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Hello all,
I know I haven't been blogging as much as I would like to since having arrived in Costa Rica, but everything has been going so fast. Since ariving I have toured the program's (Beyond Study Abroad) office, met my host family (mi madre Gloria), and a lot of other things. So much has happened and I want to get caught up to what I'm presently doing, so I am going to do it over the next few blog entries.
When I arrived, Josh Erickson, the program director picked me up and we picked up a couple other Beyond students and another program director, Danyal. Turns out that Heather Kuch, another OWU student, is here at the program during the time myself, Erika Reese, and Erin Vassar are here. After arriving at the office, we had a quick orientation session and then got some food at a local food stand. After that, we returned to the office and Josh took Heather and me to meet our host families.
I am living with Gloria, an older woman, an another woman that lives with her that I have little contact with. I have my own room and bed. Gloria, Heather, and I had an hour-long conversation the first night...all in spanish. Turns out that Gloria understands very little English and speaks even less... However, my Spanish-speaking skills will greatly improve. I woke up the next day at 6 o'clock to shower and eat breakfast. This consisted of beans, eggs, fresh tortillas, bread, two slices of pineapple, and coffee. At 715 we had one of the program's student interns take us on the bus and show us which to take to get to the office and the university. Bus fare is about 210 to 270 colones, which brings me to my first cultural difference. The currency is the Colon or colones. They exchange at about a rate of 500 colones to $1. Additionally, the standard of living is much lower so I have found that things are less expensive than the US. I bought a large Gatorade today for 850 colones to give some perspective. Yesterday, I bought a fresh coconut for 200 colones. They sell them with a pick axe hole in them to drink the fresh coconut water.
I'm losing focus for this blog session, but I hope to be back tomorrow to continue catching up.
-MM, Pura Vida
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