Orientation!

Today was my first real day in Costa Rica!!! Haha I just want to take pictures of the meals my host mom (Mama Ana) makes for me... its so much food, i'm always like I'm so sorry I can't finish! She is so nice. I had the traditional dish gallo pinto which is rice and beans, then I had a platano which is a fried plantain, eggs, a block of cheese, orange juice, and coffee. Mama Ana dice que una desayuna fuerte es mejor para un buen día. Translation: A strong breakfast is best for a good day. My host dad walked me to the meeting place at my school. I am so close to the school, I am so walking every day! So anyway, orientation was actually pretty fun. I met so many new people and everyone seemed pretty nice. We watched and orientation video and it was so funny because they told us how to use the shower which I actually needed to know because the night before I took a cold shower! Mama Ana asked if it went well and I was like siiii haha, it was so cold. Now I know though! I got a tour of the school campus which is actually pretty big! I checked in my classes and found out I needed to rearrange some things. I think Linsey and I are the only ones who are not taking a language track. We aren't taking one because we have already take all the classes at UNCC. So they said we are taking a bunch of electives but they count towards my major... I don't know, but so far this is my schedule:
Monday: 8am-11am Spanish Stylistics     1am-4am Spanish Culture studies
Tuesday: Latin American Cuisine (a cooking class!) 5pm-7pm
Wednesday: 8am-11am Business Spanish (apparently this is super easy)
Thursday: Libre! No classes!
Friday: 8am-11am Spanish Literature
Also the Spanish culture studies class came with the option to pay extra and go on 3 weekend tours so Linsey and I definitely signed up for that!

Ok so you may be thinking that I have a lot of 8am classes, but for real, most people wake up at 6am over here. And they go to bed at like 10:30... So my schedule is kinda different, I like it! So after orientation I went home and chilled and then later I at dinner... more rice with potatoes and carrots and beef, then I met Linsey and decided to go out and find the downtown area of Heredia. I'm not sure if we found it or not but we did find out a lot of stores close and are only open in the afternoon, not at night. Night time is for bars and what not. But being me and Linsey, we didn't look for a bar, in fact we went to Mcdonalds. Many of you readers are thinking... Why would you satisfy the American norm and go there? Well its open 24/7 and had free bathrooms! This Mcdonalds must be the place to be because it was bigger than our average Mcdonalds and packed full of people! They even had a separate area for coffee and smoothies, it was like a cafecito! Linsey and I decided to get some water and split a Mcflurry because it had their local candy in it. It was good! I don't know what the candy was but it was good! We cracked up when we saw the sign for Mcpinto bahahahaha which is like their traditional breakfast gallo pinto but at Mcdonalds. Interesante. After speaking some Spanish and some English throughout the night, we said adios and went back to our homes. I sat and talked with Mama Ana and my host sister Rosaly. They are so nice! I met Rosaly's boyfriend who is an electrical engineer and I was like ahhh I miss my engineer... haha they are probably thinking dang that girl talks about her novio too much haha oh well. They seem to really enjoy my stories and are always asking questions so maybe they do like to hear things! They ask me questions and I love answering in Spanish! My room is so cool, the windows are always open and I hear cars and busses in the distance... which helps me sleep better... i'm weird. Anyway... Tomorrow is Sunday and then I start classes Monday! How crazy! Tomorrow I hope I can get a cell phone and a Costa Rican flag!!!!!

                                   The campus of Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica

                         Scenery of Costa Rica from Campus with mountains in background

                              The street I walk on like everyday to get to school

                                            Bahahah I crack up every time I see this

                                              The local favorite i'm guessing