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

Manuel Antonio

First weekend trip was a success! Friday we headed out to Manuel Antonio and the National Park there. It ended up being about a 3-3.5 hour drive from Heredia to Manuel Antonio and our Hostel. Once we arrived the first thing we all wanted to do was go to the beach. I had never seen the ocean before and was really excited (which is an understatement). The ocean was absolutely beautiful. After jumping in the water for a bit it started to rain and though we were all already soaked we ended up getting even more wet if that's possible. We were all huddled under a tree near the beach when a man walked up to us (this will be a reoccuring event through out this post) and brought us to a restaurant with the catch line of "10% off". This restaurant, El Sol, ended up being our go-to restaurant the rest of the trip and we ended up getting to know the people who worked there pretty well. After eating lunch/dinner in the restaurant only wearing swim suits and shoes we headed back to the hostel for the night. Since we've all gotten into the rhythm of waking up around 6, we were all pretty tired and headed to bed around 10 so we would be well rested to wake up early and head to the National Park.

None of us had stayed in a Hostel before and we soon realized there are a few things that are a bit different. Such as: though the hostel might say the have hot water, they're lying, it's cold. Though you might have your own room, the rooms are connected by mesh netting and the walls are thin so you will: 1) feel the person who's bed is in the other room opposite the wall to yours every movement throughout the night, 2) you will hear ever single thing that makes noise in the room next door, especially when the people decide to come back in the middle of the night. You better be able to sleep on just about anything because though you might be sleeping in a bunk bed, the "mattress" you're sleeping on is actually a slab of cement. And finally, you better be okay with changing in front of everyone or else you're definitely going to have some problems...All those lessons being learned, the hostel was worth the $12 a night we paid and nothing more. We survived, and it really wasn't that bad.

The worst part of the whole trip: I got eaten ALIVE by mosquitos and am currently COVERED in bug bites. My ankles and feet gotten bitten so much that they have been swollen and hurt and the bug bites on them have turned purple because of all the blood rushing to them. Other than that I'd say the trip was very successful....

Saturday came very quickly for those of us who have the pleasure of being light sleepers and with it came the rain. We all woke to the sound of the storm outside and with a sigh we got ready to head to the national park in the rain. We were all determined to have a blast no matter what the weather was like and we ended up doing just that. We explored the park for about 3 hours and once the rain finally stopped we all headed to the beach in the park to enjoy the sunshine while it lasted. While some of us sat out by our stuff so the monkeys and or ticos wouldn't take our stuff, the rest of us enjoyed the waves. I really love the ocean but I have to admit that it's pretty scary as well. I ended up being swept under by a wave even though I was only in the water up to my belly button. I'm very happy that I've swam in Lake Michigan all my life and know how to swim or else I think I would have freaked out more than I did.

Anyways, after enjoying the park and getting our $10 entrance fee's worth of experience and swimming we headed back to the hostel to change and head to the other public beach. We spent the rest of the afternoon either on the beach or enjoying our friends at El Sol. By the early evening we all decided to head back to the hostel again and rinse off before we headed out for the night to celebrate Carley's 21st birthday! We headed back to El Sol for drinks and dinner and the Heredia vs. Cartago soccer game. We had a blast drinking, eating, watching the game, and celebrating Carley's birthday! And another plus! Heredia won the final after overtime and penalty kicks! :) I think after leaving Costa Rica my day is going to feel incomplete without watching soccer after dinner! So weird!

On the way back home we also got the privilege of seeing a sloth crossing the power line! So cool! It was actually moving a lot faster than I expected too which was really cool. Sunday, we all woke up early again and spent the day on the beach soaking in the rays, swimming, exploring the shops, and getting asked if we wanted to buy pottery or whistles or drinks or have surf lessons multiple times by the locals selling their stuff along the beach. By the third time being asked by the same person it gets a bit bothersome...After returning and packing up we headed back to Heredia for another week of classes!

I really had a wonderful time this weekend and I know there are a million hilarious stories that I'm forgetting to write down right now. I'll just have to add them in to my next posts as I remember them. I'm so glad I was able to spend some time getting to know everyone with my program and soak in the culture and sun with them.

If only we weren't going to school here and just got to take fun trips the whole six weeks! Oh well, back to the grind I guess. I should probably start thinking about the midterm I already have on Wednesday anyways...

Until next time...
♥SEJ

Play soccer in Costa Rica: √

This post is going to be very short but I feel it is extremely necessary. All week I've been kind of dreading today because that meant that my program group was going to go play soccer. If you know me at all you know that when I was little I played soccer and instead of running towards the ball I ran away from it and proceeded to pick dandelions  You also know that I'm not very coordinated and don't really play any sports. That being said....

Before I came to Costa Rica I told myself that I need to do everything possible whether this meant going outside of my comfort zone (which is typically all the time) or not. Here in Costa Rica everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, plays soccer. It should be the symbol for this country aside from it's amazing scenery. So when we all met up to head to play soccer at the indoor field I was a bit nervous to say the least and hadn't really decided if I was going to play or sit on the side lines.

Once we arrived to the indoor fields, which mind you were in pretty grungy shape and had the little rubber pieces everywhere which made the field feel slippery, a few of the members from my group convinced me that I should play. I caved to the peer pressure and decided, what the hey! "when in Rome...." plus I knew that some of the other girls hadn't really played soccer much so I couldn't be the worst one right...?

Our group split into three teams and the USAC leader that brought us to the field also brought his friend and they were on a team together with some of us. Which I think wasn't very fair but oh well...Anyways, we all had SO much fun! I think I played better today than I have all my life, please keep in mind this does NOT mean that I played well, I played alright/okay/not terrible, aka I ran towards the ball, I kicked the ball, etc. I ended up being on a team with members who had played soccer before and knew what they were doing which was really helpful. We "rented" that field for an hour and played a bunch of games that were either 10 minutes each or first team with 2 points. The best part of the whole hour was.....wait for it.....I SCORED A GOAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't think in my whole life I've EVER scored a goal. Let alone played soccer in Costa Rica, and scored a goal. That seriously made my whole night and I'm so glad that I decided to suck it up and not be a party pooper and play.

I'm so grateful to be here with such a great group of people who can have fun and laugh at each other when we make complete fools of ourselves. I can't wait to spend this weekend at the beach and park with this crazy group! :) We leave tomorrow at 12 for Manuel Antonio and will return Sunday afternoon. I can't wait to take a bunch of pictures and be able to relax and just have a good time! I'm planning on bringing my lap top with me because I've figured out that's the only way my camera will charge here...We'll see if I have time to update my blog too while I'm there....

I guess this post wasn't as short as I thought it would be...oh well!
Until next time,
♥SEJ

Why am I laughing?

The last two days have been pretty uneventful for me which is why I decided to combine them into one post. The classes I'm taking are pretty demanding and I've had homework every day, but I really am enjoying the classes that I decided to take. I also have really enjoyed getting to know the people that I have classes with, it's crazy to me what getting thrown together can do for people and how we as human beings tend to latch on to people in those moments of need that, once you have more time with those people, are people that mesh really well with your personality. I really am looking forward to getting to know these people more and will be really sad when we all venture back to our respective states...

Yesterday, Carley, Molly and I found this really cute coffee shop just outside campus and we all fell in love with it. I now know where I'm going to spend all my extra money haha. It was really nice to enjoy something that is so similar to something at home with my new friends! :) It's a good thing the shop has a frequent buyer card, buy 12 get the 13th free! I got a "Café Frapé Vainilla" aka vanilla frozen coffee. It was absolutely delicious. Me and Carley enjoyed it so much that we ended up going back today with Chantel and Carly and getting some coffee between classes.

Note: Me and Carley have discovered that we are exactly the same person. A.k.a we tend to be thinking the exact same thing at the exact same moment. We also react the same to situations and are constantly worried about things. It's really quite humerus because sometimes we'll go to say something and we both start saying the same thing. It's a shame that she lives in Idaho!!! We'll just have to plan some road trips to visit each other once we're back in the states. :)

Today a few of us decided in stead of going to the bar like every one else seems to do every day, we would stay on campus and work on homework and grab a snack. What was suppose to be time spent working on homework ended up being a lovely time laughing together for no reason at all and telling cheesy jokes. We did end up getting homework done which is good. It was really nice to relax a bit after rushing around to classes and rushing through homework earlier this week.

We also had our second dance class today, which first of all let me tell you, we're all slowly getting a little better (emphasis on A LITTLE). We learned how to Merengue today, it was super fun! I really enjoyed myself even though I'm not the best dancer, we all were able to laugh and just have a good time. I also realized I'm a much better "man" than I am a "woman"; we only have three guys in our class so we have to do some "role playing" and this is how I discovered I'm a leader not a follower. Haha. Maybe by the end of my stay here I'll be able to dance at least one of the three dances we're going to learn well enough to not laugh every time I dance. We'll see...

Biggest news of the day: I called and booked our rooms for the weekend at Manuel Antonio at the hostel, National Back Packers, which is right outside the National Park. The best part is that it's only $12 a night!!! We also get internet there which will be really nice to be able to keep updating my blog so I don't forget anything. We also paid for the private bus to get us back and forth from Heredia to Manuel Antonio. I can't wait to go and have a blast! Carley, Josie and I are going to go on the Zip Line at the National Park so that should be fun! Hopefully it doesn't rain as much as the weather channel is predicting, I'm sure we'll have fun no matter what though...

Now it's off to bed for me; the days here start very early and are jam packed with a lot of walking and dancing and exploring...

Until next time,
♥SEJ

Can gringos dance?

Today was my first day of classes, this means that I had to get up at 5:50 this morning in order to eat the breakfast my host mom prepared for me at 7 and walk to school by 7:45 for class at 8. The only thing that is okay about being up so early is the sun comes up so early that it's not hard to be up early and it sets so early that it's not hard to go to bed early. I had three classes today; Advanced Spanish, Spanish convo, and dances of latin america. Two girls in my group also have the same schedule as me and it was nice to be able to pass the time between classes together exploring Heredia and working on homework (yes, HOMEWORK).

My first class was relatively easy. I really liked my professor and she was very easy for me to understand which made the class much easier and time passed quickly. The Spanish convo class which is suppose to be an easier class proved to be a bit more difficult. But this was only because my professor was hard for me to understand.

The hardest class by far was my dance class! I by no means consider myself a good dancer. BUT, I do have rhythm and can keep a beat, yet this class kicked my butt! It was so difficult! The best part was watching a room full of white kids (gringos) try and dance the typical dances of Costa Rica. When one person messed up, which was every other step, we all were able to laugh at each other which made it much less nerve wracking when you messed up. I wish I could have video taped our first class because I'm pretty sure we could have won an award for the worst group of white kids dancing ever. But seriously, picture the worst white dancer you've ever seen and multiply that by 10, that was what we looked like. IT WAS GREAT! Haha, I really did enjoy myself though and definitely am going to be feeling that work out in my legs tomorrow! I'm really going to be in great shape when I get back from here. I walk every where, which entails walking up and down the mountain side and around the city. And now to top that off I have this dance class twice a week and man! does it wear you out after and hour of dancing! After those three classes I ended up finally getting back to the house around 7:20.

I see my Spanish improving every day whether it be in how quickly I can comprehend a conversation, how much vocabulary I understand, or how well I can communicate in Spanish with the locals and with my host family. I was able to communicate everything that I needed to today with more ease, which is really rewarding! I bought some ice cream, Trits, at school today and it was so delicious! I wish we had something like it back in the states!

Another funny story: Me, Josie, and Carly are trying to find a volunteer opportunity and were told to talk to Martin today about going into his classroom and helping students who are learning English. Well, we went to find him and see if he was in his classroom before class today and the following picture is what happened. The classroom he was suppose to be in had a class in it and Josie and Carly decided it'd be a good idea to make sure there really was a class by looking through the window but Carly couldn't stand up and see through it. It was quite humerus and many of the students were probably laughing at the ridiculous Americans....

(Try to see past the horrible quality)

The biggest news of the day: me and Josie (another girl in my group) are organizing a trip this weekend to Manuel Antonio which is a BEAUTIFUL beach about two hours from Heredia. And after talking with our USAC director we figured out that if we get enough people together we can rent out the USAC bus for only $35-$40 per person for a 12 person bus, which is only about $10 more than it would cost to take the public busing. So we decided we would feel better doing this that chancing taking the local busing system (it's kinda scary to me still, though I've been told it's very safe). Plus, we figured out that the hotel we had been looking at wouldn't be worth the extra money so we're looking into staying at a hostel while we're there. Which is like a large room full of beds where everyone sleeps and we each get our own locker for our stuff and use of the bathroom along with hot water (which is hard to come by here!) and all of that is only $12 a night! We're going to leave Friday afternoon and come back Sunday afternoon. Carlitos (the USAC director) said that if we go we have to go to the national park there which is $10 to get in for the day so we're going to do that as well. My thoughts are: if I can go to a gorgeous beach and get there, find a place to stay, eat, and explore all for under $200 for the whole weekend then I'm happy. And it looks like it's only to be well under that! It's sad that I'm in such a beautiful country and still think of all the money I'm going to spend before I can commit to going somewhere...Please note that I really had in my mind that I was going to go on this trip no matter what the cost was, it was just the math major in me that lead me to figure out how much it would actually cost...

Two facts of the day: Did you know Costa Rica was the third country in the world to get electricity?
Also, I still can't get over the T.V shows here. They're all the shows we have back at home but with Spanish voices played over the English ones. It's quite funny to watch a show, such as America's Next Top Model which I've seen every episode, in a different language with different voices. I just can't get over it, it's hard not to laugh every time a show I know comes on!

Well, though nothing terribly exciting happened today, I really enjoyed another day here in this beautiful country and cannot wait to see what tomorrow has in store for me.

Until then,
♥SEJ

Rain, mountains, and flowers, oh my!

The past 24 hours have been packed full of adventures. I'll start at the beginning...

Last night I was able to meet the rest of my host family which was my host brother, sister and her daughter. They were all really nice. It's been very hard for me the past two days though because everyone here tends to speak over each other which means for me, everything gets muddled into one giant mess of a conversation and everything is that much more difficult to understand. After stepping off the plane Friday I realized just how little Spanish vocabulary I knew and I have struggled to catch on the past few days just because I don't know the vocab.

After meeting the rest of my host family last night though I was able to go to a soccer game with Ferenc, my host brother and absorb a bit more of the culture here (and learn all the cuss words). It was nice because after a day of feeling really discouraged and overwhelmed by everything here Ferenc spoke broken English to me and worked on his English. Which gave me a chance to know what was going on completely and not have to struggle with anything. After the game he asked if I would want to go see one of the best views in the city and to this my initial reaction was "oh goodness, he's going to take me to make-out point and for some reason he thinks I've been putting the moves on him....". I decided I didn't care and just wanted to see the city in which I'm living for the next six weeks, no matter if my host brother thought I was putting the moves on him or not.

So Ferenc drove us up a mountain to a spot where you could park by the road and look out at basically all of Costa Rica since it's so small. It was there that something finally clicked in my brain and I decided everything was going to be wonderful because I was going to choose to make it that way. I've been struggling a bit and very overwhelmed but it was there looking over the beautiful city that I get to call home for a short period of time that I knew everything was going to work out and be alright. After sitting there and talking for a few hours we headed back to the house where he asked me if I wanted to go to the bar with him, I did say no to this seeing as I had been up since 5 and it was at that point 12, plus I knew I should probably get to bed so I could get enough sleep for whatever adventures my host family had planned for me the next day.

After a wonderful night, and a good nights rest I was ready for whatever Costa Rica had in store for me when I woke up this morning. Which happened to start with a giant breakfast spread which my host mom prepared for me. It consisted of the following: Pancakes, eggs, toast, pineapple, papaya, coffee, and juice. After breakfast I was able to hold a full conversation in Spanish with my host mom (which is the first time I've had a complete conversation in Spanish since I got here) about wanting at one point to help her cook because I love to cook along with talk about what we were going to do for the day. Flory (my host mom) proceeded to tell me that I could help her cook one day and said we were headed to Sarchi for the day. Which at that point, I had no idea where that was or what going there entailed.

Sarchi ended up being a city about 30-45 minutes away and up a mountain. It was beautiful. We stopped at a tourist stop to see a wagon that was a replica of the ones they use to use to carry the coffee, wood, etc. up and down the mountain with cows (The picture is below). We also stopped and talked to the venders and looked at the trinkets. There were a lot which had turtles on them, and if you know me you know I LOVE turtles which is one thing I definitely know how to talk about in Spanish. My host mom found a necklace with a turtle on it and asked if I liked it, when I replied with yes she proceeded to put it on me and buy it from the vender.

Side note before I proceed: Today I was very taken aback by how generous my host family is. I could not believe all that they've done for me and I'm sure will do for me. It's amazing that there exist such people that will let a complete stranger into their house, who hardly speaks their language, and then proceed to feed them, keep them safe, show them around their country, and welcome them into their homes. I am so grateful for what a wonderful family I was placed with and will really cherish the time I get to spend with them.

Continuing on with my day; after we stopped at the tourist spot we went to a botanical garden, Jardin botanico, further up the mountain. It was beautiful, so many crazy flowers, plants, fruits, etc. Though the garden was beautiful, I think my favorite part was the drive there and seeing all the houses, farms, etc. and the little place we stopped for lunch afterwards. I was able to order my own food and drink; after being stared at by every single person at the restaurant when I walked it. That's another one of the difficult thing here, every single person stares at you when you go any where, and much of the time if they're male they then proceed to whistle, yell, honk, etc. at you which at first was really upsetting but now I'm slowly starting to get use to it. It'll be weird to come back home and NOT get whistled at while I walk down the street....

Anyways, I really enjoyed lunch. The best part by far was when it started raining while we were eating on the covered patio. I had yet to experience Costa Rica rain storms and it was absolutely wonderful. I was able to have a conversation again with my host mom about my likes when it came to food along with what I like to do back at home. It was really nice to finally be able to communicate and get to know my host family. After it stopped raining we headed back home and had afternoon coffee and bread. I love that my host family enjoys drinking coffee as much as I do and drinks coffee all day every day.

Tomorrow I start classes (bright and early) and actually have to do what I came here to do and not slack off. We'll see how classes go! Now off to watch the Heredia soccer game with my host family...

Until next time,
♥SEJ

A Culture Smack to the face

Wow. Those three letters can hardly explain what I'm feeling my first day here in Costa Rica. I want to take pictures of everything. Things that are common day here are beyond fascinating to me. Nothing I could have ever done would have fully prepared me for the smack in the face I've felt all day by the culture and lifestyle here. It's a completely different world, and I feel like I've lived my whole life in a very giant (though pleasant) bubble.

The View from one of my windows. You can't see it very well, but there's mountains in the background.

The view from another window!

The view from my bed :)

My host family is very sweet and have hosted exchange students for years so they know what they're doing. Which is VERY good because I don't have the slightest clue what I'm doing...It's been really overwhelming to try and adjust so quickly to something so out of my comfort zone and so completely new to me. I find myself asking, "is this going to effect me in five years?" and nearly every time the answer is no so I move on. I'm really glad that my Mom engraved that in my brain before I left for this adventure.

This morning I woke up at 5 am because the sun was completely up and the world outside my room was busy with their day already. It was crazy to wake up to the sound of the traffic outside my window and the monkey's in the distance. I never would have thought Heredia would be as noisy as it is! All the houses have three gates that you have to go through to even get to the front door and all the houses have bars around the windows which is really different but it does help in making me feel safer. My house has two lemon trees in the yard which I think is so cool! We're also surrounded by mountains so it's a really beautiful view from my room. The food here has been good so far. My host mom made me eggs this morning and also had cereal poured for me, coffee, papaya, toast, and juice. It was crazy the amount of food, and all of it was just for me!

I start my classes Monday. And I found out that I have the exact some classes as someone else, Josie, in my group so we're going to get lost together trying to find everything and what not. I have class every day of the week sadly, but Friday's I only have one class and my classes are really spread out the other days. Me and some of the other USAC students are going to try and organize some volunteering trips along with trips to San Jose and the beach.

I don't know what the plans are for the rest of the weekend. But, I'm going to get a local cell phone for $20 so that I can contact everyone who's here while I'm here and meet up with them for trips and what not. I can't believe how cheap some things are here! But other things that you would expect to be cheap are outrageous!

The plugs at my host family's home don't have three prongs so I can only charge my lap top at school. Let's hope that the battery makes it until Monday...I'll try and post again tomorrow once I find out what I'm doing.

Off to the next adventure!
Until then,
♥SEJ