One month

Today is my one-month anniversary of being in Costa Rica.

9 things that have been hard:
1. Being insignificant in the University of Costa Rica's enrollment process in that, one day before classes start, no one can tell me if I'm actually going to be able to take linguistics or not. If not, I'm not a full time student. Making a list of backup classes if not.

2. Not being able to go anywhere without getting sweaty or rained on.

3. Adjusting to not eating snacks, ever, and having butter on nearly everything.

4. The fact that I can't watch hulu or Netflix or Pandora out of the country, effectively reducing my ways to destress.

5. Not having a place to exercise, besides just running, which never really sounds fun here. And not finding a dance studio yet, or having gone swimming yet.

6. Feeling like I lose my personality in Spanish, because I can't communicate quickly enough to make jokes or eloquently enough to show everyone how thankful I am.

7. Learning which things that are personal preference in the States are culturally inappropriate here (not bathing every time you leave the house, wearing shorts, wearing shoes in the house, etc.)

8. Not having a church or my bible study, and not really being sure how to find one that will fit me.

9. Having to rely on the internet for all of my friend communication/connection to current events. Subsequently logging more time on facebook and reddit in proportion to other sites than ever before.

9 things I am so excited for:
1. More cheap, delicious, readily available coffee.

2. The wonderful friends in the Grupo de Kansas that I've already made and can't wait to continue spending time with, travel with, go to Casa del Pie with...

3. Beginning my classes at UCR and learning about things that are genuinely interesting — while not being able to avoid speaking in Spanish, and having to make friends in my classes.

4. Travelling more. So far, I have absolutely loved the beach and the rainforest was also fantastic.

5. Getting more comfortable with my Spanish and growing my vocabulary and pronunciation skills. I can already see the improvement.

6. Seeing my mom in September, and the idea of how glorious it will be to see friends (I'm looking at you Kirsten and Jessi and Andie) when I get back in December.

7. Spending more time with my Tica family, who are all so wonderful to me.

8. Beginning volunteering, most likely, in an elementary school working with bilingual education. In Tibas, somewhere near-ish to San Jose.

9. Making even more friends.


Which leads to my favorite: "But we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. and hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." Romans 5:3-5