I´m in Costa Rica

Hi everyone! It´s Leah, and I´m in Costa Rica right now. It´s only been two weeks, and I´ve already done so much. I´ve taken classes in complete Spanish (grammar, conversation and literature), I´ve visited a volcano for the first time in my life, and I´ve been living for two weeks with a family that I don´t know. I must say, the whole host family thing seemed a bit scary at first, but it´s been amazing for me! My host sister is a nice, fun girl, and she helps me with my spanish a lot. My mom´s the best! She´s so funny, and she really has ensured that I´m comfortable in my home. My brother, too, is very nice and I even got a little lesson from him-in Spanish, of course- on the architecture he´s studying. They´ve been great with slowing down the Spanish so that I can understand, but also trying to open me up to more than just the same old, same old simple words. This truly is an unforgettable and fantastic experience for me to solidify my Spanish-mostly in terms of conversation-, and also to learn about a new culture- I never knew people like rice and beans so much as they do here!

I´m really looking forward to what´s ahead for all of us in the rest of the trip. I´ve made so many new friends at our school- and I think I can say the same for all of us. I know with me, I laugh and joke around with my host sister´s friends so much that I feel like I´ve known them for a lot longer. I think these are friendships I´ll be keeping for a long time: especially since now I found out that ALL my friends down here have Facebook! Hahaha, as much as I take advantage of it at times, in this case it´s really useful! :D

-Leah