pure loveee

Okay, so i know for a fact when I go back to Texas, I will definitely miss the pizza in San Pedro. Yummm. Delicious. Last night, we went to watch the game..US vs. Costa Rica. Guess who won? haha so much fun though..the place was packed. I am leaving today for Manuel Antonio and we are going to stay in a hostel and wait for everyone to get there tomorrow. Yay beach! I am so excitedddd. I also had my first round of tests this week.. please pray that the profs feel bad for me because i am just a gringa. haha The first thing I want when I get back to Texas is GUACAMOLE OR QUESO AND TORTILLA CHIPS. all of those things are so hard to find here. Cant wait to see everyoneee :)

Volcano and more fun times!!

Hola! Okay, so last FRIDAY= I went bungee jumping from 265 feet. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?? because honestly, i cant. I will admit it took me 20 minutes to gain my composure and jump but it was worth it. The initial jump is the hardest..I just couldnt wrap my brain around letting go and free falling but once I felt the rope pull my feet, i opened by eyes and was literally flying. how cool is that? Although, it did make me appreciative of my life and everything i have accomplished haha. A little deep, I guess. Anyways I will show anyone who wants to see the cd we received of our jumps. Saturday, we had to be at ULACIT at 6 AM. no idea how I got up..probably because we didnt go out and I got 10 hours of sleep but we left for Arenal. Once in Arenal, we went to La Fortuna..this beautiful waterfall. Believe me, the pictures are so unreal, its ridiculous and the water was freezing..we hiked down to the waterfall but that only meant more hiking to get back up to the top. I have to be honest all this hiking is killing me. Once we arrived at our hotel, all of us just stood outside taking pictures..the view was incredible.what kind of view right? Well, lets just say the Arenal Volcano was right outside our hotel...the most beautiful view ever. Cant wait to be able to post my pictures but for now just try to picture a giant volcano surrounded by clouds. ha. Sat we just hung out at the wet bar and pool and then Sunday, i went canyoning..more extreme sports haha. 5 drops and 4 waterfalls..again, the hardest part was letting go of the rope. Of course, we have harnesses but in a way we kinda let ourselves down. Now, I am back in San Jose and for mi clase de phoneticas i went to a school today to observe kids who have hearing or visual impairment. The kids were so cute and it was so interesting to see how they communicate. For those who cannot hear, they use sign language as their first language and spanish as their second. I almost wish i was staying for ELAP...This weekend, we are going to the beach..i cant wait. After Thursday, I am done with tests and can just relax. I am so excited that I got so much info out of Kristen today..i cannot wait for Casie to get here and us be able to travel. Love you guys..hope life is treating you all well.
Pura Vida
Nena

At Amigos en Monteverde

me, simone, jose miguel, and lisa at amigos. classic haha

Oh dont worry, I was just helping the DJ.

(above) me and Tashara at Amigos

These are all from facebook, i have alot more that areee wayyy cute but I think I left the camera cord at my house in Montelimar. I will upload as soon as I can! the ATV ones are legit :)

Monteverde!!

Okay, so this past weekend, I went to Monteverde with everyone from ULACIT (my university). It took us 4 hours to get to Monteverde which is literally on the top of a mountain haha I will admit I was a little nervous being that we were in a huge bus treking up the side of a mountain...but I guess our bus driver is used to it. We finally got there and dinner and looked at the view. It is amazing that there is such a place like this. I literally want to live here..everything is soo green. ahh! anyways, me and some girls in my program who i freaking love drank and played BIG BOOTY. Yeah, all you Fish Camp people you know whats up haha. Saturday, we had to have breakfast soo early and leave by 730 to get to the place where we ziplined through the rainforest. That was soo incredible. I have never done anything like that. I have a video I will post later that I took when I was on the zipline...of course it is not very good quality but it shows you how high up I was. there was also a tarzan swing! Later, we went back to the same place and I got to ATV or fourwheel through Monteverde. Knowing me, of course I got stuck at some points but overall this was so refreshing and definitely something i want to do again once Casie gets here. Once I got back we had happy hour at the pool and later we went to the bar for drinks , then had dinner. Later we went to this bar, AMIGOS where this guy who worked at the ziplining place djs. haha ohh let me tell you, this was so fun. I basically lived on the stage for the night meaning I guess I thought I was one of the other djs or something bc i did not moved from there!! haha oh lord. they let me give a shout out too! "Pura Vida!" anyways, later when we left we found this stand (kind of like the hot dog stand but instead they sell chicken in a tortilla..pollo con tortilla) THIS WAS HEAVEN! being that any restaurant that might have been around closes at 12, this was soo perfect. Hey, we are from Estados Unidos, we need drunk food..I dont think Ticos eat after they have been out haha. On the walk back to our hotel, I fell...really hard. My knee is so gross haha. My stupid shoes have no grip and caused me to fall and take Tashara down with me..oops. Sorry girl! haha i mean it was really dark too! ( and i might have had just a few drinks) Sunday, we went hiking through the rainforest. Oh dont worry, this just showed me how out of shape and unathletic I am. I swear I aquired asthma from this. no joke. It was beautiful dont get me wrong I just dont know that hiking is my cup of tea. I slept the entire way home...I was exhausted but this weekend was amazing and I enjoyed every second of it. Tonight is Hunter (a guy from my program from VA)s bday...It doesnt matter here that he is 21 i guess. But we are going back to El Cuartel. They play the best live music ever! I will get pictures of the band tonight hopefully. Love you all!
Ciao,
Nena

Leavinggggg

This is at the airport about to leave and yes I know, I brough alot. Trust me I had to have some Tico men carry it...and my guitar??Im just learning but I should be able to play something when I get back...I hope.

After 5 days

hello! Im waiting in the ISA office until my roommate gets out of class at 5 so I have time to tell you about everything and you can pass this along. It is usually hard for me to give detailed updates because I am constantly on the go or other people are waiting to use the computers. I went to Houston last Friday with Georgie, Chris, and Ally and we went to Ikea then Georgies house to stay the night so they could take me to the airport the next morning. Once I got on the plane, i sat by this really nice girl that is from Ohio. I literally need alcohol or dramamine or something before I get on planes, I do not do well. haha shocker right? no, but i got her info and she has contacted me. I met my roommate and we went to meet our host family. My tica mom is so cute. She lives with her son but he is never home. I am eating soo much here. We eat like every 3 hours and it is rude to not accept food so tomorrow i am getting a membership to a gym here haha i do not want to gain the freshmen 15 now that I am a junior in what.. 5 weeks! ah! anyways, it was difficult the first day. i am pretty sure i teared up 5 times because i missed everyone. it was hard too because everyone speaks in spanish so just hearing people speak english was a nice change. Sunday we went out to this bar at 3 haha crazy! it is so weird to just go up to the bar and order but i love it. The cacique or alcohol of Costa Rica here goes down smoothly haha but I am pretty sure I got pretty tipsy on my second day here with students in my program. I made friends with our bartender Gustavo. Monday nights, everyone goes to this bar called ELCUARTEL. They have live music and dancing. omg i wish you were here you would have loved it. its like cumbia with reggae and i danced the whole time!! Me and a girl in my classes got two bartenders emails bc we were up there so much and basically told them we thought they were cute. This guy in our program got drunk and was dancing with a prostitute i think haha it was soo funny and trust me he cannot dance! i will show you when i get back. My classes started yesterday and I was soo nervous but I think that one of my professors is so nice. She made me want to talk in class and do well. My other one talks way too fast. I literally dont understand her and was freaking out yesterday. I got home at 5 and went to sleep at 9 because i was so tired. Two days a week, i have class for 6 hours! wtf..it sucks but then i just have to remember this is supposed to be interesting and fun..like they say here "tranquila" or "pura vida" meaning no worries, calm down. Nothing is a big deal, you just take things as they come and yes timing is not really important but saying that you are going to do something is. Weird, i know. Like if someone says we are going to this bar tomorrow at 9, arriving at 11 is not a big deal but going is. The traffic is so bad. Everyone honks. Honking means hi, bye, im here, you are cute, what are you doing, fuck you, everything! haha im serious. We ride a bus to school and the money is in colones here. I get confused with paying and stuff, but i think i am learning alot. I miss my mom and dad. mY DAD called the other day and it was sooo nice to hear his voice. I brought my guitar bc my guitar teacher told me i needed to to get practice so I am learning a song. It would be great if i can play it for you when i get back. I moved into my house before i left so you better come over when you get back. My friend Casie is meeting me here a week after my program ends...i cant wait for her to be here haha. By then, I can hopefully get around and understand everything. Tomorrow we are going to this place called Castros Bar. I will let you know how that goes .This weekend we are going to Monteverde in Costa Rica. It is a rainforesty kind of thing. Im doing fourwheeling or ATV idk what that is really and canopy touring. I am getting batteries today so I will take alot of pictures for you and send them. I brought the cord to upload stuff. I miss everyone so much it is crazy and cannot wait to see you. When I have time like this, I will send everyone long updates. Oh P.S. it is soo funny bc after hearing Spanish all day, I forget how to talk! I start talking in Spanglish or say dumb things. My roommate was like what time is it in english and i go "noon thirty" haha wtf. so funny.I love youuuu allll Nena