For some strange reason, my days in Costa Rica all seem very long, but yesterday feels like it JUST happened. There has been so much going on with program orientations, placement tests, tours, etc. The main things that happened today were:
-An oral interview to determine which Spanish class we could take. I'm in the advanced classes, thankfully.
-A welcome and introduction presentation at the university with all the foreign students (not just the ones from the ISA program.)
- I have been meeting a lot of amazing people from all over the U.S. This is one of my favorite new friends, Hlee. She's from Minnesota. We, along with Jessica and some other girls, had a hurried, but delicious, lunch after orientation. Here's some pictures:
Arroz con pollo, tacos de pollo, y carnitas de pollo.
Jessica y Hlee
Jessica & Me enjoying the food. Que rica!
After lunch, we took a bus tour of downtown San José. I'm excited to explore that area more, now. When we got back from the tour, I returned to my house. The oldest sister, Eli, let me try some wine. The family thought it was too bitter, but they poured me a huge glass because I said it wasn't that bad. Apparently, she thinks I'm a wino or something, as she presented another bottle and another glass full. This was at 4/4:30, and I was supposed to be meeting up with my friends at 5!
I did show up, quite buzzed, but ready to go party/dance. We didn't end up going out to the bars until almost 8, though. And we made two big mistakes:
1. We went with a group of about 20 American students, which is something we have been told not to do for both cultural and security reasons.
2. We went to girl's night, which was great for the girls. However, all the guys had to pay 4000 colónes, which is a lot for a cover.
It was a pretty fun night, though. A lot of dancing and chatting with our new friends. I'm not sure what the Ticos think of us...they did a lot of staring that was in between glaring and laughing. Next time, I think we'll go out in smaller groups.
OH, and the cab ride home. Well, I think I experienced my first episode of culture shock and serious confusion tonight. A group of us left the bar a little after 10 since we have class at 8 tomorrow. We took a taxi to the university, because all the girls live nearby, and I was going to go the rest of the way by myself, since I live farther. Unfortunately, the driver was not familiar with ANY of my reference points, not on the main road nor in my neighborhood. So here's Mikey, the little gringo, trying to guide the taxi with my minimal navigational vocabulary at 1030 at night. GREAT. It took us like 15 to 20 minutes and a drive through a sketchy neighborhood to finally reach a familiar area. In the end, I just got out of the car, completely frustrated and walked the remaining 3 blocks home. (Don't worry, it's a safe place and the only other person I saw was a bike cop.) It cost about 3 times as much as it should have, too. I definitely learned my lesson. You can never assume that someone, even a local, will know something...and you should always have very explicit directions in a taxi.
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