Happy Birthday to my host sister! :]

Today, I didn’t have class till four. I was supposed to have a class at 1 but it was cancelled. Woohoo! I got up around nine, ate breakfast, and thought about running. But, I decided against it. I have yet to go running here in Costa Rica. I feel so, nasty. I need to start running again, I just can’t find the right place to do it. I don’t feel comfortable outside with shorts on because every single man stares at you, but it’s to hot to wear sweats. I can’t run without music, but if I have music playing then I won’t be able to hear if there is a crazy driver behind me. I can’t find an outside track anywhere and the soccer field at my university is muddy because it rains every single day here. The inside gym at the university has no treadmills. I guess it’s a sign not to run while in Costa Rica? But this may cause a problem when I need to start training for the half marathon again….Anyways, I ate lunch then went into Heredia. I had to go to the copy store near my school and request a copy of my book. They don’t buy books here in Costa Rica because it is too expensive. Instead, they purchase a copy of the book. Weird. So it cost my under $10 to do that. After, I went to the library and attempted to work on my Spanish online class for Northwest. I failed to do so and instead responded to all of my emails. There is so much going on and things that need to get figured out with credits/changed classes, etc. I can’t wait for things to finally settle down. I went to class, and I was the only gringo in the class. The teacher gave everyone a sucker with a piece of paper attached to it. We had to read what the paper said and say what we thought about it. Well….of course….I had no idea what my piece of paper said, so she immediately knew I was a gringo. She then started talking to me in spanglish trying to help me understand what the paper said. But I had to respond in Spanish and I had no idea what to say so I just stared at her and said, “no sé.” She said esta bien and that that was my homework for the next class. She then made me read the syllabus to the whole class, and I wanted to cry. I didn’t know how to pronounce half of the words, they were words I have never seen before. I wanted to get up during class and just cry myself back to the United States. After the syllabus, we had to make groups. Two very nice tico’s asked if I had a group and wanted to be in theirs. So I did, and one of the girls explained to me that she has take a test in August to certify her for being able to do something international, I forgot exactly what this test she is taking does. But, she said I could help her with English and she would help me with Spanish. I am so excited to finally make friends with a tica. After class, I went home because it is my host sister’s birthday! We had chicken, cheesy potatos, and rice for dinner followed by ice cream, and cheesecake! I loved the cheesecake! I was suppose to meet some ISEP students at a bar near the university, but its too late and its pouring outside. So, instead I am going to work on my online class and go to sleep. I have no classes tomorrow, but I NEED to finish my online class soon so I will probably work on that for most of the day. Buenas noches!

Tropecé (I tripped)

2nd day of classes….i am still alive. I had my Spanish grammar class from 8-930. After, I went to the postal office at UNA to figure out if they had my package that my mom sent me a month and two weeks ago…I have no idea where it is at and it’s super frustrating. I think it would be easier if I was bilingual in Español and was able to ask more in depth questions, buuuuut – I am not. So, I went to the ISEP director’s office and explained the whole situation and she is going to try to help me, thank goodness. After that, I went home because I didn’t have class again till 1. My mamatica went to central Heredia with Maria Paula so she wasn’t home until about 1140. Well, I leave 45 minutes early for everything because that’s how long the whole walking/bus/more walking process takes to get to school. She made me a quick lunch, I inhaled it, and was out the door. Today, I had Las costricenses: su identidad cultura. My first “tico” class with gringo’s in it as well. This class wasn’t as embarrassing as my first class. The teacher knew right away we were gringo’s because apparently tico’s don’t go in the classroom until the teacher does. Everyone was waiting outside for the teacher, besides the 4 gringo’s in the classroom, including me. It was 3:01, and we were wondering why NO ONE was in class….but as soon as the teacher walked in, the whole class followed her. Weird. Soooo, the teacher saw that we were sitting in the classroom and immediately asked if we were gringos. Wonderful. Class was…okay. I wish I knew one thing she said though….It is so difficult to understand Spanish when they are going 100 miles a minute. Estoy muy nerviousa. I also learned today that there is no way my classes can come back to NW as pass/fail. So, I NEED to get at least a 3.0 in order to keep all my scholarships for the next two years. No pressure or anything. On top of the five Spanish courses that I am taking, I have an online Spanish course I need to finish. Aahhh-so much to do.

I signed up for a $400 tutoring program. It is one on one, so I am hoping that will help improve my Spanish speaking capabilities. I have so much I still need to learn in order to be fluent. I might as well give it all I got while I am here. After class, I went to KFC with two other gringos’ in a different program and we got chips ahoy avalanche's. It was so good. I would like to add that I definitely tripped while crossing the street, almost landing on all fours. I am so special.

After KFC, I went to the school’s library for two hours and worked on my online class. I just got home and am planning on eating dinner then working on more homework. How exciting!

About my throat-my glands seem to be somewhat swollen. This better not turn into anything serious. I don’t have time to deal with sickness!!!

Buenas noches!

I feel like an International student...

Today was my first class with all ticos, it was Administracion de Recursos Humanos 2. I survived, to say the least. But my teacher speaks so fast, I can barely understand what words she is saying, let alone know what all those words mean. We started off class with her telling us that there is 48 kids in the classroom, but only 35 desks. So, we pushed all the desks towards the wall and sat on the floor. After that whole ordeal, the teacher went over the syllabus. She then took role. She never called my name so after she was done, she asked if she skipped anyone. I raised my hand and she asked what my name was. Here is how this conversation goes ALL THE TIME IN COSTA RICA.

Her: como se llama?
Me: Danielle
Her: que?
Me: Danielle
Her: lo siento, no entiendo.
Me: Dan-ieeelllleee (slower)
Her: huh?
Me: es como Daniella.
Her: oooooohhhh, daniella
Me: si, si. es correcto.
Her: Daniella, mucho gusto.


Really? Who would have ever guessed. Tico’s are unable to say Danielle for some reason. But when you add a simple A to the end of it, they are able to. I don’t understand. This conversation happens every single time a tico asks what my name is. EVERY single time. After the whole name issue, she asked where I was from, I said Los Estados Unidos. She then gave the whole class a five minute lecture on how they all had to help me an speak slow to me when they talked to me, and help me learn the learning process here in costa rica and how its very difficult to go to a different school in a different country and so on. SO EMBARRASSING! They all already stare at you but after that whole five minute lecture about being nice to the international kid, they stare more. I hope this lecture isn’t given to all the students in my other 3 classes…. She asked if I spoke Spanish, I said ehh, mas y menos. I wanted to say “I try but I am not very good at it” but I couldn’t think that fast.

I have a sore throat and have had one for a couple of days now. Today for lunch, my mamatica made me soup and it tasted really good. It had carrots in it and I ate all the carrots! My plan for the rest of the day is to do some homework, write on some postcards, eat dinner, homework, then bed!

field trip weekend

Thursday- all the isep students met at the school at 7am. We then took a two hour bus ride. We went on a tour of a pineapple processing plant. It was very interesting. I learned how to correctly pick out a good pineapple at the grocery store. Also, Costa Rica exports 90% of its pineapple to the USA. If you need any help picking out the best pineapple, I am the girl to go to! I tried a piece of it, and actually liked it. BUT, this pineapple came straight from the field and it was warm. After the tour, we went to our hostel, called Trimbina. It was literally in the middle of the rainforest. Off the main road, it took about 20 minutes to get to. We had some workshops about safety in costa rica then had dinner. After dinner, we sat around and played phase 10 then off to bed.

Friday-We went on a chocolate tour. I tried all different forms of chocolate and learned how it is made. This was just as interesting as the pineapple tour. Chocolate comes from a plant, called cocoa. When we first tried it, it was kind of like a peanut. You had to crack open the shell to get to it. This chocolate tasted very very strong and it wasn’t very good. Then, the tour guide grinded up these nut chocolate things and we tried it then, it was like a powder. So so so good! Then, she put the powder in hot water, and we had hot chocolate water! Yuuuummm. Then, we tried it frozen-one was dark chocolate and the other was milk chocolate! It was good! After the tour, we went back to the hostel and had more workshops about safety in Costa Rica and cultural differences. After, we had dinner and I went to bed because I was exhausted.

Saturday-We got up around 7am and went horseback riding for TWO hours. Have you ever been horseback riding for two hours??? It seemed like it took forever to be done. It is very uncomfortable but tons of fun at the same time. My horse had a mind of its own, and would not wait for anyone to get out his way. He just barged through everyone. This horseback riding was not the typical horseback riding either. We went across the river 4 times on the horse….the water came up to my thighs and I was so nervous my camera was going to get wet so I was trying to hold on to the horse while holding my camera up in the air so it wouldn’t get wet. What a day. After, we went to a resort! We had lunch, and it was very fancy. After, we all went swimming/hot tubbing until dinner. Kelly and I went to the gym before dinner, thinking the gym would be super nice, but it wasn’t. fail. After dinner, we sat around and talked then went to bed.

It was so nice to be in a resort/real hotel for once. There were no bugs in the room, there was a tv, you could walk around with no shoes on-it was super nice!

Sunday-got up at 8am and had breakfast. I had 3 pancakes and they were so good! We got on the bus and headed back to Heredia. We stopped about half way to get lunch. This place was so good! I had arroz con pollo y papas fritas. The best arroz con pollo I have ever had, hands down. We got back to Heredia around 3, I went home and talked with my family for a little bit. I then attempted to get things done, but failed. I went to bed pretty early and it felt so good to get some good sleep after that long field trip weekend.

Monday- FIRST DAY OF CLASSES! I I have my Spanish grammar/culture class on Monday and Wednesday’s from 8-930. My Spanish grammar/culture class is with all other gringo’s so I haven’t officially had my “tico” classes yet. I have my first tico class tomorrow at 10am and I am so nervous. My Spanish class went well today. The teacher is very nice and always happy/energetic. It makes the time go by fast! After class, I went searching for a package my mom sent me a month ago for my birthday. It is nowhere to be found and I don’t really know what to do about it? Hopefully my mom knows what to do. After that, I came home. I had lunch with the family and it just started raining. Kelly and I were going to go to downtown Heredia to do some shopping, but if it’s still raining like this, I am not going!! It is always raining here. If I go shopping, I will come home, and hopefully be productive. I didn’t get 3 of the classes that I got preapproved before I came here, so I have to do this huge procedure to get them approved at Northwest. Yippy. Have a good night!

Estoy muy feliz!

So, we had yet another day of orientation. We sat in a classroom for three hours doing the whole VISA process. The VISA allows me to stay in Costa Rica for more than 90 days. We had to get our fingerprints printed, cool, huh? After the 3 hours, we went on a tour of Heredia-it was the same one we went on during the summer program. After, we got on a bus to San Jose and had a little tour of downtown San Jose. I have word for downtown San Jose, it is=ciaos. After, we went to pizza hut for lunch AND they had cheese pizza! After, we went to a church nearby. It was so cool to see how many people actually just drop in the church and pray during the day. It was very busy and people were walking in and out constantly. After, we went to the teatre Nacional for a tour. Its basically just a famous theatre. Many famous people have been there. Did you know that San Jose, Costa Rica was the first place to ever have electricity? Interesting fact of the day. After, we got on the bus to go back to Heredia. I came home, ate dinner, and skyped with my dad! I heard his voice for the first time in two months. He is such a crazy guy, and I hope I can have his happy, crazy personality when I am that old.

For some reason, I am super excited and happy today.

**I think it's because I got an email from Logan Larkin today (my friend on the two year mission trip) It somewhat comforts me knowing he is gone for two years without facebook or skype and that gives me the strength to know that I will be just fine.
**I am learning so much, more than I ever have.
**I can’t wait to start dance classes
**I am trying new foods and actually liking some healthy choices
**I got to talk to my dad for a about five minutes on skype
**I have the best friends/family. My friends are always, 100% of the time, there for me. I love coming home to messages from them updating me on their life. At times, it’s difficult because there are certain situations that I wish I could just be there to help them through or just to be able to talk to them in person or over the phone. I love you guys.
**I have the most supportive mother on this earth. She does anything she can to help me out, even when she has no time for herself and I appreciate it so much.
**Only four months and one week till I am home… which I am bittersweet about. I have so much that I want to do/learn while I am here, I am afraid I am going to run out of time. BUT, I can’t wait to be back with my family, friends, hectors food, dairy queen’s ice cream, Maryville, and the crazy busyness lifestyle.

This weekend, ISEP is making us go on a trip for the weekend to San Jose. So, I will be back Sunday night! Have a wonderful weekend!

Stormy Tuesday

Second day of orientation. For breakfast, my mamatica made me fried cheese with gallo pinto and tortilla’s. Not the typical breakfast back in America, but it wasn’t too bad. It was just a little too much for a breakfast food. Normally, I just eat toast or nothing at all, but fried cheese, beans, rice, and tortilla’s was a little much. We had our exam today to see what level of Spanish we would be taking while at the university. I am got placed in intermediate-advanced. We then took a tour of the campus. After that, Louis, Earl, and I went to a nearby pizza place for lunch. For the first time, I tried a calzone. It was delicious! Earl informed me that we have them back in the USA, but I have never heard of them. So, go out and try them, they are amazing! After lunch, we met in the library and chose our classes. I am hoping I get the five that I really wanted. After orientation, April and I went to the bank to pay $250 deposit for our Student Visa…yikes. Then, I went near the central park in Heredia to find a place where I could get a passport photo of myself. Found one, and as soon as I walked into the store, it started down pouring. I waited five minutes, then was on my way to the bus stop to go home. Of course, It was still pouring. I got on the bus….and it was storming like crazy, I am pretty sure I jumped a total of 4 times. Talk about embarrassing, like it’s not already embarrassing being stared at by all the tico’s. My bus stop came, and the bus driver said something to me but I was so worried about the rain, I wasn’t paying attention. I think he said to get off at the back of the bus, because as soon as I stepped out of the bus…it was knee high water. FAIL. Then, I almost tripped because I couldn’t see where the curb was. Tico’s already stare at you for being a gringo, I just drew more unwanted attention to myself after that whole ordeal. Wonderful. I am glad to be back in my house for the night. When I walked into the house, there was no lights. My mamatica told me the power went out and we had no electricity. So, for two hours we sat in the kitchen with a light bulb thing and talked. The lights finally came back on so I went up to my room to change out of my wet clothes. 20 minutes later, we lost power again. So, I took a 15 min nap. The lights went out when my mom was trying to make us dinner, so she came and gave me some cookies while we waited for the power to turn back on. She is so cute!

The classes I am hoping for are:

1. International Marketing
2. Internation Human Resource Management
3.International Fianance
4.Latin America: historical leadership

....in case you were wondering.

I have so much to do. buenas noches.

Lunes=Monday

First day of orientation! I was up at 7am. I had breakfast and played with Maria Paula for a while until I had to leave for school. It was my first time taking the bus/walking to school without Kelsie. I met the 14 new students that are here for the semester long program. None of them are as cool as the summer ISEP students though. We had orientation till 4-I am currently deciding if I should do this community service project during my time in Costa Rica. Its around $200 but I am thinking it might be worth it? You go on a weekend trip, one every month and do different volunteer work. Any thoughts??

After orientation, we went to a dance studio close to the university and took a two hour class. We started off with normal stretching, then learned the different types of “tico” dancing. After the class, I signed up to attend class every Monday for 1-2 hours of dancing. Aaahhhh, I am so so so excited. It has been a couple years since I have been in a dance studio and it feels so good “to be back”. I am on like a dance class high right now. After dancing for two hours, I walked home by myself for the first time. I am still alive and returned home in one piece!! I had dinner, then sat around and talked to my host family for about an hour. Buenas noches!

Mi fin de semana

Friday: I didn’t really do anything. I woke up, ate breakfast, then my host mom and I went into Heredia. I mailed my post cards, finally. We walked around looking for a little jacket for Maria Paula-we had no luck. We also went to the auto mercado and bought some groceries. We came home, and then I just sat around all day/night.

Saturday: I didn’t really do much today either. I ate breakfast and then sat on the computer for awhile. Then, the power went out in our neighborhood. My mom was in the middle of making pizza for lunch. Because the power went out, the oven stopped working so she ended up calling “Deli Express” for lunch. It was the best chicken I have ever had! We sat at the table for at least an hour just talking. Then, my host’s mom ex husband came over and showed a family our house (the house I live in is for sale, in case you didn’t know). Then, my host mom asked me to watch Maria Paula so that she could go to the store. So, I did!!! Then, she made us dinner. After dinner, my host sister and I went to the little store behind our house. I got cookies and an orange fanta. We then watched Remember Me. I loved it. Then, I went to bed. But, before I went to bed, I was informed that my best friend was a in a serious car accident. The other car, the girl was drunk driving and ran a red light. The girl died, and I am so thankful that my best friend walked away with no serious injuries.

After hearing about this accident and being countries away, I initially started freaking out. I asked my friend Lindsey for some advice, and she gave me the following verse.

Isaiah 41:10 it says "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Basically means that God has a plan for each one of us, and you have to trust in Him with everything you have that His plan is better than what you have planned out for yourself.

Sunday- well, the internet isn’t working today. For breakfast, I had pancakes and bacon. The bacon here is 10 times better than the bacon back in los Estados Unidos. I tried mango and papaya. I did not like the papaya but the mango I could handle eating. After eating, I went to the mall with my mamatica to look for jeans for her. After, we came home and she gave me some cookies! I then sat around all night and attempted to study for my test that I have Tuesday.

SUMMER PROGRAM=DONE!

Tuesday-I had class till noon. We had a presentation, a 3 -5 page paper due, an oral test, and a written test today. It was a long day as well as Monday. After class, I came home and ate lunch con mi familia. We had some type of fried potato thing with of course, rice and beans. I got a drink with my meal this time, I was happy!!!! Then I went through my whole room to get rid of trash. I also wrote on some postcards. Now, I just need to figure out where the post office is and figure out how to mail them….It was a very very productive day! I also played with Maria Paula. She is so cute! She loves to pull your shirt up to see your belly button. She thinks it’s the funniest thing. I officially taught her how to high five and when we are playing, I will say “too slow” and move my hand, and she attempts to mumble “too slow” too. She is adorable!

Also today, I listened to the Plain and Simple CD. For those of you who don’t know, one of my friends started a band when we were in high school, his name is Logan Larkin, and he left this time a year ago for a two year mission trip in Russia. I miss him so much! He is the happiest, honest, and most down to earth guy I know. I can’t believe it has already been a year. I hope this next year flies by because I am getting anxious to see him.

After today, I feel like I am going to survive the rest of this experience. One day in June, I was talking with my friend Angela Wasko. We were talking about this whole study abroad experience and how she was going to Washington DC for the summer to work for Make A Wish as an intern. I was telling her how I was so nervous to be away from family and friends for as long as I was and I didn’t know anyone who was here. Her response was, “its going to be what you make out of it”. Today, I finally realized that is 100% true. Yea, I can sit in my room on facebook all day after class and be homesick, or I can go downstairs and practice my Spanish with my family and get to know my host sisters and/or explore the city of flowers. I can finally confidently say I am going to survive these next five months! It’s about time!

*One thing that I have noticed is that I haven’t used my hair blow dryer or straightner for more than 2 weeks now. My hair feels so much healthier! There is no need to use it because as soon as I walk outside, the humidity undoes everything I did to it 3 minutes ago. It has gotten a lot of getting use to, to say the least.
*Another thing is that I hate how every single guy who you walk by or drives pasts you, they honk, stare, whistle, or talk to you. It is the most annoying thing about Costa Rica I would say.
*I have finally gotten over the bugs. I can sleep through the night without waking up every half hour to check my bed for bugs. I read a card my mom wrote me before I left and it said “Remember, you are bigger than the bugs.” Very true mom, thanks!
*The ISEP summer students leave this week. I really don’t want Kelsie to leave. We have done everything together since day uno here. I met her the first day of class, and I feel like I have known her for years. I am going to miss you Kelsie! She is from Indiana, and we have already made sure there will be road trips in our future.
*I also would like to note that I have gone more than four weeks without my blackberry! It doesn’t do much here in Costa Rica besides turn on and the alarm clock works! The first week, I carried it with me everywhere. I think it was like a comfort item, and having it with me made me feel safe and if I needed anything, I could somehow magically make it work. But now, I don’t carry it around with me. I only use it as an alarm clock.
*It is also difficult for me to sit here and type in English when I write this blog. It’s like my brain clicks over between the two languages. I am constantly speaking, writing, and thinking Spanish so it’s difficult to sit here and type all of this in English, no lie. Weird, huh?
*one more thing, I am trying to figure out how I can get my grades to transfer back to Northwest as pass/fail instead of A for A, B for B, etc. I feel like the teachers here grade more on product and not the actual learning process. Every other person in the summer program is getting a pass/fail grade, and I am the only one getting grade for grade. I don’t understand how Northwest can trust a different countries grading scale. I am also nervous because I need a 3.0 this semester in order to keep all of my scholarships. Taking classes in a different language will be difficult in the first place. Not to mention, I am taking international business classes that I have yet to take in ENGLISH. Say a prayer for me please.

*sorry for being all over the place today with my thoughts. It has been a long day and for some reason I can’t steal anyone’s wifi today at my house. Boo.

I guess you could say I am finally adjusting to this crazy, different, low key culture. This culture is so laid back and calm, I can’t even put words together to describe it. Back at home, I was constantly running everywhere to accomplish as much as I could in one day. I always needed at least 3 more hours in a day, but here, I am very low key and somewhat of a home body because I have no responsibilities whatsoever. It’s a very different life style; let’s hope I don’t get too used to it!

Wednesday-Today, we didn’t have “class”. Some couple came and talked to the whole ISEP group. The topic was over Costa Rican Folklore. It was very interesting and they taught us how to do three different types of traditional dances. After class, 6 of us girls walked to the local mall. We bought our movie ticket to see eclipse at 4:00pm. The ticket was only 1,300 colones, which equals under $3! What a deal! There was a HUGE line to buy tickets, I have never seen anything like it before and it wasn’t even the premier showing of any movies. It was crazy and intense. After buying our tickets, we ate lunch at a Mexican restaurant. Today was the first I have ate chips and salsa since I left. It was so good. After eating, we went to McDonalds and got a Mcflurry! Yuuummm! Then Kelsie and I went back to the movie theatre to wait in line so we could all sit together. There was a huge line for that also! The popcorn tasted normal and the seats in the movie theatre leaned back! After the movie, I took two buses home and was able to get online for about 15 minutes. For some reason, the wifi I normally use is no longer on my list of available networks. Boooooooooooooo.


Thursday-Today we had a “fiesta” in a park close to Barva. There was a pool, a soccer field, a volleyball court, and a basketball court. It rained ALL day so we just all sat around and told stories all day. All the summer ISEP students are leaving tomorrow, so we all said our goodbyes. I am so nervous to go a whole weekend without any of them. After saying our goodbyes, Kelsie, Kaleigh and I went to McDonalds to get our last MilkyWay McFlurry together. After, Kelsie and I went to Palli, which is a grocery store in walking distance of our homes, then went to the bank. I came back home, ate dinner and took a little nap. After, I met Kelsie outside and for the last time, we went to the little store behind my house and got cookies and fanta. Then, I cried myself to sleep, just kidding.

No bebida :(

Monday-I had class till noon, then Kelsie, Kaleigh and I went to burger king to eat lunch then worked on our paper until 6pm. It was a long day to say the least. Kelsie and I took a break and walked down the street to McDonalds to get a Milkyway McFlurry. OMG! They are so so so good! Then I came home, ate dinner-which was spaghetti. My mom and my sister ate some type of bean soup…it looked weird so I asked her what it was and she let me try it. It was very…different. And once again, no drink with my dinner. I don’t understand why they hardly drink anything here. You never see a tico just drinking. I know for a fact that my family does not get the required amount of water needed in a day, combined. Anyways, after dinner, I went to Kelsie’s house to finish our paper and study for our test.

Puerto Viejo

Thursday-We left for Puerto Viejo. We grabbed something to eat, and caught a bus to San Jose. We were planning on taking the 2 o clock bus to Puerto Viejo but we didn’t make it in time so we ended up taking the 4 o clock bus. We sat at the bus station for about two hours. Here is where for the first time I had to pay to use the restroom. It was about 100 Colones and it was the nastiest bathroom I have ever seen. Kelsie and I almost threw up. We got into Puerto Viejo about 9 o clock. We ended finding a place to sleep at! Woohoo! We all got ready and went out to dinner and had some drinks. After dinner, we came back to the hostel and sat around and played games and others drank some more.

Friday –AKA Kaleighs Birthday!!!! We got up and got ready for the beach! We had to walk about 35 minutes to get to the good part of the beach. On our walk, we stopped at a little café to eat breakfast. I had a croissant with cheese and orange juice. The lady who owned the café spoke in like a French/Spanish mixture and we could barely understand her. After breakfast, we walked some more and were finally at the beach! We just lounged around all day at the beach. Around 3, we walked back to our hostel and showered/got ready. After we were all ready, we went out to dinner for Kaleighs Birthday. The restaurant we ate at was the first place Kelsie and I had seen Chips and Salsa on the menu. We got realllllllllyyy excited, but they were disgusting. We figured it would be really good salsa and fresh, but I don’t even know how to explain this salsa. It was not good! After dinner, we went back to the hostel and talked and went to bed.

Saturday-We got up super early to go to the beach. I got so burnt the first day; I didn’t put on my suits this day. I went to the beach with a t shirt and shorts on! The waves were super strong this day and there wasn’t much sun. We left around 2 to go back to the hostel to shower and get ready. We then went out to dinner and then came back to the hostel and slept!

Sunday-We got up around 7. We packed our things and stopped to the Super Mercado to grab breakfast. Our bus left at 9:00am. We sat around for the bus for a little bit. Kaleigh played Word Mole the whole time. She is obsessed. We got on the bus, and were in San Jose by 1. We then walked to a different bus stop to catch a Heredia bus.


1. Puerto Viejo is not a good town. It was dirty and smelly. There was trash everywhere, and they had no trash cans in this town.
2. There was a bunch of weed in this town. As soon as our group got off the bus, some guy handed our group of guys a pound of weed and said “Welcome to Costa Rica”. REALLY???? The surprising thing was that we had seen multiple cops during the day wondering the streets. You can obviously smell it…but the cops must not care. And it is illegal in Costa Rica.
3. There were a lot of random dogs in this town.
4. This will be my last weekend trip for a while. My summer program ends this week. That means all my new friends are leaving me. I am not happy about that!!!! I hope the ISEP semester group of people are somewhat normal.


Today, it has been four weeks exactly since I left Omaha. I can't wait to come back. I miss my family and friends thee most. I missed my little nephew's 4th birthday party yesterday which is really really frustrating but I keep telling myself the next five months will go by fast. five more months, five more months.

I do know that I could never have learned as much as I am learning in Costa Rica back in the USA. So that is one thing I keep on reminding myself!

Have a good weeek! :)

Tuesday- I had class till noon. It was presentation day…yippee. It went okay, let’s hope we did somewhat better than the first one. Then, Kelsie, Kaleigh, Caitlyn and I went to San Jose. We left Heredia around 2 and didn’t get back till about 7. It’s always so complicated finding the right bus to San Jose. As soon as we got to San Jose, Kelsie wanted to take pictures but if you were to see San Jose, It is not smart to take anything of value out of your purse/bag because it will get stolen. San Jose is pretty big, but has a lot of people in it. We walked around for about 30 minutes trying to find the Mercado. We finally found it and spent about 3 hours in it. They all needed to get souvenirs for their family/friends since they are leaving next week. Gahhhh. I feel like I am going to be so so lost in Costa Rica once Kelsie and Kaleigh leave. I am praying to God that there is at least one person like them in the semester ISEP program. I talked to my dad for the first time on Skype on Monday. He was crying before we even started talking. He misses me a lot, I must be his favorite! I got shirts for one of my nephews and niece. They are too cute and I can’t wait to see them again. I miss them like CRAZY.

Wednesday-We had to be at the school at 730am. It was fieldtrip day! We took a three hour bus ride to a national park. It was kind of boring….and of course, it started raining. IT RAINS HERE EVERYDAY. No lie. After the tour around the park, we went to some junkie restaurant and ate lunch. I ate only rice and some potatoes. I wasn’t really a fan of anything else that was on my plate. After lunch, we got back on the bus and was on our way back to Heredia. I had dinner at my house, then came over to Kelsie’s to work on homework. We went to the little store behind my house and got some cookies and tried these candy bars called yuki’s. They were okay-they tasted like a nutty bar.

Tomorrow I have class till noon then we are leaving for Puerto Viejo (aka, a beach!). All the hostels are booked for Thursday, but we do have a reservation for Friday and Saturday. We are winging it. Let’s hope we find a room to sleep in Thursday night! I will let you know how it goes once I get back to Heredia! I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!!

Hasta luego.

I only cried once (Monteverde)

Friday- sooo, set my alarm for 4:00am…deffintly wasn’t up at that time. I heard someone knocking on my bedroom door, i freaked out and looked at my phone and it said it was 5:21. I opened my door to see who it was, and it was mi mamatica. Thank goodness she woke me up! I was suppose to be at school at 5:30am to leave for monteverde. She told me to get ready very quickly and she was going to call a cab for me. She must really love me! So, three minutes later, I ran out the door and through the gate into the cab car. I was so scared everyone was going to leave without me if I was late. But, thank goodness I was only a minute late. These cab drivers are CRAZY. So, from the university, we took a cab to San Jose then got on a four bus ride to Monteverde. I hate taking those buses. They are always crowded and someone always smells. After we arrived in Monteverde, we found our hostil and just had a chill night. Kaleigh had to finish a paper that was due at midnight so we waited for her to finish that and then we walked around and looked at all the souvenir shops. We went to a small soda for dinner. I did not receive my food. Everyone else at the table got their food, so I decided to be patient and wait about ten minutes thinking that maybe my pizza was going to take longer to make. Ten minutes go by…all my friends are already done eating so I go up to the counter and ask him where my pizza was. He goes, “Oh, you wanted pizza?” What the FREAK! I did order it….Wierdest thing ever. So I told him to forget about it because all my friends were already done eating. He must have been on drugs if he thought I ordered something then didn’t want it??? So after they paid, we went to the supermercado and I bought pastachios and oreos for dinner. Yum. After that, we went back to the hostil for the night and we enjoyed a bottle of wine..haha. Kaleigh ended up spilling it on her computer…so now she is computerless for two weeks.

Saturday-ZIPLINING DAY. We were up at 630 am to catch a bus to the Extreme canopy place. We got there, basically signed our lives away…and got geared up. I was somewhat excited…but more scared. I didn’t realize we would be up soooo high. Danny told us all the rules and how to break when we are up miles and miles up in the air-the only thing saving me from death was a piece of string. HOLY CRAP! Anyways, I only cried once!!! Woohoo, go me. I personally didn’t like the ziplining. I think I was soo freaked out about how high we were that I didn’t really get to enjoy or notice what I saw when I was actually up in the air. But all my other friends really enjoyed it and would do it again. I, the only person in our group, opted out of doing the tarzan swing. I just couldn’t take it! It was toooo much for me! But as I look back on the ziplining, it was something I will probably never get the chance to do again so it was worth it. And I conquered a fear, sort of. After the ziplining, we were all starving so we went out to lunch. After lunch, we went back to the hostil and napped. After napping, Kaleigh literally took apart her whole computer trying to get it to magically work. She is hilarious. She failed. We went out to dinner then came back to the hostil…the plan was to go to the Discoteca buutt, we all fell asleep. Lame, I know.

Sunday-We got to sleep in! yayyyy. Woke up about 11, went out to lunch, then got on the bus to go back to San Jose. We got to San Jose about five hours later…then hopped on a bus to Heredia for another 45 minutes. Kelsi, Brittany, and I walked to the bus stop in Heredia and got on the bus to Barva. I then worked on my 10 page paper and presentation-oh joy.


Here are somethings that I have noticed about Costa Rica that are really starting to bother me.

The people-they aren’t very nice. On the bus, if they are sitting in aisle seat…they don’t scoot over to the window seat so someone can sit next to them. They either don’t move at all and make you stand on the bus which is very very annoying and uncomfortable or stand up so you sit next to the window. Annnnooooyyyyinggggg. In the United States, we would scoot over so the person could sit in the aisle seat. Also, if you are walking on the street, they don’t move for you. They just keep on walking and expect you to move out of their way. Rude.


The waitress/es are HORRIBLE. They don’t greet you, they don’t talk to you, they don’t help you, and they always mess up your order. And I am not trying to just sit here and complain. They walk right up to your table with pen and paper…without saying ONE word. The least they could say is, hi, what can I get for you to drink? But nope, instead they stand there and just wait for you to start talking. We all know enough Spanish to order our food in Spanish and we say Hola to them. I just don’t get it!


The bathrooms. No public place here has toilet paper, soap, or paper towels. What the freak! It’s just really really annoying because back at home, you expect any where you go to have those essential items in the bathroom.


I hated being here on my birthday and on Fourth of July. Both days I just wished I was back at home with my family and friends. But I would like to say thank you to Kelsie and Kaleigh for entertaining me on my birthday in Costa Rica. You guys are the best

But on a positive note, I am enjoying Costa Rica. I am learning a lot and so glad I chose Costa Rica because I feel like any other country would be worse than it is here. I love my host family. I love the food-surprising, who would have guessed? on that note, last week I ate an alvacado for the first time. My host mom probably thinks I am crazy because she always asks if I like certain things and I always say I don't know what it is. hahaha. I also ate corn on the cob for the first time ever last week. My diet is the healthiest it has ever been. But for some reason, I crave chocolate here 24/7. I think its the one thing that tastes semi-american here in Costa Rica.

ALSO THANK YOU SO SO SO MUCH TO KRISTA AND AMY. I got both of your packages today. It made my day so much better. They both sent me an Oklahoma college world series t-shirt and candy (twizzlers and gummy bears…the ants better not get them!!!!)…and both sent me a picture to hang up in my room. I seriously have the best friends anyone could ever ask for. I would probably go insane without you guys.

Less than five months until my mom, Makayla and Ed get here. Thank goodness. See you all soon!