Week Dos

Observations for week two: 

Jessica, Diego (my brother), Macey, and me

• ·      I seem to be unable to escape taxonomic name memorization even here in Costa Rica. My land vertebrates class is structured around species classification...
• ·      We are going to the Costa Rica versus Belize soccer game tonight in the San Jose stadium!
• ·      On my walk to school, the sidewalk and parks I walk by are surrounded by beautiful flowers
• ·      My host brother tried to teach me the merengue in the kitchen the other day and I discovered that my 64-year-old host mother can move her hips far better than I can
• ·      I have made over 400 notecards already for my Spanish class. Talk about intensive…
• ·      Wednesday evening, I went to get ice cream with Diego (my host brother) and my roommates at a place called the Southern Mall. The six of us are already like siblings.
• ·      In the courtyard of the university there is a little food stand where you can get custom-made cheep empanadas and plantain burritos that I find myself craving in the middle of class
• ·      Most of the CEA students hang out at the CEA building during breaks between classes. The building has a kitchen where we cook lunch and rooms for us to study in. It almost feels like the dorms all over again when I am there.
• ·      My roommates and I all had Spanish tests and orals today and my mama tica spent all of breakfast quizzing us on flashcards and wished us luck hundreds of times as we walked out the door
• ·      All the homes in San Jose are locked and gated
• ·      The ants here are tiny and EVERYWHERE, including in the honey I ate this morning in my oatmeal
• ·      The tico students arrived this week and I learned that Veritas (my school here) is one of the most expensive private schools in Costa Rica. Veritas is also a premier art and architecture school. With this combination, the tico students appear to all be very tasteful in their dress. I have also noticed that they don’t seem to want to talk to the international students. I am not sure if this is because they feel like we are invading their school or what, but I have yet to see one of them smile back at me.
• ·      I am very grateful for Diego and his translation abilities and my mama’s patience as I stubble through sentences in Spanish while I try to learn this new language
• ·      Its summer in Costa Rica right now
• ·      My tica mama went to the store after dinner just to buy me special lactose-free ice cream. I am obsessed with her. She also magically removed all the stains from some of my clothes that have been stained for months... I am completely spoiled....