Random Bus Entryy - "Already Famous" is the real,more interesting entry! read that one first! haha

You know, for a while now, i’ve been workin on my patience – workin on being more patient in almost every kind of situation. But I’m not gonna lie – Costa Rica really does try my patients quite a bit! As they tell us – “to you guys – the people from the United States – TIME IS MONEY…” Well yeah, okay that’s how we act, I understand, and I understand I need to adapt to “tico time” but come on – AN HOUR in a restaurant waiting for a bowl of soup?!?!! Tico time – does NOT esxcuse that. Or does it? Since in almost every restaurant I’ve been to (minus the one where I live – my host mother’s cooking might as well be considered a restaurant cuz its sooo delicious!!!) has taken over an hour just to order a simple ANYTHING. ..chicken fingers, soup, some rice…anything. It does seem a bit ridiculous. (sigh) But – I’m in Costa Rica. Guess I shouldn’t be complaining.

Though those bugs in my bed of the hotel on Friday – I do believe – was something quite reasonable to “complain” about.

Well, I’m on the bus headed back to San Jose with everyone right now. We just stopped for lunch (hence why I just wrote a paragraph of a complaint about the service)

Ooh ooh , while I’m at it – the complaining I mean – Please excuse me while I add one more. And this is extreme and has become quite a pet-peeve and slightly offends me so I may tell half of this “story” in caps. TELL ME WHY all of the Ticos speak to us in ENGLISH – WHEN WE SPEAK TO THEM FIRST IN SPANISH??!?!!! Today, it went like this:
“Cuanto cuesta el agua” (How much does water cost) - me
“small or large?” – waiter
“pequeño” – me
“seven hundred” – waiter
“Okay, yo quiero el sandwich de pollo con una botella pequeña de agua” – me
then I don’t know what else he said – but when I’m speaking to him in Spanish whyyyyy is he speaking back in ENGLISH?!?!?! EVVVERRYYYY Tico does that here and it’s really annoying and offennsivvveee.

Well okay, so I think I will tell you that along with patience, I’m also working on trying to complain less about things – about everything!!! Hahaah

Uhmmmm so I already told you all about the beach and the tour and me being famous and blah blah blah – so I guess now there’s nothing more to tell. We don’t have anymore trips with ISA for the rest of the semester except the one to Panama in the end of March – so I’m not sure what we’re all going to be doing for the rest of the weekends – but I think we’re hoping to go to the beaches a couple times more and some other random places that I don’t know of yet! Hmmm.

Okay now- time for homework.
Blaaaahhh.
Bye byee

"Already Famous"

I know it's been a while but things have been pretty busy this week! With school and activites and stuff. Well, I'm writing you now from the hammock outside of my hotel room which sits on beachfront property of Manuel Antonio. To my right are two giant iguanas jus chillin watchin me write this and there were a few others watching us swim at the pool - near the restaurant - which is looking out at the beach.

This hotel isn't as nice as the other ones we stayed at:: Found 25-30 little teeny bugs all over my comforter, no TVs (which, who needs a TV while you're at the beach in CR?!) humid room and hotttt. BUT either way, its still nice, and ocean front, and the weather is awesome - minus slightly humid - but everything is beautiful.

I became famous yesterday with the local "Ticos" here on the beach. I'm known as "Corona" hahaha because of my corona swimsuit. I introduced myself and started playin beach soccer with em - then you know, jus played my game and before you know it, they saw the superstar that I was, and walkin down the beach today they were all askin if i was going to play today. Well, too bad we're leaving so early today - so I told them I can't play - and one of the guys said GOOD, that it's better I don't play because i'm good ;) hahaha But well, I guess I can't say i'm surprised. hehe ;) Now, I hope to return to Manuel Antonio some other weekend if possible - so that I can find them and play again! It was alot of fun.

Anyways, after playing soccer with them - and hangin out at the beach for a little while - we left for our Dolphin Sunset Tour at 1pm. (okay on "Tico-time" it was more like 1:30!) and then went out on a catamaran for a while - looked for some dolphins - found a good few of them (Just found a lime green spider crawling on me as I type UGHH!!!! This is one thing i DONT like about here!!! Lime green or not! ALL bugs are ewwwwwww...maaaaannn - oh and there was a giant cockroach on our wall Friday night too!) right, dolphin tour - so we saw some dolphins and then went to a little reef area and snorkeled for a very short time. (Did i mention how GORGEOUS our crew was?!...oh right..Dad's reading this. OOPS! ;) hehe) well, it was definitely fun - because this tour is the one that everyone did so we were all together - and they served free rum punch! it was deliciouss...)

So we saw dolphins, snorkeled a bit, they served kabobs for dinner, along w fresh fruit, then headed back to shore - went back to the hotel, freshened up, then headed to the beach for a little bonfire. Went to sleep early - round 11:30 - if not 11:00. Then woke up around 7. ate breakfast, went to the beach for a short bit, went for a walk (That's where all my tico friends found me and asked if i was goin to play soccer w em again today - they were mostly older men - like late 20's i assumed - very nice - annnd one told me i could stay the week at his house so i could stay at the beach and play soccer. hahaha. he was only joking of course. So then i walked a little bit - and i guess one of the guys is a surf instructor - told me to come bak and he'd teach me how to surf. Man - now all i need to do is make better friends w the bartender and i'll be set - free place to stay - free surf lessons - free soccer - then free drinks!!! hahaha

Okay, well, I have to get goin - we're leavin in 20 minutes and i still need to shower and pack my stuff up. If i think of anything more interesting to write while on the bus - i'll type it up and add it tonight when I get home.
Hope everythings all well and not too freezing in the states!
Hugs and Kisses to everyone!
PURA VIDA!
-Britt

The "Mystical Volcano"

As a friend in the group titled his photo album - I only found it equally relevant to title this entry así (the same way). "Mystical Volcano" meaning the volcano that we all went to see but so far no one from any of the groups has actually seen it!

So the trip started saturday morning at 7am. (Doesn't even seem so early to me anymore!!! Thinking of next month where my earliest class is 1pm and some days i have NONE just seems so strange now. haha) Well, we took the bus to LA FORTUNA. (The waterfall) Stopping for both breakfast and lunch on the way. Soon after lunch we arrived to the place where we made the short hike to the waterfall (down"hill" aka. down like 200+ SUPER STeEEEEP steps!) swam a bit in the waters around the fall, and then (the "best" part) CLiMBED back up the super steep steps....to go to the hotel.

To our surprise, we arrived at the top to find that our bus is broke, only to result in an hour and a half to 2 hour wait for other buses to take us to the hotel. Needless to say, by the time we got to the hotel, it was dinner time. But we had just finished eating LUNCH because of our schedule being so off! SO instead, we all went swimming - (There were 2 pools, both with slides, one heated and with a wet bar. It was SUPER awesome.) After swimming, went to dinner. After dinner, we out for a bit to a club - in search of some Ticos to teach us more salsa and merengue. After finding a few, we became a bit bored and returned to the hotels at a decent hour (well, MY idea of a decent hour) ;) hehe.

The next morning, breakfast was at 7am. Some people went on excursions, but alot of others did not. After breakfast we walked around the resort to the "crocadile" farm - which consisted of like 5 crocadiles, way too big for their tiny environment provided!!! The resort also had a butterfly farm, ant farm, and a frog farm (that wasn't open)

After exploring that portion of the resort, we all walked back to our rooms, i took a nap, and the others went to the city for a short little hike before meeting up again at 12 for lunch/to depart LA FORTUNA.

The trip overall was a bit dissapointing for most people I believe. It was such a short time - since it was only saturday - sunday morning where half of the time was spent traveling. I think everyone would have enjoyed it a bit more if we left on friday, had friday night to hang out, saturday to explore, and leave early sunday morning. It was just too short of a trip and most people didn't see almost anything.

This weekend is our trip to Manuel Antonio (FINALLY A BEACH!!!) hehe.
So we'll see if this one will be a bit more interesting and exciting - which from what I hear - it should be.
That's all for now.
-Britt

Hoy no hay mucho que contarles. (Today, there is not much to tell you all)

This first sentence is for my father: I JUST RAN 30 minutes NON-STOP! WOOHOOO!!!

Now the rest :P

There's really nothing new to write about since this weekend - but figured i'd write anyways just to let everyone (that wants to know) that i'm still alive, and still lovin Costa Rica. (minus the class part - it keeps giving me a headache!) :(

Well, this weekend is our trip to Arenal, the volcano, and La Fortuna waterfalls and hot springs. We're staying in ANOTHER super sweet hotel that has a Pool Bar!! The pictures of the hotel are so neat! (of course the only thing from the bar i'll be ordering is watterrr.....or maybe one piña colada..) ;)

Anyways, like i said, there's not much to write annnnd well I have some stupid debate to prepare for, for my ecology class tomorrow. So I must get off the computer now and go get that done, as well as some other homework before dinner in a few hours. (This "homework" word....is beginning to give me a whole different opinion about this "Paradise" I'm living in! haha just kidding.

OH! Last thing: Please keep my friend in your prayers. My friend, Diana, has been in Haiti since last saturday doing missions work and obviously was effected by the terrible earthquake that struck yesterday. Though we have received word that she and her group are all just fine, their trip I'm sure is now going to bring upon even more work, along with many other types of emotions and sights they may not have been prepared for.

Thanks!
okay last last thing. (This is like me leaving the house, coming back 3 times before I finally have everything....Well, here, my last thought or sentence, is almost neeevver my last!) haha. But i'll be away again for the weekend so it might not be until Sunday night or Monday that you see anything new in here - unless something super cool or super interesting happens before satuday! lol.

Adios!

¡Tuanis!

Friday we left for a 5 hour bus trip (turning out to be 6 or 6.5 hours!) to the beautiful mountains of Monteverde where we stayed in a 4-star hotel that was on a tonnns of acres of land (we had to get a shuttle from our building where we slept to the restaurant where we ate.) We arrived Friday evening around 7, ate dinner, then some people went out, but I decided to stay in and rest up for Saturday's events.

Saturday morning, we woke up around 6:30am , got dressed, grabbed our stuff, and left for breakfast at the restaurant followed by a short drive to the place where we would be doing the Canopy tour. The canopy tour consisted of 11 zip lines, 1 repel, 1 hanging bridge, and 1 tarzan swing. It was all a blast. I also came to find that me and my mother have yet ANOTHEr thing in common - we both got stuck on the zip lines! on the first 2, i braked too soon and too hard so i stopped before I made it to the platform and had to turn around and "monkey" my way to the platform. Talk about a workout! (maybe i should have played damsel in distress and had the cute tour guy come out and pull me in ;) instead) hahaha. KIDDDINNGGG! (kind of! =P) Anyways, I think the most fun of that was the tarzan swing - which was basically they hook you on to this cable, and push you off a 50 foot or higher platform and you swing on the cable like tarzan! I tried to make the Tarzan noise as i dropped but it too quickly turned into a laugh, possibly a teeny scream? but i think more just a laugh. I got someone to take a video of it, so now i just need to find it.

On the last zipline, we went in pairs. We were connected, and instructed not to break - giving us two free hands. one to hold on, and the other to take videos! Well, the friend I went with decided to break while being in FRONT which places his hand inbetween his pully and mine, resulting in his finger/glove getting caught in the pulley. What a genius. hahaha. Well, I only laugh at it now because he wasn't seriously hurt, thanks to the glove!

All in all, that tour was a blast.

After the canopy tour finished, some of the group went back to the hotel, a few went horseback riding, while 3 other girls and I jumped onto some ATVs and went for a rocky ride. I had never ridden ATVs before then, but definitely feel like I left the tour as a pro. (after getting stuck in the mud and flipping the ATV - which, goodness, theres ANOTHER thing my mother and I have in common - she flipped the snowmobile last year, and this year i'm out flipping ATVs. Wonder what else I'm going to come to find through my adventures to have in common with my mom! hehe) Anyways, I'm getting tired - it's been a long day, so i will need to write more tomorrow about the trip if I decide to, because i'm going to make the rest quick.

After ATVs we went back to the hotel and layed out by the pool. Then showered, played pool inside, drank a piña colada, then went to the room to shower and change for dinner. After dinner, we all got dressed and went out for a few hours of dancing :)

Then came home, slept, woke up at 7am for breakfast only to celebrate the fact that it was raining - meaning we could go back to the rooms and sleep because the morning hike was cancelled due to the weather. God was lookin' out for us. We were all soooo tired from the night before! ;) hehe. and the hike would have been slightly torturous. So after breakfast, my roomate and I went back to sleep, woke up, packed up our stuff, we loaded the bus, went to lunch, then left the beautiful mountains of Monteverde only to end up back in San Jose to go home and prepare for another week of many adventures.

And now all I can say is, goodnight. 8-)
-:- Britt -:-

Estoy muerta (I am dead)

Dear Friends & Family,

I will have to do this entry tomorrow.
My entire body is exhausted and tired resulting in zero energy to even type on the computer much!

after 7 hours in high heels last night, 4 hours of sleep, 4 hours of class, 2 hours of soccer, 1.5 hours of walking the city. 1.5 meals due to excessive activities providing no free time to eat, I have exhausted every bone, muscle, and cell in my body.

And as I write this, I pack my bookbag to sit in yet another class, for 2 hours, followed by 1.5 hours of dance lessons. (We'll see if I make it to the lessons.)

For now, hold tight.
A new entry will come soon enough.
-Britt

:-P

-4? -5? what day is it again?

If my days keep up like this i'm going to be dead by the end of the month! Well, guess you can say I've accomplished more in the past 4 or 5 days than i did all last semester! (oops. i forgot my dad might be reading this too!) haha. okay well that's partially a joke. But just to say that i've been doing so much (school for the most part) since ive been here that i havnt been sitting around and doing nothing just about EVER like i do at home, which of course doesn't surprise me, and is definitely to my likings. Maybe when i come back home I won't be as lazy anymore! Or wait. Which home are we talking about? By the time I come back I'm going to have one more place to add to the list of places I can call "home"! Wonderful right?!

Well, I have definitely been blessed, for many things in my life, but in this case for having the opportunity to do something like this. I expect that by the time I return to the states I will have learned so many things, ideas, lifestyles, cultural differences, developed new personal characteristics, etc. that I can't imagine I will be the same person! Guess we'll see.

So today started at 6:30am. (They're killin me w these early wake-ups!) Ate breakfast (pineapple, OJ, bread and jelly) made a sandwich for lunch and went to class. after class ended at 12, went to a meeting, only to return to class again until 3! (Dad-you'll be happy to know that attendance is MANDATORY, and if we miss more than ONE class in each course, we will fail it. maaaaannnn! :-P) Well, after class I told a bunch of people to get up at 3:30 to come out and play soccer. Only 2 guys showed up. No big deal. We juggled for a while til 3 little boys came on the courts playing around (when i say little i mean little....11 year olds.) We were about to go home but decided to invite them to play. They agreed. We split the teams (as best we could with 3 adults and 3 kids) and played for a little bit. I'll tell you - the latino kids i think started playing soccer while they were still in their mama's tummy. I think God didn't want them to be bored so He let them play with some sort of organ that is shaped like a soccer ball. Maybe that's what the kicking really is in the mother's tummy! Who knows ;)

All in all, including the walk to and from my house to change to the school to the courts back home, was about 2 hours (its about 10 minutes walk, so we played for a good hour and a half)

Now, I am SUPER SUPER SUPER exhausted, just showered, about to eat dinner, and then ... well, going to go out for a little bit with some friends, even though i am SOOO tired! It will be my first night out and I really want to go out with friends. So we're going to go by taxi into a part of the city for a little bit, and most likely come back early so i can wake up on time for my 8am class (Dad - you should also know that 3 tardies = 1 absense so we can't really be late either. Want me to stay another semester cuz of their "awesome" rules? hahaha) Well, its dinner time, as I always end these things...so i have to go.

Hasta luego
-Britt

-3 Días...Today = the most tiring EVERRR!!!

So, today I woke up at 7am...(that was the latest I could wake up WITHOUT needing 30 mnutes to shower and do my hair. Tomorrow I have to wake up at 6:30 because I wont get home til late and will have to shower in the morning. (Sorry for all the typo-os but the keys on this keyboard is SUPER hard to push for some weird reason....hmm...

Well, so i woke up, got ready, didnt time my morning right so only had 5 minutes to eat breakfast before leaving for school. Had my first class 8-12pm. then one hour break where we went to the pizzeria (again...which i think will be the last time because its not even all that delicious, only the closest thing that we know about so far) Then went back to class from 1-3. Then I went to the registrar to fix my schedule because it was alll messed up. spent about an hour there. Went through a list of SEVEN (7) classes before finding one with times and days that didnt conflict with my other classes! That was a pain. Theennn I walked home, talked to my Tican mama, went to the mercado with her to buy stuff so i can pack sandwiches (Cost about $10 for turkey, mayo, 1 loaf of bread, bandaids, and some peanuts) Then she heated up some dinner for me (costa rican hot dogs kind of, rice, this stuff call yuca that tastes like potatoes, annnd some juice. Then i got on the computer for about 5 minutes, and ran out the door...(or well, no, my tican mom drove me cuz i didnt want to take a taxi and even tho the sun was still up for the most part she didnt want me to walk....well...this is gonna be really annoying if i gotta take a stupid taxi to class every night...no it wont cost more than like $0.50 but still, i love walking and dont wanna taxi every day. oh well. gonna look for the school bus schedule and maybe ride that.)

WELL,now its time for class again (Tropical Ecology 6-8pm) and then after, Salsa/Latino dance class 8-9:30 (optional, but i need it!!! hehe) after that, gonna quickly do my homework, and then sleeeeeepp! and do it all over again tomorrow.


phewww that was alot to type in like 2 seconds!ahh

well would love to type more, but as always "estoy de prisa" (i'm in a hurry)
Hasta Luego!
-:- Britt -:-

-2 días [Casi una Tica ;) ]

So let me start by saying that my Tican mother is cooking dinner and the smells is all over my room and it smells SOOOO delicious!

Then let me say, that I am very glad I chose a study abroad program that allows me to stay with a host family. There are other students here who are through different programs and are staying either in hotels, dorms, or some other form of housing that is not with a Tican family (again, for those that didn't read the last blog: Tico, Tica, and Tican refer to the people of Costa Rica) Staying with a host family (not only means I dont have to make my bed everyday and get home-cooked meals twice a day....hahah) also means that when I come home throughout the day, I come to a family that is speaking the language of the area and who with everything they do show me little by little different characteristics of the Tican culture. Not to mention my family is incredibly sweet and kind and I feel very comfortable staying where I am.

Today, I woke up at 8:00am (9am your time) showered, ate breakfast, and went to school for yet ANOTHER 3 hours of orientation. (which included our 3rd set of a 15-page packet of "safety information" -okay yes thats a bit exaggerated, but...just to emphasize how much they have informed us of how to be safe and careful....over and over again, which should make those of you who are reading this and are family, feel much more comfortable about me being here! hehe)

After orientation, we waited 45 minutes for a public bus that would fit 18 of us, to take us to Downtown (which would have been a 10-15 minute walk...let time than it took to wait for the bus!) Well, we walked around downtown, just to see it, went to the bank to take out money (colones) finally! and then back to the school to check our placement scores (well to see which class they put us in for the language modules class)

Something that took my likings and caught my eye right away was the extracurricular activities offered, first & most important being FUTBOOLLLLLL mondays and thursdays from 12:30-2pm WOOHOO!!!!! Then latino dance classes tues/thursdays from 8-9:30 pm. both of these things are free.

Then you get my class schedule which includes my Advanced grammar/conversation class 8am-12pm mon-friday (for the first month) Marine biology in the evenings twice a week, a translation class twice a week, and the other 2 are still TBA.

Classes start tomorrow.

GREAT. My vacation was supposed to last until like the end of January like everyone else! hmm...wait, I'm going to school in Costa Rica....so it still IS a vacation!!! hehehe

Well, Its dinnertime, yet again. So if not tonight, I will write again tomorrow or the next day.

Buenas Noches Amigos!

>

-1 days

So the countdown is finally over, and I have been here for almost one full day. Since leaving the United States I think almost every type of emotion possible has come at me at full force: Sadness, eagerness, curiosity, excitement, homesick-ness (yes already in a day!...but only when thinking of how "long" I will be here!), etc.

It was a long day of flying, paperwork, carrying around luggage, and waiting, until I finally arrived to my Tican home, full of a very sweet woman who will be my Tican mother, a man greeted us at the door - my Tican father, and two beautiful girls 13 and 16 who are my Tican sisters.

For those of you that DONT know, "Tico" is the term used to the people here in Costa Rica. (hence the name of my blog! hehe) Tic-O is used for the men, and Tic-A is used for the women.

The country is beautiful, so far, only in its own way. I am staying in a house in something maybe like the suburbs of the city of San Jose. Downtown, is about a 20 minute walk (I think!) I haven't seen much going on yet in the town and have seen very few people around my neighborhood - until we walked into downtown of course is when I saw everyone!

Today, I woke up at 7:30am (8:30 your time) which, either way that I look at it, is still MUCCCHHH earlier than what I am used to! Me and my Tican mother walked to the ISA office where we had our orientation meeting at 8:30. We arrived, at 8:30. No one was there! So she called the woman who is the head of the organization, only to find that the piece of paper on the refridgerator that said to be there at 8:30 was wrong, and we aren't supposed to arrive until 9:30. Great! That was one more hour I could have been sleeping! Oh well. I used the time inbetween (we walked 15 minutes back home) to finish unpacking my one suitcase (the 2nd one did not come with my plane and the airport delivered it to the house tonight..) and sent a few emails and what-not.

Orientation was super long. (as expected) We had that until about 1pm. After which we ...... oooh I just got called out for dinner. Hold tight and I'll finish this after 8-)