Presentations are tomorrow!

Tomorrow is the day that we have all had our eyes on for the entire 2 weeks we've been here! The one major project that we have been working on for over a week is due tomorrow at 8:30 in the morning. The entire day today was devoted completely to finishing our paper and perfecting our slide shows and presentation (which still aren't perfect). I'm going to be so glad to get this over with. This project has felt like it has dragged on FOREVER. Tomorrow around 10 in the morning, I will be a free man again and won't have to worry about any more projects for a while.

Like I said yesterday, I again relied on music today to get me through the day! Mac Miller and lots of Owl City got me through the day at first, but then out of nowhere a real gem caught my attention. Out of nowhere, "I Believe I Can Fly" by R. Kelly (yes the song from Space Jam) popped into my head and I was singing it all day long. It was plain perfection.

The reality that tomorrow is also our last full day at the Soltis Center is finally setting in. Earlier today, Dr. Brannstrom (the professor that will be teaching the geography class where we are in different Costa Rican cities) arrived at the Center. He met us here so that he could ride the bus with us to the first city that we will be going to on Friday, and he is also going to be listening to our presentations tomorrow. For these first 2+ weeks, each individual day has seemed soooooooo ridiculously long because we've had so much to do. But I cannot believe that the trip is almost halfway through! :( But I am really really really excited to go on Brannstrom's part of the trip and travel all across the country.

These last 3 days it has actually felt like we were in a rainforest because it finally rained!!!! Up until Monday, it had barely rained at all, but we have actually gotten quite a bit of rain these last couple of days. I have actually enjoyed the rain. With everything being so open at the Center, you can hear the rain in the forest and see it all. It's been pretty relaxing and I can now say that I actually experienced the "rain" part of the rainforest. Tomorrow, I'm going to try to get a video tour with my camera of the Center so that everyone can see what I've been talking about for the last 2 weeks.

Today I heard/figured out one of my new life mottoes. This isn't just a motto that is a joke and will last for a day, but I really hope that I can use this for the rest of my time in school... and the rest of my life in general. Here is the background behind it: Along with Dr. Brannstrom, a guy named Kelly Lemmon came to the Soltis Center. Kelly is working on his dissertation, and he is doing it on the impacts of study abroad on students... or something along those lines. Before we got to Costa Rica, all of us students completed one of Kelly's surveys, and he came today to talk to us in person. He's also going to be hanging out with us for the last 2 weeks of our trip which will be really cool. Basically, today he put us into groups so that he could facilitate a discussion group about different questions he had about why we studied abroad, why we chose to come to Costa Rica, etc. One of the questions he asked was something along the lines of "What were your reasons for chosing this particular program?". Most of the people in my group answered that they chose this one for an academic reason. They knew that we would be able to work closely with the professors, and their main reason for being here was to get the academic experience that isn't as available in a classroom in College Station. After hearing their answers, I blurted out that, as bad as it sounded, I didn't choose to come on this trip at all for academic reasons. I could actually care less about the grade that I got in these classes here and that I didn't want to spend my whole time doing classwork while I was abroad. I told Kelly that I was here almost completely for the experience/knowledge that I would gain from being on my own and experiencing another country/culture. As soon as I said this he just looked at me and smiled. He replied with "That reminds me of something my grandfather used to tell me. He would always say: Don't let class get in the way of your education." This statement had me thinking all day long... and I realized that that phrase PERFECTLY sums up why I chose to study abroad. The education that I have been seeking by coming to Costa wasn't knowledge about the geography classes I'm taking, but the education I have truly been looking for is to figure out more about myself and other cultures. Grades may seem important, but down the road I know that I would regret it if I spent more time here focusing on school than I did focusing on having a good time and learning what I want to learn about. I'm so glad Kelly interviewed us so that I could realize this. I'm definitely going to spend the rest of my life living by this motto.

Other than today being stressful, I'm so relieved to have our presentations almost done. On another note... HAPPY 26TH ANNIVERSARY MOM AND DAD! Y'all are amazing parents and I'm so happy that y'alls marriage has been so successful. I couldn't be any luckier than I am to have y'all, and I look up to both of you so much.

Time to go practice my presentation a little more so that I don't bomb it like I did the last one!