Impression from my first few days

I am here at the Costa Rican School for Field Studies, and I swear it's like I've stepped out of feal life and into paradise.  Today marks my second full day here in Costa Rica, but it feels like it's been a lot longer. It's amazing how quickly I got used to the warm weather! It's currently a little cooler now- it's about seventy degrees. I'm sitting in the dorm room watching the futbol match against Panama (who is currently winning). I wish I could show you what it looks like, but there is barely enough internet to check my email and write this post. I'll try to take pictures and upload them when I go to the internet cafe in Atenas on Sunday. But I'll give a quick description of the "campus" to give you an idea:

-       There is a large dorm where all 36 students live. We have a large main room with a couple of couches, the tv, and a ping pong table. On the walls are different murals that students from each semester have made. Up the stairs on one wing is all the girls' rooms and the bathrooms. The bedrooms are pretty bare- we each have a bunk and a rod to hang some clothes, and a desk with a few shelves to store everything else. The boys have a separate wing, as do the two interns and SAM (basically a hybrid residential assistant and assistant professor). We also have a tiny kitchen (with fridge and sink), a library, classroom and a computer room. Quick note about the bathrooms- we have no hot water, but since it's the tropics the frigid water feels almost refreshing. The hammocks on the porch overlooking the distant mountains are my favorite part of the dorms. They’re wicked comfy.

·      There is a separate outdoors classroom that has a large tin roof. So far we've had all of our classes out here. I absolutely love it, and wish every class back home had an outdoor classroom like that. 

·      Next to the outdoor classroom is the pool and a few hammocks to hang out in during our few moments of free time.

·      A little bit up the hill are two buildings which contain the kitchen and eating area, the professor’s offices, administration office, and study room for students.

·      We also have a basketball court as well as a soccer field which doubles as a volleyball court

·      There is an extensive area set aside for farming. Something that I find really cool about SFS is that our farm is Rainforest Alliance Certified. We have a bunch of chickens, two geese and a giant sow. Apparently we are supposed to get a cow in a few weeks! This school is a working farm and produces mangoes and oranges we can pick any time. I can’t wait until the mangoes are ready and we can pick them on the way to class! Food and sustainability are really important here, and everything we eat is as local and environmentally friendly as possible.

And speaking of food. Everything is absolutely amazing! Mom would love it- we eat beans at virtually every single meal, including breakfast. I’ve noticed that rice and beans are definitely a staple of Costa Rican food. We have a lot of plantains in many of the dishes, which are delicious. How ripe the fruit is dictates what it tastes like. The super green fruits are very starchy and taste almost like a sweet potatoes. The more ripe and brown ones are very sweet. I have no idea what most of the dishes they have made are called or even sometimes what’s in them, but everything is unbelievably good. I love all the fresh fruit and fruit juice they make us every day. Every meal has a different fruit drink with different squeezed fruits. Most of the drinks so far have had bananas and then a bunch of various fruits. They also have a lot of fruits that I have never had before. I’ll have to find out what they’re called and try to get a picture of them. Once of the ones I tried yesterday was related to the papaya and eaten like a pomegranate. It was sweet and tasty, but looked like fish eggs, which was rather odd. And the avocados. I could go on for hours about how delicious they are. We have had them in most of our lunches and dinners so far. Fresh, in guac, and in some weird pseudo guac with tuna (which sounds gross was was surprisingly delicious).  I’m excited because I asked Trig vy (one of the SAMs), and he said that we could arrange to have Costa Rican cooking lessons so I can learn how to make some of these delicious dishes.

We went into Atenas (the city nearby) yesterday, and it was very interesting. I’ve definitely forgotten more Spanish than I thought I did, though I was glad to find out that I can understand a lot of what they say. At least when they speak slowly and give me time to think about it. They had a store near the center of the city called “Mucho Gusto” that had a little bit of everything. Candy, sunglasses, bags, clothes, jewelry, watches, nail polish, transformer toy knockoffs; you name it, they had it. The center park area that we went to was gorgeous. It had several sidewalks bisecting the park with benches all along the sides, and palm trees to shade the children playing with their families. I haven’t really had a chance to explore the town, but I plan on going on Sunday to explore more.

I feel like I’ve done so much in the past two and a half days that I couldn’t possibly describe everything I’ve done. The days are jam-packed with things to do from when I wake up (without an alarm clock!) at six-thirty and get ready for breakfast at seven to the time we’re done with dinner at seven pm. Today I had three classes (lasting between an hour and a half to two and a half hours each), three meetings, a swimming test, a tour of the farm, and a briefing for our first trip tomorrow. We are leaving tomorrow at 6:15 to go on a three-day, two-night excursion to one of the national parks on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica. We are doing so much during those few days- bird banding using mist nets, a few hikes, touring a Dole banana plantation, a small family farm, and all of our classes. I am very excited but dreading having to wake up so early. Even though it’s only quarter till ten, I think I’m going to head to bed very soon. Or maybe head to one of those hammocks on the porch.. It’s a tough life. 

PS- I will not have any computer access till late Saturday night, but I will let you know how my trip goes and more about the first few days once I do!