Ok, so highlights from last week. Well, on Wednesday we had a salsa class on campus from a dance teacher from San Jose. He was really good! Salsa is a lot of fun, and the guys here are actually pretty good at dancing so it was very fun. We learned the basic steps and also a turn, which I would mess up the footwork on because my feet are used to doing swing dancing. Oh well, I have a couple more months to practice J

Last week we also had another soccer game with the community, and I am seeing a bit of an increase in my soccer skills. Lol someone actually asked me if I played in high school and was surprised that I didn’t, so I was very flattered. I played goalie most of the time I was up, and I think I just got lucky mostly and had really good defense to back me up. We have another game tomorrow and I am excited! Hopefully the same people from the community will be there to play, so I will get to know them more.

Its hard to get good picture of a soccer game, but here is one (our team has blue jerseys but sometimes community members join in. we need all the help we can get :) )

Hmm…oh! We went to the Tárcoles River and Carara National Park, which is a bit south of us and on the Pacific Side. Basically all the trash that doesn’t make it into a dump comes to this River because of the way the watershed works. So it is super polluted, and the history of it is sad because an organization was almost able to save it but then through a change in government and this new government absorbing the organization, it fell through. It makes me want to do something; this is definitely an area I am very interested in (water clean-up and pollution management that is). I talked to my professor about it after and he told me a bit of the waste management problems that go on in the country. There just needs to be a lot of work on infrastructure. I wish there was directed research for this topic, but I don’t think there is, the professors have already picked the options. Oh well. Maybe I can figure out a way to help someday, because it is seriously sad how polluted this area is.

Beach on the Tarcoles River. Its really sad to see this

Another highlight was Poas Volcano, which is this giant smoldering crater with an acidic lake in the middle. It is still active, and just this year or last spewed a bunch of rock and steam hundreds of meters into the air. It was foggy when we first got there, but the fog lifted and we were able to see it thankfully! We had to give out surveys while we were there, which put a bit of a damper on things, but I think I did better than last time. Maybe my people skills are improving lol.

Poas Volcano. My jaw dropped when I saw it, its so cool!

So then, that night, we went to the most epic soccer game of my life!! It was Liga (the team in our area) vs. Saprissa (the team of San Jose). It was a mess getting into the stadium, there were so many people packed around that I had a panic attack. Especially when we had to squeeze through a line of guys who were cat calling us girls in Spanish. That was uncomfortable. However, we got in and I took some breaths and got a hug from a friend and I was alright. We had some great seats next to the goalie box of the opposing team. Above that goalie box were some really crazy Liga fans; they jumped for literally the entire game and would throw paper rolls and set off sparklers and smoke bombs in their section. Kiddy-corner to us was Saprissa’s section of jumping cheering fans. This was a home game, so there were more of us Liga fans, so there was red and black colors everywhere. Some of us bought jerseys, and so fit right in with the others in the crowd. Well, besides the fact that we kinda stand out as Americans at times J

As for the game…Liga won!!! It was 3-0, so they really beat Saprissa. It was so exciting, Liga fans would go wild after every goal, waving shirts or jumping and such. The energy was awesome, I really got into the game. I must have looked it too, because a camera crew approached me for an interview…in Spanish! I was so flustered and nervous, but I was able to answer their questions, abeit in not my most profound Spanish. They just asked me my impressions of the stadium, where I was from, etc. Lol so hopefully I didn’t sound like an idiot on Costa Rican TV. I was so glad I went to the game though, it is definitely on my list of favorite things here so far. Sadly we couldn’t bring in cameras, so I don’t have any pictures to show you.

...Oh boy!

Week 2

Whoa. I’m starting to get into the nitty gritty of this semester. After a week of orientation and a field trip to the jungle, we started out last Monday with a bang: 7 classes pretty much back to back, all with readings to do. Ug. As a friend said here, we had a bit of a honeymoon period before the real deal set in. I’m still really glad I came, but it is definitely hard.

I am learning a lot though I hope! We wrote our first scientific report last week about our research measuring carbon storage in a pasture. It was definitely a struggle to get through, I wasn’t exactly sure if I was writing it correct. I guess I will find out when I get it back. I am still wrestling with Excel and how to work it, especially since it is different on Macs. We have another lab write-up to do this week so hopefully that will go well.

Its boring to write too much about school work, so I will move onto the other highlights J Don’t get me wrong, schoolwork is interesting, but I am learning a lot and doing a lot outside of that. Last week we went to Manuel Antonio National Park, which is on the Pacific Side of Costa Rica, kind of near the middle. The first day we were there we had orientation hikes where we learned about the plants and animals that live there and a bit of context behind the park. Then, we got to go swim in the ocean: I have never swam in an ocean that warm! I couldn’t believe it was the Pacific Ocean, it felt almost like pool water except salt water. There were some good waves to body surf on and we also played some Frisbee. Being in the ocean adds a whole other level to Frisbee; it was intense J.

Hike with Prof. Achim - I can't remember what he was explaining in the picture, possibly about how a lot of plants there had spines on the leaves and trunks to keep away herbavores

Playa Blanca: us playing in the waves!

After this, we had to set up our tents for the night…in the rain. I have never had to do that before, it was quite the adventure. We ended up with not too much water in our tent, which was good. However, after an evening of classes, we had to go back and squeeze 5 girls in our tent. It was definitely cozy. It was cute though, all around our tent were these hermit crabs, I have never seen so many in my life! Some were tiny and some were huge, I don’t know why they all congregated on the beach we were on. Anyway, back to camping. So we got all snuggled in and tried to sleep, but unfortunately the howler monkeys in the trees above us decided that they wanted to howl and make a bunch of racket. So, we didn’t get much sleep. It was kinda funny though, to wake up and know that there were howler monkeys right near us. I felt like I was in a nature film. I wanted to get my camera to record the sound, but it was outside the tent and I was too tired/was the farthest from the door so would have to climb over other people. Oh well.

So the next day we had to go survey visitors to the National Park. So basically what we split up in pairs and wandered around for a hour or so and have to ask people to do a survey. For an introvert, this was a bit difficult, especially in another language. Me and my partner managed to get one survey, all the rest of the people had already done it or didn’t want to (this is the low season for tourism, so it almost seemed like there were more of us than the tourists, which was a bit frustrating). Afterwards we got to go to the beach again though, so it was good to be able to relax after having to talk to strangers. However, the jelly fish were out…and I got stung L A wave crashed on me and must have had jelly fish in there, because I felt the electric bolt of their sting on my hand, shoulder, and chest. It hurt a lot!! I got out really fast and was able to get some vinegar on it to ease the sting. It swelled up a lot though. I almost hope it scars a bit though, it would make a good story if anyone asked me about it J

The jelly fish sting on my hand = epic :)

Well this is getting long, so more later!

First Impressions

The weather being hot already at eight in the morning, seeing monkeys out the kitchen windows, taking a field trip to a rainforest, writing this from a hammock…this must be Costa Rica J

Haha, its not all fun and games, but so far this semester abroad is shaping up to look very awesome!! I got to the Center we are staying at Tuesday, and our days are so packed! Every day starts out early with breakfast at 7, students having to be there at 6 if their group is scheduled for helping with kitchen setup. My group, or pandilla as they call it here, had that this week, so it was an even earlier morning for us. It was fun though, I got to speak Spanish with the kitchen ladies, Manella and Carment, and they are very fun! I am looking forward to getting to know them more. The food here is exactly like my Grandparents said it would be: a LOT of rice and beans. Pretty much rice and beans at every meal. There is other stuff too, like chicken, beef, veggies, fruit, salad, etc. but there is usually rice at every meal. They really like Italian food here too though, so I have had Costa Rican pizza and lasagna. Different, but good.

A view of our dormitories from below

Classes are looking very interesting, we have had intros to all of our classes now and I think it is going to be a very interesting semester. My classes are Natural Resource Management, Tropical Ecology, Economics, and Spanish Culture and Language. I think the Language portion of the class is going to difficult but hopefully rewarding, because most of it involving just taking together in Spanish. I have realized that while I can have a short conversation, my vocabulary is really lacking. So, I’m working on that. I’m going to try and keep a journal in Spanish, and there are a bunch of students here who really want to learn as well so I have been able to have many conversations. I’m hopeful, but its going to take a lot of work to get better. As for the other classes, they are going to be really cool, there is a lot of hands on work and I am really excited about that. So far we have already had a field trip to Tirimbina, a national park that is a rain forest. There, we collected data on the benefits of keeping some trees in a pasture rather than just clear cutting all of it, learned about the ecosystems of the rain forest and how some of them are changing because of human interaction, and visited the Dole banana plantation. It sounds like we have a field trip almost once a week, so that will be awesome!

Taking a break from collecting data to climb a tree

Dole banana plantation - Fact: they aren't trees, they are herbs!

As I was saying earlier, the day starts out pretty early, and its also pretty scheduled. We have class and lectures sometimes till 9 at night. Oh! That’s something that’s different about Costa Rica, the sun goes down at about 7pm, so everyone here goes to bed early. When its 10, it feels like 12. That didn’t take too much adjusting to since I am a morning person to begin with, but it just is yet another thing that makes Costa Rica different. Anyway, yes, so hopefully I will be able to find some down time among all the scheduling. Since we are outside so often, I’m not terribly worried that I will go crazy, but it will be an adjustment. Just like cold showers J They aren’t too terrible, I’ve just learned that you have to take them during the day when you are hot so then it actually feels good.

The people here seem pretty cool so far. Our professors are either native Costa Ricans or have lived here for a long time. So, they are all very knowledgeable about what is going on in the environment in Costa Rica. The students are cool too. Some of them are very different than me, it was a bit of a culture shock just getting used to the group. Don’t get me wrong, they are all awesome in their own way, but hardly any of them sing or play an instrument, and that is like complete opposite of me. I miss my violin a lot L I know that it was probably a wise decision not to bring it, the weather here is soooo muggy, but there is violin in some popular Costa Rican songs and it makes me really want to play. There is a guitar here for us to play, and the one of the only other people that plays is one of my roommates, so that will work our well. I have 3 roommates by the way, I hope we all get along well. So far it is working out well.

New to this blogging thing

Instead of sending out mass emails, I decided it might be easier to create a blog. So, here it is! I will add in the things I wrote from week 1, do a bit of catching up, but then I will be writing here possibly every couple of days. Just so you know what I am up to :)

And for those of you that don't have my address yet, it is:

Marta Behling

CEDS

Apartado 150-4013

Atenas - 20501

Costa Rica

Central America