January 16th
On Wednesday we started off the day, as usual, with culture and Spanish grammar classes at the Universidad Latina. This week has been a lot different from last week since the University is full with students! Last week, the Tico (Costa Rican) students were still on break, so it was just our group and a few others who were studying abroad, but now it feels just like a college should be. This whole week I’ve begun to realize how much I enjoy the U. Latina, the café, the soccer field, the gardens, and our classrooms as well. During class there’s always a cool breeze coming through the doorway or the open space above the windows. Definitely going to miss this when we go back to Kinkaid…
For the afternoon we had Dance Class with Leonel who works at the University. We learned three different types of dances: Swing, Salsa, and Merengue. We all faired pretty well on all them, after asking Leonel to repeat it five times of course. My personal favorite was the Merengue dance we learned. It was really fun and I’m pretty sure I speak for all of us when I say we definitely worked up a sweat. Afterwards we had some free time before we would be treated to a dinner at La Fabbrica, a nice Italian restaurant. I stayed at the U and played cards outside with some friends in the nice weather while others went across the street to the mall. Once it came time to eat we had a delicious dinner together, which ended in a fiasco over how many colones everyone needed to contribute to pay the check. This had garnered the attention of everyone in the restaurant by the time we finished and left for our homes.
January 17th
Today during our break in between classes we got to see something really cool: the U Latina’s cheerleaders. They were practicing some stunts in the outdoor amphitheater, which got our attention. One stunt in particular was pretty insane, where the girl would be dropped, spring off the ground into a backflip, and land on top of just one of the guy’s hands where she would assume a typical cheer pose. After they finished practicing, their coach came out and played music on a boombox for them to perform to. As a group they did some more really cool stunts, like one where they tossed these two girls about 20 feet in the air. It was really cool getting to see what the U Latina’s cheerleaders were like compared to our own at Kinkaid.
After class we had lunch in the cafeteria like normal before heading on a small tour of San José, Costa Rica’s capital city. Our first stop was the National Museum which is located in what used to be an old military barracks, but was converted into a museum in 1950 after the 1948 civil war was over. The entrance leads into a large open portion of the building that houses many types of local plants as well as butterflies. We also saw exhibits about the indigenous peoples of Costa Rica and their artifacts. Also at the museum were many stone spheres. They’re an ancient mystery since they’re perfectly round and nobody knows how they were made that way. Right next to the museum was the handicraft Market which was a great place for buying souvenirs or gifts. We drove around the city a bit more to see the central park and church among other things before stopping and visiting the National Theater, a gorgeous building designed with French architecture. This pretty much concluded the day for us before returning home to eat dinner with our families. And of course, pack for our weekend excursion to Tamarindo beach!
Grant
No comments:
Post a Comment