Day 17; Thursday, Jan. 24

Our last real day in Costa Rica was bittersweet, but we were all ready to come home. The day started with our final in Doña Marta's class, which consisted of a listening portion, reading comprehension, grammar, and a culture portion. After we finished our exam everyone was free to head to the mall, the last hours we would ever spend strolling by the expensive clothing stores and crepe kiosks of the Heredia mall, Paseo de las Flores. I learned that at apparently one in the morning last night their had been a 5.4 magnitude earthquake in Costa Rica, something I had completely slept through. I guess I'm not as light a sleeper as I thought I was. 

In the afternoon we visited an English class where we were able to meet and get to know some of the Tico students. We conversed in both Spanish and English, with them correcting our Spanish and vice versa. We got to listen in on their teacher's lecture on the technology unit they were studying and helped the students with their assignment of putting the lyrics of an English song in order. It was really cool getting to talk with some of the Universidad Latina's students and see what classes there are really like. Afterwards we attended a concert on the University's soccer field, sort of a welcome back of sorts for all the students returning from break. Then it was finally time for the much anticipated fancy dinner on top of a mountain. It took an hour long bus ride of twisting roads and horrendous Tico traffic, but we finally made it to the restaurant Tiquicia, and the view of a sparkling San José was definitely worth it. The dinner was delicious and afterwards we were presented with care packages of Salsa Lizano and other Costa Rican goodies and were able to watch a performance of traditional Costa Rican dances. A couple of us were even plucked from the audience to participate. Though at this point I'm sure we were all exhausted, it was a great way to wend what has been an unforgettable trip. 

Phoebe

Day 16; Wed., Jan. 23

Today, we had class with our teacher Doña Marta. In culture class, we sang songs that represented Costa Rican culture and watched videos of typical Costa Rican dances! Our teacher taught us that Costa Ricans dance with their arms bent at the elbow to show that they are from a higher class. We then had grammar class and learned commands and the subjunctive. It is so great to learn at the University because it gives us extra practice to improve our Spanish abilities. We ate a great lunch at the school and then had an hour to relax before our daily activity. Some students stay at school and relax in the nice sun and others go to the mall! There is a nice big field at the University and we all like to sit in the grass and talk and have fun. At the mall, there are many shops and very good restaurants. My favorite restaurant in the mall is called La Fabrica. It is an Italian restaurant and it has amazing food! There are also so many interesting places to buy gifts for our families at the mall and I learned a lot about modern Costa Rican culture there. We really had to turn on our Spanish speaking skills and put them into practice because the store clerks did not speak any English. It was a great experience for me to understand the Costa Rican money and to force myself to communicate solely in Spanish! We then returned to have our daily activity and today it was a dance class. Our dance teacher, Leo, is a current student at the Universidad Latina. Leo taught us dances usually practiced in Costa Rica such as salsa, swing, and merengue. Dance class is so much fun and everyone has so much energy and enthusiasm dancing to new dances. After dance class, we had a cooking class at the University where cooked our own desserts that tasted just like cookies; they are called "Cajetas".  We dipped them in sprinkles or peanuts and they were delicious. Finally, we had a fun and peaceful ride back to our families. When I arrived at home my host mother made me a nice dinner of red bean soup and then we watched a movie together. It was just another great day in Costa Rica.

 Meagan 

Days 14 and 15; Mon. - Tue., Jan. 21 - 22

The past days have been incredible! Yesterday we started classes at eight in the morning as usual. Everyone was still exhausted from the trip to Tamarindo. The beach was so beautiful and we all received a nice tan! But yesterday in culture class we saw the movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" to understand the differences between two different cultures of the Americans and the Greeks. We saw changes in families, customs, habits and lifestyles as well. After school we went to see a movie in the cinema. It was called "Wreck-It Ralph" a cartoon video character who longed to earn a medal in his video game. We watched it completely in Spanish! The film was very good and we could understand most of what they said. Around five in the evening we went back to our houses for dinner with our families.

We got up at quarter past six this morning and arrived at the university at eight. After school we had free time to relax so my friends and I went to the mall to eat and shop. Unfortunately we could't refrain from spending more money because the shopping is so cheap here! At three in the afternoon we began our second dance class, but our teacher was stuck in traffic in San José so he could not come.  However, our own teacher, Profe Zamudio, surprised us all and taught us a dance called the Cha Cha that was very easy and everyone enjoyed it! Finally we sang famous Spanish songs by the artists Camila, Shakira and Maná. Overall we enjoyed the last couple days and we are sad this trip is ending soon!

Lauren 

Days 11-13; Fri. to Sun, Jan. 18-20

Fairly early this past Friday, everybody loaded onto a charter bus, and we began our journey to Tamarindo, a beautiful beach town on the western coast of Costa Rica. I am pretty sure this weekend excursion was the part of our Costa Rican adventure that everyone was most excited about, and it did not disappoint! We arrived at our resort mid-afternoon and immediately headed for the beach. By the time we all got settled into our lazy positions by the ocean, the sun was beginning to set, and it was one of the most gorgeous things I have ever seen. We were not able to stay on the beach very long though because we had to head to dinner at the resort’s most authentic Costa Rican restaurant. The food was delicious, but the best part was the dancers who performed in the middle of the restaurant. They picked people from random tables to come up and dance with them, and our group was extremely prominent on the dance floor! We were all pretty tired after that, so we went to our rooms and called it a day. 

On Saturday morning, we all gathered together and had breakfast at the resort. After that, we took a short bus ride to a bay-type body of water surrounded by beautiful green foliage. We split up into two small boats and took a leisurely ride, soaking up the sun. We saw lots of beautiful birds and even a crocodile! Then, after winding through the different waterways and getting sufficiently turned around, we stopped at a small, leafy bank to go on a monkey-hunt. Our tour guide brought a water bottle filled with rocks and sand, which he shook to make it sound like a predator was approaching, and made extremely impressive monkey noises. The monkeys immediately started howling, and we were all able to spot them. They were everywhere! We started trying to copy the monkey noises, and some of us even got the monkeys to respond! After that, we returned to our resort for some free time, which mainly consisted of sprawling out in bathing suits and drinking fruity beverages. At four thirty, the majority of our group met once again in the lobby to get ready for our turtle excursion. We took a pretty long bus ride to a beautiful strip of beach and arrived just as the sun was setting. We stood on the beach in awe for a few minutes before beginning our hike on a steep, narrow path that took us to another section of the beach, where we would see the turtles. Once we arrived, it was pretty dark and we were able to see all the stars. Because our turtle tour involved quite a bit of sitting and waiting, we spent a lot of time staring up at the sky and trying to identify all of the constellations. Once we saw our first turtle, we all decided it was worth the wait. It was huge! Unfortunately, it was heading back to the water (pretty quickly for a turtle!) when we saw it, but it was still amazing. After more waiting, we saw another turtle, and this time it was laying eggs! There were a lot of people crowding around though, and our tour guide decided we should move on. I am so glad we did because right as we left the throng of people, we spotted tons of itty bitty baby turtles crawling out of their sandy nest for the first time. We were able to see them instinctively move towards the water which was extremely cool! We finished our turtle excursion around nine o’clock, and we were all pretty exhausted. We returned to our resort and had a very late, but extremely tasty dinner before going to bed. 

We woke up fairly on Sunday to go zip-lining. We sat through a long bus ride and a bumpy open-air cart ride before finally putting on our gear and starting our adventure. We zip-lined between eleven frighteningly high platforms, and it was a blast! At the end, we even built up the confidence to go upside down! The weather was gorgeous, and the views were even better. We were all sad when it was over and decided that we would do it again in a heartbeat. After that, a few people went horseback riding, and, although I did not go, I heard it was an awesome experience. Apparently, they were able to gallop through a field.  Once all of the tours were over, we all rushed to quickly gather our bags and get ready to checkout. We piled onto our charter bus at around two thirty and arrived back in Heredia at around ten o’clock. It was apparent on the bus ride that the weekend had drained everyone’s energy, but it was, in my opinion, the most fun we have had so far!

Emily

                                            Jungle Boat Tour

                                           Howler Monkeys

                                           
                                             Michael Jordan' House in Tamarindo Beach

                                           On our way to the zip line tour

                                             Recently hatched baby turtles heading to sea