Only 11 days!!!!!

Recap of last week….
Wednesday was a pretty chill day. It was super hot out side so Laura and I decided to stay around our town and do some souvenir shopping as it was really my last day to do so! Wednesday night for dinner we had visitors. Josh, a former study abroad student who lived with our host family, and his friend Dusty came over for dinner. Both of these boys are from small towns in Alabama and had the cutest accents! During the evening Laura and I totally forget about how proper Southern Girls are and the topic of Diarrhea gets brought up. After seeing the looks on their faces I snapped into reality and remembered that they’re used to Southern Belles who never think about that kind of stuff, much less speak it! Thank goodness they thought it was funny and not disgusting. Girls from Minnesota obviously aren’t as prim and proper and have no problem discussing the digestive system! These boys also had the best manners I think I have ever seen. They literally stood up when our friend Stephanie entered the room. I don’t think I have ever seen such manners in my life.
Thursday- I had an oral presentation on learning a language in the U.S compared to studying abroad and learning the language in a country where they speak the language. After class we went to a Soda that our teacher’s mom own and had lunch. Later we went to the beach for my last day at Manuel Antonio beach. That evening Laura and I took our host family out to dinner at El Avion, a restaurant inside and surrounding a real airplane. Friday- I had to say goodbye to my host brother Carlos in the morning which was hard, I didn’t want to leave him. Then I went to school where I had a test and written composition. After school Laura and I rushed home to get my luggage, I said goodbye to my mamatica which was sad, and headed to the bus station. When I got to San Jose I went to my other host family’s house where my Mamatica was sooooo excited to see me! She kept saying how much blacker I looked, I guess as of now my tan is no longer a tan but I’m changing races? Who knew! She says that my mom won’t recognize me and will ask where the real Ashley is! How funny! That night we went to Santa Ana to hang out with our BFF Agnetta! We spent the whole weekend with her relaxing by the pool, life couldn’t get any better!
Monday was weird. It was odd going to class without Laura! When you’re with someone everyday for close to three months it is really odd to be separated. Everyone at school was happy to see me, and kept asking if Laura and I got into a fight or something. Nobody is used to seeing us separated! It’s kinda funny! I started classes with a new Professora Marisella who happens to be amazing! I have only 11 days left! Craziness! Can’t wait to be home so I can plan my next trip back!

2 weeks ago...

Sorry all, I have been slacking on my blog! To start out, I love Costa Rica and am practically planning my trip back here! It’s absolutely amazing and it doesn’t hurt that everyone thinks I’m Tica! Last week, Laura and I got the most amazing teacher named Adrianna. She’s a great teacher and sooo much fun! Everyday I find myself laughing out loud at least twice. It’s great! So last week in school we had a week full of mostly talking in Spanish, which was great. I had one paper to write that I chose to write on sports in the United States and the importance of sports in our culture. It was great! I haven’t yet gotten a grade on it but I was quite pleased and so was my dad that I would choose to write about such a topic! We had Tica night last week which included dancers who danced typical Costa Rican dances which was so fun to watch, and participate in. One of their last dances included them each picking a student from the audience to dance with, which was a blast! With the weather being so hot, I have found myself with little to no energy and go to the beach often to sleep! This past weekend Saturday we went to the national park in the morning with our host mom and brother. That was sooo fun! We saw howler monkeys, many lizards, and iguanas and got to swim at a beautiful beach in the park. Saturday afternoon we met up with our friends from San Jose who traveled to Manuel Antonio for the weekend, they ended up going to the national park right after we were finished so we ended up meeting up with them later in the night. Meanwhile Laura and I went out to lunch with our host family at a restaurant overlooking the beach. It was AWESOME!!!! The one thing I really wanted to do during my vacation was sit near the beach and drink a fruity drink with an umbrella. Saturday afternoon I did just that!!! It was great! Saturday night we met up with our San Jose friends for a while, and then proceeded on to Arco Iris, Quepos’ only night club. We had heard so much about it that we decided we might as well go, so we did. This club has typical Costa Rican music, including music for the salsa, meringue. Cumbia as well as other American music. It was super entertaining to sit in the balcony and watch everyone dancing. We had our share of offers to dance from upper 50 year old men who thought we were good looking, but politely continually declined as we really just enjoyed people watching! I will say that the Costa Rican men are super relentless, they asked me to dance over and over again, literally at least 10 times, they just don’t give up! Sunday I went on a canopy tour with my friends from San Jose which was amazing! I absolutely loved being up so high and just giving up control and flying through the trees. It was truly and unforgettable experience. One sad thing that happened this weekend was our friend Sarah from Minnesota was surfing on huge wave and the surfboard came out from under her and hit her right on the side of her face and ear area and currently she is deaf in her right ear. She went to the hospital and it was determined that she return to the US to possibly have surgery. We were so sad to have to say goodbye to her early but happy that we can see her in Minnesota!!! Tuesday was Sarah’s last night so we went out to Bambujam, a club with live music and dancing. What a blast! Our drink of choice for the night was Coca Cola’s and Sarah and I danced the night away with some Tico boys. Usually Laura and I don’t go out on school nights but we made an exception for Sarah. Today I registered for summer classes which was really odd for me, to realize that I have to go back to MN! How weird!!! Today we have an oral presentation to prepare for and plan on making chocolate chip cookies tonight for our teacher and our host family. Only a little over 2 weeks till I’m back in the states!!!!

Terremoto!!!!!

Seriously, its so freakin hot here! Some days I really do count the days till I get to go back to san Jose where the weather is tolerable. Today an interesting thing occurred. Laura and I were sitting in class discussing the earthquake that Costa Rica had in January and the destruction it caused and the difference between an earthquake¨ Terremoto¨ and more of an earth shake or Temblor and blah blah blah, when all of a sudden we felt the earth shake!!!!! Not even joking! It wasn´t like a full on earthquake for us, but we could definately feel the earth moving and feel the table and chairs moving beneath us. It was the weirdest thing I think I have ever felt. It lasted for about 15 seconds and was over. In the area I´m staying in there wasn´t any damage but further south in Costa Rica in the city of Golphito it looks like there was quite a bit of damage, I don´t know if anyone was injured or killed but from the looks of it they had an EARTHQUAKE!!! Thats really all I have for you! I´m loving costa rica but counting the days till I come home as I´m missing some vital events in my families life, like.... Lovey´s Dance show! I´m so bummed about that! Love u all!!! ps. cluck has begun to have a good time too!!!

Just Livin the Dream.....

So this week has been a blast!!! The Family Laura Nannies for, arrived in Costa Rica on Tuesday. The Family has 3 kids, Maddie 8, Maya 6 and Matteo 6 months. So Tuesday Laura and I met up with them, had lunch at a super nice restaurant across from the beach and moved our stuff into their rental house. This house if BEAUTIFUL!!! It has 3 bedrooms in the main house, each with its own bathroom, a living room upstairs with a pull out sofa, a living room downstairs, a pool and a side apartment where laura and I have been staying for the week. Oh and it has AIR CONDITIONING!!!!!!! I must say they couldn't have come at a better time. So they came tuesday after our classes, Wednesday was kind of a lazy day, we went swimming in the pool, and ate dinner at another nice restaurant called Mar Luna, this restaurant is right at the top of the hill and has an amazing view of the sunset! Thursday the family wanted to take Laura on a special trip so I volunteered to watch Matteo, while they toured the National Park and went on a Sunset boat ride! Today, Laura and I have school and then we're watching Matteo while the family goes on a canopy tour. Laura and I are planning our own canopy tour in the next week or so. Saturday Laura and I are taking the girls Horseback riding, which should be a blast! And then Sunday we move back into our Host families house! We finish our first class at the new school here today which is wonderful because our teacher is kinda slow with lessons and such!

Manuel Antonio!!!!!

Hey Guys! So it’s so super hot here and I’m dying!!!!! I usually enjoy the heat and the beach, but today was a no go…. All I wanted to do was stop sweating, which of course isn’t possible. Just sitting and talking online with a fan blowing on me, I was still sweating, even just sitting still! And I have noticed that the hotter I get, the crabbier I get also. Not really crabby, maybe just more irritated with people and dumb stuff. Needless to say I either need a nice cold shower or just really need to work on changing my attitude because I’m beginning to get upset over really little things. I think it would be sweet if it were snowing here even for one day, which would be pretty awesome, I think I would appreciate the heat a lot more, but today I’m crabby! It also doesn’t help that I have a 3 foot bubble that I don’t enjoy people entering and here in Costa Rica there is absolutely no such thing as personal space. People are all up in your personal space. I think if it weren’t so freaking hot I wouldn’t mind it as much, but when I’m sweating from every crevice of my body, the last thing I want is someone standing an inch away for me or touching my arm. Get The Freak OFF!!!!! Anyways this weekend was pretty uneventful. Just chilled around the house and hit the beach. I look forward to this week though, as the family Laura nannies for is coming to visit on Tuesday and her sister is coming on Thursday so it should be nice to hang out with them and hopefully stay in an air conditioned house! I have given up on getting ready for any activity. I wash my hair but never straighten it and haven’t worn makeup since I got here. There really is no point at all! As for school, this week I have an in class composition on art to do on Wednesday and an oral presentation to give on eating disorders on Thursday. So this week should be pretty busy. I have officially been here for 7 weeks and have 5 more weeks until I’m back in Minnesota! Crazy to think of, the time has been going by so quickly and slowly all at the same time. Miss you all!!!

¿Que Tal Mae?

Hey Guys!!! Sorry I haven´t written in like forever!!! But I will take this time to recap a lil bit about the things that have been going on! Well Last week Laura and I finished our last week of classes in San Jose, it was super hard and some days I just got so frustrated that I kinda gave up, luckily I did make it through the week, and came out with a B in the class!!! Now a B isn´t an A but for how hard this class was and how much I disliked the teacher and her criticizing remarks, I am thrilled with a B! So to celebrate our last week, at least for a while, in San Jose, a group of students and a couple of workers from the school went out dancing. We went to this little village looking area called El Pueblo, where there were like 12 different dance clubs with different music in each one. What a blast!!!!! It was so great to just let loose and dance with my friends! Saturday came around and my host family went to an ocean town, but I was too tired so I stayed home for a lazy day with Laura. We started out the morning with me making egg sandwiches and cutting up fruit for breakfast, then we sat around watching ¨Big Fish¨ with spanish subtitles of course, later we decided we were starving so we went to the corner store and picked up Costa Rican style Macarroni and Cheese and hot dogs!!!! The mac and cheese was amazing, sooo good, but the hot dogs were super disgusting! I don´t think I will ever again buy hotdogs in costa rica unless they´re oscar mayer´s. After our dinner at my house, we headed to Laura´s where she packed for Manuel Antonio for about 2 hours. Crazy I know!!! Sunday we had to wake up early and my papatico Carlos took us to the holiday inn where we caught our bus to Manuel Antonio!!! With all the crazy busses we had been on to and from different destinations, we decided that with all our luggage and everything to opt for a Private bus, which also cuts down the time of travel about 2 hours. We arrived late in Manuel Antonio, which sucked because our new Mamatica was waiting for us for about an hour. After we got all settled into our new rooms, we took a little tour of the beach and the city with our host mom and host brother Carlos, 14. Later that night we had dinner, family style, and that´s where Laura and I realized what a great situation we had been put into. Our Mamatica is an AMAZING cook!!!!! Everything she has made us has been fabulous! I know once I get back home I will miss her cooking sooo much. Anyways the rest of the week was pretty uneventful, we met a bunch of new students Matt from London, Shawn from South Carolina,Rafael from Switzerland,Megan from Colorado and Sarah from Minnesota State University Mankato!!! Learned a 2 new verb tenses in spanish, went to an event with the bulls where everyone is in the arena and tries to run from the angry bull, I watched but did not participate. The weather here is amazing! Most days its in the upper 90´s or 100´s and usually its not too bad, but today i´m dying! The weather is sooo hot! So needess to say I´m going to the beach today! Oh yeah that´s right, I´ve been here for 7 days, and have been to the beach 7 times! Every day since i´ve been here I´ve been to the beach, it´s pretty amazing, I love it!!! Well I will try to get some pictures up soon, and try to write more frequently but it is a little difficult i´m just soooo busy with the beach! Love you all!!!

Santa Ana!!!

So i have come to the realization that I really only have time to blog about once or twice a week. I will try to work on getting better about this! Today Laura and I discovered that because our classes run for 2 weeks, we are headed for Beautiful Manuel Antonio this SUNDAY!!!! Which is a week or two, not sure, earlier than we had originally planned, so needless to say we're freaking out just a little bit! This week was pretty fun! Being that it was Valentine's Day on wednesday we had a "Dia de Amistad" or friendship day party. For this party Laura, Kathrin (a girl from switzerland) and I made Flan. It was super tasty! Never have I made or tried it before but it turned out really well. Our party consisted of food, valentines cards, music and some of the students had to present on the history of Valentine's Day. Friday Laura and I traveled about a half hour away to meet up with our friend Agnetta, who we met through another friend Kristine in Tamarindo last weekend. We met up with her at a mall near her house and then traveled back to San Jose where we went to a club, yes I know this sounds bad but it's what people do here... So we went to a club, where I proceded to be a good girl and didn't really drink anything... This club was probably the coolest I have seen in Costa Rica, the music was great, the people were all costa ricans, and there were beds with 4 posts and everything in the outside patio area of the club! it was super cool! Agnetta slept over at my house in our spare bedroom and in the morning, saturday, we ate breakfast with my host family, which was pretty fun. Agnetta knows very very little spanish so it was funny to watch how both her and my host family reacted to them only speaking spanish and her speaking minimal spanish. Pretty Funny to be apart of. After breakfast my host mom's daughter Carolina came over with her brand new baby girl Amanda who is only 5 days old!!! Being that I love babies I was ecstatic!!! SO CUTE!!!! Saturday afternoon we went to our nearby mall and hung out at laura's house.... Our plan for valentine's day originally was to chill in San jose, watch movies, eat cookies and pizza. Well last minute we changed our idea... we decided we wanted to continue hanging out with Agnetta so we traveled to her house that she lives in with her mother. THis house is gorgeous!!! it looks like a hotel! So needless to say we had a good time. Her mother is also amazing and it seems like everytime we blinked there was new food brought out for us. It was great! So while at her house, we watched movies, went to the market, sat by the pool reading magazines, and eventually did end up ordering pizza. It was the best valentine's day ever!!!! This week should be interesting, being that we're leaving for Manuel Antonio on Sunday... Tomorrow i'm making wild rice cassarole for my host family and laura was invited also so she's making an apple pie. Should be pretty tasty! Also Laura and I have been anxiously awaiting the movie "He's just not that into you" and it came out here on friday so we're hopefully going to see that this week. Add in our oral presentation, compositions and final exams and we have a full week!!!!! Miss you all!!!! much love Ash

Hola Pedro...

Recap of the last week:
This week at school was pretty intense. I had a composition on juvenile delinquency due on Monday, an oral presentation on the health system of Costa Rica on Thursday, an in class composition on the pro’s and con’s of the internet and video games for young adults and children also on Thursday and Friday concluded the week with a final exam, both written and oral. So for those of you skeptics who think all I do is sit on the beach, soaking up the sun, with a tropical drink with an umbrella, I’m here to tell you that’s not all I do, at least during the week anyways. In life outside of school this week, things were pretty mellow. Laura and I went to the movie Bride Wars, or La Guerra Novias on Wednesday, as it’s half off in the theaters. This weekend Laura, Ashley from Boston, Stephanie from Switzerland and I went to Tamarindo to visit Kristin a former student from our school who is now studying in Tamarindo. We took a bus 7 hours to the Pacific Ocean. On the ride I realized I definitely experience some motion sickness, not bad but enough that my stomach felt creepy! We met up with Kristine at the bus station and proceeded to check into our hotel/hostel Chocolate. Here we stayed in a dorm type room with another woman named Tiffany, a 37 year old woman, who currently has no job, and enjoys drinking and making out with Tico liquor store employees. I don’t think I’ll ever meet anyone as interesting and yet sad as Tiffany. After checking into our hotel we headed to Kristin’s friends house where they were just finishing up a bbq. Here we were introduced to many people from Germany and Switzerland. It was interesting listening to the Swiss-German they spoke. Of course I didn’t understand any of it, but it was interesting nonetheless. We left the house and went to the local hotspot Monkey Bar, which was super lame. There were tons of people, super loud music, and it was just crammed. Not my idea of a good time at all! We left shortly after arriving and headed back to our hotel where we proceeded to go to bed. Saturday morning we woke up and headed to the beach to meet up with Kristin. The sun was super hot and the water was freezing due to the wind, but the beach was absolutely gorgeous. While sitting on the beach for a while Laura realized there were a bunch of boats in the ocean and was informed by Kristin that they were tour/party boats and that she had, just the week before, gone on a boat for a 5 hour tour which included drinks, lunch, snorkeling, and a great view of the sunset. This was exactly what Laura had wanted to do for her birthday so we all decided that, for Laura, we would cough up the money and go on the boat. It turned out to be the best decision ever. The boat was beautiful and the people on the boat were super fun. They ranged in age from 19-later 60’s. It was great! After our amazing boat tour we, showered and went to dinner at a pizzeria. You wouldn’t think Pizza would be popular in Costa Rica but there seems to be a pizzeria everywhere you look. After dinner we met up with Kristin and went to the local hotspot for the night, Babylon which was much better than the Monkey Bar the night before. Here the group I was with proceeded to get drunk, while I chose not to participate. I was questioned many times as to why I wasn’t drinking, as to which I responded that I didn’t need liquor to have fun. Babylon was super fun and the music that they played was awesome for dancing. I had a blast! Sunday we woke up, a couple of the girls with hangovers, and we headed to find our bus. We ate breakfast and ordered smoothies, which were fabulous and took another 7 hour bus trip home. All in all the weekend was fabulous. I had a blast!

Lessons Learned

Leaving my family and friends and being put in a completely different atmosphere has made me really discover who I am and has helped me learn many new things, I thought I would share these things with you!
1. First off I realized that although I haven’t had a chance to find a church, God is very much with me everyday. From the first day I got here and met both my host family and new friend Laura I realized how much God really looks out for me. He knew that without these people I never would have survived this long in Costa Rica. God definitely has been working on my behalf.
2. This weekend I realized what I don’t want my life to turn into… This weekend, a couple of the girls from school and I went to Tamarindo, a tourist location on the Pacific Ocean coast. Here we stayed in a hostel with another woman, who we discovered was 37. Throughout the weekend, this woman became everything in life I strive not to be. She had no problem being naked around strangers; she was single, seemed to have no connection with her family or any friends to speak of and was basically a vagabond traveling from place to place partying, getting drunk, and cussing up a storm. It was really sad to see this really nice woman who seemed to have no real sense of self worth or meaning.
3. I realized that apparently I’m semi-allergic to sand??? Every time I’m at the beach the sand ends up in my swimsuit and I have a rash on my rear! Not good!
4. Since being in Costa Rica I have come to understand that I truly am a control freak, which I can confidently say I got from my mother! I have learned that when it comes to making decisions, being in control and maintaining control is super important. On the other hand when it comes to dancing with a partner it is essential to relax and give up control and be led by your partner .This has been a struggle for me. It’s something I’m working on.
5. When it comes to food I have found that you can’t knock it until you’ve tried it. I have been introduced to a whole new world of foods that I never would have known whether or not I liked unless I tried them. So far I have found that I do not like papaya and that my new favorite fruit is passion fruit( maracuya), los gatos are an amazing treat, guanavana, although it looks like a slimy white thing is actually quite tasty, and agua dulce is super tasty.
6. While still talking about food, I have found that Chocolate is a not just a want in my life, it’s a need. Here in Costa Rica I stumbled upon the most amazing chocolate covered almonds called Vizzio’s and they’re to die for!
7 Moving on I have found that there really are some pretty dumb Americans, and that I want to strive to be as different from them as possible.
8. I learned that in East Germany women have no problem with going topless in restaurants or just on the streets. Apparently I’m told it’s pretty normal there...
9. I have put out of my head the notion that Minnesota drivers are horrible. Compared to Costa Rica, Minnesota drivers are amazing. The way people drive here makes me soooo nervous and fearful for the lives of both drivers and pedestrians. It’s a crazy world on the streets here.
10. I have learned that no matter how much sun I get, how beautiful the Ocean is, how hot the weather is, and how awesome the food is, Costa Rica isn’t home. Minnesota with its 4 complete seasons, including the frozen tundra will always be home for me!

Weekend!!!!

Weekend!!!
Friday was a fun day! I had class where we did a quiz and celebrated yet another week of graduations for those whose last day of classes it was… Friday evening Laura, her Mamatica and I went to dance class where we improved on the Cumbia and Salsa. After dance class Laura and I met up with Andrea, from school, to get ready for our night out…. We went to Tao’s a restaurant/bar near our house where we were going to meet another Ashley before our final destination Castro’s a dance club in San Jose. Tao’s has quickly become our favorite place to go. We have eaten there a good number of times and now the waiters, hosts, and bartenders all know us and greet us by name. It’s nice to come into a restaurant and have the workers excited to see you and know exactly what you want and bend over backwards to help you out. It’s great! The guys at Tao’s are awesome! After meeting at Tao’s we took a Taxi to Castro’s. There we met up with some classmates from school and danced the night away! This night I decided to try something new and went without my glasses. I have noticed that when we go out to a restaurant or dance club the guys are more apt to ask the other girls I’m with to dance rather than they are to ask me, so I decided to experiment a lil bit and go without glasses. My theory was definitely right. Right away when Laura and I entered the door, the man at the door couldn’t stop looking at me. He commented right away at house gorgeous he thought Laura and I were and later into the night he was asking me all kinds of questions on if I had a boyfriend and blah blah blah…. This wasn’t the only guy who took interest in me. There were 3 different men who asked me to dance. 2 turned out to be complete creepers and the third, who really wasn’t creepy at all and just wanted to dance, I told him I couldn’t dance well. I have noticed that here in Costa Rica, men have a tendency to be much more upfront about what they think and how they feel. They have no problem with entering your personal bubble and informing you on how beautiful they feel you are. They have no problem with holding your hand even if they don’t know you. One man went as far as to say that he loved me, after about 2 minutes of dancing. Let’s just say I was completely creeped out and ended that dance early. Castro’s was definitely an experience to say the least. The people there are amazing dancers and it was awesome just to sit back and watch them. Saturday morning I was going to go the beach with Andrea and Ashley from school, but was so exhausted from the night before, I actually felt pretty sick and decided against it. Later in the afternoon I met up with Laura, who convinced me to go with her to Palmares, which is a big festival in Costa Rica. My host family, teachers and pretty much everyone I know in Costa Rica were constantly talking about how much fun Palmares is and encouraged me to go. My host mom’s daughter, who is married with kids, was telling me how hot the guys were there! So I decided to go… We took a “party bus” which turned out to basically be a nice Coach bus with pops and Juices on the bus. Nothing Crazy or anything as you normally assume with a “party bus”. The main reason for taking this bus was that it gave us VIP passes to 3 or 4 dance clubs, that held Puerto Rican performers. Palmares was super fun! The dance clubs were fun but packed with people and the music was pretty awesome too. All in all palmares was super fun. It kinda reminded me of a sort of State Fair experience after dark, with nightclubs and dancing and music groups. Sunday, Laura and I went to a hotel bar to watch the Super Bowl! It was unbelievably difficult trying to find a place that was playing the game, but we found this beautiful hotel that played the game in English thank goodness! I love the Spanish language but when it comes to watching football I wanted English for sure! I was kinda bummed that Kurt Warner and the Cardinals didn’t win, but was happy that it wasn’t a blow out. I hate those!

Hello All!

This week has been pretty uneventful. Monday we celebrated the birthday of leonard, a 30 something guy from holland. We went out to a restaurant and then went bowling! Tuesday laura and I decided to venture out and went to San Jose Central where we attempted to find souvenirs, but ended up getting kinda lost! Here I realized how important it is to be aware of everything around you. We were crossing the street and a taxi almost hit me! Luckily for me laura saw it coming and grabbed my arm to get me out of the street or I probably would have been hit! I will definately be more careful from now on! Wednesday I had dance class where I danced the Salsa and Cumbia. It was super fun, and most of the students from our school all 10 of us were able to come. It was a great workout. After dance class I waxed the eyebrows and lip of my mamatica. She informed me that here in costa rica they don´t have wax available for you to buy in the store, if you want your eyebrows waxed you have to go to a salon to have it done for you. Carlos my ¨papatico¨ thought the whole process was hilarious. At first he didn´t understand really what was going on. After Heidi explained everything to him, he was cracking up and making fun of Heidi. At one point I looked at heidi and told her that Carlos wasn´t being very nice today at which he laughed even harder. The laughing continued until I suggested that we wax his moustache. At this he was pretty quite, but heidi was laughing soooo hard! She thought it was a great idea! Carlost continued to make fun of Heidi while we applied the wax. With all his cackling I told Heidi that I thought Carlos might be sleeping on the couch. Carlos then became pretty quite while Heidi was dying laughing! She though this was hilarious. She even told me that if I came home from my movie and found him on the couch that it was because he was still being mean. I haven´t laughed that hard since coming to Costa Rica. Funny Times! This was the first real time I felt like I really truly belonged there. It was great!

sorry its been a while...

Wednesday
I have been told by my professor that I’m going to become a “gordita” because of all the carbs in the foods here. I’m hoping that isn’t the case! He says everyone eats rice, beans and bread all day long. This is true for the most part, but I have found that I can usually cut it down to one meal. My breakfast usually consists of fruits, coffee, and some sort of bread/tortilla with cheese and meat. Lunch is whatever restaurant I choose to eat at which usually is pretty healthy, and dinner is where I eat rice, beans, meat, soup etc… The one huge difference I have noticed is I walk a ton here! On a typical day I usually walk at least 2 or more miles a day and don’t snack throughout the day which I do in the states. What I don’t think my professor understands is how I eat, and my lifestyle on a day to day basis back home. It’s extremely rare that I eat fruit, and if I do, it’s an apple smothered with peanut butter. Most of my meals at my townhouse consist of pasta (carbs), sandwiches (carbs) burgers (bun=carbs) or fast food (carbs and tons of fat)! In addition I always eat dessert after dinner and usually close out my night out with a bowl of ice cream or cereal around 11pm. All in all I don’t think I’ll become a “gordita” if anything I eat much healthier here, everyday I seem to fulfill a really balanced diet of fruits, veggies, and all. Add in the walking and lack of snacking and I think I’ll be good.
The last few days have been rather uneventful. I started a new book, which has kept me occupied, watched the inauguration and went on a short tour of small indigenous towns. Today we have a “rosary” with our “mamaticas” or Costa Rican mom, where they celebrate the end of the Christmas season and thank God and Mary for the last year and pray for the new one… should be interesting. The only other excitement here is Laura (from MSU) and I talked to the school and for our final month in Costa Rica we’re going to re-locate to Manuel Antonio, where we will finish classes overlooking the Pacific Ocean!!! After talking with the school, they have said they will find us a host family which can accommodate both of us so we can stay together for out last month.

Sunday-
Well my first class if finally over!!! The last few days of class really sucked! Thursday we had an oral presentation, that we couldn’t use notes on and was about 10 minutes, it was really tricky having to talk about drugs in Costa Rica. Having to think of the words I wanted to say, translating them into Spanish, and then conjugating them was a little harder than I would have expected. After our oral, we (Laura and I) ended up having to tell Fairy tales in Spanish as well as tell a few other stories. Oh and our teacher wanted us to tell fables from the Bible. Both Laura and I believe that everything in the Bible is fact not fable, so when he wanted us to tell fables, we became quite upset. I then explained that we don’t believe the Bible is filled with fables but that we believe everything from the Bible is real. So after all that, we said we would tell a story from the Bible, but that it wasn’t a fable. I have had to state my beliefs in God and the Bible before in English, but having to do it in Spanish was a little trickier, I do know that my point came across the way I wanted it to. All in all I think we both talked for about an hour or more in Spanish, which was interesting. Then if that weren’t enough we had to write a 300+ word Final composition on our experience at the Rosary ceremony thingy and how church in the states differs from church here. WOW!!! Let’s just say after class on Thursday we didn’t want to speak Spanish for the rest of the day. Friday was worse… we started out with our final exam which included about 10 pages of fill in the blank, finish the sentence, multiple choice, and 3 more compositions! The test took about 2 hours to finish and was pretty hard. Luckily our day was finished with a game of Scrabble in Spanish. After school Laura and I celebrated finishing our first class by going to the mall, window shopping and eating the most amazing crepes I have ever tasted! Later Friday night, Laura, Kristin (from Norway) and Laura’s Hermanotico (Costa Rican brother) David and his friend Pablo and I went to a Techno dance club. That was interesting… After all the smoke and lights and head pounding music I started to feel nauseous. I think the mixture of things was just too much. After the club, we went across the street to Taco Bell, because taco bell is open after 3 AM. There we proceeded to eat French fries, which come with a meal there, with guacamole. I have found I like to order things, wherever I eat, that come with guacamole as it is so amazing here. Saturday Morning Laura, David, Pablo, another one of David’s friends and I all went to Puerto Leona. This was the most beautiful beach ever! The sand was white and here the Pacific Ocean was green/turquoise. It was gorgeous! So we spent the day at the beach, got sun burnt again, not sure why I’m burning all of a sudden, at a late lunch at one of David’s favorite place and proceeded home. Sunday morning it rained so I stayed home until to my surprise, Laura and Andrea (another girl from school) came over and rescued me from boredom. We went to the mall, had lunch, got the most amazing McFlurry from McDonalds, with Canterbury chocolate, rented 5 movies that are showing in the theater, but here you can rent them at the store. Crazy how things across country are… That’s all for now!

my address here...

My mom has been buggin me about putting up my address here so here it is...
COSI-Costa Rica Spanish Institute
atn: Ashley Collins
PO BOX 1366-2050 San Jose, Costa Rica
Also I don´t really have a lot to say today so I´ll either write later or tomorrow!

Puerto Viejo

well since I havent written in a while Ill catch everyone up on life this weekend! Friday was a graduation day for some students so school was not the same... we played some games and had a quiz, that was about it. After school I went out to lunch with 2 girls from school where we ate at an Irish Pub! The pizza there was great! From there we met up with everyone for our trip to puerto viejo. We took a bus 4 hours east to the Carribbean coast where we were to stay. While on the bus we met a girl from England who was traveling alone named Becky, who later we ended up partying with. We arrived in Puerto Viejo around 930 pm. The first thing we did was look around for a hotel as we were told before our trip that it was not necessary to book a hotel. Initially we were going to stay in a hammock hotel but after visiting it and seeing all the drugs, and people that were there we decided against it. 2 of the girls decided that tenting it was what they wanted to do... Laura( from MSU), Kristine( from Norway) and I decided that sleeping with bugs just was not our idea of a good time. So we searched for a hotel, and decided on hotel puerto viejo. After that we changed and went to Rocking Js which is was a hammock hotel with tons of people smoking pot and having a [good] time. I don't understand how people can do drugs like that and enjoy themselves. From there the party moved to Johnnys a bar filled with weed, Bob Marley look alikes, dreds and all! There we met some people, from england and boston and danced! Good time! Once we were finally tired we left for our hotel but stopped at a little restaurant where we had tacos and burgers! Super tasty! The boys who worked there thought us Americans were hilarious and could not stop laughing at us. I think my favorite part at the restaurant was when Laura order a ham and cheese Hamburger without the Hamburger! It was not on the menu but they made it for her anyways! After the restaurant we met a man on the street named Chance who was in his middle 40s but was super good looking! We chatted with him for a while and then returned to our hotel... The next day (saturday) we woke up early to go in search for a nice hotel, which we found in Casa Verde.... this place was beautiful! So we found a room and then went in search for the other half of our group who slept in tents so we could have breakfast together... We ended up eating at the hotel which was delightful, and later took a bus to Manzanilla a nicer beach, there we were able to soak up the sun. We rode home around 4, showered and got ready for the night. We went to dinner, which was aweful and felt really exhausted so after spending all that time getting ready to party just to go back to our hotel room and Crash! The next morning we had breakfast at the same spot and rented Bikes! We attempted to ride a 2 person bike but to no avail, the locals kept looking at laughing at us. After getting normal bikes we took a 7 mile bike trip to a nearby beach and then it started to rain, so we stayed for about a half hour and went back. Back in Puerto Viejo we ate lunch and then went to a great icecream chocolate store where we met the owner, a man from MINNESOTA! Then we left for home. All in all it was a great weekend, the locals were super nice, almost too friendly, there were tons of drugs, alcohol, and DREDLOCKS!!! Drugs and Alcohol really aren't my thing, but to watch everyone else was pretty entertaining. It's like there were 100 hippies, that all looked like Bob Marley pretty funny, I've never seen anything like it. No drugs for me no thank you!

Hola!

Hey Everyone! The fruit here is absolutely amazing! I could eat it all day! The pineapple is to die for and the juice is amazing also! My favorite is the guava and naranja! Very good! Yesterday was a pretty interesting day! Had class, then went to San Pedro which is within walking distance of San Jose, where I had lunch with 3 girls from school, which we later followed with Icecream! Later in the night we went to see "la duquessa" or the Dutchess as we know it in the US. I had no idea to the extent that people ate bread, rice and beans but I do now! They have it with every meal! I'm sure I will be sick of it by the time I get home, but right now i'm enjoying it a lot! I also have found that I really enjoy Coffee and tend to drink it at least 2 times a day! Today I went on a tour of San Jose and enjoyed the people watching and souvenier shopping. What I'm super excited about right now is this upcoming weekend, where 4 girls from the school and I will be going to Puerto Viejo, A beach/city on the Carribbean Ocean Coast! Super excited!

Hey guys!

Hello Everyone! I really like this whole blogging thing and having everyone able to check and see how i'm doing. Anyways, yesterday was a super busy day and I really didn't get a chance to catch my breathe until late last night. Well I realized how much different Costa Ricans and Americans are different. First my host family is great but I realized yesterday that money is really a huge deal and that whatever they do for me I will basically have to pay for... being that I lost my luggage and had to go back to the airport to get it, my host family is having me pay them 22$ for the gas money and parking. I thought this was quite odd and almost offended, but then I had to remind myself that Costa Ricans make a ton less money than Americans do and that it's not as to appear rude towards me, but they really do need the money. So i definately realized that I need to be culture savy and realize that things are indeed different. Anyways enough of my whining. Yesterday was filled with stuff! Had school in the morning, where we talked about drugs and how cheap they are here. No thank you! Then I went on a tour of a volcano and the basilica! Across from the basilica/ church/ we had lunch! To make things easy they explained to us that we should order the "plato del dia" or plate of the day because it includes rice, beans, chicken fish or beef, dessert and a drink. Later I went to spinning class with my host father which was pretty crazy. There is nothing more boring than sitting on a bike, having your butt kill from the tiny seat and sweat! I don't think I want to do that again! Gotta go for lunch! bye

start of school!

I woke up this morning at what I thought was 6:45 for school at 7:30, little did I know my ohone never changed time from New York to San Jose, so I woke up at 5:45! My house parents kept commenting on how early of a riser I am but I didn't realize the time change until I was already awake and dressed, or as dressed as I can be in the clothes I slept in. Hopefully I will hear something about my luggage. All I want is a shower! which is too much to ask for right now.
Started school, which was great! Even though it's early I really enjoy being here with english speaking people! I had an oral placement test thingy which I think I did well on, as I ended up in a class with 2 other american girls who speak spanish quite well. The class i'm in now, I will be in for the next two weeks, and then I go to a new class. I have my first paper due on wednesday, which contrary to MSU has to be handwritten. All of the students and staff of the school went out to lunch today which was pretty good. Signed up for 3 activities during the week... 2 tours, 1 of a volcano, one of San Jose, and a dance lesson on wednesday. I'm excited to finally feel like I have a place to fit, and people who can speak both spanish and english to me! I'm loving it! write soon! Ash

I'm finally here!!!

Yesterday-
Saturday was a day brimming with emotions. Excitement, fear, joy, and pure sadness. Leaving friends and family to travel is probably the thing I like least about this whole experience so far. I just have to remind myself that it's 3 months. The plane ride to new york was pretty good for the most part. Being that i'm only 5'3 it was a little tricky putting my carry on, which i swear weighs 50 lbs, into the overhead compartment. It probably took me a good 2-3 minute struggle to attempt to find any sort of upper body strength to get it up there but I did it. There was quite a bit of turbulence and all I could thkn was , this is it, i'm going to die. I stayed in the new york airport all night and got noooo sleep, but saw some interesting people. Right before i was to board my next flight i had a nervous breakdown on the phone with my mother and cried for the good part of an hour and then had to board my plane to Costa Rica which was filled with only spanish speaking people including the pilot and flight attendants. Lost the one book I really wanted to read " the shack" it must have slid somewhere on the plane but I couldn't find it to save my life! Arrived at the airport to discover that my luggage did not make it with me. So after even more crying in the san jose airport I was able to speak with someone, who spoke very little english, about finding my luggage. She informed me that it never made the plane to Costa Rica. So after an hour or so of trying to figure out my luggage situation I finally left the airport and was greeted by a man from COSI holding a sign with my name on it! He was the 1st and last person I would meet that day who spoke any english. He drove me to my host family where I was greeted by my host mom and her very noisy dog Toto. She only speaks spanish! At this point all I want to do is sleep but she is so excited to see and talk to me, so I sit, talk and realize I'm in for quite the adventure. So we talk about family, my luggage and life. She then invites me to go to her sister's houe for a Rosary service thingy/ birthday gathering for her grand daughter. Althuogh I am both physically and emotionally drained I decide to go with her. This gathering consists of 20-25 of her family all spanish speaking people. I have never felt more like a fish out of water as I did at this party. Throughout the night I am offered 2 different beverages, 1 milky coconutty thick drink that I choke down as to not appear rude and 1 "fresco" that is a pulpy banana, orange, pineapple tasting drink that isn't too bad! I also am offered cookies and lunch consisting of black bean mush, rice and potato chips. Super tasty! I came home to my room to find a cockroach scurry from beneath my bed, and all I could do was screech! It's going to take a little getting used to having the house so open to bugs and birds! there were 2 birds that flew into the kitchen! All in all so far an experience. I'm praying my luggage finally arrives so I can get clothes and my toothbrush, as I haven't changed or brushed my teeth in going on 3 days!