Day 1: Monday, January 31, 2011
I woke up at 4am for my 9am flight out of Pittsburgh. My two checked bags weighted 45 and 50 pounds, a very close call. I did have to get a body scan and then a pat down of my back pockets and then my hands wiped to test for residue. It all seemed a little crazy to me. I thought it was either or but, apparently not in my case. My plane out of Pittsburgh was delayed first because of maintenance checks and then from the deicing the wings of the plane required. My Dad bought my plane ticket with his miles so; I got to sit in first class! The ride to Charlotte was smooth besides my anxiety about missing my next plane. I arrived in terminal B and had to make it to terminal D with only fifteen minutes until the scheduled departure time. Boarding time had started nearly 40 minutes ago! Boy did I power walk it! When I finally found the gate, the line at the front desk was huge, so I had time to catch my breath before the next anxiety attack came at the desk. I showed my passport and ticket to the man behind the counter and he asked me how long I was planning on staying in Costa Rica. I responded with a simple 3½ months. He looked at me as if what I said was wrong. The travel visa you get when you enter the country is only good for 90 days. I explained to him that I was studying abroad and in the middle of the trip, the entire group takes a 10 day trip to Nicaragua. When we enter back into Costa Rica, we get a new 90 day visa. He told me unless I had proof of enrollment and an itinerary of the trip; I wasn’t allowed onto the aircraft. This almost gave me a heart attack. I HAD to be on that plane and I did not have either of the forms he was talking about. Luckily there was another SFS student right next to me having the same issue. He had booted up his laptop and was thumbing through his emails trying to find a document proving his enrollment. After he had found one, the man approved it and gave him back his ticket and passport. The student then offered me the use of his computer so, I wouldn’t have to boot up my own. Who knows how long that would have taken! I finally found an email with a link to a post acceptance form the man behind the counter approved. He handed me back my documents and I was free to go to the gate door.
Once on the plane, we were informed that a traveler trying to get on the plane had problems with his passport and wouldn’t be allowed to board. This meant that we would have to wait for the ground crew to find is his bags bellow and remove them from the aircraft. Overall the flight wasn’t as long as I was expecting, I discovered the lunch in first class was pretty tasty, and I only arrived at San Jose 30 minutes late. Luckily I had no problems getting through customs in Costa Rica. After I got off the plane I found my friend Brandon who was on the same plane as I was. Brandon goes to Virginia Tech, we are in the same department, and he is studying abroad in a different program this semester. We made our way to find our bags and our rides. Having found my bags I left Brandon to nervously search for my group. Once I fully exited the airport and spotted the SFS sign, the nerves subsided. I met the group and once everyone arrived we all boarded the bus to Atenas.
The rest of the day consisted of a quick gide of the center, ice breakers led by the Student Affairs Manager (SAM), and my first Costa Rican dinner. One of the ice breakers was called Human Bingo. Everyone got a card with various characteristics in each square. The goal of the game was to find another person with that characteristic and add their name to the square. The first person with their entire card filled, wins! It was a good way to get to know the students and their names. I got my room assignment and three roommates, and went to bed soon after I strung up my mosquito net. Sleep was much needed.
Day 2: Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Every day at the center breakfast is a 7am, lunch is at noon, and dinner is at 6pm. We also have RAP (reflection, announcements, and physicality) everyday at 8am. Today we had a tour of the center and a tour of Atenas. We got introduced to our professors and the other staff at the center. We also took our Spanish placement tests. It was a completely oral test so that the group could be assessed and spilt up for class according to their level of Spanish. My Spanish was very poor and I’m assuming I will be in level one. I do think the group is spilt up pretty evenly between the three possible groups though. That night some people went into town but a few of us, me included, stayed in for movie night. We watched Toy Story 3. I had never seen it and I thought it was very good with many humorous parts.
Day 3: Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Today we had introductions to three of our classes; Natural Resource Management (NRM), Language (LANG), and Topical Ecology (TE). We also had to take a swim test in order to swim in the pool. The pool at the center is very small and only four feet deep. The swim test consisted of swimming four lengths of the pool. Very simple. I think the main reason for this was not for our safety in the pool but, for when we go to the beach. Riptides are very common down here and they wanted to make sure we knew how to swim. The SAM also told us how to identify a riptide and how to swim out of one. In the evening we were briefed for our first field trip on which we left for the next day.
Day 4: Thursday, February 3, 2011
Breakfast this morning was at 5:30am! We got on the bus at 6:30am and left for Nogal. The bus ride was about three hours long with rough roads. We finally arrived at the Chiquita plantation and were spilt up into two groups. My group went out into the field first and got a tour of the plantation. We were shown the entire process of how a banana gets from the tree to our grocery stores. After lunch we were given a guest lecture on how Chiquita has been improving their environmental and community impacts. We all loaded on to the bus again and drove to Tirimbina. This was were the field station we stayed at was.
Day 5: Friday, February 4, 2011
Immediately after breakfast we had directed research (DR) class and then ECON in the outdoor classroom. It was a lot like the one at the center and overlooked a beautiful little river. After lunch we took the bus to the Tirimbina Biological Reserve headquarters. This was the beginning point for our hike though the rainforest back to the Tirimbina field station. The hike took a little over three hours; we stopped a lot to talk about things. My group’s leader was the ecology professor, which I was very thankful for. After we made it make to the station, we ate dinner and then went on a little night hike. This was just down the road a little ways to the pond. (and when I say road I mean the grass/gravel downward slope of a road.) Here we saw some red eyed tree frogs and a really big frog in which I forget the name of.
Day 6: Saturday, February 5, 2011
This morning I woke up extra early with half of the students to do some bird catching with the ecology professor. We only caught one bird because it started raining soon after the nets were put up. The bird we caught was the national bird of Costa Rica. After breakfast we took the bus to Demasa where we received a brief tour of the heart of palm plantation that was located there. I had thought that this was going to be similar to the Chiquita tour but, it was not. Once at the plantation we took the bus on a very bumpy road to the back of the plantation. As I walked off the bus, the smell of manure was a blast to the face. We proceeded to stand in the roofed outdoor area that held several huge piles of steaming compost. There we received a brief lecture about the plantation and why they use the compost. However, I thought it was not brief enough because, the speaker spoke Spanish. This meant that one of our professors had to translate the entire lecture to us part by part. Luckily when this was all over we got back on the bus to drive back to SFS. During this ride I did get motion sick and felt bad for the rest of the night once back at the center. I called it an early night.
Day 7: Sunday, February 6, 2011
Today was pretty chill. None of the meals are scheduled on Sundays; it’s kind of a free for all with the leftovers. I got to sleep until 7:30! Some students went to the beach and some went into Atenas early in the day. I stayed at the center to start on the reading for Monday. At about 4pm two other girls and I took a Taxi into Atenas. It was my first taxi ride here and my lack of Spanish made me nervous. Luckily one of the other girls had much better Spanish then me and new what to ask. Once in Atenas, the ride was only about five minutes, we bought ice cream and found our way to a store so my friend could look for things she needed. Almost everything is closed on Sundays, which is our only day off. I have a feeling this will create major problems. We then made our way over to the sports bar where several other students were. This was one of the only places playing the SUPERBOWL. I am a Steelers fan through and through. The bar was surprisingly packed. As halftime approached, my group decided they were ready to leave and had called for taxis. Not one person wanted to stay with me and watch the entire game. I was very upset with this. There was no way I was staying in that bar by myself (I am a strong believer in the buddy system) especially since I was in Costa Rica and my Spanish is extremely lacking. I obviously left with the group. As I am typing up today’s events for my blog, I am anxiously waiting on updates from a friend through facebook.
As for a summery of last week’s events; I have several weird looking bug bites. I think I know about 90% of names. The food is taking awhile to adjust to; my stomach is just not use to eating this way. And the weather is jjjuuuust right.
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