Let's Begin at the Beginning

Finally! I've got my journal from the trip and I'm going to start writing down some of the fun things I did and cool things I saw! I hope I've sufficiently built up the anticipation!

Day 1: San Jose, CA to San Jose, CR
So the first day in San Jose definitely set a standard for the rest of the course. I was basically thrown into a whole new culture for the first time without having my parents there. I have to admit that I was pretty nervous, because I don't speak much Spanish (and by much I mean I know maybe 10 phrases that I casually throw around). We stayed in a pretty nice hotel called the Don Carlos, and the staff was very gracious and kept an eye out for us.

We spent the morning at the Natural History Museum, which was somewhat interesting. Then we had the rest of the afternoon to spend to ourselves. We split up and set off to explore the interesting city. I somehow managed to order food at this delicious little restaurant called La Flor. We wandered around the tourist market filled with colorful bracelets, comfy-looking hammocks, wooden trinkets, and lots of merchandise featuring Imperial, la cerveza de Costa Rica.

If you ever find yourself in San Jose, Costa Rica, and you want a break from the local fare, you should check out Cafe Mundo for some excellent Italian food!

 And here are some pictures of San Jose. Enjoy!

The Giants Won the World Series.

Well, this week we're supposed to blog about something huge that happened this week and relate it to our blogs. Honestly, all I've been able to think about this week is the fact that the Giants won the World Series. Considering I've been rooting for the San Francisco Giants since I learned what baseball was as a wee child, this is seriously a once in a lifetime opportunity. I never thought the Giants would actually realize their full potential this season and win the World Series. I think the best thing about this team is that they are young, talented, and self-proclaimed "misfits." Everyone wants to root for the underdog, but at the same time no one wants to be the underdog/misfit.
My time spent in Costa Rica has definitely made me feel like a misfit. Although I readapted to civilization very quickly (as in I got a Droid phone the day before I left, and when I got back a month later I was figuring out how to use it), I still feel uncomfortable or spoiled in many situations. I'm more environmentally conscious, even though sometimes it's still not considered "fashionable" to be so. I like spending more time outside, even though I know a lot of people who prefer to be indoors watching TV or on Facebook. What's even funnier is that in many ways, my Costa Rica classmates and I called ourselves  misfits as well. One of my classmates (when talking about how awesome the class was and what a great time we were having) said that 12 of the weirdest and most random kids at SCU out of 5000 came together on this trip and became great friends. So I guess the moral of this story is to be nice to the "misfits," because they might become your best friend. Or win a World Series.