Week two was when it started to sink in that I was not on vacation but living here for eight months and that kinda freaked me out. There are a ton of international students here which makes it way to easy to get comfortable with people who are similar to you. That made me panic a little because the whole reason I wanted to study abroad was to become fluent in Spanish and fall into the culture not hang out only with people from the U.S and speak English all the time. Even though it had only been two weeks and although I realized that these things take time I could start to see a pattern developing. I tried to re-evaluate my situation and make more of an effort in every aspect, however I have a lot of things going against me and I guess you could say I have never been a minority the way I am here. What do I mean? Well for starters the color of my skin gives so much about where I am from away and everything associated with being from the U.S. Secondly, I am tall. I am tall for a girl and I am tall for a girl in the U.S so you can only imagine my surprise when I went to the grocery store with my mama tica and realized I was taller than almost EVERYONE in the store. Also, I am a women. San Jose is a big city and not the safest one at that. I am constantly needing to be alert or aware of my surroundings at all time. Coming from a small town I am not used to any of this and it started to feel like I didn’t have much independence. And obviously the communication barrier is a working progress. It has taken me a while to grow familiar with Tico Spanish like slang, accent, and the use of vos instead of tu! Nevertheless I continue to try and put myself in situations where I am around more ticos and being exposed to Spanish and the culture of Costa Rica. I even went out on a limb and went to a theater play at a different university in San Jose with two girls from Spain and Mexico. So maybe it will be the addition of little things that change my experience from foreigner to resident.
Our weekend excursion was at La Fortuna where we spent most the day at a natural hot spring. It was amazing here is a little video of us having fun at the hot spring!(:Baldi Hot Springs
I think you’re right. It may well end up being the small things you do to integrate into the culture that will have an overall impact on your experience. Much of daily life is about the small things, where we go, what we do, who we seek out for conversations. I think you’re off to a good start. And it only took you two weeks to remember you were there to study:) I enjoyed watching your video of Baldi Hot Springs. Michele