Tomorrow
morning I will be boarding an airplane to San Jose, Costa Rica!!! As I sit here
in the car on the way to Omaha, my excitement has really set in. I cannot
believe that I am about to study abroad for the second time!!! It’s weird,
because I still feel the same way I felt before leaving for Peru-you don’t
really believe it is going to happen until you actually reach your destination.
For
those of you who know me well, you are probably surprised that you didn’t
receive the link for my blog until after I actually left. This past May I was
extremely busy between going to my summer class, working full-time, and then
doing homework at nighttime. I didn’t even start packing for Costa Rica until
this afternoon and I haven’t actually looked up any touristy attractions in San
Jose. I think I am a little more relaxed because I have gone to a foreign
country before-it’s good in the sense that I can be a little more go-with-the
flow; however, I may have taken it a little too far!
I
received an e-mail this past Monday with the information concerning my host
family. I will be living with two other girls from Nebraska (the ones featured
in the pictures). In the first picture I am in Cusco, Peru posing with my
friend, Nicki. We didn’t know each other before we left for Peru, but we became
good friends in Peru and have been able to maintain that friendship. The next
picture is of Amanda and I. Amanda and I are actually currently living together
at the Newman Center. We met freshman year through the Newman Center and also because
we lived in the same dorm. She is the sweetest girl and I am looking forward to
spending more time with her!!! In regards to the family the three of us will be
staying with, we know no information beyond our host mother’s name. We could be
living with more than just a host mom and her children just weren’t listed on
the sheet, or we might just be living with this one lady.
Something
that a lot of you might find interesting is that in Costa Rica they don’t
actually have addresses. The “addresses” listed in the e-mail we received were
simply distances from a well-known landmark. For instance, one student is
living 100 meters north and 25 meters east of “El Café Maravilloso.” Some
people might get a little apprehensive about this, but now that I have already
been abroad I think it is kind of cool!
We
are about to pull off the interstate so I guess it is time to bring my first
blog to a close. I am super excited to see what this short journey will bring
and I hope to have learned a lot when I return to Nebraska. Thank you for all
the prayers and messages!
Mary
