Another week here in Costa Rica has come and gone. It seems that every week I am here the experiences and memories are becoming greater. I am settling in just a little bit more than before and the end is nearing.

In the office, I am getting a little bit more to do and it is all becoming a little more comfortable. I am getting better at pulling different information and I am getting better at maneuvering Excel. I really enjoy what I am doing here because I have always liked working with numbers and I can really analyze different aspects of the business. It is really rewarding what I am doing because some of the work I am doing is going straight to the VP and senior manager to work on key areas of focus for the last quarter of the fiscal year. I am so thankful for this experience and for everything that I am learning.

I played soccer two nights this week and it is still very fun and exciting being in an environment where soccer is big.

This week was probably the toughest week since I have been here aside from the first weekend because Thanksgiving was this week. I have never been away from home or my family on a major holiday so I was really missing home towards the end of the week. On Thanksgiving I found a hotel that serves Thanksgiving dinner so I went there to somewhat maintain the tradition. It wasn’t a very traditional meal but it was Thanksgiving nonetheless.

Then on the weekend was probably the best time I have had since I have been here in Costa Rica. I went on an overnight white water rafting trip. We started on Saturday morning. We had breakfast then headed to the river. We rafted, stopped a couple times to hike and see the waterfalls and swim, stopped on the river bank for lunch, then ended up at our lodge for the night in the middle of the rainforest. Once we were here we hiked, relaxed, and had dinner before turning it in early for the night.

The second day we all met for breakfast and coffee at 8 am. Then at 9 we all did zip-lining on the property which was extremely beautiful and quite the experience. After that we all got everything packed and ready for the second part of our rafting adventure. This day consisted of class 3 and 4 rapids and they were very exciting. Along the way we stopped and saw a very big and beautiful waterfall. The pictures I took on the rafting trip are still on a waterproof camera that need to be developed. This will be an experience to always remember of my time in Costa Rica. Below is a pic of the group that did the overnight rafting excursion with me. There were two couples from California, one couple from Boston, one couple from France, one couple from Germany, and three people around my age that worked for the company. I am thankful that everyone was super friendly and nice because I was apprehensive about doing the trip by myself but I am very glad that I did.