It began at a few minutes before six, so that I would have enough time to eat breakfast and get ready before heading out the door to reach my institute's office by 7:30.
We had a morning full of listening to thrilling information about emergencies, policies, and expectations. Then we headed out for lunch, before a (long, long) tour of the University of Costa Rica campus.
My favorite part of the day was when my host mom arrived to pick me up. It was such a relief to see a familiar, kind face who was going to take me back to what is rapidly becoming my home.
There are 14 total students on my program, some who already knew each other, but most not. We started the day speaking to each other in our halting Spanish, but by the end had mostly devolved back into the easier English. In these first few days of orientation, it's not a big deal, but soon it will become an expectation to speak only in Spanish.
They all seem very nice, most of us eager for our Spanish to improve and to begin our research projects. I'm not sure how well I'm going to be able to get to know them, with the limiting factor of language from both ends. We shall see. Definitely different from my long, easy conversations with friends back home.
Tomorrow there's more orientation, plus the Spanish tests. I was so anxioius about these tests before arriving, but now that I'm here, and can say that I've survived multiple days with a family that only speaks Spanish, a test seems very small in comparison.
To get to school I walk through the neighborhood for about 10 minutes, catch a bus (my host mama originally told me that any bus would work, but she keeps qualifying this, so here's hoping I don't end up on the wrong side of town), hope the traffic isn't too terrible, hopefully remember the correct stop, and then walk a few blocks to the office. The money is a whole other challenge, so my grand plan is to just hand the driver the smallest bill I have and hope he gives me the correct change.
That's my not-so-thrilling news.
It already feels like it's been going to fast in some ways, but sometimes I can't believe that I signed myself up for four months (129 days, but who's counting) here.
We had a morning full of listening to thrilling information about emergencies, policies, and expectations. Then we headed out for lunch, before a (long, long) tour of the University of Costa Rica campus.
My favorite part of the day was when my host mom arrived to pick me up. It was such a relief to see a familiar, kind face who was going to take me back to what is rapidly becoming my home.
There are 14 total students on my program, some who already knew each other, but most not. We started the day speaking to each other in our halting Spanish, but by the end had mostly devolved back into the easier English. In these first few days of orientation, it's not a big deal, but soon it will become an expectation to speak only in Spanish.
They all seem very nice, most of us eager for our Spanish to improve and to begin our research projects. I'm not sure how well I'm going to be able to get to know them, with the limiting factor of language from both ends. We shall see. Definitely different from my long, easy conversations with friends back home.
Tomorrow there's more orientation, plus the Spanish tests. I was so anxioius about these tests before arriving, but now that I'm here, and can say that I've survived multiple days with a family that only speaks Spanish, a test seems very small in comparison.
To get to school I walk through the neighborhood for about 10 minutes, catch a bus (my host mama originally told me that any bus would work, but she keeps qualifying this, so here's hoping I don't end up on the wrong side of town), hope the traffic isn't too terrible, hopefully remember the correct stop, and then walk a few blocks to the office. The money is a whole other challenge, so my grand plan is to just hand the driver the smallest bill I have and hope he gives me the correct change.
That's my not-so-thrilling news.
It already feels like it's been going to fast in some ways, but sometimes I can't believe that I signed myself up for four months (129 days, but who's counting) here.
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