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!