We came, we saw, we conquered

Desperately wanting to go home at this point. I'm getting fat, have no computer, and am tired of Spanish. through it all I am still thankful. Thankful for the experience I've gotten, the new friends that I've shared this incredible experience with and the really good friends that I will take back to the states with me. When I think about it, it almost seems like a dream. Coming here I didn't think I had anything to learn. I'm 22 and have been past the trying to figure at who I am phase. At least for now :) I figured I would come, enjoy, and go home. As good as home sounds I can't help but feel a sense of accomplishment that I made it. Yeah, I know people go through much harder things in life, but for me this was tough in the sense of mentally letting myself experience. Freeing my mind I guess you could say.
 

 I came to costa rica as a super senior, reluctantly not wanting to leave or miss out on my family and friends, who are traveling their own separate and unique paths. I love traveling but considered this another obstacle in my way of graduating (for my major I have to study abroad). So I got on a plane on September 24th, with a frown face in my agenda book and a mindset that this was going to feel like eternity. But over the course of these 3 months I've learned more here about acceptance and the importance of surrounding yourself with good people. I've realized it is a fact that everyone has a story and a reason they act the way they do. If you take the time they will show you who they are, the real them, good or bad, take it or leave it. And believe me some people I had to leave it. But I'm coming back with an appreciation for the friends I've made and the beautiful friends I have back home.

 I've learned:

• Waking up early is not so bad 
• A career with kids is not in my future
• Helping someone in anyway is good for the soul 
• Letting go of negative people is necessary for growth 
• Being who you are should never be a question 
• Eating breakfast is a must 
• I never want rice and beans again 
• You can learn something, even from the most immature person 
• I can definitely make it on my own (independent woman right here) 
• Boys are dumb 

Haha the last one was for good measure

 Thanks everyone who has read my blog even if I didn't know you!!! This started off as a way to keep up with all my friends and family. I literally thought 3 people read this blab fest. It has turned out to be so much more!!! Love you all and I can't guarantee I will keep writing since this is a blog about costa rica, but maybe I will go somewhere else cool in the future. Until the next adventure, pura vida!!! :)

Gobble Gobble

Happy Thanksgiving!!!! So today is thanksgiving and looking on facebook and seeing all the statuses about being home, good food, and spending time with family has made me a little sad.  I am sincerly jealous, so in order to come out of my semi depression I decided to make a list of the 12 things I miss from home and have now come to appreciate.  Why 12?....just because I like the number.  Here we go...in no particular order of course.
1. snuggling with my puppy graham graham
2. consistently warm showers
3.  being able to flush toilet paper....dont ask
4. family and friends
5. my care
6. speaking a language that people around me understand
7. Walmart....Target...CVS....the dollar store!
8. Pandora
9. Clemson games and downtown Clemson
10. Fall weather
11. Working....surprise
12. FOOD!

Just so Im not being ungrateful here I will name 12 things Im thankful for in Costa Rica!
1.  My momma tica, has been my mom away from home
2.  Chickys.....they are these wonderful cookies.... and trits!
3.  Greetings...always a kiss on the right cheek 
4.  my roommate who teaches me so much everyday!
5.  The new friends I have made and will take back to the states with me!
6.  Facebook and skype, my only communication here
7. Rain Jackets and umbrellas a must in Costa Rica
8. Salsa and Merengue because who knew these dances could be so fun
9. The country of Costa rica...Having the opportunity to travel all of it! everything is within a bus ride
10.  Being able to be in a climate that is around 80 degrees at all times
11.  Unique food
12. Costa Rican attitude PURA VIDA


These all may sound stupid and shallow but it is truth.  Happy Thanksgiving family and friends! love you!
Tonight I am having a thanksgiving dinner with my isa family and then going dancing!
Love, peace, and turkey
J

M.I.A.

I've been missing in action for a past few weeks.  Sadly my computer (named dora) of one year has decided to be a baby and complain about its hard drive.  Needless today I've been without a computer for about a week now.  So this post is going to consist of three weeks worth of time.....no pictures unfortunately, but I will post more as soon as I get my computer back!

First topic, you are reading the blog of a new aunt/godmother!!! Tyler Nathaniel Graham was born November 8, 2011 at 7:07, weighing in at 5 pounds 7 ounces!  Can't express how happy I am to know when I get home I will get to hold this precious being.  Counting down the days and hours as we speak! So happy for my brother and Tisha, they are going to be amazing parents to Ty. :)

La Paz-  Went to la Paz waterfalls the other weekend, it was a blast.  Took a taxi to the bus station and then a bus for about 2 hours to the waterfall.  It rained the whole time but that didn't stop us from enjoying the beauty.  I will post some pics later!

Montezuma= Chaos
Two weekends ago I went to Montezuma.  The traveling was definitely long.  Rode a bus for 2 hours then took a ferry for an hour, back on a bus for an hour, then transferred to another bus that took us to the small town of montezuma.  We stayed in a very cute hostel called Luz en el Cielo.  So cute and the pole that owned it, told us about all the places to visit and eat while we were there.
Friday night we had dinner at a pizza place that definitely was overpriced but was delicious.  We were starving too much to care.  After dinner we went to the only bar in the town called Chicos, which was right on the beach by the water.
Saturday we all decided to take a 45 min hike to a beach called Playa Grande, the peole at the hostel informed us this was the BEST beach and it definitely was worth the sweat and sore feet.  It was beautiful! filled with a million surfers trying to catch the waves.  We spent a full day there and then went back to the hostel for a much need nap.  For dinner we split up and Mack, Tika, Sarah, and I went to this restaurant called... Where we splurged a little and had sushi and pasta.  Talk about carbs :)  After we hung out with a few people before going to the bar again.  The night ended up being full of fun, dancing, swimming, and more dancing.
Chaos began when trying to get home.   Many of us had to take another bus because of lack of room on the direct.  We ended up having to a local bus that made a million stops to the ferry.  Take the ferry and then get a taxi to the bus station, to then buy a ticket back to san jose.  All in all it was a hassle, but needed up being cheaper then the direct bus.  You always have to look at the positive, of course I can say this now looking back :) at the time I was not a happy camper.

Puerto Viejo/ Talamanca
Went to Puerto Viejo last weekend for a class trip.  Sarah and I decided to go tow days early, since we don't have class on fir day.  Definitely was the right idea.  We took a bus at 2:00 and got to Talamanca/Puerto Viejo around 6:30, it felt like ten at night.  Stayed at the Sunrise Hostel, which I would definitely recommend, didn't get a single bug bite! Went to dinner at a local restaurant our new friend and desk attendant Wilber (yes, his name is Wilber and he is costa rican) recommended.  Had a veggie pizza, usually I'm a meat girl but this pizza had all the greens a girl could ask for.  This is prime, especially since my daily diet consists of starch here.  :)  After dinner we stopped by the store to get Trits ( a small little ice cream cookie made with some type of graham cracker, pronounced like treats-go figure).  Basically it's heaven in your mouth and if I could I would bring back a million for everyone to try.  It's become a little ritual here for everyone.
The next day we were up bright and early! we suited up and rented bikes for the day.  It was perfect, no stress, just a relaxing day of doing whatever we wanted.  Not going to lie the bike wasn't really my friend at first.  I had a few problems and probably looked "muy comico" to the locals.  But after 2-3 (ok maybe 4) almost fatal falls into ditches, I was good to go!  I owned mi bicicleta!  And just for the record I DO know how to ride a back (thanks to a wonderful man called dad) this bike was just weird ;)
We ended up riding our bikes to Playa Coccio or something like that.  It was beautiful and definitely worth the 60 min bike ride.  After, we went back to shower and nap until 2 of our good friends came to join!  Bridget and Alex took the 6:00 am bus that morning (troopers) and had been exploring the little town of Puerto Viejo.  They woke us up dancing ( a wonderful greeting) and this is no surprise.  This is normal for them, and yes I call them my friends.
After catching up and swapping traveling stories and blah blah blah, we head out to dinner and a night on the town :)
At our hostel, we met some interesting people.  Met this older man from Switzerland that wanted to marry bridget and another guy from Italy that followed us around all night.  For most of the night we met up with our whole other group and sat by a bonfire on the beach, just hanging out and talking.
The following day Saturday (if you can't keep up) bridget, sarah and I met up with our class to go hiking.
I'm not really a hiking kind of girl (if you know me at all).  I like it but only for about 30 minutes and only in dry climates.  It was raining (of course).  Rain + mud = mud sliding and that's exactly what I did the whole hike.  By the end everyone was covered from head to toe in mud.  We then went back to a hostel owned by our Professor's wife.  It was beautiful and I will post pictures of it later, it looked like a magical tree house.  Everyone showered and changed and then we went to dinner at a Mediterranean restaurant, where we had a fabulous dinner.
I was feeling pretty sick from being in the rain earlier so I went to bed right away and the next day stayed in while everyone went to the beach.  We had lunch at the mediterranean restaurant again and had seafood soup.  I was a little weary of it but I love seafood (its the only way you can truly be a graham) but it was delicious.  After, we made a pit stop for trits (i'm telling you, ritual) and we were on our way back to San Jose.  Another fun-filled weekend.

This past week has been dedicated to filling better one tissue at a time.  Sorry this is so long but will post more later on my trip to Volcán Irazu/ Cartago!  As for now, I need to do some research for a final project in my physical therapy class!! woo hoo!
luego!
J

All you need is love

Sorry friends, haven't blogged in awhile, but a lot has been going on.  First, I've already finished my first month of spanish class, so my mornings are now filled with volunteer work.  I've started my internship with the Hospital Nacional de Niños in downtown San Jose.  It has definitely been interesting and eye opening.  The commute from my house in Zapote takes about 10 minutes by bus and 20 minutes walking.  When you include traffic and the cluster of people, it takes about 45 minutes to get to my destination.  Not used to this at all, I go to a school where the farthest walk across campus is in total 15 minutes.  This experience has definitely been humbling.  I miss harvey (my car) :).  The hospital is very big and I haven't fully gotten quite accustom to it.  In the main building there are 5 floors and a basement.  They have two other buildings.

The first day volunteering I was given a tour of the hospital and given my first awful, eye opening, painful task of watching kids in a playroom in the waiting area of the third floor.  I was told to watch them and make sure they don't take the toys outside of the room.  This would have been fine if only I could speak FLUENTLY.  To start kids are hard to understand in general because of the mumbling or fingers in mouth, or crying...agreed???  Try understand them speaking a different language.   I was in mental agony...trying to rack my brain for words that would be easier to translate.  My brain was blank from phrases that include "don't touch that" or "don't climb that", "get down"...etc.  Lets just say the kids were having a great time.  That wasn't what I expected for my first day and I definitely felt like I should have been getting paid for it.  I knew it needed another chance, because I'm going to be doing this for at least a month I better find some good in it.  So after I went to class, had dinner and went to bed (which had never felt so good) I said a little prayer.

God must have heard me because the next day I got to meet some incredible little kids.  Got to meet some amazing kids, fighting serious diseases and still are smiling all day long.  They have probably had hundreds of volunteers visit them, but they still appreciate every single one.  My favorite was a boy from limón, he has been in the hospital for 7 months, he went home for 2 weeks and is now back in the hospital.  There are many other cases like this, I could go on forever, but I don't want to bore you :)  Lets just say I'm having a very humbling experience here.  Meeting these little soldiers has taught me my little walk to the hospital is nothing to complain about.

later gators.

When it rains it pours...

This is going to be a very short post due to the massive amounts of homework I need to do PRONTO!  This past weekend, our last excursion was Monteverde.  Unfortunately it rained the ENTIRE time, not drizzling rain but POURED.  I didn't get to see much because of it.  But I did get to go Canopying and that was the best experience! So much fun and so beautiful!! I literally felt like I was flying!!!  At the end we got to do this thing called the Tarzan Swing.  I now know why people die before they hit the ground when jumping off a building, there is no way your body can handle free falling. Below is a link to the tarzan swing.  Notice the trees in the background just to give you an idea of how high we were!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDtaRr5I2D0&feature=related

Completely amazing, but I can't say I will do it again.  I feel nuts for even letting someone push me off  a platform to fall 120 feet.....yeah, no thank you.

Here are the some of the only pictures I took in Monteverde!!! I promise they are....it rained the entire time, so don't think I'm holding out!!

I will forever take pictures of hotel rooms :)

Kate and Sammie getting ready for the canopy tour! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aM2zgGDxU6M&feature=related

here is one more link above so you can get an idea of what ziplining is if you've never been!  So that was about it for the trip.  Got some must needed rest and slept in a really comfy bed! :)  Promise I will post more next time!  Hope you enjoy the videos!

Chao!

Jessi

Volcano Arenal

Left at 1:00 pm last friday from Veritas Universidad for our second excursion to Volcano Arenal.  Ever heard of the crookedest road in San Francisco, California?? Well look at a picture and imagine traveling that road for about 4 hours on a bus; was not too fun for my tummy.  The nausea was worth it, because when we arrived at our resort,  Los Lagos we were so happy to be in such a beautiful place!  Los lagos is a wonderful resort with a great view of Volcano Arenal, along with many hot springs!

beautiful!!!!

our room!

We got in around 6:00 that evening, had dinner at the hotel at 7 and then went to the hot springs.

The hot springs were great, felt like a hot tub.  I'm not going to lie, we sat in the hottest one and I felt like my insides were boiling after.

Saturday morning we woke up at 5:30 (mom would be so proud of me), because we were told this was the best time to see the volcano without clouds surrounding the top.  The wasn't the case. :(  It wouldn't of mattered anyway, everyones camera lens were fogged up from going from the air conditioned room to the humidity outside.  So off we went to breakfast (super early), then back to the hotel for a nap.
At 10:30 Sarah, Alison, and I were off to find some way to hike as close as we could to the Volcano.  After doing some research, we took a taxi to the Arenal National Park to hike.  When we got there we talked to the guy who worked there and met a man from the U.S. that now lives in Costa Rica permanently.  They told us about the park and which hiking to take for the best scenic route.


We ended up taking the long route, deciding that we wanted a full experience.  And it was a definitely a full experience for my legs, all UPHILL.  KILLER.  Didn't know if I was going to make it, but after an hour we made it too the top!  It was completely worth it, and I felt so accomplished!!!  We were fortunate enough to see a full view of the volcano, no clouds in sight!!! Peep the pics below!

God must have been looking out for us because it started raining as soon as we got into the cab back to the resort.  When we got back we made a visit to the butterfly garden, crocodile farm, and ant farm.


We then were planning to go to bed, but were persuaded out of our pajamas to go out and celebrate Sarah's 23rd birthday (old geezer) :).  We went to place called Volcano Lookout.  Just a good time with friends!

sunday is always a tough day with the trips.  You have one activity that day, then we have to pack and are on our way home by 1:00.  Our activity last sunday we went to La Fortuna Waterfall.  The trail there was fine but getting back to the bus was a struggle.  Especially, since we had sore legs that felt like rubber from the day of hiking.

Took some time to swim and then we were back on the curvy road back to San Jose.  This weekend is Monteverde, can't wait to share with you all then!!! love you lots and thanks for reading! it means a lot!!! :)

hasta luego amigos!!

-J

TAMARINDO!!!! So short but so sweet

Last friday was our first of three excursions.  We left at 1 pm and arrived at our destination, TAMARINDO, around 6:30 pm.  On our way to the hotel all we saw was land with a few houses and bars scattered here and there.  I was expected nothing spectacular for our hotel but I was pleasantly surprised.  The resort was beautiful! check out the pictures!







Yeah....be jealous.













That night we were all really anxious to get out and explore so we took a stroll down the road to a restaurant that had an open deck looking out at the ocean (pacific ocean for those of you who don't know your geography).  We had about twenty or so people so ordering took awhile but it was completely worth it.

Yummy in my Tummy

After dinner we decided to go dancing at a discoteca that we heard about called "crazy monkey".  They had a live band and a dj!  For about an hour they played popular American music to give the band a break but after they had live salsa and merengue music.  It was my first time going to a dancing discoteca in Costa Rica, and what an experience!  Young and old people of America, if you haven't tried salsa or merengue dancing you are missing out on a whole other world.  It makes "popular" dances in the U.S. look like child's play.  No joke.  The bar we went to was a bar where most of the locals hang out so it was a wonderful and authentic experience.  We danced with a group from Colombia.  They didn't speak spanish at all, so we practice our español while learning to dance.  Muy interesante! :)  It's so different from the states, no one is standing by the wall watching people dance, being "lumps on a log".  Everyone is there to DANCE....did you read that correctly?....DANCE...no other alternative motive.  People dance by themselves, guys with girls, girls with girls, and guys with....wait...haha.  No guys with guys, just seeing if you were paying attention.  Some things stay the same regardless of location.  It was so much fun! We had one drink (fresh piña and rum) and then danced the night away, until about 2 AM!

Fast forward to the next day, Saturday.  Got up and had breakfast at the hotel and then went for a walk on the beach with friends.  We also went to do a little shopping, where I got some really cool postcards...you'll get one...if your lucky. :)
We then got read for the Sunset Catamarina!  We left at one for the Catamarina where we had free food, drinks, snacks and music.  We sailed about an hour away from the hotel and docked at another island, where Mac and I took it upon ourselves to rate everyone's dives and jumps.  We then realized we were getting stung by something lol.  Of course everyone evacuated like there was a shark in the water.  What we thought were jelly fish were actually the plants in the water.  Weird.  We then had dinner which consisted of barbecue chicken, fruits, chips and salsa, cookies and more.  We didn't get a chance to snorkel due to the water being murky from the rain but not all was lost.  We got to see a family of dolphins, two hump back whales and sea turtles!

After coming back everyone was exhausted but we stuck it out, since we only had one more night.  We went to a club called "Aqua" which had great music that was reggae ton mixed with popular hip hop songs.  It was fun, and lets just say we met some REALLY interesting people. :)

The following day, Saturday we went on the Mangorve Tour.  We took a boat at 9 around to see exotic animals.  Saw some crocs, crabs, and a variety of birds.  The best part was seeing the howler monkeys! We got to get out and see them.  They actually scream back if you scream to them...well howl to them I guess would be the correct term.  It was all fun until they starting peeing from the trees and throwing poop....so uncalled for.

That was the end of the trip.  Now back to reality.....well not really because everyday in Costa Rica is Pura Vida!  haha I'm so corny, you know you love it!

Sunset :)

Until the next adventure!

Jessica