That one time I ate pizza from a bag

Yes. I ate pizza from a bag...I'll get to that.


If I had to describe the days leading up to now in one word, I would say "adventure". Every day here is an adventure! Whether it is eating the food, speaking with "los ticos" (Costa Ricans), or exploring new parts of San Jose, there is always something new and exciting to do!

The first day here I was only able to string together a few words in Spanish and hope that my conjugation of each verb was correct. My vocabulary was nonexistent, conjugation of past tense sloppy, and I had problems every time when would go from English to Spanish and back. Now here I am, a mere 3 days later, and I am already so much more comfortable! I am able to communicate (albeit roughly) with my mama tica, I am not nearly as afraid to ask for help from people I meet, and I have successfully rode the bus to the central district of San Jose! If already I feel so much more at home, I can't imagine what it will be like in 6 weeks when I return to NAU.

I have already gotten lost twice in Costa Rica (it has only been 6 days). However, I don't think that is necessarily a bad thing! The first time I was with a classmate who lives in the same house as me. We were coming back from hanging out with our classmates and took a uber to the wrong place. And we repeated the same mistake when we tried to get to the university! After about an hour of asking for help and getting confused we finally found our way home- exhausted both mentally and physically. The other time I was with a classmate trying to find a poster for a project. We were fine when entering central San Jose, but when we wanted to leave it took us 30 minutes to find a bus stop, and then we got on the wrong bus! After calling yet another Uber, we were able to find our way back to La Universidad Fidélitas.

Both of these instances there were times that I felt very lost and scared. But I also realized afterward that it is okay to be lost. Rather than see it as a curse, I see it as a way to grow and experience more of the culture through methods of travel! That being said, I think I will still be able to experience the culture if I don't get lost again (which I hope I don't)!

Okay, so the pizza bag...we have a class here titled "conversación" in which we get to do activities and go on excursions to improve our Spanish and also just have fun! Yesterday we took a tour of downtown San Jose with our tour guide, who showed us the Democratic Plaza, museums, banks, and many more things! When we arrived at a store, I decided that I wanted to buy a piece of pizza. I was confused when the woman behind the counter handed me a bag. However, when I looked inside: there was the pizza! The crust tasted more like a croissant than an American pizza, and was layered with a thick slice of ham and loaded with cheese. Is your mouth watering? It should be.

I am still learning to expect the unexpected here. Like in this instance with the pizza, I was so confused by the method of delivery when I have only ever had pizza on a plate or in a box! I feel that I need to learn that these differences shouldn't be criticized, but rather be celebrated. I have now had a piece of pizza in a bag! That is not something that many people can say, and when I learn to experience the culture with an open mind I will learn even more than I have and be able to immerse myself in Costa Rica.