My trip in Review

Costa Rica was possibly the best experience of my life. Studying abroad with a group of wonderful people going to beautiful places was phenomenal, and I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to immerse myself into a completely different culture. I'm not sure if I would have had as wonderful of an experience if we didn't live with a host family and I know that I learned most of my Spanish in "Residencial Rio: La casa con tres pisos." I am very happy that Molly and I were able to become as close to our host family as we did, and I miss them terribly. I loved pretty much everything about the trip, from the food to the people! I adored La Paz waterfall gardens and Manuel Antonio national park. They were both beautiful and I would go back 20 times if I could.
That being said, I am reviewing my whole trip, and I should point out the parts that I probably wouldn't repeat. Pueblo Antiguo was eventually entertaining, but we got there so early it was just awkward. The food was great afterwards, but i wouldn't go back. I imagine that Poas volcano would have been amazing... if we could see anything. There was so much rain and fog that we literally just saw white, thick fog.
Overall I loved my experience and would recommend it to anybody! Studying abroad was amazing, and although I used to say that I would only want to do winter sessions abroad, I'm now considering a whole semester abroad in the spring of my Junior year.

Manuel Antonio

Our room. Guess who lost the coin toss and got the smaller bed? :p hahaha

The beach on our hike

The most beautiful view from the top of our mountain hike

Manuel Antonio beaches are the prettiest

Carrie and I at Sunset the last night

A few of the girls <3

Sunsetting on the last night. Although this wasn't nearly as beautiful as the night before

Pizza after sunset

We just got back yesterday evening from our Manuel Antonio National Park 5 day excursion, and I think its safe to say that this was my favorite trip! The beaches are white sand and the water was clear (at all beaches) and calm (at la Playa Blanca). We got 2 passes to the National Park and the first day we all went as a group to the prettiest beach I've ever seen! The next day Carrie and I (along with a few people from the other group) went hiking for hours along the trails in the park. We saw stick bugs, monkeys, sloths, and a snake. The view from the top of our longest trail was well worth the sweat and exhaustion (the picture is above). We saw the sunset 2 nights while we were there, and although it was better the first time we saw it, I was in the water watching and was unable to take pictures.
When we weren't at the beach we were at the swim up bar in the pool ordering food and dessert. There were many times by the pool that I would look over my shoulder and have an Iguana (We named him Ziggy) literally 10 inches away from my face!
I loved Manuel Antonio and would go back in a heartbeat!

Cafe Britt

Our comedic tour guides (they kept referring to each other as "ex-wife" and "ex-husband")

Different Roasts

Not roasted and roasted beans

Cafe Britt has 77 stores worldwide and one online

Coffee and Chocolate, what's not to love! Last Tuesday we went to Cafe Britt to see coffee plantations and coffee productions. We learned the proper way to taste coffee and about the different roasts (Basically the longer the beans are roasted, the "darker" the roast is. 12 minutes was light, 14 was medium, and 15-16 was dark). We got to see the fields where the coffee is grown and picked and we got to taste 6 different coffee roasts. We also got to have a ton of free samples of chocolate covered coffee beans, almonds, and fruit jellies. If I could, I would have purchased everything in the store, but that would a lot to put in my suitcase. At least they have an online store!!! (Mom and Dad, you'd love some of their medium roasts!)
Our male tour guide was just as hilarious and eccentric as the lady we had at Pueblo Antiguo in the beginning of the month. When we told him he should meet her and that they should date he quickly responded with a "oh hahahahaI'mgay!" He was very quick in another language.

Zoo Ave (en espanol)

Iguana!

Parrot!

"This is not an appropriate cage for a bird. This is a prison."

Peacock! Dangerously close to our food.

Fuimos a Zoo Ave para ver los tipos de animales diferentes. Vimos muchos tipos de aves y monos. Primero, vimos lapas con plumas de muchas colores. Algunos eran azules, rojas, y amarillas, pero otras eran azules y verdes. Entonces vimos los buhos con plumas blancas y negras. Mi favorito fue el buho mas pequeno. Llamado un buho pigmeo y solo mide cuatro pulgadas. Era muy linda. Tambien vimos los pavos reales. El pavo masculino tenia colas muy coloridas con plumas azules y verdes. El pavo real masculino utiliza sus plumas de la cola hermosa para atraer a los pavos reales femeninos. Son aves muy majestuosas. Finalmente vimos los monos. Mis favoritos eran los monos "aulladores." Zoo Ave es probablemente el mejor Zoo que he visto.
Basically what all that says is that we went to the zoo and saw tons of birds. I mentioned the parrots, pigmy owls and peacocks. We also saw lots of monkeys, and I mentioned seeing howler monkeys. The paragraph in Spanish above was what I wrote for my Spanish class.
Zoo Ave is pretty amazing, a lot of the birds aren't in closed areas, so we had a lot of peacocks come right up to us while we ate our snacks. Zoo Ave truly makes an effort to promote ecotourism through their many signs about animals in danger of extinction and recycling.

My everyday life

Universidad Latina, the front of the main building

My bed.

I've realized I've talked so much about the places we've gone, but I haven't talked much about the place I live and the classes I'm taking. The house Molly and I are staying is a very nice house and the design is pretty cool. There's an outside gated door and an actual door, and we often just lock the gate and leave the door open so we can appreciate the beautiful weather. Molly and I have 2 rooms right next to each other and a shared bathroom across the hall. Right out my window is the garage and directly above the garage our brother Billy has his own shaded balcony bedroom. Our mama is right down the hall from us, close to the kitchen, and behind that is the laundry area. Upstairs the other couple staying with us has a nice room with a balcony that allows you to see Heredia all lit up at night.
In school we have the language course (SPAN107 for Molly and I) and a culture course (SPAN206). Every day I wake up at 7:45 and Molly and I eat breakfast (Always the best food here!). We walk 20 minutes to school every day so we're in time for our language class at 9:00. Our spanish class has been a review so far for me, but its been awhile since I've visited some of the topics so I'm a little rusty. We have an hour break for lunch at 11:30, so we eat in the outdoor dining hall and hang out in the grassy field until 12:30 when our culture class starts. SPAN207 is pretty fun. Its our instructor Basia and the 14 girls, so the class can sometimes get off topic :).  Then on days we don't have excursions after school, Molly and I walk home to do homework, nap, or explore Heredia Centro. Some nights (usually the nights that we don't have tests the next morning) we'll meet the rest of the group at a bar or restaurant and hang out the rest of the night.

San Jose and La Paz Waterfalls

The Cathedral

Art I will never understand the meaning of. Although the more I look the more I feel I understand.

Bird Statue in San Jose (these things are all over San Jose)

ALBINO SQUIRREL

I was literally a foot away from these beautiful blue birds

And almost 5 feet away from this friend

Frog.

Butterfly. One of literally hundreds in the exhibit.

Carrie and I at a waterfall

Just a waterfall. So stunning!

Saturday we went back to San Jose to see the modern art museum and the national museum. The art museum was pretty cool, although I still struggle to find the meaning in most of those paintings. The national museum had a huge butterfly room where we went most of our time. Afterwards everyone went to a restaurant for lunch and Carrie and I went to explore the city of San Jose. We ate some of the best (and biggest) pizza I've ever had and then we went to see a beautiful cathedral only a few blocks down. After a quick stop at POPS ice cream (which has amazing mint chocolate chip ice cream) Carrie and I walked to a huge building to see what it was. We were stopped by a man who told us everything about the building (and his life story which was a little odd). He told us that the building held most of the government people that were responsible for the poverty in Costa Rica.
Sunday was really awesome because of La Paz Waterfall gardens. We got up close and personal with several butterflies, hummingbirds, an albino squirrel, 2 sloths, toucans, monkeys, frogs, snakes, and HUGE waterfalls. The walk to the waterfalls was beautiful and being able to be close to large waterfalls was amazing. The food was great too, and the fact that we could keep coming back to the all you can eat buffet was even better. :) I have so many pictures to add to this blog that I will do later tonight.

My struggles with the travelers checks

I don't have a picture that relates to the topic, so this is a beautiful lake in INBio.

Don't get me wrong. I'm having a wonderful time here in Costa Rica, but its becoming SO stressful having to deal with the travelers checks.
I expected them to be able to work here in C.R. but because my signature has changed so drastically since I was 14, the signature on my passport and on the checks is very very different. I've been to literally 5 banks and we've called American Express 3 times (thank you Crista and Basia for all of your help!) and we didn't have any luck until today.
Basia went before me and argued with the teller at Scotiabank for half an hour until the teller agreed to call American Express and ask if they could take the checks. After the call the Scotiabank FINALLY agreed to see my checks. The only problem now is that my signatures are slightly different on each check!!! I could only cash one and I have 4 more that need to be cashed. This is becoming a huge stress-er and a huge hassle. But I at least got one cashed for now, and that'll be okay for the next few days.

Sarchi and the Ox Cart factory

 My UD wheel. (looks better from a distance)

 The FYE group + ox

Believe it or not there's a sloth in the picture above. The picture directly above is Molly and I at INBio in the volcano exhibit

Hi Poppop, Hi Aunt Cathy. Thanks for following my blog. I feel so loved that you want to know what I'm up to :)

Today we had a test in both of our classes today (UGH!) But right after we finished the second test we went to see an ox cart factory. The ox carts are beautiful and they are so elegantly painted. We were given a tour in english and in spanish, and halfway through we had a snack of homemade bread and coffee. We got to see the artists at work painting the wheels of the cart, and for a cheap price we could paint our own mini-ox cart wheels. I painted mine for UD. Definitely the highlight of my day, the painting was so relaxing.
Yesterday we went to INBio, which is a national environmental conservation facility. We saw so many plants, spiders, bugs in general, deer, and a sloth! We saw another one, but he was sleeping and we couldn't wake him up (no matter how hard we whistled).

San Jose and Irazu

Volcano! Today (Sunday) we went to the Irazu volcano, which although was very windy was absolutely beautiful. We were literally above the clouds, which was kind of crazy! I forgot my camera unfortunately, but I did have my iPhone so I do have some pretty awesome pictures.
The drives up the mountains have been pretty dangerous; the roads are skinny, the buses are really large, and the drivers here in Costa Rica are nuts. But I guess that's part of the fun.
Yesterday we went to San Jose to see the national theatre. (For the record I'm annoyed that my auto correct is telling me to spell theatre like "theater.")
It. Was. Gorgeous!

So much art and history, and the theatre itself was beautiful. I asked if they have/had a residential ensemble cast and they said they have a cast that performs there often, but the national theatre often houses a lot of international productions and companies.
There was also a huge open market where we spent a lot of our time. I bought lots of gifts and souvenirs for my family and friends there. :)

Pueblo Antiguo Trip

Our adorable tour guide

Everyone dancing with the cast.

On Friday night at 5 pm we hopped on a bus to "Pueblo Antiguo," which was described to us as a Costa Rican Medieval times. At first Pueblo Antiguo was actually pretty boring. The park was pretty dark and there was a wedding going on in the chapel, which was beautiful but it didn't allow us to explore much in that area.
The night got better when our adorably energetic tour guide came out and gave us a tour and a history lesson about Pueblo Antiguo. She also gave us a drink that smelled delicious but tasted like cough syrup.
We say a show that was hilarious. The actors danced the different styles of dance including salsa, meringue, and a dance with some trippy costumes. The characters pulled up my fellow FYE trip members to dance, which made for some hilarious pictures.
The food was phenomenal. WE had chicken, beef, plantains (my new favorite), rice, beans, and a huge cup of cherry mousse for dessert.

The first few days in Costa Rica

Me and my coffee. Loving Costa Rica

 

 

 

ULatina is beautiful.

I can't express enough how much I adore Costa Rica! The weather here is beautiful, its about 75 degrees F, while at home in Maryland its probably cold, snowy and gross (sorry mom and dad). The people here are so nice and my host mom is no exception. She is super sweet and she's an amazing cook! I didn't expect to like the food here as much as I do, but literally everything my Mama Tica (which is what she told us to call her) cooks has been amazing. I'm expecting to gain 10 pounds while I'm here.
I also didn't expect to be as close to the university as we are. Molly and I are a 15 minute walk away, which Mama Tica showed us on the first day of classes. On our first day we took a tour of la Universidad Latina and we were shown where all of the classrooms are as well as the cafeteria.
Its only been a few days but I already can tell how much I'm gonna love it here!!
Love,
Katy