Hola from Costa Rica!

SPC has about a week left here in Costa Rica and I can’t explain how sad I and all my classmates are! It feels like just yesterday I was timidly saying hello to my host mother and now she is helping me write letters in Spanish. I want to tell you about how humbling this whole experience was. Not only do you grow to appreciate the things you have in The States more but you also gain such amazing bonds with all of your classmates. Going into this program I knew no one and was a little scared at first but now, with one week left I don’t know how I’m going to leave these people! Not only do I appreciate having a car more but I appreciate the small things like hot water for my shower, being able to flush toilet paper, my full sized bed, being able to do laundry whenever I want, and most importantly I appreciate my mom more who I missed so much during this trip! I’m so thankful for her and my dad for helping me make this studying abroad trip worth my while! After a long week at ILISA (the school we attend in Costa Rica) all of us liked to go somewhere for the weekend just to get out of the city.

Last weekend we went white water rafting and zip lining! It was so fun and pretty! We were white water rafting and then we all jumped out to swim and when we were getting helped back on to the raft my camera detached from my life vest and fell into the rapids! And if you ever been white water rafting then you know that the water is crazy and there’s no way to stay in one place! As soon as I got back into the raft I noticed my camera was gone and I couldn’t believe it! I quickly jumped back into the water and must have been searching for my camera for at least 20 minutes with a couple of others…there was nothing we could do we had to go on so I sadly got back onto the raft leaving my camera behind. Once we were off the river we had to hop into a van so it could take us back to where we started, on the way back to the base my rafting instructor hopped out of the van and we drove on…The bus driver then told us that my instructor went to go look for my camera…all I could think is “Why? No way he would ever find it in that crazy water!” As we were eating lunch back at the base my rafting instructor came up to me and handed me my camera! I couldn’t believe it! I stood up and hugged him so tight! My hero! …alright alright enough of this story!

At the meetings we heard nothing but be careful! Be cautious! And keep you’re belongings close! I heard them and brushed it off just like everyone else because when I saw how crowded San Jose was with people I didn’t think anyone would try to do anything with so many people around until last night…(6/4) I was waiting for a bus downtown after a long night of souvenir shopping, it was about 7pm so it was crazy busy with people trying to get home after a long day at work. Like I said I was waiting for a bus and I was sitting on the bus stop bench and this girl was right next to me (maybe 3cm away) when I stood up because I thought I saw my bus and as soon as I stood up this guy ran pass me and then all I hear is NOOOOOO! When I turned around the girl next to me was running the other way after the guy who had ran pass me. She stopped running and all I saw were her headphones dangling and no phone then I saw her start to cry! He had stolen her phone right in front of everyone and no one even tried to stop the man! It was the saddest thing ever! It was not my intention to scare you by telling you this story, my intention was to show you that these types of things do really happen! Even in front of a whole bunch of people!

If there’s one thing you can take from my blog I hope it would be the truth, there are good times and bad times to every situation and all you can do is grow from it and learn from it. Overall studying abroad is something I will look back on for the rest of my life and I will think of all the great memories and friends I made through this amazing experience!