Hola! Let me start at
the beginning… I’ve always wanted to spend some time abroad, partly because Mom
has said that going abroad was one of the best decisions she ever made. However, I did not plan ahead very well in
order to study abroad through UNC Chapel Hill, as I didn’t even think about it
until the beginning of my sophomore year, and by then it was too late, for the
following reasons: 1) I knew I’d only
get two years at UNC when David was there as well (and of course only three
with Richard, Hill, and Jacob), and perhaps because my love language is quality
time, there was NO WAY I was missing out on one of those semesters and all the
intramurals, birthdays, pickup basketball, etc.
2) That meant that my one option was spring semester of sophomore
year. But spring semester of my
sophomore year just happened to fall in 2009, the year that everyone knew UNC
was gonna win the national championship in April, and there was NO WAY I was
missing that either… Soooooo I never went abroad during college, but still
planned to go at some point. I’ve taken
Spanish since kindergarten, and it has always been relatively easy for me, so I
knew I wanted to go somewhere that spoke Spanish, and because of that, after I
completed my Spanish minor in college, I purchased the most recent (sixth)
Harry Potter book in Spanish, hoping to improve and not lose the Spanish that I
had learned, and I have continued reading the series in Spanish ever since.
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| Reason #2 |
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| Reason #1. |
Anyway, in November of my junior year, Caroline and I
realized we both wanted to go abroad, and discussed for the first time the
possibility of our going together to Latin America (Spain would make a sweet
base for traveling around Europe, but we wanted somewhere more laidback and
less developed I think, and maybe most importantly, somewhere more isolated
where we could really reap the benefits of a homestay and a true immersion
experience.), so we decided to pray about it and ask for guidance, just in case
there was a chance it would work out.
Then we kind of forgot about it for a while, didn’t discuss it or
anything, and then one random day in December, I decided to start looking into
Sewanee’s study abroad programs to see what the options were, and there were
many, from Chile all the way up South and Central America to Mexico. But after looking around, my attention settled
on Costa Rica, in particular Heredia.
Then later that day I talked to Caroline, excited to tell her I had
finally begun doing research, and it turned out she had done research that same
day also! And then it turned out we had
both settled on Costa Rica, and then it turned out she also had researched
Heredia and liked it! So without talking
about it anytime in the last week, we had both independently decided on the same
country, and both looked at the same city, on the same exact day! That could certainly be coincidence, but I
like to think that it was God working in his mysterious ways, giving us a sign
to encourage us. Especially coupled with
the fact that out of all the Episcopal dioceses in the world, the one companion
diocese of the diocese of Costa Rica is…the diocese of North Carolina, where we
grew up (me in St. Paul’s, Winston-Salem and her in Chapel of the Cross, Chapel
Hill. If anyone knows the correct
grammar for that, I’d be fascinated to hear it...)!
That was a little over two years ago. Caroline has been taking Spanish classes at
Sewanee since then (the language she had been taking was French; she has such a
gift for languages that she placed out of French in high school and had to take
a class at UNC, which turned out to be a great move since she can now show her student
ID to get into UNC basketball games over Christmas break ;) and not surprisingly has
probably been the best student in each of her Spanish classes since.
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| St. Paul's EYC Mission Trip 2009 |
I had heard about Costa Rica from my mom and brother and
other friends who went there on St. Paul’s mission trips, but I didn’t really
start researching it until this Christmas break, when I began studying it feverishly! I was home for six weeks, and except for when
I was with Caroline or extended family, I spent hours every day researching
Costa Rica and the various things I needed to do to get ready for it: calling
insurance companies and airlines and doctors and credit and debit card
companies. And of course Verizon - for
complicated reasons, and after HOURS of research, I made the minor switch from
my four-year-old hand-me-down cell phone from David, to a brand new iPhone 5, one
of the few Verizon phones compatible with global networks. In addition to calling and texting
domestically, having a smartphone means if /when I ever rent a car, I will have
GPS, which is a must-have for gringos on these notoriously poorly-marked and
wild roads, and also that I can text with my family (or anyone else with
Verizon) through my email. The 3G
service is good throughout Costa Rica, and in fact my data plan here with the
local phone monopoly is MUCH cheaper (twenty cents a day for unlimited data) than
my data plan in the US! It feels kind of
surreal to be able to shoot off a text to my parents from here; communications have
come a long way!
Anyways, the most fun part of my research was learning about
all the different destinations in Costa Rica to figure out which ones were GUARANTEED
AWESOMENESS and which ones to skip. I
read the whole Lonely Planet guidebook Mom gave me cover to cover, and I got to
put my knowledge to good use on the flight when we flew over a large lake with
two connected island volcanoes and I realized it was Lake Nicaragua! (below left) For some reason, we flew out into the Pacific a little before
circling back to Liberia, and the coast was gorgeous! (Playa Ocotal below right)
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| Volcán Concepción, Nicaragua |
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| Daniel in the Pool and a lookalike of Pedro's house. |
After feeling the warm, moist, beach air, I was smiling so
big when I went through customs. So
excited to be in Costa Rica! Again, it
felt surreal to finally be in the place I’ve been dreaming about for two years…
The driver from my Language School (which is called WAYRA) was waiting for me
right after customs, and he was a good sport during the 40 minute drive to
Pedro’s house, pointing out the local wildlife, answering my questions (I guess
the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree for those of you who know my mom) and correcting
my Spanish. When he pulled up to Pedro’s
condo, María José y Daniel saw me through the wide-open door and window and my
face must have lit up when they ran out to give me a big hug :)
And then, Daniel and I went swimming in the outdoor neighborhood pool! In January!
Pedro took us to the main street in “downtown” Tamarindo for dinner at a
pizza place where Norma works (unfortunately she works nights so I haven’t
gotten to see her quite as much, but tomorrow is her day off so I’ll finally
get to hang out with her). Apparently it’s
pretty obvious that I’m a tourist, because when I ordered agua and picked size
grande, our waiter brought me a HUGE bottle of water (I think it was a two-liter;
tourists usually drink bottled water to avoid getting sick). For dessert, we stopped by an ice cream place
with all kinds of fruits I’ve never even heard of! So by the time we got home, I was wiped out and
pretty much went straight to bed! What a
wonderful first night in Costa Rica!
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