Mashed potatoes

What a GREAT day it's been, but what a LONG day it has been!

I woke up before 7 and got ready. Breakfast consisted of gallo pinto (making more frequent appearances now) and some eggs, and a mango and coffee. Delicious (and nutritious!) and filling! I headed off to school to Latin American Literature - my first class of the day. I like the professor a lot! She is easy to follow and explains things thoroughly, and does a variety of things during class so that she isn't just talking the whole time. It went by pretty quickly. I went to get a hot chocolate down the street during our break and it was FANTASTIC! I may start getting this instead of cafe all the time! Class ended promptly at 11. I went home after running to the copy store to get some copies of some readings for my culture class next week (I need some reading material for the beach!). My host mother made fish and MASHED POTATOES. I looked at the dish they were in at first, and asked what they were, and she said something de papas, which means potato something. I soon realized they were MASHED POTATOES!! And they were SOOOOOO good! With a bit of salad and a glass of lemonade, my lunch was complete and I was stuffed to the gills (pun intended). I trotted back to school for 1 pm class - Advanced Spanish. The time passed quickly too and I thoroughly enjoy this class, only second to DANCE CLASS. Today she gave each of us a sheet with cartoons, and we had to make up stories about them using past tense. It was fun and a good way to learn and practice Spanish! We had a long break and went and got some snacks. I got some cookies. YUM! We headed back, talked to some other gringos on their break too, and then went back to class. We finished a few minutes early, so I walked down the street to look for a notebook to use for my internship diary. I found one, and I also found REESE CUPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I didn't think that they had them here, but I was WRONG! I will now be a frequent customer to this store just down the road from the U! WAHOOO!!!!! This made my day. If you know me well, you know that Reeses are my favorite candy, always have been and probably always will be! Alan, Danielle and I walked up the stairs near the library at school then because we heard music, and sure enough there was a live band playing latin jazz. It was nice to sit and listen for a bit, and the band was great too! Some people were dancing salsa to the music, and it made me want to dance so bad! Luckily I had dance class at 5, so I headed off to that a few minutes early. Today we reviewed everything about salsa, learned a couple more turns, and we also learned meringue!!! It was SO fun! We had such a great time in class, and I really like the dances here a LOT! I especially love dancing with the instructor, because he is very talented and just pulls you around everywhere. It's easier to be the girl, in my opinion, because as long as you know the basic steps and have the rhythm you can follow along with the guy and just do whatever he pulls you to do! It's SO much fun!!!!! I walked home with some other estudiantes, and came in and consumed more mashed potatoes and lemonade, and then headed to my cuarto to Skype with mom and dad for a bit, catch up with some friends, and start packing! This weekend most of the group of students will be heading to Santa Teresa in the Nicoya Peninsula of Costa Rica. We are leaving on a bus to Puntarenas at 6:30 am, catching a ferry there across the peninsula, then catching another bus to Santa Teresa. We have reservations already too. We are excited! I, and I think some of the other students also, have a lot of reading and work to do while we are there, so hopefully the bus rides and down time on the beach will give me a chance to do that! I am about to head to bed, to hopefully be asleep by 10pm Costa Rica time so that I can wake up early to get ready and meet everyone to go! I won't be able to post again until Sunday when I get home! Please pray for our safety.

Oh, and also.....GO TIGERS!!!!!!!! Beat Middle Tennessee this weekend!!!! Wish I could be there!!!!!!!!!

Also - tune in if you can to the soccer game Saturday night, because Costa Rica plays Mexico on at 8 pm CR time (10 pm SC time) for a spot at the World Cup!!!!!! We will be watching while we are at the beach.

PURA VIDA!