First Impressions

Well,
I arrived. I am not very good at reliving my experiences with words besides the all encompassing “it was good” or “it was amazing” or “I had a good time.” Sin embargo, I am going to try and keep you all informed of my adventures. I hope I am not too long winded.
The plane ride was uneventful and getting through customs, etc. was easy. For most of the trip I didn’t think much about the fact that I was living abroad for four months or that I had classes to take and adventures to experience. I was mostly worried about my host family. Would they like me? What would they think of me? How does Doña Laura run her household? Will they be able to understand my poor, broken Spanish? Thousands of questions just ran through my mind. They literally ran through because as soon as I thought of one, another one immediately seemed more important and, thus, preoccupied my mind to the point where I forgot the previous. It turns out that my family was comforting. Don Iván y Doña Laura y su hijo Éder were very welcoming and seemingly excited to have me in their home. As far as my Spanish, I get by all right. They talk so fast that I am constantly asking them to slow down and my Spanish is so poor that I am always using hand motions or opting to not say anything at all. I think I’ll begin a list of all the things I want to tell them or ask them once my communications have improved.
The country is beautiful though the city is very obviously “third world” (that may not be the PC way of describing poorer countries but I cannot think of the better word). They have several amenities like the Internet and excellent doctors. It seems that Costa Rica is slowly improving their efficiencies but the process is long and not necessarily welcomed. The roads are still very poor and it is difficult to walk on the practically nonexistent sidewalks, not to mention the rain is a monsoon every afternoon. My shoes and pants were soaked by the time I got back from lunch today. The food, however, is delicious and the people very friendly.
I think that the strangest experience I have had thus far is waking up in the morning to a Spanish language and Costa Rican culture instead of English and United Staten culture. Its amazing how hard it is to speak in Spanish immediately after rolling out of bed. Thank GOD they make good coffee here.
Well I don’t think I have much more to say besides I’m learning to live here and I am enjoying it thoroughly. Classes start tomorrow and I am sure that they will be very much like those in the U.S. so I dread their beginnings with the same enthusiasm as always. School is school not matter where you are. Oh yeah, I saw a volcano and some waterfalls and they were all pretty sweet.
-Craig Campbell