Bringing you up-to-date

One of the waterfalls we saw on our orientation excursion.
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Like i said, i got here on january 25th & it's now february 16th - so i've been here about 3 weeks. The first week was spent doing orientation with all of the other exchange students - most of them are from around the states, with one from germany and 2 from denmark. Our group is about 20 or so students, plus there's another group that i don't know well - which is fine by me, cause im not really here to befriend more gringos (united staters - not necessarily "americans" as that refers to anyone from north, central, or south america - in fact, some people get pretty mad when you call yourself american and what you mean is your're from the states).

The active volcano Arenal along with our bus driver, William.
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Anyhow, orientation was long and boring at times, but it could have been worse. They mixed it up with a few fun things to even out all the boring "don't do drugs, don't walk alone at 3 am, etc" common sense talks and ended it with a weekend excursion to some waterfalls* (for future reference * = see attached photo), volacanoes*, and hot springs.

The following monday, feb. 5th, we started classes. I'm taking a couple that i need for my major (spanish) like literature and history, one that's required of all exchange students (it's a grammar and culture class), and a few others that are just to fulfill my 120 graduation requirement. These are Sociology of Life and A look at contemporary movies. All of my classes are in spanish and with the other ticos, except for the one required spanish course. I tried to take an english course though (why not? easy credits..) but it didn't fit into my schedule..hopefulyl next semester. Aside from that i signed up for a popular dance class - i won't get any credit for it, but it'll be fun to learn some of their dances here. Since im a student, i got a discount - it's about $40/semester.

Sunset at the public beach in manuel antonio.
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Aside from school, I'm still working out the details to join a capoeira group here. Capoeira is a brazilian martial art that i train in the states. They have groups here in Costa Rica, but none that i can find in Heredia. Rather, the closest i've found is in San Jose, which is also the capital city. Depending on traffic, it's anywhere from 30 - 60 minutes away. It's also a pretty dangerous city, even in the day - there are places known as "red zones" where you don't really wanna go ever, if you don't have to, but they're kind of hard to avoid.  Not surprisingly, they're mostly around the bust stations, etc. Before i really get into finding classes to go to, though, i need to settle into a routine a little more and finish up some important things (like scholarship apps & fafsa..oops, ha).

Coastline view of one of the private beaches, inside the park.
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Last weekend, some of us gringos took a 4 hour busride over to quepos/manuel antonio..it's a pretty famous beach & justifiably so. The public beach is beatiful*, but the private (pay $7 to enter the national park) beaches* are even better. Here, there are a couple crescent moon beaches along with jungle trails and wildlife. The park is known for it's shady monkey* population - they've got no problem coming right up next to you to steal your stuff, in search of food. Though i'd already been there during my previous trip to costa rica, it was an overall good time & i'd suggest it if you're ever in the area.

Monkeys! Curious lil buggers..
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I just finished my second week of classes and it's the weekend again, but this time I'm not traveling - i want some time to relax, traveling can be pretty tiresome. Plus, though it's relatively cheap, my wallet needs a rest as well and i have a good bit of work i need to do.

So i guess that pretty much brings you up-to-date with where im at now.