So, from the time I got here last Sunday through this past Saturday, I was in study abroad orientation with the other 20 very nice ISEP students. We had lectures, signed up for classes, had tours of the Universidad Nacional’s campus, Heredia, and San Jose, and also went on a two night, three day “excursion” to the Selva Verde Lodge in Sarapiqui. It was a really nice retreat place in the jungle where they had nature walks and many retirees. On the trip we also went to a pineapple farm and ate the most delicious pineapple on the face of the planet, saw how chocolate was made and ate some muy muy rico chocolate, and went horseback riding for an unanticipated two and a half hours in the blazing sun, resulting in some major skin coloration/tanning/burning.
The trip was really nice, but it was weird sometimes being a tourist. All of my travels have been to visit family or pilgrimage, so I was a bit put off sometimes by the touristy parts, like driving by through the fields of pineapple and watching/photographing people do back breaking labor. I wasn’t crazy about that, but it was a nice place.
Sunday was the presidential election here! The whole country was having a party, it seemed. Politics here is much more…informal? Personal? Happy? Exciting? I don’t know. Maybe photos will show the mood better. There were even voting places for children so they could get used to voting! It was fun. The results: Costa Rican has its first female president, Laura Chinchilla! Interesting stuff.
Monday was the first day of classes here in Costa Rica, so I, naturally, went to class after a very long break from schoolwork. It’s sad, but my classes are pretty good. I’m taking Advanced Spanish and Costa Rican Culture, Awareness of Gender Studies and the Androcentric Culture, Fundamentals of Sustainable Human Development, Development and Culture in Latin America, and Education and Development. I better be an expert in development by the end of the semester.
I don’t think I’m really feeling culture shock yet, but I do miss knowing my way around and knowing people on campus, etc. Having been to El Salvador, a lot of the linguistic and cultural barriers aren’t as tough for me as for others, but I’m still not able to always express myself like I would like to. Sunday morning there is a reflections gathering for one of the nearby clusters, and one of the Baha’is couples here in Heredia offered to bring me! I’m so excited to meet all the Baha’is and start serving and participating in community life. Me hace mucha falta.
Well, there you have it, large blocks of intimidating text. delivered as promised :)
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