I arrived here Thursday night after an hour delay in Atlanta. I got to talking to the girl next to me on the plane. Turns out, she is from Sweden and is going to work at an orphanage right outside of San Jose for three weeks. We exchanged emails and went on our ways. Once I got to San Jose, the study abroad folks, students and directors, were waiting on me. Shortly after I arrived, we all got on a bus and went to meet our host families. I'm staying at a house with my roommate, Justin Young. Our mom is incredibly sweet. She does speak English so I was very happy. She has helped out quite a bit with working our way around the city and speaking Spanish. Friday we had cultural orientation at school from 2-4 p.m. It was the normal do's and don'ts of orientation. Justin and I got back home and walked down the street to the local market. The public transportation system here is very simple and useful. We have ridden the bus almost everywhere we've gone. Riding the bus costs 200 colones, which is about 40 cents. Friday night, our group from Ouachita, new friends Phillip and Claire, and our Swedish friend Amelie went to the movie theater in the local mall. The movie costs us 1800 colones, which is only about $3.50. I'm sure we will be seeing several movies while we are here. Justin and I rode a taxi for the first time Friday night. Quite an experience to say the least. We rode two taxis, neither of them spoke English. I couldn't communicate with the first one, so he called someone who spoke English and translated for us. The second taxi ride was more successful. We were dropped off just a block from our home. Life is simple. I love Costa Rica. Here are a few things I've learned about life in Costa Rica:
-Never leave home without an umbrella. Ever. It rains every day.
-Pedestrians do NOT have the right of way. You will get run over.
-Learn to love rice. It is served with almost every meal.
-Public transportation is a good thing.
-In order to learn another language, sometimes you have to sound like an idiot trying to communicate.
-Take advantage of every opportunity. Time is limited.
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