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

Next stop Costa Rica!

My view from my flight to Texas. I was lucky enough to get a window seat in a row all by myself. 

It still feels like I'm living in a dream world and I don't really leave for Costa Rica tomorrow. But I do, and I'm sitting in Texas that much closer to my flight to Heredia. I'm so excited to meet my host family tomorrow and start the journey of a life time.

The reality of what I'm about to do finally hit me today and I realize how much I'm going to miss everyone back at home but I also realized what a great experience I'm going to have and how much I'm bound to learn not only about myself but about other cultures and people. My goal while abroad is to try everything once. No matter how much that goal might scare me, I really would like to experience everything in Costa Rica to the fullest and I think the best way to do that is going to dive head first into the culture. Which means I need to try new things in order to experience new things. Let just hope I can meet that goal.

I arrive in San Jose at 7 pm local time and will be met at the airport by my host family and the USAC team from Heredia. I cannot even imagine how I'm going to feel stepping off the plane in another country and meeting the people who are going to be my "family" for the next six weeks. I also can't imagine the culture shock that I'm about to face stepping off the plane; I'm just very grateful that I understand the language and know enough to get around the country, or at least I think I do.

My flight today went without any problems and I'm hoping that's how tomorrow's flight goes. I'm getting to the airport very early so that should reduce the amount of stress I'm under. That being said, I'm sure I'll be a nervous wreck just like I was before my flight today...

We'll find out tomorrow! Hopefully I have internet at my house and can keep in touch with my family and friends.

Until next time,
♥SEJ

Holy Cow I leave in four days!

First of all, if you choose to read this blog keep in mind that I've never blogged before but seeing as I'm about to start my adventure in a foreign country I thought it might be a good idea to start something like this. This way you can all read about all the crazy new experiences I'm bound to have while in Heredia, Costa Rica.

Secondly, the idea behind this blog is to have something where I can write about all of my experiences while abroad: the good, the bad, and the unusual. So please be aware that this blog is going to (hopefully) be full of emotions, thoughts, ideas, and experiences and some of them might not always be pretty.

That being said; I cannot believe that I leave in four days for Costa Rica. It seems like just yesterday I was debating whether or not it was a good idea to even study abroad. Once I came to the conclusion that I would kick myself if I didn't study abroad, I decided to study abroad through USAC in Heredia, Costa Rica.  I'll be living with the Madrigal family in Heredia for 5 weeks while I'm taking courses. Then after final exams on June 20th, I'm headed on a tour of southern Costa Rica from the 21-27th (over my golden birthday :) ). I can't wait to meet everyone I'm studying abroad with along with my host family. Which seems to be full of really nice people who are as excited to meet me as I am to meet them.

I think what I'm most nervous about is being away from home. I'm such a home body that being away for so long is really going to be hard for me. Hopefully, I'll be so busy studying, meeting new people, speaking Spanish, and adventuring that I won't be terribly homesick. Luckily I already am too busy worrying about what to pack and making sure I don't forget something to be terribly nervous.

Well, Thursday I'm off to Texas to stay with my Aunt and Uncle for a night then it's off to the airport bright and early Friday to wait for my flight to San Jose later in the day. Hopefully I'll be able to write another blog before I leave.

Until then,
♥ SEJ