I'm frequently asked what my typical day is like? In Tanzania, though I had a degree of routine, I never felt like I had a solidified schedule. I do here. Every morning I wake up at 6:30, my host mom gives me breakfast, and I am out of the house by 7:20 to make it to the bus stop by 7:30. The Conversa bus brings us to campus, which is about a 20-minute bus ride into the hills surrounding the town of Santa Ana. After arriving, we have about 30 minutes of down time before the bell signaling the start of class at 8:30 is rung. Each Monday we are assigned to a different instructor, so that we do not become too accustomed to one teacher's way of speaking. We then have class from 8:30 until 1:10, with 10 or 20 minute breaks very hour. At 1:10, lunch is served.
In the afternoon one can choose to go home, or participate in any of the activities offered on or off campus. For example, every Tuesday there is a yoga class, and every Wednesday, Conversa's director, David, holds his weekly grammar seminar before a salsa lesson. On Thursday's there is normally some off-campus activity. For example, we have gone to a coffee farm to pick coffee beans, to a sugar plantation, where we were able to watch the sugar making process. We also took day trips--once to a history museum (El Museo de Oro) in San José, and once to a museum of contemporary art, which was also in San José.
Now, because I am terrible at updating this blog, this rest of this post is to update anyone who is still reading this on the events of the past 3 weeks.
So, I still love my host family. They are all incredibly sweet and patient enough to listen to me attempt to speak Spanish. We played Apples to Apples together in Spanish, which was a lot of fun, though slightly painstaking due to Amelia's (my American housemate) and my less than perfect Spanish.
For my first weekend in Costa Rica, I opted to stay in Santa Ana. On Saturday, Aubree (another girl, my age, at Conversa) and I went to Café Britt, a coffee plantation located about 20 minutes away from Santa Ana. The morning began with tours of the plantation and the factory, followed by a delicious lunch. On Sunday, Aubree and I had planned on going to a local soccer game, but after spending close to an hour in search of the bus, we gave into the heat and ate ice cream.
After another week of classes I spent my second weekend in Monteverde, with a group of students from Conversa, who were mostly older retired folks. I was concerned that hanging out with the "elderly" would be less fun, but I had a great time. We went zip lining above the canopy of the cloud forest and hiking through a series of hanging bridges overlooking the forest.
For my final weekend in Costa Rica, Aubree and I decided to spend the weekend at Manuel Antonio, a beach and national park located on the Pacific coast. We found a hostel in the area, figured out which bus we needed to take and were off. The weekend was incredibly relaxing. We experienced both the serenity of the national park's beach, and the slight craziness of a Costa Rican public beach, full of snow cone and "authentic Costa Rican art" vendors. Though it was a great weekend, getting back to my host mom's home cooked meals was very much welcome.
In all, I had a great experience in Costa Rica, and I am very much looking forward to Argentina!
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