Agridulce

This is certainly an "agridulce" or bittersweet goodbye. I am so excited to get home and see everyone and be in the comfort of my own home, but there are so many things I'm going to miss in Costa Rica... It feels odd that I'm coming home really! Twelve weeks flew by! 

First off, this past week I wrapped up my classes. I got straight As, yay! I also had a field trip in one of my classes this week. We went to Hospital Mexico which was the most open and least advanced of any of the hospitals I've visited. We toured the hospital and we were just walking in and out of places, even into the ICU and were just staring into patients' rooms! It was a little strange, and I felt a little intrusive, but no one seemed to care at all! 

My Conflict Resolution and Healthcare Class

Outside of wrapping up a couple classes I went to the gym with my friend Justine a few times, started packing, and did some shopping with friends wrapping up their souvenirs. I also tried to spend as much time as I could with my host family. They made me some of my favorite meals this week, which was so nice! 

Wednesday afternoon I met my group of friends for lunch. Most of us got lunch from a little French cafe by school and then we all went to a nearby park to eat. Thursday night with the same group of friends we met at a restaurant called El Gaff for dessert and drinks. It was the last time I would see most of them so it was a great chance to hang out all together, take some pictures, and say our goodbyes. I have been really fortunate to make such good friends while I've been here! Unfortunately we're all from different states, but we plan on seeing each other at some point in the future. At the very least we will stay in contact via social media! I am so glad I met all of them here!

The whole clan!

Ashlyn and me

Friday my friend Stephanie and I walked around Downtown. She had a couple more souvenirs to buy and I picked up a gift for Valentina and Dilanna for Christmas, princess notebooks and stickers! They were always wanting to draw in my notebooks so I think they will like them! 

After lunch on Friday I had to say goodbye to my host family.... They were leaving for a party that was a couple hours away and we're going to stay the night there. So I had to say goodbye which was much harder than I anticipated it would be! My host mom started crying, which made me start crying! It's hard because I don't know when/if I'll ever see them again. I hope to, and we'll at least stay in contact, but who knows. I also had to say goodbye to the girls who I don't think knew that I was leaving for good. That was also really sad. Again, I am so lucky that I got so close to them in such a short time. 

After my goodbyes with them I met my friend Justine at a cafe close by where we sat and chatted for awhile which was great. She has a boyfriend in AZ and is planning on applying to PT school in AZ so I will likely see her again! Then my friend Stephanie came over to my house and we watched some Modern Family for awhile and then had to say our goodbyes. She is the best friend I've made here, so she was another hard goodbye. But I'm certain I'll see her again at some point! 

I spent the rest of the evening getting things ready to go. Then I went to bed really early because I was up at 3:30 this morning! We arranged a shuttle through school which picked me up right outside my house at 4 am. That was nice to not have to worry about anything! I made it through to my gate smoothly and my suitcase was under 50 pounds! A miracle! 

Now I'm sitting on the plane left to reflect on the past three months. All I can think is how grateful I am for God's perfect timing. I had originally planned on studying abroad Spring of 2015, but I'm so glad I didn't or I wouldn't have met the friends I did or had the host family I did. I wouldn't have travelled with these friends or perhaps would have gone different places... It just worked out perfectly thanks to Him! I am also so glad that, besides small relatively harmless sicknesses here and there, I was healthy and safe the whole time. I did not lose anything but a pair of shoes. I learned a lot of Spanish. I tasted some awesome food and got a little less picky! I had way too much rice and beans. I ziplined, rappelled, rafted, hiked, Tarzan swung, danced with locals, swam in the Pacific and Atlantic multiple times, Catamaran cruised, snorkeled, swam in Hot Springs, watched the sunset over the ocean... I am so grateful for all of these opportunities and would gladly do all of them over again! Jeremiah- I'm adding another trip to Costa Rica to our list of future trips! 

Studying abroad was the best decision for me. I will now highly recommend it to anyone! Maybe Costa Rica isn't for everyone, but taking a semester to study abroad is a once in a lifetime opportunity full of learning experiences! I learned about a new country, a new culture, and about myself too! Can you tell I'm happy with my semester?? Thanks to everyone who kept up with my experiences. Not only here but in Europe as well! It's going to be hard adjusting back to the rigors of regular classes and work, but I'm excited to get back to that routine. I am really looking forward to 2016. It's going to be tough but I think it'll be great. 

Pura Vida!!!

Because I'm a Contributor, Too

Well I've been reading Hannah's posts every week since she left for Costa Rica three months ago, but it wasn't until recently I remembered this is OUR blog. And though my semester wasn't full of beaches and rainforests and monkeys and "pura vida," it was still a semester worth talking about. So now I'm gonna talk about it.

My last post was August 3rd, at which point I was only halfway through my internship with Medtronic! The last 6 weeks wrapped up really well; I successfully completed my projects and delivered solid presentations to both my department and all the other interns, hiring managers, etc. On my last day the internship coordinator informed me that they'd like to bring me back for another internship next summer! In fact, they were hoping I could continue part time during the school year, but unfortunately I couldn't accept that due to my overwhelming workload at school.

As it turns out, I won't be working for Medtronic at all next year. Though they did come through with an offer, it wasn't in the department I'd been hoping to move into. And, conveniently, after more than 5 hours of cumulative interviewing, I also had an internship offer from Stryker (another medical supply company based in the Phoenix area). Stryker's offer was in their research & development department, which is an area I've always wanted to go into because it means I'm more likely to be doing "cutting-edge" work. Plus, they offered me more money than Medtronic, and it's a good opportunity to "try on" another company before I finish school! So I accepted Stryker's offer, and I have to say, it feels good to already have something secured for next summer heading into my last semester of undergrad!

The last four weeks of my Medtronic internship overlapped with the first four weeks of school, meaning I was more busy than I'd ever been in my life for that month. Thankfully my class schedule was pretty conducive to working during normal hours. Still, I often got to work at 6 am (sometimes earlier) and didn't get home from class until 6:30 pm, only to begin hours of homework that kept me up past midnight. It was exhausting.

Just two weeks after I cleared that hurdle, I was rewarded with a trip to Costa Rica to visit Hannah! She and her family and I had an awesome time, even though I could only stay for a few days. We visited the beach, ate delicious food including some cool fruit I'd never seen before, took a day trip to the cute little city of Arenal, and [most of us] went zip lining and rappelling! Yeah, I broke my arm on the first zip line and had to climb my way out of the forest through pouring rain, but you've heard all that before. Once they pumped painkillers in through the IV and gave me a bottle of oxycontin, I was good to go. Overall, it was a really neat trip. I loved what I saw of the country, and I hope I get the chance to go back some day and give zip lining another try! Best of all, I got to see Hannah for a few days amidst her twelve weeks abroad.

It was easy to keep a positive attitude while I was experiencing a foreign country, but once I got home, reality set in. I was gonna have to get through the rest of the semester with only one fully functional arm - and not even my dominant one. Thankfully my family and friends really stepped up to make it easier for me! At home, my parents made all my meals for me, and at school, my friends took notes for me in all my classes. Still, it's been really challenging and frustrating at times, dealing with my injury. I can't practice trombone, I can't exercise except for the stationary bike at the gym, and just about everything else simply takes more time than it normally would. I'm desperate to get my brace off so I can start PT and get back to normal life, but last Friday I learned it'd be at least another month before that happens.

It's tough to keep my spirits up, but good things have come out of it. I've gotten a lot better at accepting help from others, I've developed gratitude for my normally healthy physical condition, and - best of all - I'm basically ambidextrous now! Just two nights ago I bowled a 122 using only my left arm!

In other news, I've been keeping busy at school working on my senior capstone project - the culmination of my engineering degree - and my honors thesis. For capstone, my friends and I have teamed up to design and prototype an automated pill dispenser that we hope could bring a lot more independence to folks that would otherwise require 24-hour in-home care. It sure sounds good, right? I hope we can pull it off! And for my thesis I'm studying the aerodynamics of baseballs. So pretty cool stuff, but I'm definitely looking forward to completing both this spring.

In the end, it was probably my most challenging semester to date. But I ended up with the grades I wanted, so I think I handled the challenges well! And grew a lot more because of them.

And now there's less than 48 hours till Hannah gets home! Saturday is gonna be amazing. Star Wars at the IMAX theater in the morning, then we pick up Hannah at the airport, and then we celebrate an early Christmas with Hannah's family since Brian and Terrisa are leaving for Georgia the next morning. It'll be a great way to celebrate her return.

Here are some pictures to highlight a few other things I didn't already mention:

Nathan's and my Halloween jack-o-lantern. I'm quite proud of it, as you can probably tell.

A Star Wars music concert performed by the Phoenix Symphony. It was Brian's idea and a very fun evening!

The ASU vs UA game (aka Territorial Cup), which ASU dominated! #NoPityForTheKitty

The annual Warren-Hobson Thanksgiving Hike up Usery Mountain.

A picture that sums up my weekend in Beaver Creek, CO, with Hannah's family. I couldn't ski because of my arm, but I clearly still made the most of my weekend.

Said "so long" this week to Heather, a close friend of mine since junior high. She just finished her electrical engineering degree and is headed back to the east coast to start law school!

A Weekend With It All

Two weeks ago I started to feel pretty ready to go home... And now all I can think is, "I'm already going home in five days??" It's pretty crazy how quickly the time has gone. Though I'm very ready to see my family and not eat rice and beans again for a long time. 

First, a sad thing.. I lost my Keens last weekend!! I am so sad, which is silly since they're shoes. But I left them on the bus on the way home from Montezuma. I set them on the floor next to my feet because they were wet so I didn't want to put them in my bag. I knew I was going to forget them there, and I did!! At least it wasn't a phone or wallet.

Tuesday my friend Justine and I went to the gym together and then met up in the afternoon to go to this cafe together. It's really cute and delicious and I can't believe I discovered it at the end of my time here!

On Wednesday I gave my last presentation in my PT class! So all I have left is a final project presentation on Tuesday for my other class! This is by far the easiest finals week I've ever had! Also on Wednesday I walked around the city some in the morning. I realized that I can walk to the Artisan market from my house, so I did that and bought a couple of last souvenirs! I think I said before that I was done buying souvenirs, but I actually did have some more things to get. So now I'm officially done! Wednesday night my friend Stephanie came over and we watched a movie, which was nice! She's evidently become my movie buddy! 

This doesn't have to do with Costa Rica, but on Thursday Jeremiah and I celebrated our five year dating anniversary! Five years has flown by, but it's been filled with some amazing memories. All of our marching band memories, starting college, road trip to Florida, all of our Disney trips, becoming members together at our church, Europe, visiting in Costa Rica, and so much more! I am so thankful that he's in my life and can't imagine life without him. I love you, Jeremiah! On Thursday we had a FaceTime date since we couldn't have one in person! 

Friday I went on a nice long walk through he neighborhood in the morning, met a friend for lunch, and in the afternoon learned how to make tamales!! In Costa Rica they only make Tamales in December as part of a Christmas tradition. They make a ton and eat them all the time in December! It was a very long process. We were making them all afternoon. We had these huge sheets of banana leaves in the kitchen that had to be cut into squares and cleaned. One person put the main flour mixture (I wasn't shown what all was in it, I just saw them put a lot of flour in the big pot) and some orange doughy mixture on the banana leaf. Then I would add  pork, carrots, sweet chili, peas, and cilantro on top. Then the next person folded the lead up and the last person tied two together with string. Once they were all prepped like this we had a huge pot outside with boiling water that we put the tamales in for 45 minutes. Then they were good to eat! They were quite good! But really filling. One was good enough for me! It was really fun participating in the tradition. The whole family was there plus a couple extra people all helping prepare them!

Saturday morning I was up bright and early for an amazing day!! I went rafting and had so much fun!! Two of my friends and I met at the school where we were picked up by the rafting company at 6:30 am. It took about 2.5 hours to get to the river. We were provided with breakfast before driving another thirty minutes to where we would start to raft. On the whole thirty minute drive we were given instructions and safety procedures... Needless to say I was getting a little nervous with all of the instructions to remember! At the river we got all of our gear and then did some practice in our raft before moving anywhere. Then we were off! We were constantly being told "Forward! Stop! Forward Hard! Stop! Backward!" And so on from our guide who was situated in the back of the raft and guiding us in the right direction. There were six people plus our guide in our raft. The three of us, plus two women from The Netherlands and one guy from England so we had a very mixed boat which was cool! The rapids were Class 3 and 4 out of a scale of 6. They got pretty intense at times! Sometimes our guide would shout "Get Down!" And we'd all crouch down in the center of the raft as water came crashing in the raft and we slid over a huge rock. It was so much fun!! No one on our boat ever fell out but we were with three other rafts and they occasionally had people fall out. That was a big concern of mine so I was glad it didn't happen! There were also times on the river where it was calm and we could hop out and swim next to the raft. And we also stopped for a lunch break at one point on the river too. In total we were on the river for about four hours and I had a blast the whole time. Plus it was beautiful scenery the whole time too! Saturday night once I got home I was wiped out so I took a shower, had dinner, and that was pretty much it! Oh and my host mom made me some delicious hot chocolate. 

So Friday I got a cold and this morning, Sunday, it wasn't too great (rafting probably didn't help!) so I didn't have anything planned but my host family decided to go to Puntarenas and I tagged along! I thought I was done with the beaches here for this trip but evidently not! So I used the Pura Vida way of getting over a cold and just laid on the beach all afternoon! Literally I think I laid on the beach for four hours snoozing on and off. I was really tired! But it was really nice having one last full day just spending time with them and enjoying the beach. 

This weekend was the perfect last weekend here. It combined all of the best aspects of my time here. Friday, learning about the traditions and culture with the tamales, Saturday exploring the adventurous side of Costa Rica with friends, and Sunday spending time at the beach with my host family! So now I only have five days left here, how crazy!! See you soon family! 

Pura Vida

Cumpleaños en Costa Rica!

I'm 21! I celebrated my 21st birthday here on Thursday which was unlike any birthday I've had for a number of reasons, but I felt honestly lucky to have the unique experience of celebrating my birthday here. As I was thinking about my year as a 20-year-old I decided it was the best year yet! Obviously traveling abroad not once, but twice, this year is high on that list! I'm looking forward to 21 because I have a feeling it's going to be just as good. 

These weeks somehow continue to fly by! Wednesday I celebrated my birthday with my friends by going out to dinner. We went to a place called Wok & Noodles a short taxi ride away. It was a cute place and really delicious! Since it was my 21st, I did order a drink called a "Maracuya Colada." Maracuya is Spanish for Passionfruit, and it was a delicious drink! I haven't had much at all to drink even though it's been legal for two and a half months here and for four weeks in Europe just because it hasn't really interested me (or tasted very good to me!) but I had to since it was my 21st! I figure I've been saving money and calories that way too! Anyway, I got Pad Thai to eat and we had a really nice dinner together. My friends paid for me which was so nice! I really scored with the friends I've made here! 

On my actual birthday I started the morning early for a volunteer activity with a group of ISA students. We walked Downtown and handed out food, clothes, and blankets to the "habitantes del calle" or homeless people. It was really awesome! I hadn't done a volunteer activity in awhile and I always love volunteering. Everything went great there except for one man who got really angry because he thought we took a picture of him and so he chucked his juice at a guy in my group! No one was hurt but it was certainly a little scary seeing how angry he got! That was the only issue thankfully. After that we rode the bus back and I met my friend, Stephanie, for lunch. We went to the French Cafe I've probably mentioned before and got their yummy pesto chicken sandwiches. She also bought my lunch and she had bought me a Coke Zero too (she knows how much I love coke zero and I don't get it very often at all here!). How nice was that? 

After lunch I had my one class that day which I now like to call my "arts and crafts" class. We do a lot of creative activities, group games, and even started class on Thursday by dancing as a sort of "stress management" activity. I'm not complaining! It's a very fun class and I don't mind going to it at all!

I then went home for about 30 minutes and checked on all of the kind birthday messages and emails and posts on social media. I have so many wonderful people in my life!! Then my host parents picked me up and took me over to my host dad's parents house for a small birthday party! It was just more of his family and we had delicious burgers while we chatted and then a delicious tres leches cake complete with candles and singing! It was so nice of them to truly treat me like part of their family. Oh and they bought me a cute shirt for my birthday too! It was also very unique to get a rendition of happy birthday in Spanish this year! 

After the party I FaceTimed both Jeremiah and my family. They are all (including Jeremiah) on our annual ski trip to Beaver Creek, Colorado and that was probably the hardest thing to miss out on so far. This trip is something that we all look forward to for so long so not being able to experience that with them (especially when it corresponded with my birthday) was very hard! It was still great to FaceTime though and see everyone enjoying the beautiful hotel and skiing! 

My host family plus my host dad's mom and a cousin in the red shirt. 

I realized more than ever this year how much I don't need gifts. I was able to volunteer my time and also spend quality time with friends, my host family, and with my actual family via FaceTime and that was more than enough!!

So Friday morning I got packed up and at 12:30 I met my friends at school and we took taxis to the bus station and headed to Montezuma, Costa Rica! Montezuma is on the south end of the peninsula on the west of the country. It was a six hour trek to get there, with a bus, a ferry, and then two more buses. But it went by pretty quickly and we got to watch a beautiful sunset from the ferry! Once we arrived at our hostel we were all starving so we found this delicious Italian restaurant and all ate way too much! I had a homemade Pesto Pasta that was really really good.

Saturday we got breakfast and then hit the beach! If you couldn't tell, the beach is a very popular thing to do here! With a name like Costa Rica though, I suppose that makes sense! It was beautiful of course so we spent quite a few hours there in and out of the water. After that we got gelato as our lunch and then went to find some waterfalls we'd heard about! It was a cool little hike along a river. We didn't even actually make it all the way to the large waterfall because it became rather precarious, but we had some great views along the way and found a place to stop and swim for awhile! After that we then went back to the beach to watch the sunset and got some beautiful views! Then we all showered off and got dinner at a restaurant right off the water! This morning we were up early and on the 6-hour trek back to San Jose!

So I am officially under 2 weeks until heading home! I'm still enjoying it here but am also anxious to get home too! 

Pura Vida