Category Archives: Costa Rica

Week 6- Everyone leaving :(

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Well this week and last weekend, the 5 week program people left Costa Rica. It has been so strange walking to school without seeing the huge groups of people walking around. There are only about 25 exchange students remaining now, so we are all spread out. I miss everyone already!! There are some awesome people staying too though :).

Jasmine, Yo, Kelsey, Kevin (who will be here all 8 weeks), Lisa (our program leader), y Lawrence <3

My new block of Spanish is going well. There are only 4 students (coincidentally all girls), so we get to have a lot of one on one time with the teacher (who is also a lady). We tend to have a lot of gossip/life talks rather than learning out of our books, but that is just fine with me :). Our teacher has a slightly different teaching style, more relaxed view of the class, and is more alright with just taking the time to get to know the students on a personal basis than my last teacher was. I asked a couple of the other students, and they said that basically my new profesora is the embodiment of normal Tico teachings. Most of the teachers here are like her during the other terms. It really is interesting to me! They are so much more laid back here! I love it though :).

This also means the end of my elective class. I’m pretty sad about it! The teacher was pheomenal, and the class was so interesting! To help make up for it, I’ve started attending a dance class. I’ve learned a lot of the basic salsa moves, and some of the more advanced turns. It has been so much fun!! There are some really nice Ticos there, so it is a good chance to talk with people about the school, Tico life, and what dance means to them. I’m still working on figuring out exactly why being able to dance well is very important here, so that’s an ongoing project!

My Environmental Impacts and Social Development class <3

I had my first completely free weekend this past weekend, which was awesome. I basically did homework and relaxed the whole time. It was nice to have a little bit of personal time/time to reflect on how absolutely amazing this whole experience has been so far. It’s strange to think that in just 3 short weeks I will be home! Where has the time gone?!

~Megan

Mornings

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I wake up to the sound of twittering exotic birds and the dreamy ringtone of my cellphone coming from my bed stand. It is six o’ clock in the morning when I get up to get ready. I fix up my bed and go to the bathroom to take a shower. The showers here are called “frankenstein showers” due to the fact one must turn on the electricity to heat the water via a lever by the shower head. It is important to turn on the lever before turning on the water to get it warm and to avoid possibly getting shocked. When I get into the shower, it takes several minutes and alarming noises from the shower to get the water at just the right temperature.

After my shower, I get dressed and lather myself in sunscreen. Even though it is the rainy season and the sky is a blanket of clouds there is still an extreme amount of UV rays that can burn.  For breakfast I sit down with my host mom for a breakfast of banana bread, fresh cut fruits, and coffee. Usually for breakfast I have larger portions of food that include beans, rice, bread,  eggs, and even sandwiches; food that is not typically served for breakfast in the US but is still very good. This is a less intimidating light breakfast compared to the others I’ve had.

After breakfast I head out to the school which is about a 15 minute walk from where I live. In July there used to be many norte americanos* (North Amercans) like me walking to school that I could walk with. Now, since most of the 5-week people left, I walk with only two friends. We greet every Costa Rican politely with the phrases, “Buenas” or “Buenos dias” and usually receive the same answer back. We walk through the neighborhood and cross a small highway with an island in the middle that we scamper over to when we get the chance, and then all the way across.

The university is quiet compared to last month when there were over 100 international students attending the university. Veritas is a small arts university San Jose, and the population of the school swells during the month of July when most international students arrive. After that the numbers go back down.  Now I am more likely to bump into a Tico (Costa Rican) than I am an international student.

The professors here do not arrive on time typically and we have time to chat when we get there. Last month I had about 10 students in my class. This month there is only me and 2 other girls in my advanced Spanish class because of the small number of enrollment. This makes the class more interactive but also puts a lot of pressure on us too. The class is four hours and is broken up by a half hour recess in the middle.  During this break we can stretch our legs and most of us grab a cup of coffee and a snack since it is only 10am.

Classes go from 8-12pm. At 12pm when class ends, I either stay to work on my homework or go back home to take a nap on particularly exhausting days.

This is how my mornings usually go!

Hasta pronto. Kelsey

*People from the US are never called “Americans”  in Costa Rica and other Latin American countries, because everyone is an “American” who lives in North, Central, and South America.

The menacing “frankenstein” shower. You can see the lever and the wires that attach to the shower head to warm the water.

Halfway point

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Wow… Time has been flying over here. As of right now, I am halfway done with my program, and completely done with my first block of Spanish. Wow. This is going by WAY too fast!! Today is a little melancholy. A lot of the people here are only going to be here for 5 weeks (leaving next Friday). I’ve made so many friends and met such wonderful people here. I’m not ready for them to leave!! Luckily, there are about 7 people who will be here for the next 4 week block, so we won’t be totally alone!!

2 of my favorite people. They're leaving in a week :(

2 of my favorite people. They’re leaving in a week 🙁 Kelsey and I will be here for another four weeks

Our program will only been about 3 people next term, so this will be a completely different experience for me. Here’s to meeting new people and making new friends!!!

Megan

<3

Costa Rica Summary

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Every single day has been work and adventure here in Costa Rica. My Spanish improves day by day from my classes and everyday use of the language. I am very grateful to have a host mom who sits down at every meal and talks with me (she only speaks Spanish). Even my conversations in English with other international students are mixed with lots of Spanish.

Every weekend I have had an excursion outside the city of San Jose. There are so many beautiful places to see in Costa Rica and I have been very lucky to see so many already. The excursions have all been really enjoyable. We’ve been to Tamarindo beach, 2 volcanoes, a waterfall, and hot springs. For a class I went to a self-sustaining community that grows organic products such as coffee and banana. That was one of my favorite trips even though it was farthest away, about 8 hours by bus. I was very interested in learning about the community and how organic farming worked. It is a lot harder than the conventional farming but it has its advantages to the environment and the community. Environmentally there is less poisoning of the land and degradation of wildlife, and for the community it less expensive because they do not need to buy pesticides and their product prices do not fluctuate as much as those that are grown conventionally.

Aside from learning Spanish and learning about the environment/social development, I have also been learning to dance! Mostly merengue and salsa, which are the most popular types of dancing here in Costa Rica. It is one of my favorite activities and melts away stress. Plus, it’s a great way to connect with Ticos (Costa Ricans) who are almost all professionals at dancing! Haha!

Well this is a summary of what I’ve been doing here in Costa Rica. I will try to elaborate more soon. This has been amazing journey so far and can’t wait to find out what the next four weeks have in store for me. 🙂

Hasta pronto. Kelsey.

PS Photos below go in no particular order of events.

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Megan and I with our new friend Jasmine at La Fortuna waterfall.

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Volcano Arenal. This town sits below it but on the side that does not spew lava. Good choice.

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A recycled bridge at the AsoProLa organic coffee and banana plantation. It was slightly treacherous.

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Megan and Kevin (another new friend! 😀 ) having some delicious organic coffee.

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La Fortuna waterfall.

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BBQ at Veritas University

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Megan, Matt, and I chilling after the BBQ with the musicians that played that night.

 

Volcanoes, Hot Springs, and Toilet Paper

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This last week has passed in such a blur!! The homework load here is getting larger and larger, but it is seeming to go a lot smoother. My fluency has steadily gone up, and my awkwardness around the people here is lessening :).

Before getting into a discussion of my recent adventures, I realized that I forgot to discuss one of the major differences here. They have these little bins next to the toilet instead. I want really sure why that was, so I asked my host Mom about it. Turns out, the plumbing here is very very small, so you are not supposed to put the toilet paper in the toilet. You can ruin the plumbing for the whole house!!

And now adventure time! We have gone to two different volcanoes so far (Poas and Arenal). They were so beautiful <3 Poas has one of the largest craters in the world, and Arenal is still active. Arenal also happens to be perfectly cone shaped!!

I forgot my camera when going to Poas, so unfortunately I don’t have any pictures for here. But it was so beautiful. While we were at Arenal, we did two different side trips. The first was that we went to La Fortuna. It is one of the most beautiful waterfalls I have ever seen <3. The hike was absolutely killer, but it was worth it :). We went there to swim and in general have a good time. After words, we were all pretty tired and sore, but the second trip made it even more worth it. We went to Baldi Hot Springs. It is a very famous hotel and spa/retreat here in Costa Rica. The water is heated by the volcano and reaches temperatures of 109 F and up. It’s so awesome!!!! The people in the CIS program that I have met since getting here were fantastic. We also made friends with a Tica (Costa Rican) couple here :D. They were so nice and patient while we tried to talk to them. They also spoke pretty decent English for if we got totally lost. We found out first funny sign too. They have signs that say “Restroons” rather than “Restrooms” at the spa!! We had to giggle a little at that!

[slideshow]

This weekend I will be traveling to one of the bigger self-sustaining communities here to work for my Environmental Anthropology class. I am so excited.

Until next time, happy travels!!
~Megan

Week 1 of classes and Tamarindo Beach

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[slideshow] Hola! So far, everything is going spectacularly! Classes have been great. For me, Spanish class is definitely difficult. There is a lot of homework, but I have already noticed a huge difference in my fluency and my fluidity. The homework has consisted of readings and a vocabulary for the most part. The readings have been simple (once I look up the words that I didn’t know), and the questions have been easier to answer.  I’m feeling so good about it.

Our afternoon class is great too. Our teacher totally looks like a skater bum, and he is a complete hippy, so it makes us feel a little bit more at home. The class is called Environmental Impacts and Social Development, and it is a lot like a humanities class, or environmental science class, would be like back home. I love it though. We had a background class last time where we just talked a little bit about the history of Costa Rica, and what our perceptions were before we arrived. It was nice to have a class devoted solely to figuring out what we thought Costa Rica would be like versus what it is actually like.

Classes are from 8-12 (Spanish) and from 6-8 for us, so our days are pretty much all spent either in class or doing homework. This last Thursday, we had an AWESOME welcoming fiesta at the school. Kelsey and I got there late because it started at 6 and we had class, but we caught the tail end of a dance presentation by the gym down the street. Then they had another routine, and it was to the Shania Twain song “Feel like a Woman”. It was so funny! Then we had BBQ and cervezas. Thinking about how much that would NEVER happen at a school in the states is interesting to me. Especially the beer part XD.

This weekend, after classes, we went to a place called Tamarindo beach. It’s about 5 hours away from San Jose, so that was pretty rough. The CIS director in San Jose, Lisa, gave us all some stuff to keep us from getting super car sick though, so it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. The people here drive like crazy though!! They use the horn for EVERYTHING. I asked one of my teachers about it, and they said that it is because the roads are so small. There is only so much you can do on a tiny road in a huge bus, so they honk to let people know where they are, to get someone’s attention, to say the light is almost green, when they are happy, when they are grumpy at the person in front of them, and even (so says one of the speakers at orientation) to tell you that you look nice that day ;).

After the crazy bus ride, we got to Tamarindo at about 7. We all went to our hotel rooms, dumped our crap, then went out! We went to KOI, a decently swanky restaurant that had sushi (which I didn’t eat) and Asian stir-fry (which I did eat). The food was DELICIOUS!!! And we went with a huge group, so it was tons of fun. Afterwards, we went downstairs in the same building to Aqua, which is a Discoteque (dance club). It was free drinks (with cheap rum, vodka, and local booze called Cacique [I think…]). We drank a couple of drinks, went dancing, and then all went back to the hotel for some much needed sleep!!!

The next day, another group of us went to breakfast at around 9 (which was waaaay too early). We had eggs and toast, which were both delicious. After breakfast, 3 of us, Kelsey, Jasmine (a girl we met who is from Virginia), and I, went around and looked in all of the little stores. I needed swim trunks, so we went shopping! It was nice to have some girl time!! Then we changed and went down to the beach. Tamarindo is on the Pacific side of the island, so the water smelled so much like home. It was warm though, which is so wrong for someone coming from Oregon. If you can keep your feet in the Pacific Ocean for more than 10 minutes and NOT have them fall off, something is just not right! We spent all of the morning and part of the afternoon there. We body surfed (or at least attempted too), swam around, and met a few of the Ticos (which is the Costa Rican word for Costa Ricans) who live in the area. All of them are incredibly nice and helpful. A bunch of the CIS students wanted to learn how to surf, and the Ticos were more than willing to help them out! After the beach, we went to lunch. I was feeling pretty sick at that point due to eating some pizza, and pretty good pizza at that, so I hung around in the room for the next few hours. Jasmine and Kelsey went shopping some more, and then met me back at the room. We went back to Aqua for a couple of hours, and then went to bed.

Today was the drive home. It was not too bad though. We stopped after a couple of hours at this place in the middle of nowhere. It was so beautiful. There were parrots and monkeys (I’m not sure what type) just living in the trees! They were gorgeous!!

After getting back to my Tica home, I ate dinner and now I’m working on homework and this.

Seriously though… This weekend was amazing. It was the definition of Pura Vida <3.

Until next post!!
~Megan

Arrival in Costa Rica

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All of my flights went smoothly and before I knew it I was in Costa Rica. Within the airport it was hard to differentiate between Ticos (Costa Ricans) and tourists because they are very similar in appearance. Customs was a breeze and my friend Megan and I walked out of the airport where we were bombarded by more Taxi drivers than you could shake a stick at. We walked confidently by them however as they hounded us for rides, we knew that someone in the crowded walkway would be holding a sign for us.

Shortly we found our group and we were whisked away in a van towards the center of the city. On the way in, there were plenty of signs advertising foreign products and restaurants ( for example, Coca Cola and Taco Bell). The highways and roads are mostly skinny with small cars. What was striking was all of the people walking everywhere. I and the other international students in the van noted how full all of the public parks and squares were as we went by.

We were all dropped off at the front of our host families’ houses. We noticed many houses had more than one secure gate to the front door, every window was encased in iron bars, and fences surround the perimeters of the houses. On top of that, some of them had barbwire. This made all of us a little curious about the safety of our neighborhoods. Later it would be explained to us  in orientation that it was not because that the neighborhoods were unsafe but that Ticos are very precautious and not big risk-takers.

Es todo para ahora.

Hasta pronto, Kelsey

Greetings from Costa Rica!

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We landed yesterday, but it has been pretty much non stop business since then. Both of our flights went great, and they were both so smooth! At the airport, it was a little intimidating because there were tons of people jockeying around trying to give us rides. It was intimidating because all of them were shouting and trying to push to the front. All of them were very nice though, so it wasn’t frightening. There are a ton of taxis here (both oficiales, official ones, and piratas, or pirate ones). Eventually, the CIS students who landed got picked up by CIS, so we were very thankful. After arriving, the first thing we noticed was how absolutely stunning everything here is. Our neighborhood is so full of plant life and birds. It is beautiful. There are a lot of us that are in the same neighborhood, Barrio Cordoba, so it is great. We all are able to walk to school together, which means were are much safer and able to keep from getting very lost! It was very cloudy today and yesterday, so I haven’t taken any pictures of the outside of our house yet. I’m waiting for sunshine! These are pictures of my room though. I feel so lucky! It is absolutely perfect!

This is Kelsey and I as we were leaving for our adventures!

This is the living area of our house. It is so beautiful! 🙂

This is my ridiculously comfortable bed

This is my desk in my room, complete with pictures and my computer. Also, that is the MOST comfortable rocking chair ever!!

Tomorrow I am going to try to get some pictures of the university and I start classes (if it is sunny). I am so nervous about my Spanish class, but I am definitely going to try to make the best of it!

Safe travels everyone!!  Megan

Pre-Departure Thoughts

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Family, Friends, and Bloggers,

I’ve had all good intentions to do some in-depth research on Costa Rica before I go, but I have found myself caught up in everything I need to do in the short-time before I leave.  So far I have no expectations of what a Costa Rican might be like. I have heard things from unofficial sources saying that Costa Rica is the happiest place on Earth, that Costa Ricans are conservative, and that they are a peace-loving people. I’ve also heard their food isn’t very good because much of it is fried, but that is very relative; personally I don’t think I will mind that much.

I feel less anxious than I am excited about going on this trip, because I am going to Costa Rica with my friend Megan. It will be great to share some memories abroad with someone else. I have done some traveling alone, and it has disappointed me to not have a companion just as confused and marveled as I am with me sometimes. Locals often take for granted what they see every day, and often do not show as much fascination in the mundane things as a foreigner does.

Overall, what I wish to get out of this trip are some experiences that are challenging, rewarding, and that I will have fun re-telling. It would be great to get a real sense of the culture and communicate with locals. I want to experience Costa Rican life to its fullest and see beautiful things.

Hasta pronto.  Kelsey

I want to see a tucan!

Predeparture Blog

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Well it’s 10 days to go, then Kelsey and I will be off for a grand adventure in Costa Rica!! To say that I’m nervous is just a tiny understatement. I’m also extremely excited :). I am ready to take this on head first!! So far the packing process has been successful (minus shopping for a few things) and saying goodbye to family and friends has been bittersweet.

I am very excited to meet my host family. So far I have not received any information about them though, and I am not sure where they are located. I would imagine it will be an interesting experience to live with a family that I have never met, and try to communicate in Spanish (which I am somewhat limited in). It will be challenging, but I am excited to have this experience.

I would imagine living within the Costa Rican culture will be more laid back that that of the United States. From what I have heard (from people who have gone to Costa Rica) all of the people are extremely nice and helpful. I have heard that they speak slower than other Spanish speakers, so that will be very helpful to me. I would say that my one preconceived notion of Costa Rican culture would be the laid back friendly nature I am expecting them to have. I am also expecting it to be a very beautiful place with interesting architecture (see the pictures).

I am so excited for this opportunity, and it is only 10 days away!! 🙂 Hoping everyone else is getting excited for their trips as well (if they are not already there)!!  Megan