The Beginning

In two weeks I am going to Heredia, Costa Rica and many the people are telling me to write a blog about it. The travel books say it, the study abroad papers say it, so I guess I am going to do it. I don’t know how interesting this will be, but I promise to do my best to make it exciting and to update as soon as I can.

And yes, I really did name this blog after a Killers song. I am sure some of you may know how obsessed I am with The Killers so that shouldn’t come as a surprise, but I also thought of how fitting that could be as a title. I am doing this while I am young and will always look back at this time.

So, it is the first day of the New Year. A new chance and I get to take that chance to Costa Rica. I hadn’t really had time to think about actually going to Costa Rica until after Christmas, and to be honest, I am glad I haven’t had more time to think about it. As soon as I had nothing left on my mind, I began to worry about what may or may not happen while I am there. I was like this for a few hours, but decided I needed to not be that way. If I let myself wonder about these things, especially for a place that I have never experienced before, I would just drive myself crazy. Throughout the entire semester I was busy with classes and the applications for study abroad that I never really got to think about it. Even when I had met the other girls from NAU that were going, it was never really real until I had absolutely nothing on my mind except the fact that on January 14^th, I will be flying to San José and staying there for four months.

I bought a travel book for Costa Rica over the summer and still haven’t gotten around to reading it. This is probably a way that I am still avoiding thinking about going so I don’t overwhelm myself. I look at this book everyday thinking I should read it (I also have a grammar textbook that I should be reviewing, but really, I am totally choosing that travel book over a Spanish grammar book, even though I shouldn’t).

There are a couple of things that I am definitely nervous about. Firstly, my family. My Costa Rican family. There is a mom, a dad, a thirteen year old boy and two ten year olds, a girl and a boy. While I am really excited to have learned about my family, I am really nervous about this whole language thing. I don’t know if they speak any English. The only reason that this makes me nervous is because I seriously fear the first few weeks of being there, trying to get a hang of the language and most likely being miserable and doubting myself (I am just being realistic here). I really don’t want to speak English while I am there, it is just a nice thing to know in case I get really overwhelmed and just need English. That is where I always stop myself.

The next thing, which I have only started to think about, is how I am getting to the university every day. I would absolutely LOVE to be able to walk to campus every day. That is what I am hoping for. It would also be nice to have my parents be able to take me to school every once in a while. Then there is always the bus, which I only don’t want to deal with because I don’t want to have to try to figure out the bus schedule and route (I haven’t even bothered with that at NAU and I have been there for two and a half years). I totally feel lame for having that be something I am worried about, but it is what it is.

Wow, so this is getting long winded. I guess I wanted to share that with you (if anyone actually stuck around for all that nonsense). I’ll keep you updated on anything new. I am very excited to see what Costa Rica is like.

¡Chao!