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

Thanks and Pura Vida

I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving! It didn’t really hit me that it was Thanksgiving until the day of and even then it was a little odd. I got to FaceTime both my family and Jeremiah’s. My family was in the middle of dinner so I got to (sort of) feel like I was right at the dinner table with them! It was really nice, but also really hard to not actually be there. When I FaceTimed Jeremiah’s family they were playing games like always so that was another great tradition that I got to pretend I was experiencing! Obviously they don’t celebrate Thanksgiving here, but since my school has such a large international program they hosted a dinner for international students! It was really cute. They had great decorations and a photo booth set up and even traditional food for us including turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans, and pumpkin pie. The only bad thing about it was I think they underestimated how much Americans can eat on Thanksgiving because they ran out of food pretty quickly and a lot of people were still hungry afterward! I was fine luckily, and enjoyed my meal. It was also really nice to be with all of my friends who were also missing home and to enjoy each other’s company and experience Thanksgiving a little bit differently this year. I am thankful for so many things including Jeremiah, my family, his family, my friends old and new, my education, my opportunities to travel, experiencing Costa Rica, and of course God’s grace!! Thanks to all of you who are a part of my life! 

Another thing I did this week was I tried a couple of classes at my gym! If you know me, you know that this was pretty exciting for me. They were in Spanish but just like any gym class back at home, so I’m definitely planning on keeping up those classes until I go home.

On Friday my host sisters, Valentina and Dilanna, finished up their school for the semester and so they had a class party at a place called Parque Diversiones. It’s an Amusement Park! That’s literally what “Parque Diversiones” translates to as well actually. So my host abuela and I took them to school where we all got on a bus to the park. The first couple of hours we were in a big room where the kids played games and ate. Then the rest of the day everyone could go around the park freely. So for the majority of the day I just followed them around and watched them ride things. The park is definitely geared toward little kids, so it was fine. Also my host parents and Marcello came around noon so then my whole host family was there! Toward the end of the day my host dad and I went on some of the bigger rides that the girls couldn’t go on so that was really fun! They had a couple of roller coasters that I really enjoyed, and overall I enjoyed the whole day because it was totally unique and unexpected to experience an amusement park here! 

One of their friend's who spent the day with us is on the left.

My host mom and me!

Saturday my friend Stephanie and I went Downtown again to finish up our souvenir shopping. So yes, I have finished my souvenir shopping! Yay! I’m pretty excited about what I got everyone too! We ended up spending most of the day Downtown, then after dinner Stephanie came over to my house and we watched a movie. So that was a really nice (and successful) day.  

Sunday, Ashlyn and Stephanie and I met up in the morning and started by walking to the fruit market in Zapote, our neighborhood. I had wanted to see it and I’m glad we went! So much fruit for really cheap! My host mom typically gets all of her fruit for the week there and I can see why! After that market we went Downtown where we came across a random parade going on. So we watched that and found our way to a pop-up market that they have Downtown every Sunday with everything from the usual souvenirs to shoes to food to jewelry. Then we found the bus station for Cartago, which is about 45 minutes outside the city. Cartago is a small town that my host dad recommended and we had heard other good things about. So we got lunch there and then explored the ruins of one church (I believe the oldest church in Costa Rica), which were actually quite beautiful and went in and around some of the other cool buildings in the town. 

So much fruit!!

Part of the parade.

The church ruins.

Another nice building, an art museum I believe!

With my free mornings throughout the week I have actually been quite productive, reading, applying for jobs, and even started some test prep for the GRE I’ll take next semester! I’m also sleeping in a bit later and having good conversations over a longer breakfast with my host family. So far I’m really enjoying the extra time! 

 Only three weeks left here in this beautiful country but I have some fun things planned for the next two weekends! Stay tuned! 

Pura Vida

Quieres Bailar?

Well, I'm not actually doing that well today. Usually when I write these posts I'm really excited about the week... And while most of the week was great, I am currently sick. I was very sick to my stomach this morning but am doing better now. I think my stomach had just finally had enough of the food that I'm not totally accustomed to. Especially in the last few days my host family has fed me a lot, so I guess my stomach decided it wasn't having it! So that's unfortunate. But enough of the bad stuff, what about the rest of my week? 

I finished up my Spanish class with a 98% overall, so I'd call that successful! I am now officially done with Spanish classes and will have four extra hours every day! On Thursday we took a class field trip to the Hospital Clinica Biblica. It's a private hospital and it's actually beautiful! Also, it's just great to have these experiences of visiting different clinics to get an idea of what healthcare is like here. My other classes were also fine this week. My two elective classes barely have any homework so I am going to have a lot of time on my hands starting Monday! 

One of the prettiest parts of the hospital.

The view from the helicopter landing on the roof of the hospital. 

One thing I'm going to do to fill up the time is read! I got the first Harry Potter book in Spanish from my school's library and I'm thirty pages in and understanding most everything! Side note, I haven't read the Harry Potter books since my dad used to read them to me in Elementary school. That's one of my favorite memories with my Dad; he would always do the best voices for the characters (especially Dobby). 

I've also been spending a lot of time drawing quotes. Here's a look! I really enjoy trying different hand writing. 

In my free time I also plan on exploring Zapote (my neighborhood) more on my own since most of my friends have another Spanish class unfortunately. So don't worry, I won't be stuck inside reading and drawing all day! I'm here to explore the culture!

Friday night we were supposed to leave for Turrialba, Costa Rica which is about an hour and a half from our house where my "host abuela" lives! Unfortunately we had some car trouble so we couldn't leave until Saturday morning. Therefore, my Friday night was pretty lame because I didn't do much! Most of my friends went to Jaco Friday afternoon so I was on my own! But we made it to Turrialba Saturday morning and it was really pretty! I loved it! She is surrounded by forest and has a big river just behind her backyard so I enjoyed exploring. During the day I also played some soccer with my host sisters which was really fun. However, Saturday night was the best experience of the week for sure. I went out dancing with my host abuela and some of her friends! I was actually really nervous. We went to a Discotech where I was literally the only non-Latina. Talk about intimidating!! But such an awesome experience. When will I ever again get to be the only American dancing traditional Latin dances in the middle of Costa Rica?? Oh, with a live band too! On top of being the only American, I am okay at dancing but these people were clearly practiced, I am only okay at Spanish and anyway I could barely hear with the music. I have been out dancing a couple of other times but it's been to places where there are a lot of Americans and usually have more American music. I was smiling the whole night because it was just such a unique experience. I danced actually quite a bit! The first two people who asked me to dance I told "No estoy muy bien", but then I thought, they don't need to know that, I'll just go for it. So that's what I did the rest of the night, just kept my mouth shut and went for it! I danced mostly Merengue and Cumbia. I really appreciated that the people I danced with were all very respectful. They ask you for a dance, you dance, they say "Gracias" at the end and you both go sit back down. I was concerned that people might be rude or too forward, but I was pleasantly surprised. I do have to say though, that I missed my dance partner, Jeremiah, last night for sure! I was really tired at the end of the night, but my host abuela seemed like she could've gone all night! She and her friends were around 50 years old and had more energy than me! 

So that's pretty much been my week! It was a little bit slower, but still had some really unique opportunities. Let's just hope I get over this sickness quickly so I can enjoy the beginning of this next week more!

There is a river just behind my host abuela's house.

Bad lighting, but finally have a picture with Marcello!

Pura Vida and a very Happy Thanksgiving to everyone this week! Stay safe if you are traveling and enjoy the time off with friends and family! 

Living like a Little Kid

Writing this post from the beach! This weekend I was expecting to just stay in San Jose... But alas, here I am on the beach! More on that in a minute.

My classes went well this week. A very normal week really until my field trip for Spanish class this Friday. We went to the Musee de Los Niños, or the Children's museum! We spent about three hours there, first doing a fun scavenger hunt and then just exploring. My team came in second place for the scavenger hunt so that was fun!  The museum was actually really cool and very impressive. It was huge and even had a mini Walmart like the mini Wegmans in the Strong Museum in Rochester! We had a great time just looking around and being a little goofy! 

Mini Walmart! 

Outside of class this week... on Wednesday it was my friend Hannah's birthday so we went to a delicious Chinese restaurant for dinner and then another place for drinks and dessert afterward. It was a really fun girls night! Thursday I went to dance class and had fun hopefully improving my Salsa skills. Unfortunately early this week I was sick. It's going through our house, the girls were sick at the same time as me and now my host parents are both sick! It was something like the flu, but nothing too bad. So thankfully it ran its course in about three days. 

Friday after class my friend Stephanie and I went to a place right by school called Le Rendez Vouz. It's a French place with sandwiches and pastries. I got a Chicken Pesto sandwich that was delicious. Afterward we walked quite a ways until we reached a mall called the Multiplaza. It's really nice and very American, but we had to go while we were here since everyone goes! So we spent awhile just browsing and ran into some of our other friends while we were there! The rest of Friday I spent just hanging out with my host family pretty much!

Saturday morning was I think the first time I could sleep in and I woke up at 6:45 right when I wake up during the weekdays! But that was fine. I had a leisurely morning and then at 11 I met up with Stephanie again and we took the bus Downtown. We decided to just take our time exploring the city more! We first went to the Central Market, had lunch and explored the market and ended up each buying a couple things. I bought a pair of leather sandals that I am really excited about! After then we made our way to the Artisan Market where we bought a couple more things each! So it was a successful day  of souvenir shopping (though I'm still struggling with some gifts for others) and to end the day of walking we stopped at POPS, a chain ice cream place that's all over here. It was very good! So Friday and Saturday I really felt like I got to know the city a bit better because I got out and just took my time exploring.

POPS Ice Cream

I had intended to stay in San Jose again on Sunday, but Saturday night my host mom came over to my room and said they were thinking of going to the beach on Sunday and asked if I wanted to go! So I said sure, why not! So Sunday morning we got all ready to go and I hit the road with my host family! We drove about an hour and a half to Jaco, the closest beach to San Jose. It was more crowded than the other beaches I'd been to and not as pretty but it was close and it was really fun spending the day with them! I built sand castles and jumped over and ran away from waves with Valentina and Dilanna and sat on the beach and enjoyed the time with all of them! It was completely unexpected, but I'm really glad they decided to go! Now I can check off Jaco and I didn't really have to pay anything which is always nice! I've said it already, but I really got lucky with my host family! They are so great about including me and making me comfortable here. That was probably one of my biggest fears about studying abroad here was getting paired with a bad host, but that definitely didn't happen! Looking forward to another week here.

By the way, the name of the post is because the bulk of what I talked about in this post was playing at a Children's Museum and playing on the beach so I was living like a little kid this week!

Finally got a picture of my host parents!! 

Pura Vida!

Making Memories in Monteverde

Well I have officially passed my halfway mark! I've done so much in my six weeks here and I'm looking forward to my last six just as much! Though there won't be quite as much traveling and exploring, it will certainly still be full of memorable experiences. 

This week I had a very good week of classes before yet another weekend away. In my PT class this week I learned how to give massages! We were on a massage therapy unit so we had actual massage tables out in class to practice! It was awesome! Also I am loving my Spanish class. But I'm already halfway done with my second class! How crazy! 

Tuesday after classes I went to a birthday party with my host family! It was my host dad's mom's birthday. So my host dad's entire side of the family was there! It was such a cool experience! My host dad's dad is from Canada so it was really funny to hear someone saying "eh" periodically in their Spanish. He also talked to me a lot in English, because he spoke perfect English. Also one of my host dad's cousins speaks perfect English and even has a second home in Prescott, AZ! What are the odds! He does some work with NAU too I guess so that was cool to talk to someone who knew exactly where I'm from! At the party we all sat around and talked (I mostly listened) and they brought rounds and rounds of food. I'm not kidding, the food just kept coming. Some sort of chili type thing, tacos, arroz con pollo, beans, and cake. It was all great, but they kept bringing around rounds of food! The only downside to the party was that I dropped my phone and it cracked my screen... I was so upset with myself, but luckily it isn't super noticeable. Only at certain angles.

Wednesday my ISA program had an optional cooking class! So I went to that with one of my friends and there were a lot of people their so the learning part didn't go that well. But I observed some of the steps and had a delicious meal in the end! Arroz con pollo, beans, and this coconut fudge thing. All very good and a fun experience! So it was a good week of some sort of fun activity pretty much every day!

Arroz con Pollo, one of my favorite dishes here!

Friday at about 1:00 I met my friends at school and we caught taxis to the bus station for another trip! This time was to Monteverde, Costa Rica! And this may have been my favorite trip so far! That's hard to say though... Monteverde is about four hours north of San Jose, it's very close to Arenal which we went to my second week here. I must seem kind of crazy going somewhere every weekend, but it's very easy to get around here! The bus ticket to Monteverde was literally $5. For a four hour ride! So I'm taking advantage of the opportunities. Though I have now hit all of the places I wanted to go so my traveling is going to slow down. Anyway, when we got to Monteverde it was dark so we went right to our hostel which was actually a B&B I guess. There were seven of us and we were out in this cute little house with a whole kitchen to ourselves! So that was a very nice place to stay. Once we dropped our things off we found a small soda for dinner (soda is what they call restaurants a lot of times). The restaurant had delicious smoothies that we all thoroughly enjoyed.

Saturday we were up early and off on a ziplining tour! It was so much fun!! There were about ten lines. One of the lines was the longest in Latin America at 1 mile long! It was over this big canyon and it was beautiful. Also, the last three lines were superman style! It's exactly how it sounds. I was strapped at the chest and at the hips and was facing the ground as I went down the line! I think I liked superman even more than normal because I got to really enjoy the views and not focus on keeping myself facing forward. There was also one small rappel and a hanging bridge in between some of the zip lines which were fun. But the last one was by far the best (and scariest) part. A Tarzan Swing!! So cool!! I was the first to go, so I walked out on this bridge, two guides hooked me up, instructed me to hang on with both hands and they would open the gate. Once the gate opened I had to bend my knees and step off the bridge! It was a crazy feeling! It was a 3 second free fall and then the rope caught you and swung like Tarzan! I already want to do it again, I loved it! I also need to do it again because I annoyingly left my gopro on and drained the battery so it died before I could film the swing. But besides that unfortunate part, it was an awesome day of adventure!

The rest of the day we spent in the town of Monteverde, souvenir shopping and then just relaxing. One of my friends, Hannah, went bungee jumping in the afternoon! Her video is pretty crazy! It was $60 and I couldn't justify spending that much for 5 seconds. Plus I'm sure it would've been pretty freaky! It was the largest bungee in Latin America. Saturday night we ordered a pizza for dinner and got ice cream from the grocery store so it felt like a fun girls night in our little house in Monteverde! Also, today is my friend Stephanie's birthday! So we were celebrating that with the ice cream too!

Sunday, we got up early again for a guided hike through the cloud forest reserve of Monteverde! The cloud forest is how it sounds, very cloudy all the time. But within the forest there are so many animals. We took the guided hike so that we could actually see the animals better because the guides have these telescopes that they bring along. We saw a bunch of birds mostly, including an apparently very rare Quetzal, the national bird of Guatemala! It was a beautiful hike, and a couple of people in our group were from Phoenix too! Our guide was very knowledgeable and told us a lot about the plants, animals, and insects that we saw. 

The Quetzal that we got to see!

After our hike there we gathered our stuff, and stopped at a crepe place for lunch before heading back to San Jose! It was a really awesome weekend. The girls that I've been traveling with have been really great and made every weekend especially memorable for me! 

Thank you to those of you who have read my blogs throughout the first six weeks! I am definitely long-winded in these, but there is so much to tell! I hope you'll enjoy reading about my last six weeks as well!

Pura Vida