I have made it! Yay!

After getting off of the airplane at SJO I went through customs and went on to the baggage claim area. Once I had found my checked bag I got some colones to get me started I was off to go through one last security checkpoint.

As I stepped out into Costa Rica for the first time I was surrounded by lots of people waiting to pick others up, as well as taxi drivers offering rides, and many people holding up signs with different company logos. I found a rep from CIS Abroad and made my way towards them. I was cheerfully greeted by the onsite director, Lisa, and then waited around for a little bit as other students also arrived. We all shuttled together and were dropped off at each of our host families homes.

I was greeted by a wonderfully sweet woman and one of her sons who helped me with my bags. Her son, Johan, speaks the most English (Ana Lorena, my Host mom speaks no English!) and helped me out yesterday.
The host family has 2 houses next door to each other, so the family lives in one and the students live in the other! I have 4 girl housemates and 1 male housemate, who I have yet to see around. The girls are better Spanish speakers than I am so they help me when I am having troubles communicating, which is very helpful!

Though it was a little bit overwhelming to arrive here and immediately be thrown into Spanish, which I am not currently very good at, I know that I will pick it up fairly quickly once classes start and I am more familiar with the language.

The weather here is wonderful and I am excited to see how much I will learn!

Bye for now!
Nicole