Advertisement
Published: March 14th 2012
Amsterdam - Houston
A 11 hour flight.. me and my cat-socks.3. SAN JOSE, COSTA RICA
Tuesday, March 13
THE TRIP… Sunday
When on Sunday the alarm went off at 5:30, I instantly initiated the auto-pilot mode. I took a shower, got dressed, packed some last things (like my toothbrush)… and actually became quite nervous. The good thing, though, was that my being nervous made me a bit hyper, which led to me talking so much, that Jotte got out of bed (which is quite an accomplishment for him, at 6 in the morning)! We picked up his parents (who – additionally to my parents, my sister and her boyfriend and my best friend – come along to say goodbye/wish me good luck/etc. at the airport) and went to the airport to check in my luggage. We met the rest of my ‘entourage’ there, had some coffee, and then it was time for me to go through security. Although my auto-pilot mode had kept me sane for most of the time, when it was time to actually say goodbye, I started crying like an insane housewife. Comforting as it may have been intended, the woman checking my boarding pass saying “don’t worry, we see that here all the time” didn’t
lessen awkwardness of me crying my eyes out whilst standing among annoyed business-looking-people. – Oh, well, screw them! – So I got to the gate (and cried some more, this time in the bathroom so it would be less public) and after a while waiting got into the airplane (when I cries some more, again handing my boarding pass to the lady who was checking it), took my seat (fortunately, the airplane wasn’t full, so I had two seats for me and.. my legs! Zzzz….) and sat/lied there for 11 hours. Fun! (Sarcasm.) I was glad to get out and pass the rude people at the Houston, Texas airport’s security check, make at least three wrong moves before I was finally through (1. put my boarding pass in the basket that goes through the scanner, 2. moved while in the body scanner, and 3. assumed that I would be told what to do and wasn’t expected to ‘just know’), and get some FOOD! I also found a WiFi hotspot that was actually free to use, so I Skyped with Jotte for a bit (yay!)… Unfortunately, my flight to San José was overbooked big time (they needed about 10 people to
give up there seats) – but, I remembered to call the guy from the school who was going to pick me up, so he was actually there and I could breathe, knowing I would be in bed soon. By the time I got to the apartment, it was 00:30 (7:30 in the Netherlands), so I had been traveling for over 24 hours!
THE FIRST DAY… Monday
Even though I went to bed pretty late and I had to be at the school at 8 AM the next morning, I wasn’t tired! The school (CASI) is literally across the street from the apartment I’m staying at, so it’s about… 20 seconds walking. When I got to the school, I had to have a little ‘take-in interview’, I guess, which proved that my Spanish really doesn’t reach any further then “hola” and “dos cervezas por favor”, the new students (about 5) got a little introduction and the lessons started. I’m in a beginners class with two other guys, and the teacher is a woman who’s very social, expressionistic (is that a word?), funny and sweet – they’re all very sweet, actually! The lessons are every weekday from 8 till
Diner at Houston airport
I couldn't finish my 'small' coke, but the pizza was gooood! 12 AM, and we have two 10-minute breaks when we can drink coffee and eat some delicious fruits (mom, I haven’t eaten this healthy since I lived at home!).
When the lessons finished, we all went for lunch (students and two teachers), because apparently they do this every Monday. After lunch, my flat mate Verena showed me around a bit. We went to the center of the San Pedro district, where I noticed that the USA has a big influence here in Costa Rica. There are McDonalds, Wendy’s, Taco Bells, and more of the American fast food-chain restaurants, and the mall in San Pedro is so huge and over-the-top-everything, it’s disgusting. The mall is a 5-story-high building in which you can find games, technological stuff, toys, and a lot of junk to buy. But also, there’s a food place, an arcade and a cinema! It kind of looks like I would imagine Tokio to look (and sound, because there was music, weird loud funfair-ish noises and people yelling everywhere) like… We also saw some nice parts, though. We went to the university (San Pedro Universidad, or something like it), had a drink on a terrace, did some people-watching, and
walked around. On the way back, we stopped at a big supermarket (about 10 minutes walking from the apartment), got some food and drinks for the night and the next day, went home, talked some, read some, did our homework(!!!), ate the pizza, and then I went to BED!
TUESDAY…
This morning, I woke up at 6:30 (I’d set my alarm for 7 AM) because of my jet lag… but I was still tired! I tried to make some coffee (without much success), had some breakfast, read something (because I had all this time) and went to school. I feel like I’ve learned a lot these past two days, and I think I can learn a lot more in not-so-little time!
After school, me, Verena, and Iyani went to down town San José. Iyani is a student also. She’s from Brazil and doesn’t speak English – only Portuguese and Spanish, which is hilarious, because I don’t speak Spanish – only Dutch and English! First we had lunch together, then we went down town and visited a museum and went to the Mercado Central (central market) which kind of looked like what Dutch people know as the ‘zwarte
Bedroom
My bedroom.. or 'dormitorio'! markt’ (‘black market’), which is basically an indoors market where they sell junk, name brand stuff for a lot less money, and food. It was a bit of a disappointment, because my Lonely Planet was so enthusiastic about it… Oh, and by the way – the people here drive like idiots! Haha…
In Costa Rica, the sun rises and sets at the same times every day – at 5:30 AM and 5:30/6:00 PM. They advise you not to be out on the streets after dark, so we were back at the apartment a little to 6:00 and did out homework like good school girls. It’s now 8:40 PM (20:40u) here (3:40 in NL) and the school closes at 5:30, so I will upload the blog tomorrow. There’s a computer with internet here (but I didn’t bring my USB so I can’t upload photo’s that way) and there’s WiFi as well, I think, but I have to find out what the password is… Until then, I’ll just take my laptop across the street, to the school.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.211s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 9; qc: 52; dbt: 0.164s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
