out a gym that we visited later in the day to find out about joining. 
Tonight, we went to Castros, which is a salsa and meringue bar.  There was a very nice, but very intense older gentleman that tried to teach me to salsa.  I think that I need a lot more practice.  After a rough start to the day, it had a pretty good ending, all things considered.

Day 5: July 4, 2012- Jacó Taco

There was a group of us who wanted to stick around San José instead of going to Puerto Viejo, so we planned a day trip to a beach nearby.  The morning began with a taxi ride to the bus terminal, where we all bought tickets for the hour and a half ride to Jacó, a beach on the Pacific side of the country.  The ride there was very beautiful, but a little bit hot.  The closer we got to the ocean, the more humid it became.  Soon it felt like everything was sticking to me.  After a delicious lunch at a local restaurant, we headed to the beach.  Jacó is a black beach that a lot of surfers go to because of the strong currents.  It was a stormy day, and the waves were high.  Even though we were told that Jacó was the ugliest beach in Costa Rica, it was still a great day.  There are a lot of retirees in Costa Rica, especially it seems in Jacó.  There was a bar called Jacó Taco, that was celebrating the fourth, so we stopped there before we got back on the bus for San José.  A crazy bus ride, followed by an even crazier taxi ride, and we were back at Veritas.  My roomie, sister tica and I went to the bar close to the university to celebrate the fourth.  Overall a great day J

Day 4: July 3, 2012: Chocolate Covered Coffee Beans? YUM!

Early morning.  Really early morning.  All I’ve got to say on that.  Today we went to a coffee plantation called Café Britt.  As it turns out, we could have slept a bit longer since our reservation for the tour was not until 12 noon.  So since we could not start our tour, we went to a small neighborhood by the plantation and saw an old church, some weird heads, and had un café at a local shop.  When we got back to the tour, we saw how the plants were grown.  It was at least 15 degrees cooler in the field because of how they have chosen to grow their crops.  Lunch was at the facility and was excellent once again.  There was a group planning a trip to El Puerto Viejo, but I think that I am going to plan something different.  Overall a great day and I discovered that I have a distinct weakness for chocolate covered coffee beans.

Day 3: July 2, 2012- Drug Out of My Comfort Zone

Two more roommates came last night; the third is being put up in a hotel until her room is open in Carmen’s house.  Since the date change with AIFS, there is still a student in the room that she was supposed to have and this has happened with about 8 other students in the program.  But the morning was bright and we headed to “orientation pt. 1”.  There we met the other students and Elizabeth, our new program director.  Enter slightly boring presentations on rules, safety, etc. and about an hour later we were on our way to the first excursion.  We bus toured San José downtown, where the streets are curvy and jam-packed with people.  A small museum, El Museo de Oro, dedicated to the history of gold in Costa Rica was the last activity before lunch.  And what a lunch it was.  Hidden on a corner of an obscure, at least to me, street, was this huge open air restaurant with the most delicious food.  Four huge, delicious courses later (ps, tiraramisu was amazing there) and our afternoon was complete.  I stopped and pulled out colones at the cajero automatico in Veritas ( 1000 colones is about 2 of our dollars).  Then my roomies and I headed home for the afternoon.  We agreed to meet up later in the evening at Los Professionales, a small bar that happened to be on our way home.  Later that night, at Profes, the group decided to go to a dance club, El Quartel which was closer to downtown San José.  The music was live, the place was packed and it was about 1 million degrees inside.  Needless to say, my personal bubble was invaded a lot.  But, it was fun, and three very sweaty roommates and one sister tica got home around 1:30 am.  Too bad we have to be up and to Veritas at 8:30 in the morning, tomorrow.  Ahh the life of an adventurer J

Day 2: July 1, 2012

The plane ride was not fun.  I repeat, the plane ride was not fun.  I was smushed between two guys who seemed to like to invade my personal space for the entire red-eye.  But once we landed, it was smooth sailing through immigration and customs; probably because it was just past the crack of stupid in the morning.  There was a very nice man at the San Jose airport to pick me up, for which I will be eternally grateful.  The twists and turns to get to my host family’s house would confuse Tom Tom. ( as a side note, things like traffic lights, turn signals, and even traffic lanes seem to be more suggestions than anything else.)  But the view was spectacular; the mountains and the green forest in the distance, with the sun just beginning to peek up its head.

  The house I am staying in is very cute.  It comes complete with two sassy bulldogs, Tara and Fiona, who are attention whores.  My host mom has three children, all of whom, as far as I can tell, live here.  Diego is an architect, Roberto is a psychologist, and Mary Jo is still studying.  Carmen is great and I think that my time here will be very well spent.  However, I have been dumped into the deep end, and I might be floundering.  The soccer game for the European cup was today, and my host family had a gathering of friends.  After less than 2 hours of sleep, I am having a very hard time keeping up with all the conversations.  There are at least 10 people in the house, and I am the only gringa as the rest of the students that Carmen is hosting have yet to arrive.  Wishing for some white girl back up, even if it’s just to take a minute and see what she understood of the conversation rattling on faster than I can interpret in front of us.  Keeping my chin up and pushing through.

Day 1- June 30, 2012

Today began very early.  Like crazy early considering the sister and I stayed up talking last night until about 3:30 am.  But I find that when I am getting ready to travel, no matter the medium, sleep does not come easily.  So I was up at 5:00, and then again at 7:30, and then for the final time at 8:30.  I quickly finished my packing (seriously, who actually likes to pack and does not procrastinate it until the last minute?).Then it was on to Omaha to catch my first flight of the day, to Denver, where I had a 9 hour layover.  People watching all afternoon was enjoyable; you never know when someone is going to do something crazy, so you must be vigilant in your creeping.  But it is now about 2.5 hours until I board my flight to Costa Rica, and I decided that I should start a journal about my experiences.  Since this is a bit of a free fall for me (traveling completely alone for the first time), it might sound like I am talking to myself quite frequently in the next few weeks of entries.  Maybe I will post this, maybe not.  I’ll read back through and decide later.  The biggest thing that I am feeling right now is a bit of surrealism;  the fact that I am headed solo for a great adventure is beginning to sink in.  Hopefully, I will be up to the task I have given myself, and I won’t crash and burn.  But with that in mind, I believe that it is better to go down in flames than burn out.  Rubber duck out.