Happy birthday to me!

Today is my birthday!! (Ok, technically it isn't anymore since it's past midnight; but y'all get the idea.) My birthday has always been special for me because I fully believe that my birthday should be entirely and only about me. The end. So I have to admit I was a little depressed last night thinking about being away from my family and friends back home who would humor me and my (justified) selfishness on my birthday. However, so far I have been pleasantly surprised today! My host mom, father, and sister were excited to tell me happy birthday this morning, and all of my fellow exchange students have been telling me happy birthday all day.

A few of my friends went with me to get lunch and desert, but really what happened was they watched me eat. But that's ok, because I'm the birthday girl. The terrible picture of me to the left is a picture from a cafe slash pastry shop near campus called Trigo Miel. The giant slice of cake I am eating is pure chocolate. For real. I wish I had a better picture and one of all of us, but as usual, I was a total slacker when it came to taking pictures. I stole this one from Abby's blog (which is really cute and everyone should go read: http://mipuravida.tumblr.com/).

The picture to the right is a birthday card that my sister made me which was just too stinkin' cute to not make the blog. (By the way, Kendra, it is definitely my computer background.)

Then, this evening, I went out to the kitchen after skyping with my parents and grandmother and my host mom and sister were sitting down waiting for me to come in and see the cake on the table for me! They sang to me and then we had dinner and I opened presents.

My mom got me a pair of yoga pants which is really awesome because I am going to start going to yoga classes with my sister. My sister got me a shirt with the word tuanis written in big writing with a definition underneath. Tuanis is Tico word which means great, nice, what have you. Apparently the word is adopted from the phrase too nice. Also, a pin with the Tico word mae on it, which is like dude in English. Everything was perfect.

Then, as if my day wasn't already fabulous enough, my friends from school back home called me up on skype and video chatted with me for a while. Seriously, I couldn't have asked for a better birthday. Of course, I wish I didn't have to be away from my family and friends at home, but I'm glad I got to spend it with the people I did.


Also, I need to update everyone on my last trip. During my long weekend (two weekends ago), three friends and I took a trip to a beach on the pacific coast called Montezuma. It was a cute little touristy hippie town with a bunch of cute cafes and restaurants and of course, the beach. After leaving at 4:30 am in a taxi for San Jose, we caught a bus, then a ferry, then another bus, and finally reached our hostel, which was a cozy little place right on the ocean. It was absolutely breathtaking.

The second day we were there, we went on an all-day trip by boat to a nearby island for some snorkeling, food and fresh fruit on the beach, and relaxing in the powdery sand. Sound like paradise? Yeah, it was. The snorkeling was fun, though it didn't offer too much of a variety when it came to types of fish.

Mostly we saw these aqua colored fish with yellow stripes like the ones in the picture above. I did get some pretty good pictures with the awesome waterproof HD camera my parents gave me before the trip for my birthday. The one that I ruined while snorkeling. Yeah. That one. Oh well, I suppose that happens.

We also hiked up to some nearby waterfalls one morning. It was a lot more treacherous than any of us thought, especially since we only had three pairs of tennis shoes between the four of us. But we all agreed that the hike was worth it when we saw the beauty of the incredible waterfalls. I have included a picture, but honestly, it doesn't even begin to do it justice.


After a swim and some jumping we headed back down with the help of a local who told us the way we came was extremely difficult and there was a much easier way. Go figure.

Ok! Now that this post has officially reached a sufficiently obnoxious length (you know I wouldn't have it any other way), I will leave you itching in anticipation for my next exciting post.

Paz. Amor. Pura vida.

Pictures from Sarapiquí

Hello all! I am finally getting around to posting pictures from the group excursion the first weekend.

Ok, well this picture is not from the excursion, but this was from one of the days my host mom took me to orientation. We were walking with a few other students and their host moms when we passed KFC. Without hesitation, my host mom sat down right next to the colonel and snuggled up, prompting me to take a picture. Then later that evening, she urged me to show the rest of the family. Yeah, she's pretty cool.

I have to admit I was a little worried about my host family before I came. Nothing having to do with them specifically, scary ideas like them not liking me or them being super crazy and the like. I must say, though. I was definitely pleasantly surprised. My host mom is so great and even though my host dad works during the day and I don't see much of him, he is still really nice and accommodating. Also, my host siblings are great. I have a 30 year old brother, and 28 year old sister, and a 16 year old brother who all live in the house. They all speak English which is really convenient when I don't know how to say something in Spanish, but also really dangerous because sometimes I will start speaking in English to them.

These are some pictures from the first place we stayed at in Sarapiquí. The river was just down to the right of this area. One of my favorite things about Costa Rica is the scenery. Obviously, it's beautiful out here, but it is also like this in unexpected places. For example, When I am sitting in Spanish class on Monday and Wednesday mornings, I can't help but stare out the window sometimes because it looks like a rain forest right outside. In the united states, you have to go to a wildlife preserve or a national park to see things like this. Here, all you have to do is look out the window.

Until next time!

Week number one (because I'm too tired to be creative)

First of all, let me apologize for my lack of posting for the past seven days. If you read on, you will see why. I still love and haven't forgotten about all two of my followers. Thanks Mom and Hillary. So here we go with a week's worth of posting...

Monday was the first day of orientation. My Mama Tica walked with me to the bus stop which is right across the street from my house (how convenient!) and rode with me into Heredia where we walked to the ISEP office and met up with the other students and their host moms at 9. I think the number of students is 17. After an exhilarating 7 hours of discussion (and by discussion I mean listening to our director talk) about living with our host families and being safe and all that jazz we had a dance class. Going into it, I was thinking ok, they'll turn on some salsa music and we'll learn the basic steps. Me equivoca. The class started at 4. At 6 when our Mama Ticas picked us up we were all dripping in sweat. Literally. We looked like we had all showered with our clothes on. It was really gross. My excuse for not posting on Monday is that I had to shower and I thought "Oh well, I'll have plenty of time tomorrow". Once again, me equivoca.

Tuesday morning I woke up with a swollen throat, but figured it would get better throughout the day. We met at 8 in the morning in order to take a Spanish placement exam and tour the campus. My Mama Tica asked me on the way to the campus if my school back home is big. I was like, nah it's pretty small, but not too small. Compared to the UNA campus, however, it's microscopic. Seriously, this campus is massive. Beautiful, but massive. So I am sure that I will have a ton of fun for the whole first half of the semester trying to find my classes. Fantastic. Anyway, then registration started. And sucked. During registration, I was feeling really feverish; I felt like I was cold but on fire at the same time. Hard concept to explain. What seemed like five billion hours later, I was finally done (the last one to be done). My Mama Tica was there to pick me up and asked how I was. When I told her I felt sick, she felt my head and made quite a fuss about how warm I felt. I had to go to the bank afterward, so we walked quite fast in order to beat the rain that seemed inevitable judging by the color of the clouds covering the beautiful Costa Rican sky. When we got there, there were about a million people there, so we took a number and my Mama Tica fussed over me some more. After speaking to a few people, she managed to get the boss-man to see us earlier because I was feverish and needed to get home. So, at this point my face was not only bright red from the fever but also from embarrassment. Cool. While in the boss' office, it started pouring. Like torrential downpour complete with deafening thunder and lightning. Then the power went out. My Mama Tica didn't want me to get my feet wet since I was sick, so we had to wait in the bank until it calmed. Two hours later, she decided that we could go as long as I wore giant black trash bags on my feet. Yes, you read that correctly. Giant black puffy trash bags tied with rubber bands just below the knee. As if I didn't already stick out enough. I put up quite a fuss about it, but she didn't back down. A few other American students were there so I made them swear not to take pictures. The boss of the bank was also threatening to take pictures. He thought he was funny. I didn't. After my host dad drove us home I went straight to bed after my Mama Tica forced some hot tea with honey down my throat. That woman just wouldn't quit. She reminds me of my mom. The next day I was still feeling ill, but I medicated myself with Advil and Pepto Bismal so I was able to accompany the rest of the group to San Jose. We toured the National Museum and ate at Pizza Hut, which was really nice! Fast food here is apparently a much bigger deal than in the states. That night I came back and fell asleep early.

Thursday morning we left for Sarapiquí in a multi-passenger van. That day we did a tour of a pineapple farm and checked into our hostel. It was absolutely beautiful! We took up all of the rooms which were up on a hill while the kitchen was down a bit from the rooms. There was a short path through the woods to a pavilion and a small river just beyond that. The next day was the chocolate tour, which was awesome, and yet more talleres. Then horseback riding and returning home exhausted on Sunday.

I have just realized how obnoxiously long this post is and I want to apologize to and thank those of you who are still reading. Those of you who have skimmed to this point: for shame!

Anyway, there will soon be a post including some of the good pictures from the weekend and then another about my first week of classes. Sorry this blog is somewhat chaotic so far. I’m pretty new to it all. I’ll get it all sorted out, I swear.

Paz y Amor!!

Bienvenidos a Costa Rica

¡Hola a todos! Bienvenidos a mi blog.

If you are reading this, you probably already know the circumstances under which I am here, so I will go ahead and delve right in.

This morning I woke up at 5:30 en la mañana to go to the airport. My parents and I went by the post office in order to intercept a form sent from the Costa Rican Consulate, but were unable to. So hopefully I will get that in time to get my Visa. I finally arrived after a delayed flight, a minor freak-out about a possible lost suitcase (don't worry, I got it), and some confusion in customs about my lack of visa. I waited outside the airport for my host mom and brother for about ten minutes, which caused a bit of concern on my part, thinking they forgot about me. But they showed up and were super nice and brought me back to the house to unpack and such.

Shortly after I arrived, my host mother's sister and brother-in-law came over with the student they are hosting. Her name is Abby and she is my age, although one year behind me in school. She seems really nice and I am looking forward to having her close by. I had a great time visiting with my familia and everyone today, but am exhausted from traveling and thinking in Spanish. So I am going to try to get some sleep.

Until next time.