This morning was the first morning I have woken up in Costa Rica without a headache. It's gonna be a good day :)
On Monday I started a new class. Technically, since we're supposed to be receiving 6 credits from our studies down here, we're supposed to "change classes" by "starting a new semester" after the second week. On Friday I finished Advanced Conversation, and on Monday I started Advanced Composition. Fortunately, la Professora wants us to concentrate on our final project on Argentina, so she's not yet asigned any major compositions. Gracias a Dios :)
Tuesday night I stayed home and got drunk with my host mum off 40s of Imperial while watching the Heredia v Liberia national finals. She told me I was offcially "Herediana" now; we ate Doritos, popcorn, and peanuts that tasted like lime. Heredia lost in the second half by poorly-placed penalty shots, but we had a great time anyway :) Apparently there was a HUGE concert in San Jose for los Cadillacs, a super-famous band...and no one went because they all wanted to go to the game :P It was incredible: fans stormed the field, people got arrested and left on stretchers. One fan punched a player. We could hear the sirens all night, not to mention the screams of protest coming from the stadium, which is a mile at best from our apartment.
On Wednesday we usually do our group day trips, so we went to Poas Volcano after meeting at the school at 7 a.m. :/ We saw the giant crater with sulfur smoke pouring out of it (which stunk :P) and hiked up to the lagoon, which was gorgeous! Apparently the water there has an acidty comparable to hydrochloric acid. Scary times :/Needless to say, we did NOT go for a skinny dip at Poas Volcano :P
Afterwards we bought strawberries, which are incredible because they're grown in the volcanic soil. I bought some for my host mum because she's such a sweetheart, but I have not yet been home to give them to her :P
We ate lunch at Freddo Fresa's, which had incredible strawberry juice. You could either have it mixed with water or milk, which made it like a smoothie or a milkshake--goood stuff :) I ordered steak, por supuesto, and it didn't disappoint :) Afterwards I found a gift for The Boy--finally. That means my souvenir shopping is DONE and I can use the rest of my money for food! Yesssss :)
After lunch we went back to school--it was so hard to concentrate after having woken up so early and gotten so little sleep (I slept for 2 hours because I had some coffee in the afternoon on Tuesday in an attempt to dilate my blood vessels a little and make my perma-headache go away). In class we talked about gangs, las Maras. The name is especially interesting, because maras are a type of El Salvadorian ant that eat absolutely everything in their path--other ants, larger animals...I think they can even eat people. How quaint, then, to name your gang after them--that's exactly what gangs do, consume everything.
We mentioned, too, the economic crisis, and talked about how it's more of an existential crisis than anything--people are still hell-bent on buying what they want to make themselves appear more well-off, to establish their bodies as entities and make themselves immortal by way of material possessions. Very interesting indeed.
We also talked about dancing (we have 4 hours to fill--we go off on a lot of tangents :P). I said I liked salsa, meringue, and borracha. Unfortunately, the name of the dance I like is "bachata"--borracha means drunk :P On the bright side, the dance teacher is going to make a video with me of all the dance moves, so I can take them home and spread the Good Word of Latin Dance :)
After class (which took FOREVER) we left immediately to go to Miradona Ram Luna, a classy restaurant in the mountains. It had an incredible view of the city lights, and had an all-you-can-eat, all-you-can-drink buffet and open bar, plus traditional dancing and handmade crafts. It was pretty awesome :) One of my friends said he'd tell the vejay it was my birthday (It almost is! And THIS birthday of all birthdays deserves to be celebrated for a week :P), but he got sidetracked talking to a girl and forgot. Thus, I was not included in the birthday song, dance, or cake. I keep having this recurring nightmare that everyone forgets it's my birthday, or doesn't care, and it's really stressing me out. It doesn't help that I don't have many really close friends here, and those who ARE close friends have their own close friends. Oh well, pura vida, I'll just celebrate when I get home :)
Today, another day of class--tomorrow, an exam at 8 a.m., then leaving for the Carribbean for the weekend :) we're cansados, felizes, y listos!
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