First weekend in Costa Rica

I chose to fly into Costa Rica on a Saturday so that I could take time to get to know San Jose before classes started. I am really glad I did! This morning I spent getting to know my host mom and host sister- their hobbies, interests, and experiences. We shared a breakfast of eggs and toast with homemade guava jelly.

So far I have found that I can understand the majority of our conversations, even if I can't catch every word. Yesterday my family took me to a Chinese restaurant, which so far has been the most interesting experience. The food we ordered at the restaurante included fried rice, a vegetable dish... and fried chicken? I told my family that the chicken tasted a lot like that found at KFC! Already I am realizing that things I think I know from the United States could be very different in Costa Rica.

I was a little bit worried about exploring San Jose without a GPS to guide the way (I opted not to get a phone plan while I am here) but exploring without one just made me more aware of my surroundings. I decided to take a walk into the more industrialized part of my host family's neighborhood in search of a supermarket. Mama tica gave me some instructions to find one, saying it was about 4 blocks down the street. Despite these seemingly simple directions, I still managed to get lost several times!

The thing about streets in Costa Rica is that they aren't straight and true like many streets you would encounter in Phoenix or other major cities. They are winding and branching and very confusing! The streets that I explored alternated between segments of neighborhood and stores. However, I did eventually encounter the supermarket! I was able to buy some shampoo and conditioner, and best of all, I was able to find my way back home!

From my exploratory excursion, I noticed many similarities and differences between the streets of Costa Rica and those of the United States. For one, there were a ton of pizza restaurants! I plan on trying one of the restaurants in the following weeks. A major difference I noticed was that there were almost no street lights! I think in total I came across two. Despite the lack of street lights (and also stop signs), it seemed to me that people still drove with high awareness.

Classes start tomorrow! I can't wait to meet all my classmates and get to know my professors!

Until next time-
Nicole