Reflection

<-- view from my house

It's hard to believe that I've already been in Costa Rica for over a month. I've been keeping pretty busy as is evident by my lack of blog posts, but I'm working on getting on top of things here. It doesn't help that I'm just as easily distracted here as I am in the U.S.

Seeing as how I've been here for awhile I've come to adjust to a lot of the cultural differences from the states. For one, dogs are everywhere here. Now I know you're probably thinking that dogs are everywhere in the states too, but it's really not the same. For one, here they're always wandering through the streets by themselves. There are no such things as leash laws, and people don't pick up after their dogs so you sometimes have to watch where you step. They also go places they wouldn't be allowed in the states. There are these certain dogs that are always wandering through the cafeteria at my university here. When we first got here, all of us thought wtf? There are dogs in the cafeteria? Now, it's just part of the daily life at UNA (Universidad Nacional Autónoma).

So while I enjoy my classes here, they can get a bit boring. This isn't because the subjects themselves are boring, but because the classes are so long. Here every class is a block class. So while you only have the class once a week, each time you meet it's for 2.5 - 3 hours. Luckily most everyone here, including the professors, are on tico time, so the classes usually start anywhere from 15-30 minutes late. However, that's still only a dent in a 3 hour class...

While I have adjusted a lot to the country, some things, like mutant ants, I don't think I'll ever quite get used to. I swear the ants here are on some kind of acid. They are either ridiculuously huge, or incredibly smart. I once put a coffee mug down and an hour later they were swarming it!

So because of classes and such I haven't really gotten out to see much of Costa Rica since orientation, although last Friday I went on the IFSA trip to Cerro Dantas, a forest animal reserve near Heredia. While I definitely enjoyed myself, I don't think I've been that muddy or tired in awhile, we walked for 5+ hours up and down hills. Also, the boots I borrowed had absolutely no traction so needless to say I fell alot...

Now, I don't know who in the U.S. told me that Costa Ricans have an easy Spanish accent to understand, but they don't. Maybe they meant easier than Argentinian accents? Because that I could understand. For the first couple of weeks I got here I had to watch people's mouths when they spoke (discreetly of course). It was particularly hard when I was talking to people for the first time. Now I'm getting better at understanding the accent, which of course I'm extactic about. I've really started to fall in love with Latin America and thinking that perhaps I did choose the right major after all :)

¡Hasta luego!