Until next time

My adventure here in Costa Rica is coming to an end and I couldn't be more blown away by the gran adventure it proved to be. I have learned so much about not only the language and culture here but about myself. I couldn't have asked for a better experience here nor could I have imagined the amazing friendships I would make. I cannot express how grateful I am for my host family for taking me in and taking care of me during my stay here in Costa Rica. It takes a very special family to be able to take a complete stranger into their home and welcome them with open arms. I couldn't have made it through this trip without them along with all the wonderful people with USAC. They were so helpful and if they didn't know the answer to a question, they knew someone who did and were willing to find out.

I never expected to fall in love with this country as much as I did. I expected to have a good time but I have really had the experience of a lifetime and would tell anyone and everyone who's thinking about studying abroad to look past the fear of going and the money and just go. You really will NOT regret it. I've met so many wonderful people and experienced so many things that I never even thought possible, I wouldn't change it for the world.

I'm so glad that I chose to come to Costa Rica. The country is seriously the most beautiful place I've ever been, the people are all very friendly, and there's always something new and exciting to do. It's amazing how green this country is and how important it is to the people here to keep the country that way. I wish we didn't take advantage of nature as much as we do in the states. It's truly beautiful when you just leave it alone. One of my fellow USAC-ers said to me today, "You could fill a box of crayons just with "Costa Rica greens"" and she really was right. The wildlife is so lush here it's unbelievable. I don't think I will ever cease to be amazing by the beauty of this country.

I've done so much here! I ate a termite, I swam in a waterfall, I rode a horse down the beach and in a river, I went boating down a canal after dark and watched the stars and saw the milky way, I floated down a river and ran into rocks, I got eaten alive by mosquitoes, I spoke and learned Spanish, I made new friends, I scored a goal for the first time ever playing soccer, I went dancing with locals and was told I was good....the list goes on and on. I'm so proud of myself for everything that I was able to do here in such a short time but I can't help but feel that my experience here is incomplete. I will come back to Costa Rica some day, and that's why I'm not saying goodbye to Costa Rica tomorrow I'm saying until next time Costa Rica.

I fly out at 8:30 tomorrow and don't get home until midnight. Hopefully during my layover I'm able to write up something to practice for my OPI test that I'm taking next week. I'm so nervous and can just hope and cross my fingers that I'm prepared enough for the test. Keep me in your thoughts! My test is on Tuesday.

Thank you to everyone who's kept up with me through my blog. It's really been great to write down everything that's happened while I'm here because I'm sure I will forget some things! It's neat to look back and read through it all too. I plan on writing one more post a few days after I've been home about my thoughts once I'm home if you would like to read one more post.

Hola and until next time, from my host family and me! 

Until my next adventure,
♥SEJ

Trip Made.

Yesterday we went on by far my favorite excursion of my whole trip here. I had the most amazing time that it brings tears to my eyes thinking about how wonderful and beautiful it was. We were up bright and early to catch a boat to the town to go horseback riding. Now let me just say, I've been horseback riding before and know that I love horseback riding but this was the experience of a lifetime. Once we got to the beach the horses were there waiting for us. After getting everyone on a horse we headed off down the beach and through the small town of Drake Bay. Little did we know we were headed to a river! Where we proceeded to ride the horses through the river to a small trail in the jungle where we got off and climbed a hillside to a beautiful waterfall where we could swim. I've never ridden a horse down a river before and it was absolutely wonderful to do so down a river in Costa Rica where the scenery is beyond beautiful. It also helped that I had a wonderful horse and was able to maneuver and trot down the river. It was a blast! The waterfall was the best waterfall I've seen so far as well so that treacherous hike up the hill to get to it and down the slippery rocks was well worth it. After swimming for a bit we all headed back to our horses and rode back down the river. Once we rode back through the town and were on the beach again the horses were all very excited to be there and took off at a gallop. It was by far, the most amazing feeling to ride a horse down a beautiful beach in Costa Rica. I can't even put into words how amazing the day of horseback riding was for me. It really was my favorite thing that I was able to do here in Costa Rica.

After getting back to the resort Carley, Josie, and I decided to go sea kayaking. Carley and Josie had gone two days earlier without me and I was a bit hesitant to go but they said that it was easy and not terrifying so I decided to check it off my bucket list :) It was really fun, but since we decided to go at high tide it as a bit wavy (not terrible by any means) but the current was pretty strong and you felt like you weren't getting any where after paddling for 10 minutes and moving 5 feet. Carley and I decided to head back after just a little bit because we were a bit scared. But it was fun! And I can say I've sea kayaked now. The rest of the day consisted of a nap, laying out by the pool, swimming, having a drink, and playing spoons. It was nice to have an afternoon to relax.

I can't believe how fast the southern tour went! It sure had it's up's and down's but overall the end made up for the rough beginning and I really enjoyed it.

I've decided to write a separate post about my feelings overall for this trip seeing as I leave tomorrow. That post will be up soon!

♥SEJ

Five Days in Paradise

Holy Toledo it's been forever since I've updated this. Let's see if I can remember everything that's happened since I last updated this thing...My last week in Heredia went by very quickly and was full of exams and presentations but I ended up getting an A, A- and a B. And I'm completely fine with those grades! After everyone finished with classes and exams we all decided to go out on the town one last time before we headed our separate ways, either home or on the Southern tour. I was a bit hesitant to go out because I had to be up at 5 am the next morning but I went against my instinct and went out anyways and I'm so glad I did! It was so much fun to see everyone one last time before they left and have a few drinks. I ended up getting hit on by a Tico who couldn't understand why I didn't have one night stands. In his words, "How are you going to get to experience the Tico culture if you don't?". My response was, "I think I can experience the culture just fine not having a one night stand". He just couldn't understand why I wouldn't, I kept telling him I didn't have one night stands and he just kept asking why not and didn't understand....It was an eventful night out to say the least. I ended up getting away from the guy and got home safely so that's all the matters. Ha, speaking of getting home safely, me and Austin took a cab home together since we live next door to each other and the cab driver ended up totally jipping us and didn't turn on the meter so we ended up paying $4 each for the cab ride that would have normally been $2 each. At that point though we didn't really care how much the cab cost and just wanted to get home seeing as it was 12 and we had to be up in 5 hours...

The next morning we were off bright and early at 6:30 for the first leg of our Southern Costa Rica tour. We drove for about 5 hours then stopped for lunch and headed to the beach to kill a few hours before driving one more hour to our hotel for the night which was on a river. The hotel was nothing special but the town did have a really sweet tree that you could walk inside of! So cool!

The sweet tree we could stand inside of!

After staying the night there and exploring the town it was Saturday, aka, MY BIRTHDAY! I can't believe I was able to be in Costa Rica for my golden birthday aka turned 22 on the 22nd of June. I would love to say that it was the most amazing birthday I've ever had but in all honesty I was in a horrible mood all day and extremely home sick so it wasn't the best birthday ever. It's absolutely beautiful here in Drake bay where we're staying and I went on my first boat ride in the ocean ever on my birthday which was a lot of fun. But it wasn't the same without my family and friends and I really missed everyone. I was lucky enough to have one of my friends here tell the resort that it was my birthday and they made me a cake and had candles on it and sang happy birthday. It was great, and made my day a lot better. I only wish I had been able to blow out the candles but the fans were on so high they ended up blowing the candles out before it got to me. Luckily I get to celebrate when I get home and will be able to blow out the candles then :) Me and the Carley's walked on the beach and I found a really cool clam shell and some other shells to bring home with me. Hopefully the clam shell doesn't break on the flight home...

Ready for our boat ride into the ocean!

My "it's my birthday and I'm in Costa Rica" pose!

After cake at dinner we all ended up hanging out around the bar here. Me and Carley drank some of the cheap wine I bought before coming (it was the worst wine I've ever had) and sat by the beach, under a full moon, listening to Norah Jones, and having a heart to heart. It was wonderful, and the ending of my birthday was much better than the day. Sunday we all were up bright and early to head on a 40 minute boat ride to a beach down the penninsula. We then headed on our two hour hike through the jungle. Which, I mean I like hiking as much as the next person, but I was still in such a horrible mood from being homesick on my birthday that I was just not having a good time on this hike...The last hour of the hike I was so starving that if you were to talk to me I think I would have bitten your head off, as many of you know happens when I get really hungry. After getting some food I felt much better and was able to enjoy the rest of the day on the beach, in the pool, and just relaxing around the resort.

Our beautiful resort!

Today, we went on a 15 minute boat ride to another beach to go down the river in canoes then float back to the beach. The boat ride ended up taking longer than expected because we saw DOLPHINS!!! It was so exciting! Today was a day filled with firsts! My first time seeing dolphins and then my first time swimming in a water fall under a rock into another water fall. I wish I had gotten a picture of it, it was so beautiful! Anyways, after getting off the boat we hiked 20 minutes to the river where our guides took us in canoes up the river then dropped us off to float down the river, climb the water fall, and swim. It was really fun but was full of some scrapes and bruises from sliding/climbing up and down the water fall rocks and hitting the rocks in the river. After the river we hiked back to the beach, ate lunch, and then went for another first and went SNORKELING! So much fun, but sadly uneventful and we hardly saw any fish. Andddd...I had a headache afterwards. But, it was still an experience (and a half as Kevin would say) and I'm glad that I did it! The rest of the night will be spent eating dinner, relaxing, and enjoying the rest of my time here in Costa Rica.

I can't believe that I only have three more days left in this beautiful, amazing, wonderful, exciting, and many more descriptive words, country. I am ready to go home but I'm not yet ready to leave. I feel that there has to be so many amazing things here that are yet to be found, and the fact that this is more than likely true completely blows my mind. I will come back to Costa Rica some day. There are so many more things that I want to do here and so many places and people that I want to see. I'm going to miss this place and the people so much...

I have no more to say for this post without getting really sad and depress so I'm going to go and enjoy my last few days here. And hopefully post before I head out Thursday.

Until next time,
♥SEJ

Spin Bitch

Well life has been proceeding as normal here in Costa Rica. No new exciting developments other than two weeks from today I'll be waking up in my own bed to my Mom singing the good morning song, Dad cooking breakfast and watching Cops, and Allison being Allison...And my dog. I miss those things now. I miss the comforts of home, I have never cherished having toilet paper, consistently hot water, soap, and silence more than I do now. Haha. I'm getting more and more excited to come home and start nannying and working and spending time with the people I love and that I know love me in return.

Don't get me wrong, I've definitely met some people here who will remain in my life for a very long time (or at least I plan on staying in touch with them) and I get along well with everyone, but it'll be really nice to be around people who've known me through my ups and downs and with whom I can be myself and not feel judged. I guess more than anything I just miss the "norm". I love it here in Costa Rica, but it's not the home I know and love and the people I know and love aren't here with me either. I don't want to leave Costa Rica, but at the same time I want to have the comforts of the things I'm use to. It gets really old having to worry about who's going to walk home with you after 5 pm because it'll be dark by 6 and worrying about not looking too much like a tourist who doesn't know what they're doing because then I'll be a target for getting mugged. It'll also be nice not to have to throw the toilet paper in a trash can and worry about even having toilet paper/soap to use...so weird. You'll find multiple girls at once in the bathroom brushing their teeth but you'll have to try four bathrooms before you're able to find one with toilet paper...Priorities.

This week was uneventful and consisted of class, stressing over a presentation Wednesday, making a fool of myself interviewing locals in the market, going out dancing to a local club with live music on Monday and only people over the age of 40 were there dancing, and dancing with Carley in dance class. Because there are so few guys in our program we tend to have to dance with girls, which means one of us has to be the "guy". When ever me and Carley dance together I'm the guy but we decided to change it up for our last dance class and she proceeded to spin me and yell "spin bitch". We then started laughing so hard we forgot to dance. So great! I'm really going to miss this girl once I leave Costa Rica. I've found not only a wonderful friend, but also a wonderful person inside and out. I really hope that we're able to keep in touch once we head back to our respective homes. We both plan on it but we all know how busy life can get sometimes...Fingers crossed that we stay in touch and keep up our promises to travel together! :)

Not much else to talk about. My host family might take me to Monte Verde today/tomorrow and the beach in Guanacaste. Which is suppose to have some of the best beaches in Costa Rica. They're trying to borrow a friends car to take us there since theirs wouldn't make it up the mountain so hopefully everything works out. I would really love to go there and also spend more time with them. We'll see what happens! If I don't even up going I'll be hanging around Heredia for the weekend and hopefully going out at some point. Some of the people from my group decided to go to Nicaragua this weekend but I really had no desire to go so I stayed here along with a few other people who didn't want to go. We'll see what this last free weekend here in Costa Rica has in store for me! I can't believe my birthday is a week from tomorrow! And that I'm done with classes after Thursday and get to go tour southern Costa Rica. We got the itinerary for the trip a few days ago and I'm oober excited to go now. Me and Carley are planning on buying a bottle of wine to share on the beach on my birthday. Should be a good time :)

Until the next adventure!
♥SEJ

Tortuguero: Inner Peace

I've never felt more connected to nature and more at peace with myself than I did this weekend in Tortuguero. This was by far the most amazing trip I've been on here in Costa Rica...

Before the recap of this weekend, I forgot to mention that this past week we went to San Jose for the afternoon and were able to explore the markets and city for a bit! I bought a neat new purse (sadly the color rubs off on my clothes every time I use it). It was neat to see the city but that's not really my thing. I love nature, and the city just made me feel on edge the whole time worrying about whether someone was going to mug me or not...It was still fun though!

The Hippie Market!

National Museum 

Down Town San Jose

Recap of this weekend in Toruguero:

First of all I need to say a special thank you to Greta for organizing the trip this past weekend to Tortuguero Turtle Beach Lodge. Included in the trip was the following: Lodging, Transportation by bus and boat from UNA to Tortuguero, Stop at Tortuguero to explore town, morning boat tour of canals, afternoon Jungle walk, and food. Drinks along with the night tour I chose to go on with a few other people were the only things not included in this amazing trip. Anyways continuing with a day by day outline...

Friday: After waking up at 4:30 in order to be to UNA to catch the bus to Toruguero by 5:40 we were all pretty exhausted and slept the first part of the drive until breakfast. We stopped in San Jose to pick up some other "travelers" who ended up being three local women from San Jose on a family/girls weekend, so much fun! I wish there were places in the U.S that were as wonderful as where we went this weekend to go on a girls trip (and as cheap!). After picking up our new friends we were off!

The drive was beautiful (of course)

We stopped around 8:30 for breakfast at the restaurant that Turtle beach lodge typically stops for breakfast at. The restaurant had a butterfly garden in the back which we all chose to explore after eating. It was so beautiful! All I could think the whole time was how if my sister had been in there she would have been running around screaming because she hates butterflies and they were every where.

After taking a bunch of pictures we were off again. We drove for about another 2 hours and then we had to get out and load everything on a boat to get to the lodge. I love boat rides, so I was really excited for the hour ride to the lodge. The ride was beautiful and full of birds, horses, cows, and turtles. After a bit we stopped at the village of Tortuguero to stop and pick up anything we needed for the weekend because we were headed to the lodge which was about 200 miles for the nearest road, aka, completely isolated for the crazy modern world we live in. After a long day of traveling we finally arrived to the lodge around 12:30 pm. All of us were in agreement that after eating lunch, we needed a drink and some time in the pool. The rest of Friday was spent exploring the lodge, pool, hammocks, and beach, and eating (of course). One of the best parts about the culture here is that coffee is something that you drink all day every day and readily available every where you go. I love it! We all head to get up oober early for our morning boat ride the next day so being the party animals we are...not. we were all in bed by 9!

We saw this guy on the way to the lodge! So cool!

Me and Carley ready for the pool/beach!

I had to take a footprint picture at some point!

Most eventful thing of Friday: I saw my first cockroach. Which was terrifying. I ended up running into the guys room and demanding that Austin kill it for me....I really don't like cockroaches...

Saturday: Saturday came bright and early and full of thunderstorms. Which would have been even more wonderful if we didn't have plans to go on an early morning boat ride to see animals and explore the canals. I went to take a shower at 4:30 am, and mind you I'm half awake at this point, and discover that another cockroach has decided to make our shower it's home. Luckily, I felt brave enough to run out and grab my shoe in order to kill the darn thing. And did all of this without screaming!

After everyone woke up and got ready we all headed for coffee and cookies before heading out only to find out that the trip was being pushed back until after breakfast at 7 because we couldn't go out with the lightning. This was a bit frustrating but, we were all happy to go back and get an hour or so more sleep before heading out later. After breakfast it was still raining but at least the thunder and lightning had stopped so we headed out on the boat to see what creatures were waiting to be seen in the canals! This weekend I was truly blown away by the beauty that this earth has to be seen and how little of it we actually get to see in our every day lives. It was absolutely breathtaking, I really believe there are so many beautiful creatures that have yet to be found. After the morning boat ride, we headed back to swim for a bit before lunch and then our jungle tour. It began to rain again after lunch but that didn't stop us from taking our hike in the jungle near the lodge. We put on our lovely muck boots and headed into the jungle with our guide for the weekend Urben.

When we first got in the van on Friday Urben greeted us by saying that he hoped after this weekend we would see the world, and Costa Rica, in a different light and if we opened our minds and our hearts we would truly understand what "Pura Vida" is...This happened for me after the night boat tour, more about that in a bit.

Anyways, the jungle walk ended up involving eating termites right from the termite mound (they tasted like pepper and really weren't bad at all! The worst part was sticking your finger on the nest to try and get the bugs to crawl on your finger and then eating them). The hike was very educational, mosquito filled, muddy, sweaty, and fun, afterwards we headed back to the lodge to hang out the rest of the afternoon. A few of us went for a walk down the beach to a lagoon. Sadly the portion of the Caribbean beach we were on had to strong of rip tides and too many sharks to go swimming but it was still beautiful and nice to walk down the beach and explore. After exploring for a bit, and finally hearing Carley's rap song which I've been waiting to hear....and creating a new starting phrase for the rap, "Fall back a bit yo" haha, we got ready for our night boat trip and dinner. Only 6 of the 12 of us decided to go on the night boat trip since it was extra money, but man am I so glad I spent that extra money. It was the best $25 I've ever spent and was my favorite experience here in Costa Rica so far. It was so crazy to think we were the only things around for miles and that our little bubble of light was literally the ONLY light other than that millions of stars in the sky. We saw so many amazing creatures, we were just leaving the dock and saw a baby caiman which our guide, Urben, decided to try and catch and succeeded after a few tries! The little caiman was in the middle of eating a fish too so it was really good to see the fish hanging out of his mouth! We also were able to touch him and it was really cool, and surprisingly soft!

SO COOL!

The rest of the fun things we saw were rare birds, but still really cool. Urben told us about how birds have developed so that their bodies can shut down but they are still aware and are able to take flight and defend themselves if need be. That being said, he managed to grab hold of a bird that was sleeping on a branch and we were all able to touch it and see it up close. Who can say they pet a wild bird, in the middle of the night, in Costa Rica?!?! I can. That's who. Haha, eventually we reached the lagoon which was our end point and shut off the boat for a bit to take in our surrounds. It was in this moment that I swear I could feel the jungle breathe. It was absolutely amazing and nothing I can say will do it justice. I have never been more at peace with myself, my life, and where I was than I felt in that moment. It was truly a moment in my life that I will never forget and that I will go back to in times of great stress. It was after this moment heading back to the lodge that I can to the firm decision I will return to Costa Rica some day. This beautiful country will always have a place in my heart and I wish I could share that love with all my loved once back at home. I will come back here some day with my loved ones and show them the beautiful world that they're missing. This feeling of peace, love, hope, joy, contentment, remained with me the rest of the night and I slept like a baby once we got back to the lodge.

Sunday: We all decided it would be a great idea to get up at 4 and watch the sunrise. Which, yes this was a very good idea because that meant we could watch the sunrise over the Caribbean ocean and I've never seen a sunrise before. But that also meant that we had to get up oober early again, or at least I had to get up oober early. If you know me at all you know that I just can't go do something without showering first, this means that when we were leaving at 4:45 this morning to walk out to the beach to watch the sunrise, I had to be up at 4 so I could shower. Now you might be thinking that's crazy, and yes it is a little crazy, BUT my thought process was as follows: If I get up at 4 and shower, then I can go watch the sunrise and not have to shower before breakfast afterwards, thus I can go back to sleep for longer after the sunrise. So that's exactly what I did. The sunrise was pretty, but it would have been a lot more beautiful if a storm hadn't been coming in and it had been less cloudy. I still thought it was pretty though. And I got to go back to sleep with the rain making lovely noises outside for an hour and a half before having to head back home. The boat/car ride home was pretty uneventful other than enjoying taking pictures of the people who fell asleep :)

This weekend was one in a million and I'm so grateful that I was able to have the opportunity to experience nature and the jungle the way that I did. I only wish that I was able to share exactly how I felt and exactly what it was like with everyone not just put in simple terms what it was like. I hope someday everyone gets to have an experience like the one I was able to have.

This week should be pretty uneventful, but you never know! My host family is talking about taking me to Guanacaste (which I've heard is one of the most beautiful places in Costa Rica) for the weekend to visit some of their family. We'll see what we end up doing. I was going to look into volunteering at a turtle research center that Urben works at for the weekend but I might not be able to. If only I was here for longer and had more time to fit it in. I'm thinking (hoping) that maybe next year I can come volunteer to help the turtles for the month of May, but that's just a hope. We'll see if I have the money to "spare"....

Until the next adventure,
♥SEJ

Breakfast with Monkeys

This weekend was wonderful! Friday we took our day trip with USAC to the Poas Volcano and Cafe Britt coffee plantation. We left around 8:30 for our tour of Cafe Britt, it was the most scripted yet funny tour ever. It was really neat to learn about how coffee is grown, where it came from, and how to properly taste it in the country where the coffee is grown. It was fun to put my Starbucks training to use!

After buying a few must needed things (coffee and chocolate covered coffee beans), we were off to Poas Volcano. On the way to the volcano we stopped for lunch at this really cute place and were able to see all the farm animals that the owners had out back, which made me feel right at home since my best friend Raija has nearly all the animals that this farm had. :)

SO CUTE.

Once we got to the volcano, we got very lucky and were able to see the crater and everything else pretty clearly when normally it's covered with clouds. It was so beautiful, this country never stops amazing me!

After the volcano we headed back to Heredia for the night, then headed back out the next morning for Punta Leona. Which was actually a resort we drove by the weekend earlier on the way to Manuel Antonio and didn't even realize it! We got to the resort around 1 and weren't able to check in until 3 so some of us headed to the beach while others headed zip lining. This was a really hard decision but I eventually ended deciding to head to the beach. Which was beautiful, of course, even when it started raining it was beautiful. And it was nice because the waves weren't as big as they were at Manuel Antonio so I wasn't as afraid to go in the water. Man the ocean is scary though! After hanging out at the beach for a while we headed back to check into our rooms and once every one was settled we headed to the pool/bar. This is when we found out our wrist bands got us free beers and decided it was going to be a long night. Haha. I ended up only drinking three beers the whole time I was there, but if you know me at all you know this is a HUGE deal because I hate beer and don't drink it. After hanging out at the pool for a bit we headed to get ready for dinner, which was a very full buffet where all of us ate at least our weight in food. :)

After dinner we were off to the bar, dancing, and walking on the beach. It was so much fun! The sky was clear for once so we could see the stars and were able to walk along the beach. So wonderful. This was another one of those moments where I couldn't believe where I was, what I was doing, and the simple fact that I was able to do it. After staying up that night until 3/4, we decided not to go zip lining in the morning and woke up around 9 to head to breakfast...

Breakfast, which would seem like such an uneventful thing turned into one of the most eventful things of the trip! Our breakfast was filled with the calls of monkeys running around the restaurant causing a ruckus. It was hilarious and very entertaining. They were jumping on tables steeling sugar packets and taking drinks out of peoples drinks. Austin, Carly, and Kevin were brave enough to feed them and touch them, that was not the case for me. But it was fun to watch! (I'd rather not catch some crazy disease).

Banana snag!

Before we headed back to Heredia to begin another week of classes we headed to the pool for some much needed relaxation and time in the sun. I really had a lovely time this weekend other than the sleep deprivation! And luckily nothing terribly eventful happened.

The only terribly eventful thing that happened was Monday, I woke up with a terrible stomach ache and sore throat. And again, if you know me, you know that I have a stomach of steal and for me to have a stomach ache means that I really had to have done something bad or eaten something terrible. I ended up skipping dance class so that I could come back and catch up on some sleep that I missed over the weekend and work up this morning feeling much better. Which is really good because we're headed to San Jose tomorrow after noon to adventure around the city and then off to Tortuguero at o'dark'thirty Friday morning for the weekend. I can't believe that I only have three weekend left here...I'm trying my best to avoid thinking about it and make the best of the time I do have here. But it's hard not that think for a fleeting second that I'll be going home before I know it. And I hate to say it but I really don't want to go home. I wish I could stay in Costa Rica for the whole summer but sadly I have things to do, people to see, places to go, back home...

Until the next adventure!
♥SEJ

Kissed by a Costa Rican

I've noticed these blog posts seem to be getting further and further apart. I feel like since I'm finally falling into the rhythm of things, things that appeared super excited the first few days are every day things now and I don't deem them worthy of needing their own blog post. That being said, I'm going to try and keep everyone updated on the happenings here in Costa Rica.

Monday and Tuesday: Nothing exciting happened. I've fallen into the rhythm of things here and am even beginning to feel more comfortable riding the public transportation here. Which is good because it's only about 50 cents a ride! Dance Monday night was interesting but I think every one is slowly catching on to the steps, and if we're not we're making it look like we are and are really all having fun with it.

Wednesday: Was uneventful until my second class was canceled and I decided to stick around campus all day. Which ended up being a really good choice because while sitting outside the USAC office a mother and her son of 2 years came up. Her son was absolutely adorable and when Kevin pulled out his hacky-sack the son proceeded to throw it at each of us (hitting many of us in the head multiple times). Along with running around with the hacky-sack laughing, Sebas, also proceeded to steal Josie's pencil and paper and draw himself a picture in the middle of the hallway. He was so adorable and wonderful entertainment. When him and his mother went to leave, Sebas ran around to all us girls and gave us kisses on the cheek good bye. Made my day!

This is Sebas. He's adorable.

Thursday: Today was the last day of classes this week before we head to Café Britt and Poás Volcano tomorrow and our trip to Punta Leóna Saturday and Sunday. I can't wait!! I only had one class today which was nice. Then Helen, a girl in my program, her host sister had asked her if she could get some of us together to talk to her classmates and answer questions for their English class. I wasn't going to tag along but decided I might as well seeing as I had nothing better to do. I'm so glad I did! It was really great to meet new people and practice my Spanish and help them with their English. I also was able to meet my "tico friend" today, which was really cool! His name is Carlos and he wants to practice English and I want to practice Spanish so we're going to meet up twice a week to practice. I'm excited to get to know him and practice my Spanish more. I think I really could be taking better advantage of Costa Rica and speak Spanish much more so I'm going to try and start doing that...

After meeting with Helen's host sister's classmates and heading back to my house for afternoon coffee, me and Josie met up to head back to campus to meet everyone for soccer tonight. Well...me and Josie didn't realize just how hard it was raining and ended up getting completely soaked just one our way to the bus stop! So we ran back to my house and had my host Mom call a cab. It was our first true Costa Rican rain soaking and I couldn't stop laughing at how much we looked like drowned rats. I think because I don't live here I'm able to just laugh when I get drenched in the rain. It's so funny how much you take something like a good down pour for granted when it happens at home.

Soccer wasn't as exciting today as it was last week because I didn't score a goal. But! I did assist in the scoring of a goal, does that count? Haha. I've really started to enjoy and appreciate soccer so much more than I ever have! I plan to keep watching the games when I go back to the states....hopefully...

Every day here there's at least one moment where I can't believe I'm really here in this beautiful country. I know I say that almost every blog post but the feeling is really overwhelming and I don't think it matters how many times I say it, I will never find the right words to express how I feel. I love this country, it's culture, people and natural beauty. And I am so glad that I decided to do something outside of my comfort zone and just "jump off the bridge" so to say. I would recommend this to anyone who is having second guesses about studying abroad. I would say go, don't worry about anything, take the leap, and soak in as much as you possibly can. It's worth it.

Off to the coffee plantation and volcano tomorrow, then a resort for the rest of the weekend. Hopefully it doesn't rain while we're at the volcano tomorrow...I'll try to write another post tomorrow.

Until next time,
♥SEJ