I am a proud Clemson Tiger, born and raised in the south, lover of all things pink, orange, and preppy, fan of college football and basketball, preacher's kid, daugher and sister in a loving family of 4, talk with a southern accent, hoping to be a pharmacist, college senior, currently living in Costa Rica studying abroad. Join me on this adventure as I blog about it all - what I'm doing here and what the culture is like, in addition to my musings on faith, fashion, and current events.

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Friday, December 4, 2009

this week

My lack of posting probably explains my current circumstances. As the end of the semester and my time in Costa Rica approaches, available time seems to be disappearing to do all the things I want and need to do. Actually it seems that ever since I got back from fall break in Panama the work has just piled on, because I have not been able to post as often. Anyway, I wanted to catch up a bit on Wednesday-Friday of this week as best I can.

Wednesday was a busy work day. I had class at 8, and we spent about an hour with the final bit of material for the class, and spent another chunk of time just talking about our Thanksgiving breaks, Obama's declaration to send more troops overseas, the age of grandparents here, and our future plans. Carlos, tico of age 54, told us that he has 2 grandkids, the oldest being 8. EIGHT years old! Isn't that crazy? My real daddy is 54, and he DEFINITELY has no grandchildren, and will not have any for 4-5 years bare minimum. After class I stayed at school till lunch time to work on my project for the next day. I then went home to have lunch and spent the whole afternoon at school working on my project and essay due for Spanish the next day and studying for my exam for my literature final the next day as well. I stayed at school until 6 until our society and environment class had to go to Claudia's apartment for our presentations of these questionnaires we have been working on. We had delicious burritos there and banana splits for dessert. The food was great. Then we each presented our data and went our separate ways. I went home to continue working, and KL came with me to hang out for a while. We chilled for a bit then she went home, and I stayed up to continue working and studying. I finally made it to bed after 12:30 but was unable to go to sleep, thinking about having to say goodbye to everyone and having to leave Costa Rica.

Thursday I had my literature final at 8 am. It wasn't too bad, but I just wish I had had more time to study and prepare for it. Afterwards I went to the USAC office to finish my project and essay due at 1. I went home for lunch around 12, then returned to school to class. We each presented our projects (mine was on Semana Santa in CR) about tica traditions and then spent some time talking about our experiences in CR - likes, dislikes, regrets, etc. I am definitely going to miss my 'tia teacher'! Afterwards I went home to change and get ready for my dance exam! Ivan took us to Puntarenas last night to a place on the beach for our final exam. We danced the night away with the other students from Puntarenas. I salsa-ed, meringued, bachata-ed for hours! It was one of the greatest nights of the whole trip for me. I danced with a very talented tico who just spun me around EVERYWHERE. It was amazing. I sweated a lot though. Puntarenas is hot and SO humid and we all were just dripping sweat. Todavia it was a blast! We left just before 1 to head back to San Ramon and got back around 2. I went to bed after peeling my dress off and putting on some dry pajamas!

Friday I slept in without an alarm until 9:30 and it was lovely! I think you sleep and wake up better when you don't have an alarm. Anyway I showered and spent the morning relaxing and doing some stuff online. I had lunch with my hermanos, and then I went to KL's house to hang out. She, her brother and I spent the afternoon together around town. We had to go renew his license first. Then we went looking for some random things she needed for Honduras. She leaves tomorrow morning at 5 am to go to San Jose to then go on to Honduras where she will work with doctors there for 2 weeks before heading to Peru to spend Christmas there with a friend. It was fun to spend time with her! I stayed there until dark time and then went home to change. MIF and I then walked to meet everyone for pizza at a spot nearby, and we carried the pizza back to KL's house to eat it. It was delicious! Almost everyone in the group was there except for DB, AK, DL, TC and JW. We then went to the movie store and rented Four Christmases. I saw it last Christmas with my friend Bailey and laughed the whole time. We all watched it together and then just spent time hanging out and talking. Some people left around 11, but some of us stayed until just after 12. Saying goodbye for good to KL was hard. We both cried and it was difficult to walk away.

Coming in to this trip I was afraid that I would not make close friends with anyone or have anyone to share my faith with. How silly of me to underestimate the Lord! Everyone in the group has been incredible and awesome, but KL has just been the one person I can always talk to about my struggles, joys, disappointments, mess-ups, and spiritual things. I am so thankful that the Lord brought her into my life, and I feel like I have been changed because of her. She challenges me to think harder, look deeper, and just enjoy everything going on around me. I have never laughed so much in my life as I have on this trip, and I think I owe a lot of that to her!

I dread saying goodbye to my family and tico and gringo friends. I love it here, and my Costa Rican life has just become so normal for me that it is hard to think about what my other life will be like sometimes. I am just a basketcase of emotions right now and don't know how to handle this at all.

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