is it possible for the world to look this way forever?

This week has been ridiculous, mainly because of last night.

Classes are finishing up, I had a literature final today, and I'll be honest- my grade will suffer, a lot. Sorry, mom! I'm just hoping to pass... eeep! This is a weird feeling for me because I have never been nervous about passing a class before. I definitely took way too many classes this semester, and if I had taken less, I would have done much better, but what can ya do? The good news is, I should be less over-loaded come fall semester, and I will probably get the grades I usually do and all will be well. The bad part is, if I actually don't pass the class, then I will once again be taking way too many classes, and the process will continue. I hate grades and I am ready to graduate and move on!

But we had our dance final last night, and my literature teacher was there, dancing with the San Ramon kids, and I wasn't going to let her stay out later than me- no one wants to be out-danced by a 50 year old profesora... except she did out-dance me, and I went to bed at 3am, and woke up at 7am to study, and it's not fair because SHE didn't need to study for the exam like we did. Cruel joke, I tell you! Very cruel!

However, the dance final was a blast. Lidiette made me a salsa dress in one single day. I bought the fabric and thread which cost about 6$ and then she made it for free for me- she is so sweet! I still have glitter all over the place though... it probably won't go away for quite a while.

I also dabbled in "international modeling" last night, which is hilarious, considering my inherent lack of model personality/grace in general. Ivan, our dance teacher, asked some of the students to be in a fashion show for his friend's store that was opening up, so we did. Little did we know that by "modeling clothes", they actually meant "modeling scanty bathing suits", and they advertised it on posters as having "international models" (which I guess is half true?), and the fashion show was AT THE DANCE FINAL. In front of all of our peers. And a lot of ticos. I'm on a quest to make sure all of those pictures are burned. At least it's something to laugh about?!

Also this week, I went to Alajuela and saw a movie based on a novel by Gabriel Garcia Marquez en espanol! I didn't understand a lot of it, the language was old and religious, but the parts I understood were exciting. I saw Titanic on TV in Spanish the other day and understood pretty much all of that, so that's exciting too! I feel like I'm making a little bit of progress. However, I also still feel like for all of the Spanish I've spoken and heard, I'm still not as good as I should be, and I can't figure out why that is, and it bothers me. At least I have one more year to practice before I get my Spanish degree. Oh also, Alajuela is home of the best cakes ever. And it is a really cute, colonial-looking city, and Hotel Alajuela is amazing, and if I ever feel sad in my life, I am going to go back, because it's one of those places that makes you feel good just by being there.

The rainy season is here. We get monsoon-like downpours and it's actually really nice, and really beautiful to be around. Trees are blooming with flowers, which I didn't even know was possible. I thought everything looked good during dry season, but I guess it's only going to get prettier!

MegaVenture commences in less than a week. I am freaking out. It's going to be so amazing, but it's also going to be so sad to leave. Lidette has already made sure to tell me that I must come back and visit her whenever I return... and get married in Montezuma and invite her, but we won't talk about that, because if I hear anything else about weddings I'm going to jump off the muelle! Everyone's getting married, and I don't understand! I'm 20 and the last thing on my mind is binding the rest of my life to someone else's. Costa Ricans date people for years before they marry them, and they wait until much later in life, like until their late 20's. I feel like that makes way more sense than just being like, oh hey there, we just met, we're young, LET'S WED.

Other good news!: I got summer work study! That hopefully makes me one giant step closer to having a summer job, which will also hopefully make me one step closer to keeping busy this summer, and being able to travel around in August.

This weekend, I am not traveling, due to rapidly dwindling funds, and a mountain of exams and projects and portfolios to do. I like learning, but I really hate finals. They're so stressful that I forget to actually learn. I'm looking forward to the weekend other than that, though- mostly everyone will be in town. :)