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Published: December 31st 2015
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I did my usual routine today. Wake up, get ready, head to la soda and grab breakfast with Kaitlyn. Afterwards, it was time for class. I volunteered to present my paper first. Better to get it over with and I won't have to sit through other people's and get nervous haha. I'm proud of myself. I actually wasn't nervous and barely stuttered. Really thought I would since my classmates are still new to me. I guess you eventually overcome stage fright as you keep practicing and performing it (y).
After the presentation, we went to the beach to wait for our boat to take us out to the shore. Of course, it was another super super hot and humid day. Dying from heat...x.X When we all filed in, we were required to wear life jackets. The whole ride was about 40 minutes. IT WAS AWESOME! We saw many dolphins' fin dipping in and out around our boat. It was probably feeding time for them. That's why so many of them were swimming around. I'm so glad we got to see them :') Snapped a good few videos and pics too! Yasss. This is such a fun class; this is the
kind of field experience I've been wanting to gain and information I want to learn about.
Fast forward to the rest of the class. Other classmates finished presenting for today. Then, we discussed about plastic in the everyday things that we use. We also talked about a paper we had to read for homework. Once class was over, I headed to the pier with two girls from California, Paige and Gabby, who were also seniors. We wanted to shop for souvenirs. On our way there, we bought and tried some fresh coconut drinks. Their coconuts are definitely lighter and thinner than the coconut water in the US. There isn't so much of a coconut flavor but there is a carbonated kind of fizz to it... interesting. We also got some ice cream bars from Sarita. First ice cream here in Costa Rica. T'was good, reminds me of Haagen Daazs!
We all did some souvenir shopping. They bought more than I did. Haggling is hard but the struggle to save is real so you gotta learn LOL. I bought this cute little jar of sand. The vendor was a student, young like us. He had a cool shirt on
that said "Bucket list: beer, ice, and Costa Rica. Pura vida!" The girls wanted to get it but they ran out of stock. He spoke some English pretty well. He complimented on my shirt too LOL. It was Charmander and Squirtle eating ice cream haha. Anyway, I was able to haggle the souvenir down to $1 USD ...in English lmao. Scooore?
When we headed back to USAC, I chilled by our pool and chatted with some Pace Univ. kids. I never seem them around much cause their Spanish class is in a different room and their hours are longer than ours, so it was nice getting to know them some more! We all talked about our host families and asked each other about feeling homesick. I love love how everyone is so easy to talk to, well almost everyone :P
Before Kaitlyn got out of dance class, I was spending some quality time with myself at the beach. The sun was setting and it was getting cooler. It was so perfect. The sunset was gorgeous. If only there wasn't this much heat and humidity, I'd be chilling at the beach more. I love this easy access to gorgeous
views of sunsets and sunrises 😊
When we got home, my host parents were sitting outside in the rocking chairs. For the first time, I sat down and carried an actual conversation with them, not just a few exchanges of how we were or if we liked the food. I popped open my phrasebook and tried my best to communicate. I must say it went pretty well :') and it feels awesome trying and getting to know your host family even when there is a language barrier. Love is a universal language. I learned that they were a Catholic family, that the New Year's Eve celebration tomorrow is gonna be huge (so excited for that!), that they are actually grandparents/great-grandparents already, and that they have a lemon, almond, and walnut tree. The dad plucked off a fresh, round lemon for me LOL how cute.
Soon enough, we ate dinner with our host dad. Today's meal consisted of pork chop, gallo pinto, plantains, and squash. The pork was lightly crispy and delicious. They're good chefs haha. I enjoy dinners with them so far. Whether he's eating with us or didn't eat yet, he will try to strike up a
convo with us (:
After dinner, Kaitlyn and I headed out to meet up with some USAC friends and grabbed passionfruit mojitos
to-go from Matobe's Italian Restaurant. Emphasis on the take-out drinks! How cool is that?? haha. The mojito was awesome, so refreshing. When we got them, we headed down to the beach to meet up with the rest of our group.
Oh my god. The beach at night is perfect. I can't even put it into words and I wish pictures can do it justice but it just can't. I looked up to the sky and never saw anything like that before. Above me were hundreds and hundreds of twinkling stars. We would never be able to see that back in the city in NY. I couldn't stop staring. It was so breath-taking. And to top it off, it was great company. There were 10 of us and two Tico friends that one of them brought along. We were all sipping on our drinks, chatting away and saying how life here is so
pura vida, so chill. How friendly and giving Ticos are. And how we can't believe we're all here in Costa Rica, studying abroad, chilling
at a beach, watching all the stars, and seeing the moon the biggest we've ever seen it before with new friends from the opposite side of the world (the Australian students). And how humble we all are towards each other. The Tico friends were great too. The guy spoke really good English. He made an effort to talk to all of us. So sweet. Turns out he visited and lived in New York for a bit, and near Hunter too! LOL He was so excited when he learned I was from NY and ent to school around that area.
How small is this world, how beautiful too.
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