Tuesday, Wednesday

TUESDAY
It was tough to go to class, becaue I had not been to class at all since Thursday. I got up early and took my time eating breakfast (eggs and mango and coffee - YUM!) and getting ready, and then headed to school around 10. I needed to talk to the USAC people about my internship, because everything for it is due this Friday, and I also had been considering taking another class, Advanced Spanish. I wanted to take this because I am not in another grammar class here, and I feel like it would really help fine-tune most of what I already know. I talked with them and decided to take the class, and then decided to meet with Claudia on Wednesday about the internship details. I came back home and had lunch with the familia, and then headed back to school for class at 1. Class lasted 3 hours. The profesora is the wife of my uncle. She is really funny and an entertaining and great teacher! After sitting through the class, I am glad I am taking it, to help me review and relearn some important stuff! Class ended at 4, and I had to go immediately to my next class, Latin America and its Cultures, which began promptly at 4. The class was very interesting...we talked about some readings we had about the Aztecs, Incas, and Amazonian peoples. The teacher used a lot of maps to help us visualize where they all were relative to each other. Plus, it gave us a chance to stand up, which I was thankful for, because I don't like sitting for long periods of time just listening to someone talk. Class ended on time, at 7, and I walked home just as my mother was finishing supper. (I can't remember all that I had to eat yesterday, but I'm fairly certain it was just repeats of things I've had before.) After supper, I spent some time doing homework and readings for classes. I went to bed kind of early, so that I could wake up early, around 6:30 am!

On to WEDNESDAY...
As previously stated I woke up at 6:30. Well actually I woke up at 6, but didn't get out of bed until 6:30 or so. I showered, got ready, and had a yummy breakfast (toast and MANGO - my new favorite fruit!!!) and coffee of course. I trotted off to school to International Political Economy. I understood SO much more in class today. I think it's because last week I was still adjusting to life here and was terribly overwhelmed with ALL spanish, ALL the time, and overwhelmed with the fact that the class is about econ and politics which I know little about. Anyway, the professor is awesome, and I think I understand 98% of what he said today! It was acutally VERY interesting! Maybe it won't be so bad after all? We'll just have to see! I got out of class early and went home. I did a little bit of homework and was going to run some errands, but the day was just so nice and warm I didn't want to walk around a lot and get all hot and sweaty, so I hung out around the house and took a very very brief afternoon siesta before returning to school at 2. For lunch, we had some sort of baked/friend chicken with ham cooked in it - DELICIOUS!!!!!! I don't know how to describe it really. I'll have to ask my host mother about it and get the recipe to my mom because it was AWESOME, and we had rice, of course, and some kind of salad with broccoli and carrots that was pretty good. A lot of the foods my host mother cooks are made with lemon or lime juice, and it makes the food very flavorful! I met with Claudia at 2 to finalize everything for the internship. She talked to the doctor who I will be working with, and reassured me of how nice he was, which Gerardo and I already knew! She was able to tell me EXACTLY what my expectations are, in English, which I have been WAITING for someone to do! I am going to be researching how to develop strategic plans, looking at older plans that the hospital has and other pertinent documents, developing a proposal for how to create a strategic plan for the hospital, presenting that proposal, and helping facilitate the process of developing this plan, all while observing what's going on in the hospital and learning about the health care system here! I am VERY excited! I will be going there on Monday and Wednesday afternoons, after my morning class and lunch, and spending a few hours there each day to accomplish these tasks. I go Monday to meet again with the nice doctor and Claudia too, I think, to get things started! I have a lot of work to do with this, not only with the work involved in the internship, but also with keeping up with a diary and such so that I can get graded for this and be able to write my internship paper that I am required to write when I get back to Clemson next semester.
I went back home and did some more homework, and then my mom made empanadas for an afternoon snack with more coffee (I just can't seem to get enough of the coffee here!!!!). The empanadas were delish of course, and they introduced me to a Costa Rican-made salsa that you can apparently buy in Hispanic tiendas back in the States. Mom and dad, I am BUYING some of this stuff when I get home - so wonderful! It's made in Costa Rica but goes out everywhere!!! We sat at the table for a long time talking about the time that my family made the garage into what is currently my room and constructed another garage, the time Hurrican Mitch came around in '98 and flooded the river beside our house and completely flooded the house, and of course we talked about my favorite subject - FOOD. We had great conversation! I feel more comfortable now than I did a week ago, and am hoping that the comfort level just continues to rise the longer I stay! I headed back to school around 5 to meet with other students who have been wanting to make a little trip somewhere this weekend. We are currently planning to go to Santa Teresa, and will have to leave by bus around 6:30 on Friday morning. This beach is on the Nicoya Peninsula of Costa Rica and is supposed to be really nice. We didn't really get anywhere, so I offered to look up some awesome hotels that I had found in my travel guide. Someone is calling in the morning to try and make reservations. I am very excited! Also, the Costa Rican soccer team plays Mexico in San Jose at 8 pm (CR time) Saturday night for a spot at the WORLD CUP - HUGE game, and we are all pretty pumped about being able to watch it! Since I won't be able to be at or watch the Clemson game, I'll just have to settle for the next best thing - a tropical paradise and an intense game of soccer - I think that's a pretty fair tradeoff! I came back home and have been studying and trying to keep things organized since I got back, and will probably spend most of the evening continuing to do that!

Hasta luego!