Kristin's Update

I had a great holiday! It's nice to spend special time with my family before I leave for 4 months. I suppose I should give a little update. Kate's description of Puntarenas, the town we'll be living in while in Costa Rica, is awesome! Students in the USAC program have told me that the lifestyle is very "tranquilo," and that Costa Ricans, known as "Ticos," are easy-going...that will be helpful to Kate and me while we're freaking out and adjusting to our new lives. :) We've been able to contact most of the students who will be in the same program with us, via facebook, and they're all super excited, too! The students who are doing the full year program and have been there since August have nothing but good things to report, and have been really helpful in answering our random questions about everything from packing tips to travel tips to culture info. We can't wait to meet them in person!

I know a bit less about my host family than Kate does about hers. Literally, all I know is that I'll be living with a mother, a father, and their 14 year-old daughter, that they have no pets, and that they speak "basic English." I wonder if I'll be sharing a room with the girl...I have no idea! I can't wait to meet them and make them love me, haha. I'm so excited to improve my Spanish while in Costa Rica, and living with a family is one of the best ways to do that. :)

So, for the next 12 days, I will be wrapping up the final loose ends before we leave. I've just got to buy a few random items to bring with me, go to the dentist, get my hair cut, make copies of important documents to bring with me, visit with some friends, etc. For Christmas, I got a new laptop that's really teeny and perfect to bring abroad, so that's exciting! I'm very grateful. On the desktop, I receive updates about the weather in Puntarenas, and right now, it's 77 degrees there. I CAN'T WAIT TO GO!

here's a photo of my new laptop! it's only 10.1".

Homestay!

Today we got the information about our homestays!!! How exciting!

I guess first I should paint a really basic picture of Puntarenas, the town we'll be living in, as I understand it now from research and the insight of other USAC-ers. Puntarenas is in the northwestern part of Costa Rica, it is a small beach town, and it is actually a peninsula! From what other people from the program have said, you can walk to the beach just by going a couple of blocks east or west, no matter where you are. Kristin and I have a map that shows us sort of where our school will be, but they do not do addresses down there like we do here, so we're not really sure exactly where on the peninsula we'll be yet. The address that I was given, translated from Spanish, is "In front of the Parrot Cabins". Hopefully that will make more sense when I'm there than it does right now.. regardless, sounds good to me! :)

The family I'm living with has a stay-at-home mother, a father (I'm pretty sure?), and a 25-year-old daughter. They have no pets (dodged a bullet there), and they like to visit different beaches on the weekends (wooo!). They also are very accomodating to vegetarian needs, which is sweet, since I'm one of those. Because this particular family is so good about accomodating to vegetarians, I will also be living with another USAC student who I'm assuming is vegetarian as well. The host family has two free rooms and we're taking them! The other student is named Jennifer and she goes to Clemson, in South Carolina, but that's about all I know so far.

I don't know if Kristin will want to post about her host family on her own, so all I will say is that she is living with a mother and father and a 14-year-old daughter. The 14-y-o will be so lucky to have such a fun pseudo-sister. :) Speaking of Kristin being awesome, the layout and fancy features of this blog are all her skillz. I have the blog knowledge of a caveman.

So... awesome!! :) Now that I know who I will be living with, it feels a lot more real. I can't believe it's only 15 days away and then we're gone for 4 months of Spanish, travel, adventure, and warm weather. I always used to get really nervous before major events like this, but I'm feeling really good about it this time. Of course I have some anxiety and I am nervous about overcoming the challenges and the flatout exhaustion from the culture shock that we will experience, but I'm really optimistic about it. It will be such an amazing experience, and this is the only time I'll ever be able to do something like this, so I'm excited to make it count!

I guess my only real fear that I'm super super nervous about is that my incredibly, ridiculously slow recovery from mono will affect the trip in negative ways, but I've been doing my best to be really boring over break and just sleep tons and tons, so maybe, just maybe, it will FINALLY go away? 6 months is enough, thanks!

That's all for now I suppose... happy holidays and enjoy the vacation! :)

it's almost time!

Kristin and Kate, here...So wow! We have both been accepted to the USAC Puntarenas, Costa Rica program for the spring semester, 2010. We intend to use this blog to keep our friends and family at home updated about our experiences and adventures while studying abroad, and also to give people who read an idea about the process of preparing to study abroad. :)

We're trying really hard to stay organized and on top of everything so that we can get everything in order before we leave! There are so many requirements to fulfill, both for the program in Costa Rica and for our home university. There is also lots to take care of in general before we leave.

I (Kate) am very nervous for the flights, but Kristin is making me less nervous, because she has flown a lot, and we are both so excited to soon finally get to Costa Rica!

We'll check in later with more info about our progress in preparing to leave, and eventually, we'll be writing from COSTA RICA!! wooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)