I can tell that we are gonna be friends

Everyone gets nervous for their first day of school right? Well, I was.

Although yesterday was technically our first day of school at Veritas University, us foreign exchange students spent the entire day in orientation. We had interviews for our placement into Spanish classes, took pictures for school IDs, toured the campus, learned about about classes offered, toured the rest of San José, ate at a Mexican restaurant - and yes I did mean to say Mexican, don't ask me why. We also recieved at least three lectures on safety in the city, one of them lasting around two hours. Safety is a big problem here, especially for us "gringos." No need to worry though, I think they've scared us into being relatively safe.

So today we started school. For real. Spanish classes are every day of the week from 8am to 12pm, for one month. After one month, we will move up to the next level of Spanish. There are 6 "levels" of Spanish classes here: Basic 1 and 2, Intermediate 1 and 2 and Advanced 1 and 2. Yesterday though, I placed into the class called Intermediate Conversation. It seems like platform 9 and 1/2 to me. This class is unlike any I've taken before, but from what I can tell it falls somewhere between Intermediate 2 and Advanced 1.

My class has no instructed grammar. I guess they expect us to know it already? I've been reviewing all afternoon. Anyway, the focus of the class is conversation, obviously. There will be no written tests, only oral presentations. We spent the entire four hours today (aside from one break) talking and listening, talking and listening. It was a lot. Even for me. The class seems daunting but I like Roxana, our teacher, quite a bit, so I think I'll stick it through. There are also only four students in my class. That is something UCLA certainly isn't familiar with. I suppose it is better for the language acquisition, but still, it's rather strange.

Tomorrow I start mi Clase de Fotografía. I'm pretty excited. More on that later though.

 

Oh and I almost forgot! You may think that Bon Jovi has been around for a while so they're shows are getting slow... well, think again! On Sunday, Bon Jovi put on a concert in the local soccer stadium.

 Kelsey and I went for her birthday and it was incredible! So many people. So many people who knew the words to every single song! We were entirely impressed.

¡Pura Vida!

The grass really is greener on the other side...

This is surreal. It's been an incredibly long day and yet it seems like everything has happened so fast. I've been in Costa Rica for 14 hours now but it doesn't feel anything like that.

So I'll begin by informing you that my flight from Houston to San José was better than my flight to Houston from LA... by leaps and bounds. To begin with, there we no crying babies. There was also no large man encroaching on my personal space. Instead I sat next to a girl, about my age, who was headed to Costa Rica for a two week long Spanish Med class and man who moved from the US to Costa Rica 15 years ago because he got married and had some children here. (His story was mildly amusing because it's what people swear I'm going to end up doing). The girl was very nice and the man had all kinds of things to say about the country. He said that if we did nothing else in Costa Rica, med school girl and I must, at the very least, go ziplining. I don't plan on letting him down.

After working my way through customs I wound up on the street, rather confused. I knew that I was supposed to be picked up by someone from the university but all of the people asking me if I needed a taxi, where I was headed, how I was getting there, if I needed to use a phone, etc. was rather overwhelming. Eventually I found the "Veritas University" sign where I met several other American students here for a quarter abroad. We hopped into a van driven by a very entertaining man (the extracurricular activity director for the university) and he took us on a wild ride through Costa Rican traffic. From the windows of the van, I got first real view of the land. Everything is green. I mean EVERYTHING. It rains here every afternoon. Not cold rain, just rain. And trust me, the plants enjoy it.

About 20 minutes after leaving the airport, I arrived at my new home: 100 meters south and 25 meters west of the Park of the Mangos. That's what addresses are like here. I suppose these kind of addresses make sense if you're a local, but how am I supposed to know where El Parque de Los Mangos is? You can't just type that into google maps.

Anyway, my driver got me here just fine. My host mom, Mayra, is just as amazing as I was promised. I can only think of the word "loving" when trying to describe her. She's kind and caring and incredibly entertaining. She also really is a champion javelin thrower. There are trophies all over the house to prove it!

 

I received a quick tour and by the time I’d finished unpacking, Doña Mayra had lunch/dinner fresh and ready. We ate a meal of rice, beans, tortillas, salad, fried yucca and platanos as we went over the household rules. Things are a lot easier here. Mayra does our laundry every week and all we have to do is clear the dishes off the table after meals. That certainly beats cleaning up after yourself!

At the very end of our meal Mayra's daughter-in-law, Adriana showed up with her adorable 7 month old son (Mayra's nieto or grandson), Santiago. He is a bit young for me, but I think I'm in love. 

Adriana and her husband Jonathan (Mayra's son) are amazing as well. They were going out for a friend's birthday and because it was Kelsey's 21st birthday at midnight as well, they said that we had to join. We got some more of those crazy Tica directions to a bar called Rockola, (which translates to something like a jukebox but is literally "rock-wave") and after a much needed nap, we got ready, called up our new friend "Marco the Taxi Man," and headed out for the night.

I'm Leaving On a Jet Plane...

All my bags are packed and I'm ready to go.

Well, like I said, I have a lot of stuff. I was worried about weight limits but Dad, you'll be pleased to know, no problem there. I even got to check my duffel bag for free because they needed the space in the cabin. Good thing because it was rather heavy and I really wasn't looking forward to dragging it around the airport. I'm now at the Houston International Airport, where I'll be for the next few hours. The internet here isn't so good, but I'm thinking I might try to sleep soon anyway. I'm currently loosing a battle with a cold. Speaking of which, the flight here wasn't spectacular (so much pressure in my head, crying babies and a lot of waiting around on the tarmac) but I also slept a good deal of it. I suppose red eye flights aren't so bad...

The last couple of days have been interesting. I haven't slept much. I keep going from excited to sad and then back again. I had a great last night/day with the kids of Westwood. I'll be missing them quite a bit these next few months. Everyone keeps saying I'm going to have an amazing time though and I'm sure they're right. Kelsey (a UCLA friend who is doing this program with me) sent an email from Costa Rica (she arrived there a couple days ago) with all sorts of good info. She says the university is only about a block and a half from our house and recommended that I bring a wet suit for the walks to and from school. Apparently it is quite rainy there. Most importantly though, she says that our new host mom was once the #1 female javelin thrower in all of Central America! So cool.

On a side note, I have no idea what the Continental President's Club is, but I'm pretty certain that I want to be a part of it.

Only two hours to kill now. See you on the other side.

The Preparation Process: update

Two Very Full, Very Heavy, Packed Bags: Check 

...and I thought I could fit everything in one suitcase.

Bad news: Snickerdoodle doesn't fit.

Good news: My Tica (that's Costa Rican for "Costa Rican") family has a dog!

The Preparation Process

I have too much stuff. Packing might just be the most difficult part of this journey.

(three days 'til take off)