Bienvenidas a Costa Rica

IM HERE!!!!!! 

So, today was my first full day in Costa Rica ! 

Yesterday I landed yesterday at about 12:45 which was all fine and dandy, until i had to sit at the airport for about 3 HOURS waiting for everyone else from my group to arrive... it was dreadful , I was exhausted and anxious.

Once we finally rounded up enough people at the airport our huge bus came and picked us up and drove use to Veritas Where our Host family's picked us up. Unfortunately Anabel didn't make it in time, so I was worried sick about her lol!  but anyhow, Mariela, my host mom came with Monseratt ( my tica sister, who is three & the cutest lil thing ever.) Our house is literally 30 seconds from Veritas... its actually the most convenient thing ever.Talk about getting lucky ! They have two dogs, Luna & Sofia both which are very friendly.

When I arrived, it was a bit of  surprise ... I have 4 OTHER roommates! it's just one big party in this families house!
Megan lives on the same floor as me and Anabel, we each have our own room and share a bathroom, the other three girls live in the neighboring apartment with the same set up which we also have keys too. Speaking of my keys ! Our Tico parents got us these adorable keychains with the Letter of each of our names in traditional costarican art style. it was so thoughtful and personable. 

Once Anabel arrived also drained and Semi-luggage-less, we had dinner. Which needless to say was delicious. Our family told us a lot about the students that they've had in the past and showed us scrap books and slideshows on their computers, they even have a wall in the backyard with everyones hand prints and signatures in the backyard, you can tell they really love having internationals stay with them ! Even though I speak spanish and am of Latina background i'm still considered a "gringa" which was the FIRST TIME EVER for me, so it's been interesting accomodating to being the "other" in another country,  in America, we never sit there and think to ourselves " I'm American, I speak english" now im in a spanish speaking country the tables have turned!  but he family was very impressed with me & Anabels spanish, yet still I struggle to say somethings to them, But I ask them  and we all try to figure it out together. :]

Today my program (ISA) had orientation which was just giving us the 411- things to expect, how to be safe & behave.. bla blah bla. I learned a lot of cool facts about Costa Rica -- like : It is the size of West virginia and fits in Texas 7 times !  its a really small country, but makes up 6% of the worlds biodiversity.. which is a big deal. Its really just a very RICH country ... hense Costa "Rica". It went well overall, orientations can be pretty boring, they even gave us a break time and snack , where i enjoyed some local breand snacks. Which I put a pic of on the left.

 Before we left we had breakfast, which smelled amazing from upstairs mmmm , our Tica mom made "Gallo Pinto" which is the traditional breakfast dish here, its Rice & beans , scrambled eggs & toast. With this awesome vegetable sauce on the side. Obviously being Dominican I eat rice & beans allll the time , but I have never had it for breakfast ! but it was Delicious ! Gallo Pinto is my new isshhhh ha ha ha !

The View from Veritas Balcony

My Tico dad also had me try this fruit he called a "mango" ... so naturally I was like "ummm that isn't a mango, mangos are orange inside".
Apparently what I believed to be a mango in America is what they call a "manga" here, they grow on different trees so they taste different. The Mango i tried was very sour and tart.. a lot like a granny smith apple ! its the most similar fruit to compare it too.. it was an interesting experience. He's a chef so you can tell he loves talking about food ! I learned that the most popular fruit here is Watermelon & how to say pomegranate, passion fruit  and star fruit in spanish. All of which I cant remember at this point ! oops !

By Tonight all six roommates will be here , I met Laura this after noon, she lives downstairs in the Apt. next door and goes to school in HAWAII! how cool is that ? our Next roommate should be here soon & by tonight around 9 pm the last one will arrive ! Six girls ! its like having Tica 5 sisters .. how awesome.

Were supposed to got to a fair after dinner , today is the last day, its been going on since Dec. 25th its a big costa rican tradition. So that should be exciting :] Tomorrow we will be implementing an " all spanish" rule in the house so it's gonna be quite the challenge.

Me & Anabel on the Balcony @ Veritas.. I liked this because its caught a little off guard
& the mountains behind us are phenomenal.