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These words speak volumes to me right now. That is exactly what Costa Rica has been for me: my fresh air, my step outside.

I've realized that I needed to be out of context for a while...it has allowed me to remember who I am in the first place.

It has reminded me how interesting life is and how communication is so much more than words. 

It has shown me the importance of friendship and being there for the ones who are by your side, even when you aren't sure of where you are or what to do.

I have learned the importance of conversation in feeling like someone understands you and what you are going through.

I've learned that one of the more important things in life is to fill your time with experiences and people that make you happy, just the way you are.

I feel more like myself than ever,

and that is a beautiful feeling.

P.S. My family is on a plane right now, on their way here. I am SO excited!!!!!!! :D It will be so nice to see them.

One of the best things happened today.

And it is something that I have been wanting to happen ever since I started learning Spanish. I knew that once I could do this, I would be nearly fluent!

Today, as I was walking in the crowded main plaza of San José, I heard just a snippet of conversation between two men, and without even realizing it, I understood what they were saying. This may seem like the smallest accomplishment, but to me it meant so much because I understood something that I wasn't actively listening to. I subconsciously understood it! Only after I had been thinking of my own opinion on what he said did I realize what I had just done. If you think about it, you really have to have an understanding of the language to comprehend something that was spoken quickly, quietly, and not directed at you. I wasn't looking at the man, or watching his mouth move. I was going the opposite direction, barely heard it, but understood it.

Haha maybe that is silly. But I felt really proud of myself.

Granada, Nicaragua

The first weekend of December I went on a 3-day excursion to Nicaragua with my friend, Christina! I had to leave the country for at least 72 hours to renew my visa, so we left early Friday morning and took the 8 hour bus ride to Granada, Nicaragua. The entire trip went very smoothly, and I am so thankful for that.

Granada is such a historical and interesting city! I definitely didn't want to leave. The city was founded in the 1500s by the conquistador Francisco Córdoba, who named it after his home city of Granada, Spain.

It was awesome to see another culture and see the differences and similarities in the food and culture. There is this intense competition between Costa Ricans and Nicaraguans, so it was interesting to hear the other side.

Granada seems to be a much safer city than San José. It was nice to have a lot of people walking around at night because we were able to go out and see the city lit with Christmas lights. The food in Nicaragua was extremely cheap, and delicious!

Churrasco, Rice, and Tostones

Christina in our hostel room

The first morning, we woke up and went over the the Chocolate Museum, where we had an awesome breakfast of cacao and banana pancakes! It was so good.

They had a pet toucan:

Yay for organic chemistry!

I loved traveling with Christina because she was up for doing everything. We walked around the entire city, seeing all of the historic sites and architecture.

All the buildings had the same Spanish style, with tiled roofs and an inner courtyard.

Convent 

Emilia recommended a lot of traditional Nicaraguan dishes for me to try.

Indio Viejo 

We decided to go on 2 tours. The first was to a volcano, called Masaya.

It's an active volcano, so you could see the smoke coming out of the crater!

We were able to see the sunset over the volcano as our tour guide told us about the sacrificial rituals the native tribes used to practice.

Next, we took a night walk into the jungle, where we stood in front of a cave and had bats fly at us. Haha. It was really fun, though! And then we went into a nearby lava tube, which was completely dark except for our flashlights.

The next morning we went with the same tour guide to a small pottery-making town, where a guy showed us the entire process of ceramic making. It was so cool to see the process and I was impressed with how much work goes into a single pot.

Next we went to a lake which used to be a volcanic crater and we went kayaking and swimming! It was so nice! Christina captured it: "Right now, we're spending our semester laying on a dock in the middle of a lake that used to be a volcanic crater, in Nicaragua." :) It was nice to have a friend like her there to enjoy such a surreal moment. I never would have imagined doing some of the things I've done in these past 3 months. It has been an amazing time in my life, and I'm so thankful for that.

Some things just sound better in Spanish

I have some favorite phrases in Costa Rican Spanish, and even though the meaning doesn't translate to English, I think I'm beginning to have an understanding of them. They have such a great sentiment and I love that they are used in daily life.

"Pura Vida"-- This is the national expression. Everyone uses it, in almost every situation. You say it when you answer the phone, after hello. You say it as you get out of a taxi. You say it when you are satisfied with something. It literally means "Pure Life," but that doesn't really capture its meaning. This saying kind of encapsulates the way of life here, and the attitude of the Costa Ricans. I think the only way to understand it is to come visit, and I love that. It seems to be a symbol of how connected the people are here, since you could say it to anyone here and they would understand your sentiment.

"Que te vaya bien"--This is a phrase Emilia yells to me every day as I leave the house. It's like saying "Have a good day!" But it is more of a well-wishing, like saying "I hope that everything goes well for you." I wish there was a way for me to say that to people in English in such a concise way.

"Con gusto"--This means "you're welcome," but I like it so much more because it means literally, "with pleasure." It is so much nicer than the "de nada" I learned in Spanish class in the states. It has a kinder sentiment to me.

"Gordo"--This is a term of endearment that a wife calls her husband. It means "fatso," but in this sense it is really loving. It makes me smile every time I hear it.

"Provecho"--After someone serves you a meal, they always say "provecho," as a way of saying, "enjoy."

Here are some other terms of endearment that people use:
Mi amor
Niña
Hija
Preciosa
Linda

I love that strangers call each other by these nick-names. I'll miss that.

Also, here is what seems to be the theme-song of the trip: (We hear it no matter where we go, and it is really fun to dance to)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-IgCMgqxyM

Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving turned out to be really nice. It was strange to be celebrating without my family because I had never spent a Thanksgiving without them, but being around my friends here definitely made it easier. 

Veritas University threw a Thanksgiving dinner for all of the American exchange students, and the food was DELICIOUS! I was really impressed. We had turkey, green beans, garlic mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, and rolls.

 After eating, we had a latin dancing party! I am really thankful for times like these in my life. It was just pure fun. An open-mouthed-smile kind of night. One of my favorite parts of the night was seeing my 70-something year old cooking teacher dance. She was amazing! She has some moves!! I hope I'm dancing like her when I get to be her age.

 So now the Christmas craze is in full swing here. :)

Puerto Viejo

I was really excited to get to visit the Caribbean coast! Puerto Viejo is a small, laid-back tourist destination, less than an hour away from Panama. 

Our hotel

I woke up early one morning and spent a couple hours reading in this green hammock in the hotel's courtyard. It was so nice! A bunch of the people who went decided to stay in a hostel, which was awesome, but I opted for the private rooms with bug nets.

Here are some pictures of the hostel that most of the kids stayed at, it's called Rocking Jay's. I'd never seen anything like it:

Costa Rica's national slogan, used for pretty much every situation

On Saturday, after an awesome breakfast at a café called Bread and Chocolate, we rented bikes and went on a long ride out to 3 different beaches. Even though it poured on the way back, it was one of the best days ever.

This creeped me out a little:

It was a really fun weekend! 

But the way back was not the smoothest. On the bus ride back on Sunday afternoon we were stopped at a police check point and everyone who did not bring their original passports was told to get off the bus. Pretty much everyone I was with only brought copies of our passports, as our school advised us. 

So we got off the bus, and luckily took all of our things, because the bus that we had just paid for did not wait. The policemen were saying they needed to call the embassy and make sure we were all here legally. We were stuck in this small town, about an hour ride away from restaurants and hotels, and we had to get back for class on Monday morning. 

When the policemen started letting other buses and cars go without checking, we started to suspect they wanted a bribe from us. But we all waited it out, and eventually the policemen said they would just call the embassy and check on a few random passport numbers. Luckily for us, an empty tourist van came by and we were able to get out of there and back home after waiting 4 hours at the checkpoint. 

Overall, it was a great trip, with some pretty interesting experiences at the end. :)

Marine Biology Field Trip

This weekend I had the best biology lab of my life! I got to geek out the entire weekend about biology and animals. We took a 2-day field trip to a small fishing town called  Cuajiniquil, on the northwest coast of Costa Rica.

The area is beautiful, warm, and very rural. It was interesting to stay in an area that has an economy based on something other than tourism.

Fishing boats

The black flags on fishing boats signify that the fishermen use an extremely destructive process to catch fish, in which they use large nets that catch big areas of animals, a lot of which are useless to the fishermen.

The class met Saturday morning and we took a 4-hour bus ride to the town. After lunch, we took boats straight to the beach. We swam and hung out in the sun until around 5 pm, when the tide was at its lowest point. With the low tide, we were able to explore the intertidal zone and find all the animals that are living there. I absolutely loved it. 

When you first look at the rocks, it looks like nothing is alive, but the closer you look, and the more rocks you look under, the more you find out that what seemed like a dead area is teeming with life. The organisms are really good at hiding because they need to in the exposed tidal pools.

So here is some of what we found (and were able to hold!)

My professor holding a puffer fish

Chiton and Sea Cucumbers

Sea Urchin

Tunicates

Crab

Brittle Star

Sea Snail

Hermit Crabs

We looked around the tidal pools until the sun went down then took a boat back to our hotel in the dark. The hands-on experience was awesome. It was really cool to be able to identify the organisms we have been studying in class. 

The next morning we got up early to go snorkeling in a coral reef! We took motorboats out to the reef and snorkeled for several hours, taking notes on these underwater notepads they gave us. We suited up in wet suits to avoid getting stung by jellyfish (which wasn't very effective--I still got stung several times). (Here come some embarrassing pictures)

A sea egg

Haha, anyway, it was a great trip. I think I might have caught the research bug-- It would be so cool to do some research before I apply to medical school, even if just for a summer.

I'm just over halfway through the semester!