The trip winds down...

Amazing how fast 6 weeks can fly by! I know I have been a negligent blogger, but not too much has happened over the last week or so. Well, I did get engaged, but I'm not going to blog about that! Telling the story in person is oh-so-much better! After that little tease, I will continue with my trip to Volcano Poas, which is not NEARLY as exciting. :) Hannah and I decided to be adventurous and take public transportation to see the crater of a volcano about an hour from here (aka 2 hours in these slow buses). We got up bright an early on a beautiful, clear Saturday morning and walked to the nearest bus stop by the Mega Super grocery store. Of course, I ran into the store to use the bathroom, and the bus passed by the second I left. Fortunately, another bus came by 15 minutes later, so we were still ahead of schedule. We picked up the second, direct bus in Alajuela, and from there, it was another 2ish hours to get up to the volcano. By the time we got there, we were so ready to be off the bus and taking pics of the crater. Unfortunately, as so often occurs high in the mountains, a huge cloud coverage moved in, and when we got to the edge of the viewing area, all we could see was a wall of white. Talk about a great view...so glad we paid ten bucks for that! Fortunately, there was also a lagoon nearby that was beautiful and, go figure, this side of the mountain was completely sunny! At least we got some good pics there! I had to BUY a picture of the actual crater. Oh, well. We're off for our week of travel on Sunday, and we plan on seeing Volcano Arenal during the day and night. Pray for good weather!!!

My week with Tom and Mrs. R!

Whew! I seriously did not have a spare minute to blog this past week! I was too busy partaking in crazy adventures with Tom and his mom. I'll break it down by day and give a brief summary of each day...
Wednesday: They arrived! The Lord was totally watching over them as a very friendly Tican helped them navigate the bus system to find me. We spent the afternoon walking through San Joaquin and then I headed back to Heredia with them to "couch surf" for the evening. They stayed with a guy named Lance who is actually from Minnesota. He was super friends and accommodating, and Mrs. R and I even had a mattress to share (Tom slept on an air mattress).
Thursday: We woke up a 4:30am to grab a taxi for Alejuela where we could pick up the private transportation to go whitewater rafting. We had beautiful weather and rafting was a blast! They fed us a typical Tican breakfast before we left (omelets, gallo pinto, potatoes, fruit, toast, and coffee), and we ate a ton, knowing that we had a long day ahead of us. We rafted for 3.5 hours (18 miles) on level 3 and 4 rapids (it goes up to level 6). The level four rapids were awesome and a bit scary at times. Mrs. R was knocked out of the boat once when we hit a rock, but the guide saved her before I could even turn around to help. I fell once as well, but fortunately it was into the boat rather than out of it. In the areas where the water was calm, we jumped out of the raft to swim and take in the scenery. We saw gorgeous waterfalls, indigenous villages, and plenty of flora and fauna. Needless to say, by the end of the trip we were pretty whipped. They fed us lunch back at the base (fajita meat, rice, beans, salad, fried yucca and plantains, pasta, and pico de gallo) and brought us back home. It was the perfect bday gift from Tom and his mom!
Friday: We took a bus to Monteverde right after I got out of school. We arrived that evening and stayed in a cute hostel called "Sleepers." It's a family-owned place that served us breakfast in the morning and helped us plan all of our activities for the next day.
Saturday: Tom and I went extreme zip-lining. WOW! It was incredible. I was freaking out before hand since I have a tough time with heights, but this was seriously one of the most amazing things I have ever done. Some of the zip lines literally stretch from one mountain to another over a valley. It was surreal to look down and see cows that looked like the size of cat. I couldn't believe that I was that high in the air being supported only by a cable and a harness. We also did a Tarzan jump from the top of a tree. That was insane. You had a momentary free-fall before the line kicked in and you started swinging. I was super proud of myself that I sucked it up and faced my fear of heights. I firmly believe this is the best was to see the cloud forests in Costa Rica :) That night, the three of us went on a night hike. We saw some crazy insects and interesting birds (which were sleeping). I have some pics that I will post eventually.
Sunday: The biggest waste of our lives ever. We jumped on a private shuttle that was supposed to get us to Manuel Antonio, a very famous beach and nature reserve, in four hours (way less than a bus). Unfortunately, the bus broke down two hours into the trip, and we sat at some stupid rest stop for SIX HOURS while our bus driver tried to fix the bus. He ended up calling in reinforcements who took 3 hours to get the "part" that was needed. Then, after all that, another bus finally came and picked us up. Needless to say, we missed the nature reserve and didn't get to our hostel until 7:00pm. I felt the worst for Mrs. R and Tom as they only had one week here. What a wasted day! Luckily, we did see crocodiles in a river on the way, and Tom and I saw a monkey from the hammock at our hostel.
Monday: Happy birthday to me! We spent my bday on the beach after having breakfast at my favorite coffee shop (Milagros). I ate banana pancakes with macadamia nuts, and they were the best pancakes I've ever had in my life. Naturally, I came home a bit sunburned, but it was the perfect bday. I'll relate more stories later because I'm running out of room. Now you all are least somewhat up-to-date!

My first weekend away!

Well, I'm officially a seasoned traveler of Costa Rica...okay, that's a huge exaggeration, but at least I left town this weekend! Two other girls and I took a bus to Manuel Antonio for a weekend of sunshine and partying on the beach. What did we get? Two days of rain. Here's how it went down. We left San Jose at 2:30pm on Friday, thinking that the bus ride would be about two hours. Yeah, try three and a half. By the time we arrived in Quepos, a small beach town, it was pouring rain and we were starving. We found one of the few restaurants we could afford and had dinner (I ate a chicken sandwich again, not too creative, this one). After dinner, we checked into our hostel, Mar y Luna, to change our clothes and clean up a bit. The owner of the hostel was a sweet, little old man who gave us a room with three beds for 10 bucks a night. The room was a bit rough, but clean, and we had our own bathroom. After freshening up, we headed out to Wacky Wandas, a corner bar on our street. As fortune would have it, we met two very nice men, who were both about 30, who proceeded to buy us all of our drinks and our entry into a nightclub down the street. For three girls who didn't bring enough money along, this was quite convenient. Was it a bit strange that two 30-year-old men wanted to hang out with three young girls? Probably! Fortunately, they were perfect gentlemen and even walked us home later that night. We saw them again the next morning, but by that point we had decided that we were going to stick with people our own age for the duration of the trip. We parted ways amicably. After a late breakfast Saturday morning at a cute cafe with amazing coffee, we jumped on a bus to Manuel Antonio to visit the national park. We had to pay $10 to enter into the park, and unfortunately, it wasn't quite what we expected. The day was a bit overcast, so the animals were not very active. We didn't see any monkeys :( but we did see a sloth climbing up a tree, a boa constrictor curled up in a tree above our heads, three different types of lizards (BIG ones), and some beautiful butterflies. The park ended right by the beach, so we spent the next half-hour in the ocean jumping in the waves and being pelted by the afternoon rain storm. Soaked and exhausted, we headed back to our hostel to rest before dinner. Naturally, we headed back to the same, affordable restaurant for dinner. I ordered a chicken burrito and Marie ordered a chicken quesadilla. Interestingly enough, they were identical. We both had chicken with black beans in a tortilla. The only difference was that her's was flat and mine was rolled. Nice. After dinner we walked around town, stopping in a small coffee shop for dessert of pina coladas and tres leches cake. Needless to say, both were amazing (although I swear the lady used half the bottle of alcohol in our drinks. I could barely swallow it). Still tired from our night out before, we retired a bit earlier to our hostel to turn in for the night. We had to wake up early Sunday morning to catch our 8:00 bus back to San Jose, so our adventure was somewhat short lived. There are more stories to tell, but that's all I have time for right now. I need to look over my vocab before running to class. I'll try to write again soon!

Jenna once again proves her "Americanness"

And the hits just keep coming! Last night I had my first opportunity to play soccer here at CPI. One of the workers asked if any of us students would be willing to go to an indoor field to play against the kids participating in CPI's soccer camp. Of course, I volunteered right away! I figured that some other students would be playing too, and it would just be a big ol' party. Not so much. First of all, I came back to school last night only to discover that I was the only student volunteering to play. I had to ride to the field in a bus with 5 other male teachers/workers/random people, all of which spoke fluent Spanish very quickly. They then informed me that we were playing high school-aged students and that the girls were pretty good (note: I'm already sweating by this point). I got to the field where there were two other rec teams playing. Wow. These were like 40-year-old men who were playing like 20-year-olds. I seriously started fearing for my life. These guys were intense! I was worried that our game was going to be this nuts and that I would not only make a fool out of myself, but that I would also die from a hit to the head. Fortunately, when I was on the brink of panic, my friend Makeba showed up. Her bus came to school late, so they brought her over separately. Whew! At least now I had someone with me who doesn't eat, sleep, breathe soccer. Better yet, two female employees from the school showed up a few minutes later, meaning that Makeba and I wouldn't have to play the entire hour (two girls had to be on the field at all times). With all of this female support, I started feeling pretty good about the game. One of the female employees and I started on the field first, and within the first 2 minutes, I tripped and ripped up both of my knees on the nasty artificial turf. Nice. I had black, slightly bloody knees for the duration of the game. Now, I won't say that I was the worst on the field, but I was up there! I tried to tell myself that I was rusty, but let's be honest. It was the Latin Americans vs Jenna. I didn't have a shot! I did get better as the game went on, and I still had a blast so it was totally worth it. I'm hoping that I get to play in a few more pick-up games while I'm here to brush up on my skills.
Apart from soccer, life is pretty routine here. Classes are a bit too easy this week, so I'm hoping that next week the intensity picks up. My speaking continues to improve, and I feel much more confident communicating, so I know that I'm still learning everyday. Right now I'm off to walk Hannah home and later this evening it's off to the mall! By the way, I'm currently boycotting rice and beans...aka I'm only eating it for 1-2 meals a day rather than all three. For lunch I splurged on a huge chicken sandwich and LOVED it! I fear I'm more American than I care to admit...

Weekend update

I learned something important this weekend: I can only dance in the United States. A group of students went to a Latin dance club this weekend, and we might as well have had "American" stamped on our foreheads. It was all pairs dancing salsa, cha-cha, rumba, and whatever else they do here. Furthermore, when guys actually asked us to dance (I witnessed this but never actually agreed to dance with anyone), they almost immediately ended the dance claiming they wanted to "dance with someone who knows how." Yeah. The 5 songs that were American music? We tore those up...while everyone looked at us like we were crazy, loose women. So not exactly an ideal club experience. Still, it was super cool to watch the couples dance. Saturday morning, Hannah, Makeba, and I went to Cafe Britt for a coffee tour. That was super cool to see, and apart from being ripped off by the taxi driver, we had a great time! The driver who dropped us off and picked us up charged us for the time in between the two rides as well. Oops. The school suggested him, so we blindly thought we'd be okay. Live and learn! At least it was only a couple of hours and not the entire afternoon. Saturday evening I went to the Catholic church with Hannah and her family. That was very interesting. The priest was quite old and would have been hard to understand in English, so you can imagine how tough it was in Spanish. I prayed silently for most of the service. The church was packed, but the girl next to me was texting...I feel like many of the people were cultural Catholics rather than actual practicing Catholics, but it's not my place to judge. Hannah said that the other preacher was much more animated last week, so I'll give it another go this weekend. Sunday was very quiet. I went plant shopping with my mama and papa tico and spent the rest of the day sleeping and watching TV. Sometimes I feel like I act more like an American here than at home...except here I eat a lot more rice and beans...hasta luego!

Not for the faint of heart....

First off, I apologize for skipping a day of blogging. I could tell that Iara was very upset ;) Yesterday was a bit nuts, and I didn't exactly have time to blog. The day started out normally. I went to cooking class after school (we made some awesome veggie-meat mix to put in homemade tortillas) and then walked home before our usual Wednesday night outing to the mall and movie theater (Wednesday nights movies here are cheaper). After my short nap at home, I headed back to school on one of the main routes I take. However, the end of the street was blocked off by police officers and people were milling about. I figured there had been a car accident, so I turned around and took a parallel side road instead. When I got back to school, I asked if anyone knew what was up. Turns out there was a break-in/shooting at a the shoe store on that street. Yeah. Talk about freaky! This road is literally 5 blocks from school and on my usual route! Needless to say, I spent most of the night at the mall and watching Transfomers 3 worrying about dying on my way to school the next morning. I prayed a lot last night for comfort and safety, and God, in all His goodness, gave me an incredible sense of peace this morning. I walked to school without fear or incident. As a side note, I also starred in the movie Homeward Bound today (and we all know how much I loved that movie...), as I walked to school with a pack of homeless dogs. No joke. I walked like five blocks weaving in an out of a dog-gang. That honestly scared me more than the shooting...Anyways, back to the crazy story, I found out today that this was not some random robbery. It turns out that the three men entered into the house/store when it was closed and didn't actually rob it. Killing the three women within was likely premeditated because they  had silencers on the guns. Clearly, this was some sort of revenge, not just a random act of violence that happened during a robbery. Therefore, since I'm pretty sure I haven't ticked off any Ticos, I'm not too worried about my safety ;) Still, I was a bit shook up. This kind of thing never happens in San Joaquin.
On the bright side, I tried something new and super good last night at the mall. I ate a dessert called "arroz con leche" or "rice with milk." It basically tastes like rice pudding, but it comes in all sorts of flavors. I had a cone of it filled with vanilla-oreo and cappicino flavored rice-milk. It was delicious! Also, Hannah and I shared some of that amazing popcorn again last night. Food-wise, the day was a success!

Yaaaaaaay for new friends!

Yesterday I finally made a new friend who isn`t leaving in a week! Here name is Makeba and she's from Las Vegas (she's even heard of Faith Lutheran). She is going to be at the school for the next five weeks, and we hit it off right away. She's a dancer/gymnist, so we were shakin' it during salsa lessons today. Which, by the way, is super hard. I could do the steps solo, but with my partner (Hannah) things got a bit rough. Still, it was fun to dance a bit, especially since I just found out via facebook that my dance studio back home CLOSED for good! I don't know the entire story, but apparently I will not be subbing there next fall (mom, do some investigating on this one). Therefore, I must soak up the dancing here as much as possible. Hannah and I plan on practicing before next week's lesson :) Additionally, I've started streching and doing some basic ballet in the mornings in my room while listening to the Spanish version of MTV. It's so great to dance to music along with super-attractive, scantily-clan Latino women like Shakira. It's great for the self-confidence boost in the morning. Oh, and just an update on the food here (since I'm such a junkie), breakfast is the best meal of the day, followed by "la comida del descanso" or "the food of the break." For breakfast today, I had two pieces of crusty bread with cheese baked in with avacado and eggs. Soooooooooo yummy! Here we spread avacado like butter on bread, and it's an awesome alternative in my opinion. At school around 10:00 we have our 20 minute break during which we have coffee, pastries, and the most delicious watermelon and pineapple you have ever tasted. These two meals make my mornings wonderful :) Also, yesterday was the first time that I tried plantains cooked in a bit of oil and covered in cinnamon and sugar (or in my house, splenda...they're a low-sugar couple, how perfect for me!). It was "muy rico" or "delicious." My papa tico makes juices as well, although his latest (guayaba y limon) is a bit sour. Still, like he says, "totalmente natural." I was placed with the perfect family! How's school? It's going fine. I work hard during class and speak as much as I can, but I have a reeeeeeeeeeeally hard time motivating myself to do homework at night. The Spanish progams with English subtitles on my TV (which constantly emits a high-pitched whistle when it's on) are simply too enticing...I'm working on that...

My weekend in a nutshell

Okay, here's the deal: Costa Ricans are usually very nice, but some are certainly creepers (just like in the US). I met three Costa Rican men this weekend at a bakery while trying to read my book and eat my cake in silence. Here's how it went down (this was the most interesting thing I did on Saturday, trust me). So I'm sitting there trying to read Angels and Demons in Spanish, and some guy (who was missing most of his teeth, which should have been my first sign to ignore him) comes up and asks if I like to read. Trying to be polite, I tell him yes that I like to read to practice Spanish. He then sees my volleyball t-shirt and asks if I play sports. When I tell him yes, he proceeds to say that I have great legs so I must be athletic. Ooooookay...officially uncomfortable. I turned back to my book purposefully, hoping he would leave me alone. He did, for a minute. He returned a moment later with some plant thing that smelled good and gave it to me. Thanks? Then he told me again how beautiful I was and how great my legs were. By this point, I was so done talking to him. He asked where I lived, and rather than give that information (duh) I told him that I was waiting for my parents who were next door in the grocery store (so not true). Then I pretended that I couldn't understand him anymore and continued to read. He finally left, and I refused to leave the cafe for another hour in case he was waiting for me. A few moments after he left, I met the second "man," a little boy about 5-6 years old. He was adorable. He could tell right away that I was from the US, so he started talking to me about Tony Hawk and Sean White while showing me tricks on his little finger skateboard. He mom finally pulled him away from my table, but before he could leave, I gave him my "plant gift" from the creeper to take home. Right after he left, the owner of the bakery's brother, a slightly older man, came over to talk to me (yeah, I didn't really get to read much). He noticed that I had been there studying for awhile and wanted to know what I was doing in Costa Rica. When I told him I was studying here, he said we should chat to practice my Spanish. We talked about his kids and my studies and differences between the US and Costa Rica. He was super sweet and not at all creepy. I think that the appearance of the child and the nice gentleman was the Lord's little reminder to that Costa Rica is filled with nice people and I shouldn't worry too much about the weirdos. 
After that eventful Saturday, I was ready to chill on Sunday. Fortunately, Hannah arrived and we spent most of the afternoon together talking and walking. Her family is super nice and her papa tico told me that I am welcome in their home any time. The only downside of the day was that I burned like a tomato. Eh well, at least I will look more tican now!

Changes ahead!

Honestly, this week flew by, and I can tell already that this trip will be over before I know it. I'm slowly becoming comfortable here, and I know I improve a little bit each day. I have a few semi-entertaining things to fill you in on, so here we go! First off, I might be homeless in four weeks. Okay, that's an exaggeration, but I will probably be changing homes. My "mamatica" Imelda only signed up to have a student stay with her for 4 weeks (probably because she had a student for 6 weeks before I even got here). However, I paid for a 6-week homestay. I let the school know, and Mayi, the homestay coordinator, told me not ot worry about it (well, she literally said "no se preocupe") and that she will take care of it. Right now, it looks like I might stay with Imelda's daughter, but I don't know yet. Still, that was quite the conversation. "So, by the way, I don't really want you for 6 weeks..." (she said it much nicer than that, of course). Naturally, I'm currently doing my best to charm my host parents into letting me stay with them all six weeks in their cushy house, and let's be honest, who can resis these charms? Exactly! I think I will be fine.
Then, later in the evening, my host dad informed the student I live with an I that if the alarm goes off during the night, we should stay in our rooms and not try to leave the house. Why, you ask? Because he has a GUN! He told us this by using a shooting action with sound effects. He cracks me up. So, if any of you were worried about my safety, don't be. I live in an armed safehouse.
I don't have many plans for the weekend, but this afternoon I'm hitting up a farmer's market with some friends. Oh, by the way, my friends here are all leaving after this week to head to the school in Monteverde. Also, none of them are under the age of 25...yeah, yeah, I'm working on it!

Approaching the end of week one!

After being here a few days, I have come to an interesting conclusion: if you plan on coming to San Joaquin de Flores, Costa Rica, don't worry about being mugged/killed for money. Instead, you should fear death by car accident. For real. Here's the deal. This city has no street signs (except for a select few stop signs), no speed limit, and apparently no driving lessons. Drivers don't care if you're in the road, they refuse to stop. You seriously have to sprint across the street to avoid death. When we drive through the city in the school van, I close my eyes. Last night, on the way to the movie, we went down a hill at like 75mph. I thought I was on a rollercoaster. The good news? You get places pretty darn quickly!
For a general update, last night I went to the mall/theatre in Heredia. Again, I learned a few interesting things:

1. Costa Ricans eat American fast-food in the mall food courts. From Pizza Hut to Taco Bell, they have it all.
2. I saw the movie Cars 2 in Spanish, and just because it is animated doesn't mean it's easy to understand. The girl next to me and I kept trying to discuss what was going on. We figured out the point of the movie during the last 20 minutes. It was that bad. I was mentally exhausted by the end of the film.
3. Costa Ricans know how to do popcorn! They have three options: salty, sweet, or mixed. "Sweet" is another way of saying they make it caramel corn. I tried it and it was AWESOME. Next time we go, I'm definitely trying the mixed version (Robs would appreciate this salty-sweet combo).
4. Just because the house is dark, locked, and alarmed when I get home doesn't mean that I should lock the doors and turn back on the alarm. Last night I came home and re-locked the doors and reset the alarm (I know how to use it now). Unfortunately, The girl I live with wasn't home. She had to bang on the door for 10 minutes before I realized it was her and not the neighbors...oops.
5. If you can't sleep at night, try reading a book in Spanish. I was out like a light in 10 minutes even though I had Pepsi with dinner.
Oh and by the way, yes, the coffee flows like water here. If you thought I was addicted back home, just you wait!

Sorry if I accidentally switch to Spanish in this post...

Day two of classes has come and gone! Here are a few things you might be surprised to hear about me in Costa Rica...
1. I eat carbs. LOTS of them. At all meals and in between. Today, I had CAKE for breakfast and loved it. Yup, I'm a changed woman. Oh and did I mention my pants are already getting loose? Go figure...
2. I go to bed at 9. Not because I'm bored or homesick, because I'm legit tired. I don't know if it's the climate or what, but I'm seriously dead by 7:30. I get more sleep here than anywhere.
3. I haven't run since the day I got here and I'm not sure that I will. Instead, I will be playing soccer. No joke. There should be a game here tomorrow night between the staff and students, and my host dad told me that his daughter-in-law has a fun local team that I might be able to play on. He even said we'd go get me shoes :)
4. I'm already starting to think in spanish. It's really weird, and I don't always think correctly, but I translate in my head all the time now.
5. I suck at directions (thanks, dad). I did get lost yesterday for 1/2 hour. The worst part is that there are not street names here, so it's literally impossible to ask for directions unless you know city landmarks.
6. I started my first novel in Spanish yesterday. I'm reading Angels and Demons. I found it in our home library (yeah, I'm starting to realize my family is actually rich. They have another house in the mountains. Can't wait to see that!)
I think that's the news for now. If you want to send me mail, please send it to the school. CPI is the name of the school, and the address is

P.O. Box 151-3007 San Joaquín de Flores, Heredia, Costa Rica

If you put the mail to my attention, I should receive it. I love you all and I'll give you another update soon. By the way, I just ate a soup I helped make in cooking class (don't ask me what was in it because all i know is that there was some beef, potato-type vegetables, and "special sauce"). However, it was super good. Tonight I'm going to the movies to see cars in Spanish. Probably a waste of money since I won't understand but what the hey, good practice, right? I'll head home as soon as these monsoon rains stop. For real, it's CRAZY out there. Today is the first day we've had such hard rain. Kaiti wasn't lying when she said it was the hardest rain she's ever seen. Good thing I have plenty of homework to keep me busy until it stops! Adios!

I'm struggling today...

First off, I'd like to inform you all that it took me 15 minutes to figure out how to get the @ sign on a spanish keyboard (alt 64 by the way) in order to log onto the blog, but I'm finally ready to tell you all about my days happenings. I will start with yesterday afternoon. After I finished lunch, one of the school's interns said she would give me a tour of the school. Now, I don't want to sound rude, but this poor girl seemed scared out of her mind.She told me that she has studied Spanish here since she was 11 (I'm guessing she's about 20 now), but she was so uncertain and shy that I ended up finishing her sentences for her. It was an incredibly painful tour (for both of us). Afterwards, I went with a group of nine others to Heredia to take a look around. Our guide was a bilingual teen, and he did a nice job. We saw a park, a musuem, and the central market. I have a few pics of the fruits we tried (some were craaaaaazy), and I will try to get them up here soon. The tour ended at 5:30, and to be honest, I was dying. If you know me well, you know that I don't do well when tired/hungry. Naturally, this was the state I was in when I finally met my host family. Here is what I know about them so far: 1) They are upper middle class for sure. I live in a really nice house with my own room and (soon to be) own bathroom. 2) They are currently hosting another student from the program API who leaves on Saturday. She seems very nice and answered a lot of my questions. 3) They have an alarm system and I'm pretty sure I set it off this morning when I tried to go downstairs to the bathroom. Of course, as soon as it went off I sprinted back to my room and pretended to be sleeping...yeah, not too proud about that one... 4) So far, the family consists of a mother and father (the papers failed to mention the husband, but he's very nice). I have yet to meet the grandkids, but I hear they live nearby. 5) Jet lag exists in Costa Rica. I fell asleep at 9:00 (so 10:00 back home) and promtly woke up 1.5 hours later as if I had taken a nice nap. Fortuantely, I read and fell back asleep pretty quickly. 6) God is definitely in Costa Rica, too. We've talked a lot lately, and He's keeping me pretty calm about this crazy situation.

I think that's all for now. I don't have any afternoon activities today, but the other student at my house said she would show me around town.The only problem is that I have absolutely no idea how to get home. My host mom walked me here this morning in 20 minutes, but I guarentee it will take me an hour to get home. Good thing I wore my tennis shoes!

Estoy aqui

Good news: I made it! I didn't have any problems catching my flight this morning (although I did have to hike across the entire airport to find a Starbucks...literally from gate 41 to gate 11), I cruised through customs (the guy even told me my Spanish was good), and my driver was right on time to pick me up and take me to school. Naturally, I've made a fool of myself more than once already as I prove my ignorance in Spanish to all the native speakers, but all is well. I've been tested on paper and orally, and I'm currently enjoying arroz con pollo y ensalada (rice with chicken and salad) for lunch. Pretty sure I'll have that for dinner, too...and probably for lunch and dinner tomorrow...and the next day...good thing I like it! Plus, they give "Jenna-sized" portions here, aka, the entire plate is full for $3. I embark on my first real adventure in an hour as I take a walking tour through Heredia and exchange my money. Pray I don't get ripped off! Then it's home to meet la familia. I'm still a bit overwhelmed and feeling slightly lost, but I refuse to be anything but excited. Hasta luego!

And the adventure begins...

Isn't life funny sometimes? For instance, I thought that I would currenly be on my way to my San Jose, but I'm actually sitting in a "business lounge" at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Miami writing this blog to waste time. "Why, shouldn't you be catching your flight?" you ask. The answer is, I tried. Ooooooooooh did I try. Yet, despite my Olympic-qualifying sprint to the terminal (I totally blew by the Costa Rican men in front of me), I missed my plane to San Jose. We left O'Hare 20 minutes late and then took at 20 minute detour to avoid storms and consequentially, my connecting flight left while we were still on the runway. Did I lose my cool? Of course not! Did I choke back tears as I called the school to tell the lady who barely speaks English that I wouldn't be there for pick-up tonight? Absolutely NOT! Am I about to hit up the hotel bar before crying myself to sleep? Wouldn't dream of it! Okay, so admittedly I was a bit upset that I will be missing orientation and my first day of classes due to the missed flight, but I think it's fair to say that I'm handling the situation pretty well. I look at it this way: if I had made that flight, my first official post would have been oh-so-boring. Wish me luck as I try again tomorrow! Hasta luego...

Anticipation

Welcome to my new blog! My plan is to keep all of my friends and family members updated through this site. Currently, I'm still in Wisconsin, and my only news is that the nerves have officially arrived. I fly out in three days, and there's a good chance I will throw up a little before I leave (just kidding). As you can already tell, this blog is going to be extremely insightful and intriguing and should promptly be added to your "must read" list. I apologize in advance for writing posts that only I find funny, but at the very least, you will know what's going on with me over the summer.