katiepuchalski

Saturday It seemed like as soon as we dozed off, we had to be up to catch the ferry back to the mainland. The ferry ride was fine…early, but fine. When we arrived back on the mainland, once again, we were a group of bumbling gringos not sure how to get to our next destination: Granada. Luckily, Chely asked the right questions to the right people and we ended up on a bus that would take us right outside of the town. It would save us a lot in cab fares. The bus was PACKED. I felt bad for Rachel, who had her HUGE suitcase with her. I would be really stressed having to lug that thing around everywhere. Eventually, we reached our stop, only to be bombarded by guys driving rickshaws offering to drive us ... read more

Thursday Normally, I wake up on Thanksgiving to the sound and smell of my mother up and at it bright and early getting started on a huge all-American turkey dinner. This year, that was not the case. It didn’t even feel like Thanksgiving when I woke up. The group of us that stayed behind to catch the second ferry…Me, Chely, Rachel, Kelsey, Steven, Cylia and Luke…enjoyed a nice, leisurely continental breakfast on the back patio at the inn. Perhaps breakfast was a little too leisurely because it felt like we rushed to make the ferry even though we woke up with more than enough time. The ferry ride was nice. I spend most of the ride below deck with Cylia watching everyone’s bags who went on the upper level. I did go up briefly to check ... read more

11/21/2011-11/23/2011 After weeks of anticipation, the week of Thanksgiving break finally arrived. The majority of the study abroad group planned on using our time off to explore Nicaragua. Even though we had attempted to get together and plan for the trip on numerous occasions, it never really worked out. The only firm plans we had were the bus tickets to and from Nicaragua. We weren’t even sure what town we would spend our first night in. Monday and Tuesday I studied as much as I could since there are only two weeks of classes left (including finals) after Nicaragua, and I knew I didn’t plan on studying during my trip. The group of us met up at the school with our luggage and walked to Subway where we bought some sandwiches for the 9 hour bus ... read more

This week, Becky came over once again for a dance lesson from Jenny and Kendall, which once again was a blast. They are really teaching us a lot. I also got my student visa. Boy, that didn’t take long at all now, did it? I’m so mad I was told I needed one. What a waste of my time and money! After going to Panama, I got another 90 days in the country so I didn’t even need one! They should have made that clear. On Saturday, Becky came over again to make tamales with my tico family. Costa Rican tamales are absolutely delicious and I was really excited to be a part of another one of their Christmas traditions. (Tita Nena taught me how to make the Christmas arrangements/decorations she makes every year and I ... read more

Saturday Madre knocked on my door at about 3:55 even though I had set my alarm for 4:00. I really appreciated that she wanted to make sure I was up. I appreciated even more that she put out breakfast for me. I was fed and ready by 4:30 and went in the cab (they called one of their friends so I would be safe) to pick up Deesa. The cab driver was very nice and dropped us of at the Coca-Cola station in San Jose. Deesa and I both checked various websites and all of them said that the buses to Quepos/Manuel Antonio leave from that station. We got there around 5:00 since we were told to get in like ASAP because the seats sell out quickly. There was no ticket booth there, so we had ... read more

Monday Monday started out as a regular school day but ended up being one of the best days I’ve had here. I went to Cuentos and Theatre class like I do every Monday, but then on my way I had a call and a text from Becky. She wanted to come over and go over the homework we had for our grammar class, since I had already done it. I told her I had to check with my mom, but that I thought it would be fine. I was just going to go home and do other homework, but having a friend over sounded like it would be a nice change of pace. My madre of course was more than happy to have Becky over. Becky and I worked on homework for a while. Madre was ... read more

Tuesday, I went to my grammar class even though it took everything in me to go. I am SO over school. However, that class has actually gotten a lot better since we had that talk with her—and since a lot of people dropped. Some classes just need to be kept small. After class, I went to volunteer again. Same old stuff. Although this time, he did have an art project prepared for day of the dead—so much GLITTER!!! After volunteering, I went home and napped again. I think my host family is worried about me, so I explained that I’ve been pretty stressed about school lately and that’s been affecting my sleep. Plus, I have been trying to get everything done during the week so I can travel on the weekends and that has not been ... read more

Monday/Halloween Waking up was HORRIBLE! I was EXHAUSTED from my weekend in Tamarindo and having to be at the University at 8AM to take a test sounded like a death sentence, but I went early so I could study a little bit more beforehand. I’m not sure how the test went. It was more complicated than I expected, but I put something for every question and don’t think I was WAY off on any of them. We’ll have to see. We got out early, and with that extra time, I decided NOT to go to my theatre class. I really needed a nap…badly… and I knew I wasn’t missing anything. I had a friend turn in my paper for me and that was that. I stopped at the supermarket to buy candy. I told my host-siblings, ... read more

It was a very uneventful week. Class on Monday and Tuesday went as planned, and then after class on Tuesday I went to volunteer at the elementary school like I do every week. That’s a pretty big waste of time. Pretty much every week, the teacher doesn’t plan an activity, looks for one online while his students are there, and then leaves to print and make copies, leaving me alone with wild and crazy children. Then, he comes back at the end of class, like “Sorry, looks like we are out of time again.” What a joke. Wednesday I stayed in and did homework all day since I wanted to be able to travel this weekend. Thursday I went to class and then went to buy everything I needed to make my Halloween costume. I got ... read more

Monday We had Monday off for Día de las culturas. I did homework all day, since I really wasn’t able to the whole weekend like I planned and I got a good two pages knocked out of my four page paper. Afterward, I helped my host-brother Kendall study for his English test the next day. When I helped Fabian, his test score went from a 52% to a 71%. I would have liked to see him do even better, but he had the test the week I went to Panama, so even though we prepared a lot the week before, I feel like he forgot quite a bit by the time he had the test on Friday and he’s not motivated enough to study on his own. Kendall was a much more difficult student than Fabian. ... read more