Un temporal...

Hello to all! Things are going well here as everything rapidly comes to a close. I had my last tutoring lesson today and I can honestly say that I'm going to miss my tutor. I definitely had some difficulties with her during the semester but all in all, I think she helped me immensely and she reminded me of my grandmother, Gigi, a little bit. She's 70-something years old and continues to learn about everything that she can. I hope I'm like that when I'm that old.

Things are starting to get a little sad now as we wrap things up. I've met so many wonderful people and formed bonds that I hope will last a lifetime. Right now the country of Costa Rica is in a "temporal," translation- we're getting buckets and buckets of rain for 6 days straight. The more little meaning of the word, however, means temporal or temporary. I think this is a very fitting word for what I've been through over the past 5 months. Everything in life is temporary. When I first got here, I was so homesick, and slightly lost as to how go about fitting in down here. I was treating the entire situation like it was permanent, and in hindsight I have no clue why I was worrying so much, lol. The past few years have been like a whirlwind for me and I think the biggest thing I've learned is that everything is temporary. If I'm going through something difficult, I know now that I just have to hold on tight and keep my head up high because it'll probably be over really soon. This trip has made me understand so many things that I didn't realize before, and it's just crazy to me that it has only been 5 months out of my entire life. How is it possible for someone to change so much in only 5 months? Given the right conditions and challenges, I was able to conquer some of my fears, become more outgoing, and learn more than I've ever learned before. I am truly blessed to have been given the opportunity to go through this. I hope everyone gets the chance to go through something like this. It's SO amazing!!

So, stepping away from serious mode for a second, let's go back to the raining thing. Yes, it's been raining here for 3 days straight and it's supposed to continue until Sunday. It wouldn't be so terrible except that I have to walk everywhere I go. The taxis are ridiculously busy, because no one wants to walk in the rain obviously, and it would get expensive if I took a taxi everywhere. So, I'm just kind of grinning and bearing it. I love rain, but I'm sure by Sunday I will be very tired of it, lol. I'm also 75% sure that my umbrella has a leak in it...have you ever heard of an umbrella having a leak in it, lol? Of course, that would happen this week when we're being slammed by a tropical depression. Oh well, as the Ticos say, "Pura vida!"

I'll be home in a little over 3 weeks, and I'm looking forward to seeing everyone! Hope all is well in the good ole U.S.A. :-)

Con amor,
Amelia

Picnic, Friends, Movies, and Piano!!! What a great day!

It's officially 4 weeks now until I come home! I'm doing what I can to enjoy what little time I have left in this great country, but it's a little difficult with so much schoolwork, lol. I have a very long diary and essay due in a little over a week and I'm nowhere near being done, not to mention I need to start studying for my finals. Whew...I'll be ready to come home when I'm done so I can just chill out and relax for a while. I try to do a little of that here, though, so yesterday, some of my girlfriends and I went on a little relaxing trip to the fancier part of San Jose.

First, we went to this beautiful little park in the middle of San Jose called La Sabana. It's actually really large and has some trails to walk on around a decent-sized pond. We took a picnic lunch and enjoyed the sunshine before the rains started in the afternoon. After we were done eating we hopped on a bus that would take us to the fanciest mall in Costa Rica. Escazu is the area of San Jose where a lot of rich Americans live so the mall is basically like stepping into a mall in California. Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, Dolce & Gabbana...these are just a few of the really fancy stores one can find in this mall. Our purpose for coming here, however, was not to spend exorbitant amounts of money on really expensive clothing, it was to see Indiana Jones IV!! Lately most of the movies that have come out down here have been dubbed into Spanish and there are just so many things lost in translation. There was no way I was going to watch Indiana Jones in any language but English, lol. We knew that there was a great chance of it just being subtitled in Escazu since there's such a large American influence there. We were correct and we caught the first showing of the day! I thought it was really great and it was awesome to just zone out and not think about anything for 2 and a half hours, lol.

Other big news: I got to play a piano yesterday for the first time in 4 months!!! There was a music store right next to the movie theater, so my friends went to buy tickets and I spent 30 minutes or so banging away! I'm pretty sure I annoyed the store workers because I couldn't help but sing as well, lol. Man, I sure have missed playing the piano. I love the guitar, but there's just something about a piano that's so pure and beautiful. I'm just drawn to it. I can't wait to get home and start writing again on my keyboard. :-)

I spent the rest of the day and night chilling with my girls, eating dinner, and watching a movie that we rented. I'm really going to miss being able to hang out with these people everyday. They're like my family down here. I've been so blessed to have such great friends down here(and in the U.S., lol) to experience everything with. Life seems much more vibrant when there are people you love to share it with. :-)

Hope all is well in the States! I'll be back in 28 days or so! Get ready!! :-)

Con amor,
Amelia

5 semanas...

Hello to all! Yes, that's right, I only have 5 weeks left until I come home! I started packing yesterday actually. :-) As much as I love Costa Rica and have loved this experience, it's starting to get to me a little bit. I love my host mom but she smokes like a freight train and I honestly fear for her health, that being said, I'm tired of walking out of my room and being enveloped in cigarette smoke...not really my cup of tea. I'm afraid I've developed a little cough just from being around it so much. I am also slightly fed up with the water systems here. I know there are millions of people around the world that don't even have water, much less running water, but nonetheless, it is annoying that the water mysteriously stops working here for no apparent reason at all. It's especially annoying when I come home from a long day of walking in the pollution that permeates my town and all I want is a shower, it will be cold, but I've gotten used to this. I don't think a shower is too much to ask for, but apparently the city of Heredia thinks otherwise. We're not in a drought, so it's not like the water's not there, and we have all of the most modern plumbing pipes that exist, so in my opinion, the water should work all the time. So far this week, the water has gone out at least twice for hours at time, today it didn't come on until 5:30 pm...

Okay, enough venting, in other news, I saw Iron Man last night, in Spanish unfortunately, so I'll have to watch it again in English when I get back. It was pretty good, but so many things are lost in the translation, and I find that I'm still not very good at watching movies in Spanish. I have no clue what was being said for the majority of the movie, lol. It was a fun night out with a few of my friends, though, so that's always nice. I spent today resting and doing a little homework, thinking about how much homework I'm going to have to do this week. I only have 3 weeks of classes left, yay!!

Hope all is well for everyone!

Pura vida,
Amelia

Fumes of the End

Hello to all! Everything is going well here. I just got back from a wonderful weekend trip to my favorite beach in the whole world, Montezuma. It was kind of bittersweet because I knew that I wasn't going to get to see in a really long time. My friend Elena's dad came down to visit and put us up in a little house on the beach, very cool, props to her dad. I really appreciate him supporting us for a weekend, lol. This time I also got to see one of the beautiful waterfalls in Montezuma and do a little swimming in freshwater, which was really nice. I think everyone had a pretty good time over all. It'll probably be a few weekends until we go anywhere again, so hopefully that will tide us over.

Schoolwork is piling on more and more daily, and I can definitely tell that I'm nearing the end of this 5 month roller coaster. Today, I was walking with one of my friends, trying to have a conversation, and was bathed in diesel and carbon monoxide fumes from a huge truck. I've decided it's probably time for me to come home if anything, just for my health, lol. My poor lungs can't take much more of this city life. I'm looking forward to walking out my front door again, and being able to breathe deeply without coughing, lol.

Sorry my posts haven't been more interesting as of late, but there really aren't a whole lot of interesting things going on. I can't go many places due to schoolwork, and the newness of this whole experience has kind of worn off. Don't get me wrong, I'm still enjoying myself immensely, but the brightness of it all is gone.

Hopefully something exciting will happen soon! :-) Hope all is well...

Pura vida,
Amelia

Depressed because I'm happy, what?

Life is going quite wonderfully at the moment. I've never had this little stress in my life, there aren't any reminders of bad things that happened in the past, I really don't do much of anything as far as school goes...I'm happy. With this happiness though, apparently, comes the consequence of not being able to write good music. I don't know if any other musician has ever experienced this, but I can't seem to write anything good when I'm happy, lol. I'm baffled actually! Because of this I'm slightly depressed that I can't write a good song at the moment, lol...yeah, it's pretty weird. Oh well, I only have 7 weeks left, so soon I will be back in the stressful, do-everything-as-fast-as-possible world of the U.S. I'm sure I'll have plenty to write about. :-)

Seriously, though, I'm amazed at how nice things have been since I've been down here. In the States I used to cry at least twice a month over who knows what(I can't really remember), but the only times I cry here are when I'm homesick, and it's been a month or so since I've been really homesick. I'm ready to come home so I can get on with the rest of my life, but at the same time, I'm afraid that I'm going to lose this carefree attitude that I've developed as soon as I get back. I'm going to try to stay the way I am now when I return. So, if some of you notice that I really just don't care about certain things that are important to many people that live in the U.S., such as being early for everything, I apologize in advance, lol. Apparently that's what it takes for me to chill...I just can't worry about trying to please everyone. I have to do what makes me happy because if I can't make myself happy then everyone around won't want to stay around me. Happiness is infectious, kind of like a drug. Everyone should take a lesson from the Costa Ricans on this issue. The Costa Rican mottos are "Pura vida" and "Tranquilo," both of which basically just mean, "chill out", "don't worry, be happy." This is all that matters in life. Nothing is worth stressing over too much. I hope I can keep this attitude when I get back. Everything is so much simpler this way...

Paz,
Amelia