slightly overdue...

21 octubre 2009

Well, I realize that a post is long overdue! It’s been a crazy couple of weeks, so I hope you’ll forgive me. :) This week finishes up the first half of our semester, which means, of course, lots of papers, presentations, and projects. We “graduated” from our Spanish classes at ICADS (the language school we have attended every afternoon) last Friday, which was fun. The first picture I posted is of my Spanish class (yes, that is what our school looks like – a tropical paradise; it can actually be distracting at times!). From left to right: Liz, Emily, me, Xinia (our professor these past 2 weeks), and Jon, the lone hombre. The second picture is of my “twin” Erin and I, very proudly holding our graduation certificates. We had a little ceremony followed by SNACKS!! (my favorite part of any event). I was thrown a little surprise when the director asked me about 30 minutes before if I would say a few (Spanish) words in front of everyone thanking the professors for working with us, etc. I think it went okay, except that I thanked them for all the good “arguments” we were able to have, rather than “discussions,” which is what I intended to say. False cognates – get me every time.

Aside from Spanish, we are also finishing up our Core Seminar component of the semester this week; thus, our big “position paper” was due this week, and tomorrow we have group presentations. My paper was about poverty reduction in Central America, and our group presentation is about the marginalized in Central America – both very broad but very pertinent and interesting topics. The best part of this week is that this weekend is fall break!! And then next Tuesday begins the “concentration” part of our semester, when we will be splitting into 3 different groups – Business, Language and Literature, and Latin American Studies.

Needless to say, it’s been a busy time of the semester, BUT all that is okay, because...I was lucky enough to get to see my BOYFRIEND this past weekend! Phil came down for about 4 and a half days to visit me over his fall break...which was, of course, a huge blessing. He had the joy of going to my classes with me on Thursday and Friday, but the weekend was a little more exciting. We, along with Destry, Sarah and Rhea (the rest of the SNU crew), got to visit the QERC campus (SNUs science research campus in the cloud forest about 2 hrs outside of San Jose), which was ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS! We got to hike around, see two waterfalls, cook pancakes...doesnt get much better than that. THEN (after a couple of painful, nauseating bus rides), we got to visit Manuel Antonio, which is a national park beach on the Pacific coast. Incredibly beautiful as well. Combine tropical jungle and gorgeous blue ocean and...voila! Manuel Antonio. Anyway, it was a great trip.

Well... that about catches you up on my life the past 2 or so weeks! I should have more pictures and stories to share after my trip to the volcano Arenal this weekend! I hope you all are doing well. Thanks as always for keeping up with my life here! I appreciate your continued prayers, especailly as I prepare for this next big part of my semester.
Pura Vida!