Una esquina nueva del mundo

Biology major from the Southern US, studying abroad in Costa Rica and blogging about her adventures!  

[puravidachristiana]

Just to be clear, this blog is no longer active because I returned to the United States in May of 2016.  I may use it again in the future, if I am lucky enough to go back to Costa Rica.  In the meantime, you can keep up with me (mostly my artwork) at christiana-creates.tumblr.com !

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In case anyone was wondering, I made all A’s this semester!

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Home with my parents <3

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New views.

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Friday, May 13th

Got up at 3 am, ate a bit of fruit and two tiny empanadas. My host grandma and sister called me a taxi and wished me good luck and goodbye. I cried on the bus, because I suddenly felt the weight of it.  A giant door closing. A portal in time I'll never find again, not exactly. And then I wrote this on the plane to Dallas.

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May 12th – Thursday

Today I spent my whole last day in Costa Rica with my host family.  I sat on the patio and talked to my host mom, petted Balú, felt the breeze and listened to the birds chirping, admiring the flowers and the sunshine.  That afternoon, they cleaned the living room and set up for coffee.  The neighbors, long-time family friends, came over too.  We had homemade tamales and other treats.  They gave me presents, and I gave Adri a portrait I drew of her.  That night, Adri and I sang Youtube karaoke one more time.  I will miss them all dearly.  

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Walking the city for the last time, 5:30 pm

Little dogs poking out from fences. (Venga!) Big dogs lounging in the park. The glass gym. People, walking with ice cream. Bikes whizzing down the hill. Cars, motorcycles, mosquitoes. Cars spewing high-volume advertisements to an inattentive audience. Birds whistling in the trees. 

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Wednesday night we all had dinner at Urban Pizza, which is owned by a host family of someone in the program.  We announced superlatives for everyone in the group (I got “Best Artist”!) and said some tearful goodbyes.

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Wednesday, May 11th

After my marine biology exam and my Spanish conversation exam, I got to come home to this nice lunch. 

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The top one says “Pura Vida”! 

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May 10th – Tuesday

Today was the last day of tropical conservation biology, and our professor brought us each a reusable shopping bag with the program logo on it.  We passed them around and signed them, just like yearbooks in high school. Then I gave a presentation in Spanish about how my environmental awareness has increased in Costa Rica, and in the afternoon I had my Spanish composition exam.

That evening, all three sections of the cooking class met together to make pizzas from scratch and eat the tres leches cake.

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The making of tres leches.

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May 9th  - Monday

Today in cooking class, we were supposed to be making tres leches cake but none of the mixers worked, so we walked five minutes up the street to make it at our teacher’s house.  We filled a great big pan and used 24 eggs!  While the cake was cooking, she let us make chocolate chip pancakes and gave us coffee.  Then she showed us the jewelry she makes and let us each choose a piece.

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Can you tell that I’ll miss the fruit? 

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The family dog, Balú.

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May 7th

Today I tried a fruit called pejibaye. It had a nut-like flavor, and my host mom served it with mayonnaise.