{The Tranquila Archives}

Imagine clear crystal water, filled with corals and brightly colored fish swimming around, taking cover beneath the giant coral boulders as your shadow passes by.  Imagine swimming in an aquarium that is the Pacific Ocean, floating through the community of a vivid sea life:               giant black & blue sea urchins                 striped and speckled blue, white, and yellow fish;                                             white and pink corals. it was so beautiful. For our first excursion in Costa Rica our study abroad program (CEA:  http://www.gowithcea.com/ ) we took a bus from San Jose to the Pacific Coast and drove along to Manuel Antonio, stopping along the way at Tarcoles River, which is a popular tourist spot due to all the crocodiles easily spotted fro...

This first week has been nothing but Hammer Time.  We touched down sat afternoon.  Sunday Morning I had to be at the CEA office at like 8 am (the plus side being that I'm going from eastern to central, so really its 9 am) for orientation and a walking city tour.  We got to walk around San Jose and learn about the different areas and how to get there.  ( btw, in costa rica addresses=directions.  as in, right at the KFC, 50 mts south of tealand. thats an address. yay .)  If anyone wants to send me mail it has to be a letter, otherwise it's not worth it. I'll find out the address and post it later. Monday we had orientation at Veritas University where they talked to us a little more about the Costa Rican culture like how different concepts of personal space are and the Pura Vida lifestyle and Tico Time.  It lasted until about noon and was just really funny and informative and I won't recount every detail.  After a pizza lunch at CEA offices (whi...

Sorry for the delay on posting, this first week in Costa Rica has been full of adventure, but even excitement can be time-consuming.  Besides, I'm living in paradise, who has time to get on the computer anyways ? So my first-ever airplane ride was super fun.  I met a wonderful couple on the plane who I still need to email btw, and they decided that I needed to sit by the window to see the beautiful sights since I had never seen them before.  We talked a lot along the way and it was really nice, especially since my nerves were doing the cucaracha.  The lady also told me not to worry ab where the airbags were bc if we crashed we wouldn't make it to find out, which I found to be truly hilarious.  Take off felt like a roller coaster that never goes back down the hill, and after about 4 hours of flying I was ready to get off the plane.   Flying over Cuba I had met Taylor in the Charlotte Airport, so when we got to San Jose we navigated the...

I was in IB, so needless to say I am truly a procrastinator.  Packing for a trip abroad has been extremely difficult because I am working so much and also trying to spend as much time with friends as I can before I leave! And I mean I have never gone on a long trip, or even flown before so this whole process is all very alien to me.  My roommates give me the dumbest looks but like seriously how am I supposed to know what is classified as a weapon to airport security these days, or whether I am going to need heels for salsa dancing.  I mean, this is three months of my life in a climate and culture I have never been to.  How do you prepare for that ? GUESS WHAT THOUGH ?! I discovered the beauty of Space Bags. This may or may not be helping me bring as much clothes as I could without being super unnecessary,  but my suitcase still weighed 48lbs so I hope you guys weren't expecting souvenirs...