The last night at the Soltis Center

So I've already been in Costa Rica for over 2 weeks... uhhhh wut?!?! That is still so shocking to me. Today was our last full day at the Center, but I'm pretty ready to see what the rest of this country has to offer. I've heard only great things about this country, and I'm really excited to get out on my own and being to experience it first hand. We presented our projects this morning (FINALLY!) and ours went really well!! I'm so glad that they are over with, but it was a great experience to come up with our own project, physically collect data ourselves, then write a huge proposal and paper over it. I don't think I would have gotten a chance to get experience like that anywhere else. We didn't get too much of a break today though. As Dr. Quiring left the Center after lunch, and then Dr. Brannstrom gave his first lecture a few hours after lunch.

This next class that I'm taking is going to be awesome. It's going to be completely different than anything I've ever done. Basically, Brannstrom is giving us a few tasks to do which mostly deal with interpreting the culture and drawing/journaling about our findings. We are pretty much going to be on our own schedule the entire time. No classes. No tests. Just a meeting at 6 oclock every night to keep in touch with him. It's going to be so much fun! The way he described it was:

“If you learn something between now and departure… it is because you discovered it—you sought it out, you engaged it, you dug deeper—not because you took notes in lecture.”

It's going to be interesting to see how the class goes! It sounds like it's going to be a lot less work than this first class that I just finished... but since we are completely on our own it is going to be so much more money. Paying for every meal each day as well as gifts/random things/excursions is really going to add up. Oh well, I guess I should just live it up, right??

Some things that I'm going to miss about the Soltis Center:

• Having 3 meals cooked for me each day
• Being basically inside the rainforest
• Having Dr. Quiring with us
• Hanging out on "The Stoop" and just talking at nights ("The Stoop" is the patio right outside of Brandon and Eric's room where we would all hang out at night and just talk)
• Being disconnected from the real world and not having anywhere to be or anything to do
• The amazing view from our patio and the balcony in the academic center
• Dr. Eugenio Gonzales and all of the other extremely nice staff that works here
• The ping pong table and playing "fly pong" where we try to hit the huge bugs flying around with the ping pong paddles
• Being forced to spend a lot of time with all of the other people I'm studying abroad with

Some things that I'm NOT going to miss about the center

• Not having A/C
• Having nothing to do or nowhere to be/go
• Getting chiggers (which are finally almost gone... still a bit itchy)
• Eating rice and beans all the time when I'm tired of it
• These small squeaky beds in our super hot rooms
• Having to go to class in a room that has huge windows taunting you with the view outside
• All of the other people that "invaded" the Center... we got here first!

Random fact of the day... for dinner tonight, we didn't have rice OR beans! We had pizza and Coke! Everyone was so happy when we walked downstairs and saw our dinner. And sorry, I don't have the video tour of the Center tonight. Right when I was about to go out and take my video, it started to rain. I'll get one for sure tomorrow morning before we leave for La Fortuna!

I can't wait for these next 2+ weeks!! P.S. my Costa Rican beard is coming in nicely if I do say so myself