I've Arrived!!!!!

First things first, Google in Costa Rica pops up in Spanish and I don't quite have the language skills to figure out how to turn it to English, but I did find out how to write a new post, so... good news!

I suppose I will start at the beginning of my travels. On Tuesday morning, at 5:30am, my mom, dad, John and I hopped in the car and drove to the airport for my 7:20am flight. I was literally shaking when checking my bags and I was unbelievably anxious about getting to Dallas and starting the entire traveling process. Saying goodbye was a little rough and the worst part was then waiting in the security lines and turning around to wave goodbye one more time, and one more time, and one more time. 

I slept the entire way to Dallas so I didn't have to think about leaving, and met up with a fellow volunteer at the airport so we could take a taxi to the hotel together. We checked into the hotel and started with our introduction to Peace Corps right away. I met all of the other volunteers who are from all over the U.S. and everyone is very nice and have super interesting life stories. The majority of us are under 30, but we have two married couples, a blind volunteer, and I think three volunteers with dual citizenship. Fascinating.   

I'm going to expedite this part of the story. At 2:00am, we checked out of the hotel and boarded the bus to the airport. We flew from Dallas to Houston, and then from Houston to Costa Rica, and then right into buses to our training center.    

I have been in the country for two and a half days and so far, I am loving it. The country is absolutely beautiful. As we were landing in San Jose, we could see all of the mountains and forests and it is really quite a sight. Right now I am at a hotel in the province of Heredia and it is pretty fancy. We obviously have internet and I even had a warm shower. We have been busy all day, every day with lectures and activities, introducing us to Peace Corps, and getting us ready to move in with our host families on Sunday. All 21 volunteers will be divided up by Spanish abilities into four different communities for the next 11 months of training, and each of us will have our own host family. We all had a language proficiency interview yesterday and I got "novice high," which really translates to "good try." I have a ton of work to do, but I've been told living with a family will help a ton. 

All the volunteers are going into downtown Heredia tomorrow to figure out how to navigate in Costa Rica and eat lunch if we master the navigation. We were told to eat a big breakfast. 

I'll talk more about my actual job in the next post because this is a little overwhelming for you, just as it has been for me. I am really enjoying everything though and I'll try to keep you as up-to-date as possible.

Peace and Love.