I had a fabulous first week living and studying in San José, Costa Rica. This week was filled with exploration, excitement, and fun, and I would like to believe that I settled in a lot easier to this new place and culture that I had anticipated. Costa Rica is a natural beauty, with views for days, and the Pura Vida lifestyle of the Ticos is something I can definitely get on board with. In the United States, we are always in a hurry, worried about everything, and fail to take time to not only appreciate our country, but also to simply live. Pura Vida is a lifestyle that embraces life and all that it has to offer, and throughout my stay in Costa Rica, and hopefully my immersion into this beautiful culture, I hope to learn more about it and embrace it. While settling into this new culture, I also began classes, including my intensive studies in Spanish, and I anticipate that I will enjoy every piece of my study abroad experience, including my courses and professors.-----------
On Monday, I started off the morning first with breakfast with my familia Tica (Costa Rican family/host family) and then headed to Universidad Veritas to start my half-day of orientation. When we arrived, we were seated into a large auditorium to undergo a presentation about everything we needed to know about being international students: how the classes worked, our resources on campus, activities to get involved in, safety, etc. Unfortunately, it was almost an exact repeat of the orientation provided to us the previous day from ISA (the program I am studying abroad through). I sat in one of the back rows, and behind me, was an entire row of ISA boys. At one point, I looked back, and saw them all asleep. Considering we had gone through all of the information the day before, I couldn't blame them.
At some point, we had a campus tour, but I can't remember if it was before or after the formal presentation. The campus is much smaller than I am used to. Weeks later, I am still deciding whether that's a good thing or a bad thing. The campus spans a lofty three buildings, only one of which I utilize for classes. The building across from where I have my classes houses the auditorium, a cafeteria, and the room where the dancing club is held. Students also have classes there, just not me. The third building houses a little store and I am assuming more classes, but I haven't ventured into it quite yet.
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| La banda y los masquerades |
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| Los masquerades - un abuelo y un pasayo |
After orientation, Veritas hosted a surprise welcome activity. We though the extent of the activity was pizza and socialization. That was not the activity. Out of nowhere emerged a band consisting of brass and percussion instruments followed by people in large costumes with giant heads, known as "masquerades."
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| conga line |
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| The local currency is colones. One U.S. dollar is approximately 527 colones. In my opinion, la plata (money is not called dinero here) is much better looking that the money in the U.S. |
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| The live band |
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| Long Island Iced Tea |
During the evening, my roommates and I went to a popular gringo (American/Americanized) bar. I tried my first Long Island Iced Tea and socialized with other people in my program. Little did we know that they had a live band playing that night. We ventured into the dance floor and listened to the band, that played tunes I was actually familiar with, as well as tunes I was unfamiliar with (all in Spanish of course). It was a ton of fun, though I wasn't a big fan about how Americanized it was. The other areas of the bar played a lot of music that is super popular in the United States right now, and there were few Ticos in sight. Despite that, I had a good time overall.
On Tuesday, classes began. I entered my first classroom, a tiny room with one fan and 15 desks squished together. It was smaller than my freshman year dorm room! My first class of the day was Spanish, from 8am to 12pm. Because the language classes are four week intensive courses, we have them every day for four hours each day. With my placement exam, I was placed in Básico 2 (Basic 2), though the ISA placement exam put me at Intermédio 1 (Intermediate 1). I had already started off the morning not very happy about this, especially considering I've taken Spanish on and off since first grade. I browsed through the workbook we received and determined that I had to get out of that class; the material was only present tense, something I learned long ago, as well as concepts I learned in SPAN 2001 back home. After two hours, we had a thirty minute break. This concept of breaks to get coffee or snacks is very common here, at least in all of my classes. When my professor returned to the classroom, I asked about moving up a language level. Her response? I had to take another placement exam, which I did. I spent the rest of the day hoping that I would not be stuck in a class learning concepts I had already learned and felt comfortable with.
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| lugar para estudiar ADENTRO de la universidad |
At noon, I headed to the ISA office for our weekly meeting. The ISA office is around the corner from Veritas, so it is super convenient. We learned that our first of three weekend excursions would be to Tamarindo, which is a beach town about four or five hours away. I became really excited, as the excursion would be the first time that I would see an ocean and step onto a beach. I couldn't contain my excitement.
Afterwards, I spent time at the office changing into a communications class, Intercultural Communication and Competence, where a spot had just opened up. It had started already when I arrived, and I was famished from not having eaten since breakfast, so I reluctantly sat through the class, counting down the minutes until I could eat again. Next was my Human Rights in Latin America course. Before the professor arrived, I managed to head downstairs to the on campus deli and grabbed a ham & cheese sandwich. I was in the middle of eating the sandwich when my professor arrived in the classroom. What an awkward first impression! However, as class started, and my hunger subsided, I came to the conclusion that I would love the class and the professor. Having taken an international law & human rights course back at home, I was already on the right track.
After a bit of homework and dinner, I decided to check out the dancing club that was offered to international students. The club meets twice per week for an hour and a half each. It consists of learning traditional and popular dances of Costa Rica and practicing them with partners. I thoroughly enjoyed learning some steps of bachata, salsa, and a couple other dances I cannot recall. I think I'll become a regular at the club.
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| Sandwich de jamón y pavo con jugo de frutas |
On Wednesday morning, I was told that, indeed, I should have been placed in the Intermediate 1 Spanish class. I had passed the placement exam. As a result, I was moved into the new class and was finally at peace with that aspect of my adventure. Later that day, I ate lunch at The Whisk, a nearby artisan restaurant, with a couple of my ISA buddies and ran some errands, including getting copies of my passport made for ISA and changing into a different communications class, Creative Conflict Resolution, making my schedule what I envisioned before I arrived in Costa Rica. I stopped at the Auto Mercado, a local supermarket, and grabbed some food for lunch and snacks, before heading back to my homestay for the night. I did have class at 6pm until 8pm (Creative Conflict Resolution) so I missed dinner. Luckily, my mama Tica has agreed to put my dinner upstairs on Mondays and Wednesdays so I can eat after my class. Overall, it was a perfect day.
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| La cena -- yum! |
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Friday was the day. It was the day that I would visit my first beach, take my first steps on the sand, and see an ocean for the first time. It was the day, that is until I realized that somehow, I had lost/or someone stole from me 30 mil colones (the local currency, around $60) that I had just exchanged. Then, my day took a turn for the worst. Upon further reflection and a hefty cleaning of my homestay, my money was gone for good. I believe that I accidentally took it with me to Castro's the night before and was pick-pocketed from my purse. I did find my purse unzipped a couple of times; I had assumed it was from the movement while dancing, but now I'm not so sure. I am so careful and was so eager to not let this happen to me, but it did. I guess it just goes to show that no matter how eager or how cautious you are, you can be a victim of a crime. It just happens.
On the brighter side of things, stay tuned for my later post about my excursion to Tamarindo.
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