At this point in time I am starting my second week here at Tech Data in San Jose, Costa Rica. This first week as been a whirlwind of new and exciting experiences. I have experienced two weekends and a full week of work.

The culture… The culture here is very loud, friendly, and passionate. Everyone that I have met here in the office has been extremely friendly and more than willing to help a “gringo” (person from U.S.). Soccer or futbal is huge here. If they are not watching it they are playing and if they are not playing they are talking about it.

The location… First and foremost, the weather is amazing! A high of 75 during the day and it gets down to about 65 during the night. The low is important because the apartment I have has no air conditioning and contributes to very comfortable nights. Some parts of the city, compared to U.S. standards may be considered dirty but with a positive outlook you can see the beauty in it all. I am surrounded by mountains which is a great change when being from Florida.

Traffic… Traffic gets its own section because it is something else. Something I have learned so far is that no matter how nice Costa Ricans are once they enter their cars it all goes out the window. Lets just say I am thankful a co worker is driving me to and from work everyday because I think I would have  a heart attack if I had to drive in this city. The motorcycles weave in and out of traffic and basically do what they want. If you have your turn signal on and want to get over, GOOD LUCK! Unless you make eye contact with the other driver they will most likely not let you in. It definitely gets your heart pumping!

The FOOD!… I am a sucker for good food and it is all around me here. From the local small bakeries, to small authentic restaurants, to the food at work… it is GREAT! Another perk is that I get a free lunch my entire stay here while at work which you can’t beat.

Misconceptions… I should have brought better walking shoes because I did not realize how much I would be walking. Also, you would think that it would be cheap to live here but it isn’t. Shopping at the local supermarket is almost twice as expensive than back home. Costa Rica does not produce anything so everything is more expensive.

At work so far I have met all the leadership from the VP to all the managers and supervisors. My task here is to help the Business Analyst with tracking productivity of the different departments so they know if they are being productive or not. Today we will really start getting into the project and making some progress.

Here is to a great next week and the remaining 5 weeks I have here in Costa Rica! More to come later…