El Ultimo

Welp, this is it. The bags are packed, closet empty, bed made, bathroom clear. Now all thats left to do is wait. Wait on the shuttle thats coming to take me to the airport. such a surreal feeling. Cant believe its all over. Yesterday was a great day because I got to spend a lot of time with my tica family. Some of my friends wanted to go out for our last night but I am really happy with the decision I made to stay home and just spend time with my tica family. I had one of the best meals yet. chicken with mashed potatoes, rice, veggies, and this homeade gravy that was off the chain. After dinner, they gave me a gift. They gave ME a gift, after everything they have done for me, they still got me a gift. They gave me a tshirt which I was very excited about, some homeade earrings that my mama tica's sister had made and a keychain. Also included was a homeade card. I couldnt even read it because I knew I would bust out in tears. I read the card later in my room. I was just so overwhelmed by their kindness. I never once felt uncomfortable from the moment I entered their home or like they didnt want me there. I bought some flowers and chocolate and a card, where I tried to write in words what they meant to me, but really there arent any. So I did the best I could to express my gratitude for all they had done for me. I cant believe how fortunate I was to be placed with Ligia, Pame, y Nicol. I will never forget them and they have such a special place in my heart, and I know that without doubt if I ever came back, they would open their home to me again. After dinner, Nicol and I watched some FRIENDS and then Pame joined us to watch my sister's keeper, which is not what I needed to help me NOT bust out in tears. It was great to spend time with them. I wanted to share a few things I learned here to sum up my experience in this last blog:

1. PURA VIDA: it means living day to day, enjoying life and taking advantage of every opportunity, not worrying about things that dont matter or that you cant control. To not rush through life or always be in a hurry, but embracing and enjoying every moment

2. Take the time to sit down and talk with people. Getting to actually know someone is such a wonderful pasttime.

3. You dont need that many things to be happy. There are very few things that you actually need. Simplify your life. Not having a cell phone was actually kind of nice.

4. Appreciate the things in your life. Going to church every sunday is such a privilege. You are blessed not entitled to having a car to drive around.

5. Complaining is an American Habit. As is slamming car doors-FYI. and what you considered closing a car door is considered slamming here.

6. San Jose is not as dangerous as everyone makes it out to be-in my opinion.

7. Eating healthier makes life better and can be as tasty

8. People everywhere are essentially the same. I became part of a family from a completely different culture although I was from a different country and do not speak the same language fluently.

9. Smiling means the same thing in every language.

10. Even if you dont believe, agree, or understand something, you should still respect it.

11. Put yourself out there. Embarrasing and awkward situations make for GREAT stories. never let fear or pride make your decisions for you.

Well those are just a few things. I have changed a lot this summer. Ive grown up. I detatched myself from everything I had ever known and learned to live without them. It was not always easy. Change never is. But it makes you into the person you always imagined yourself being. And that is an amazing feeling. I have no idea what the next step for me is, but I'm excited about it. I'm optimistic about the future. and as much as I love and will miss Costa Rica Im looking forward to starting my life. Because I feel that the end of this summer is the beginning of something new. This summer, as much as I dreaded it, was completely necessary. I needed it. So for that I thank you Costa Rica. and thank you Lord for bringing me here. You always know what you are doing. Well I guess that is all from San Jose, Costa Rica. A great quote that my roommate merri told me is the attitude I am going to have as I head home, although it still might be difficult not to cry. But it is a good cry. The best kind of crying you can have, the one that makes you realize how great of an experience you had. Dr. Seuss always had the best quotes, He said, "Dont cry because its over. Smile because it happened" And that is what I plan on doing. Adios. Costa Rica. Te amo. PURA VIDA

Here are some things I just realized. One, I have not used a brush or a hairdryer the entire time I've been here. Two, I ran out of body wash, I dont know, like a month ago so I've been using my shampoo as body wash because toiletries are so dang expensive. Life of the American College Student in Costa Rica let me tell you. Actually, its kind of funny/embarrassing/ the usual for me because about a week ago I realized that using our hand soap might be an alternative than using my shampoo (which ironically I dont think is true. the shampoo foams up more) So I used the hand soap like 2 times, but somehow my mama tica must have realized my schemes because a couple of days ago, two bars of soap just miraculously showed up in my shower. oops. whatever. Yesterday was a really great day. I got up and ate breakfast (which is always one of the highlights of my day) My mama tica and I talked for a little bit. Then she took me to see the university of Costa Rica (UCR) which is pretty close to our house. UCR is huge and its just like a little college town. It reminded me a lot of clemson. However, it has no dorms interestingly enough because I've said before, students dont stay on campus. thats weird to them. they live with their families. Also, they have pharmacy, medicine, dentistry etc all in this one school. Its not like you do undergrad and then go to pharmacy school, or med school, you just do one 6 or 8 year program all together. pretty good if you ask me. We walked around and then went to eat lunch at this amazing place that made crepes. It was pretty funny, because I've only eaten crepes with fruit in them or ones that are sweet. Well they did have those, but they also have ones filled with chicken or mushroom, basically real food. I got one with bananas and strawberries covered in dulce de leche and powdered sugar. Yum. My mama tica got a mushroom and chicken one. I told her that I had never seen crepes that werent sweet before and she told me "yeah, Ive never seen ones that were sweet before" haha. She paid for my meal too. She is so sweet. She was like "I invited you" when I most distinctly remember asking her if she would show me around sometime. After we had our little date, we went back and I went to go see Despicable me at the Multiplaza-which is a fantastic movie. one of the best animated ones I have seen in a while. It was so incredibly sweet, and actually pretty funny. I would recommend it. After that I came back and my mama tica gave me a mini cooking class, which is much needed. It was cool to learn how she makes our food. It takes some time and preparation but its not too hard. After dinner, I just chilled around. Last night was my last night at castros :( sad day. it was really fun. At the end of the night, I danced with this guy who was the best salsa dancer I had danced with yet. He was spinning me in ways I had never been spun before. Like seriously, sometimes he spun me using my head. It was crazy. I didnt know what was going on half the time, but you just have to surrender yourself to the music and just let it go. It was really fun. Its my last day. weird, sad, exciting, overwhelming, nostalgic and more all in one. I cant believe I get to see my sis tomorrow and then the rest of my friends and family the next day. its crazy. I may or may not be writing anymore from Costa Rica- I want to but we will see how the time goes. I havent even started packing, it looked like my closet threw up all over my room. So I guess I should get on that. Im literally the last one in my group to leave tomorrow because my flight is at 5 pm. Anyway, this could be the last one. ADIOS. and gracias to all those who read my blog. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I will see you all soon. PURA VIDA

Gosh, have I told you guys lately how much I love my mama tica and my tica family? cuz if not I'm going to tell you now how amazing they are. (dont worry Mom, Dad, Justin, and Laura-No one can or ever will compare to you guys. Being down here has made me realize how amazing you all are-even more than I thought before. No one can replace you all and I am so unbelievably thankful and blessed to have you all in my life. I cannot express in words-written or spoken- how much you all mean to me. I love you all so much) However, being here I have been so amazingly blessed to be placed with such a wonderful family. My tica sister and I played basketball yesterday in the court right beside our house. I havent played basketball outside my house since I was little, so it took me way back to the summer nights that my family and I would play until it was dark. Dad, we played around the world. I thought you would enjoy it. It was fun, but it wasnt the same as playing with you :) My mama tica and I just had this 2 1/2 hour conversation after breakfast. It was great. I love learning about her life and her viewpoints because believe it or not we are very much alike in the way we think. Our personalities are very similar, so despite the fact that she is 45 and I am 21 we can have a conversation on the same level. She is such a giving, funny, tranquil person who always puts others first (very much like my own mother, whom I cannot rave about enough) I've been trying to find her a boyfriend since I've been here because she's divorced and on the market, but after what I learned about the Ticos, I told here I would find her a gringo haha. She is just such an amazing person. we had a long convo about "religion" well faith really this morning at breakfast. My mama tica is catholic and before you rile up of your pre conceived thoughts and judgements about catholics let me just inform you what she told me. she said "I dont really care about religion. To me, your relationship with God is what is important, not religion" and yeah she's catholic-I couldn't have said it any better and quite frankly I have said that a few times and have heard that from practically every "evangelical" pastor I know. We talked about how its more important to respect someone even if you dont believe in what they do rather than tell them what they are doing wrong. To be honest that is one of my pet peeves- you can tell someone what they are doing wrong because what you believe is OBVIOUSLY the right thing. ugh, get over yourself. The best way to show that what you believe is the truth, is to actually live it and not worry about what everyone else is doing wrong. (sorry for the soapbox). Anyway the other night, I did this think called the romeria. Basically, its a pilgrimage that catholics from all over costa rica and other parts of central america make to this catholic church in Cartago called the Basilica (a city in the mountains 30 minutes by bus from san jose). They do this to show their devotion and to pray to La virgen de los angeles. Yeah, whether you agree with it or not, you have to admire and respect their devotion. I will be the first to tell you that it was beautiful and yes, I'm not catholic and dont necesarrily believe in what they do, but I do respect them and admire what those thousands of people did. Some people walked for days. We walked 35 km or 20 miles. It took us about 5 hours. Once we got to the church there were sooooo many people. craziness. after walking for 5 hours we had to wait another hour and a half just to get in the church. most people who are catholics go the entire length of the church on their knees. okay I dont know if you have ever tried to walk on a tile floor on your knees for an extended period of time, but let me tell you it doesnt feel very pleasant. I knew this big girl would not be able to get up at the end if I did that, so I decided to do the walking thing. Honestly it was one of the coolest things I've done here. My roommate merri left yesterday and I am seriously so sad to leave now. When she was in her cab, honest to goodness it all hit me and I teared up. It surprised me bc I really didnt think I would cry at all. But now there is no doubt. Im almost crying now as I write this. Last week I was so ready to go, but now things have changed. Cant wait to see my family and friends, but at the same time, I really do love my tica family and Costa Rica. I have had such a wonderful experience and I am going to miss it so much. Gosh, this is going to be way harder to leave than I had expected. Only four days. Yup, the tears are blurring my vision now. Well I love you all. I will see you all so very soon. PURA VIDA!

It makes me happy to realize that people everywhere are the same. No seriously, no matter what country you go to people are all essentially the same. Yes there are cultural differences, but in the things that really matter, like family, love, and laughter people are all the same. For example, today I went downtown, and I was walking back instead of taking the bus (1 because I like to walk and 2 because I spent all of the colones I had in the market. I had to eat ice cream for lunch because it was the only thing that I could afford and unfortunately I realized that the banks are not open today or TOMORROW because its a national holiday AFTER I had spent all my money-son of a..so I guess I'm living off 200 colonies or about 37 cents for the next two days haha)Like I said I was walking and my mom and dad will be happy to know that I saw a minivan with a luggage carrier. Not kidding. I guess its a universal concept to rock something that points you out as a tourist from miles away and prevent you from parking in anything even remotely close to a parking garage. Also I was walking up this hill, a pretty steep one at that, and I saw this minivan at the top gun it over the hill. But then I heard these two little kids laughing so adorably in the back seat as they passed me. Apparently their dad had sped up so they would go airborn a little bit. It was so cute. I laughed to myself. I remember riding the bus when I was younger and there was this one hill right by the public library and everyone would tell the bus driver to speed up so we could go airborn in the back. It was serious though. Like you would have to brace yourself if the bus driver went through with it and there was no chance in heck that the kids in the back of the bus were even remotely staying in their seats. SO MUCH FUN. See people are the same everywhere. As I was walking today, I realized how much I'm gonna miss this place. The sights, the smells, the sounds, the people. Im gonna miss being the only white person walking down the street. I wont however miss this dog that is barking shrilly in my ear right now err. But no seriously, this place is amazing :) I really do love it here. Dont get me wrong, I cant wait to see my family and friends, but this place has really grown on me. The hard part is that when I got here it was a hard transition because I had to uproot myself completely and plant my self back down again. Change isnt easy. Its uncomfortable. So I had to go through the whole process of getting used to everything. Now that it feels normal and confortable to live here, I have to uproot myself ALL over again and get used to living in America again. and let me tell you, it will probably be a culture shock going BACK to america. Where taxes arent included in the prices, people are alwasy in a hurry, and being late just isnt acceptable. Where guys arent going to tell me how pretty I am when i'm walking down the street, and where and umbrella isnt going to be a 5th limb. Driving...yeah what does that word mean again, and where the food is fresh not fried, preserved, with high fructose corn syrup and sodium included. And where I wont hear spanish unless I choose to. A place where people dont want to dance, and there isnt anwhere to dance. Yeah its gonna be a reverse culture shock I think. But I assure you, I do love America, and i do look forward to some good SC air. I have had an amazing summer. i took advantage of every opportunity I was given. I met so many amazing people with so many amazing stories. I did things that I didnt have the confidence in myself to do. I was humiliated all the time, but it helped cultivate my humility. I learned how to slow down and relax and do the things I wanted to do. To somewhat put myself first and be independent. I learned a little bit more how to have a personality and be funny when Im speaking spanish (you wouldnt realize that that is probably one of the hardest parts of speaking a language) I got to invade someone elses home and I went to another country while I was here. It was not always easy, but this experience was necessary. I've grown up so much, and I've learned so much about myself, life, and other people. Its been good. i dont regret it one second. Not that i would necessarily do it again, but I enjoyed the experience that I had. Well I love and miss you all. PURA VIDA.