These are some pictures taken from the bus when we went on our first weekend trip. About 10 other students and I went to Río Celeste, a river in The Tenorio Volcano National Park. 

There are pictures of the river and cataratas (waterfalls) on my Picasa page: http://picasaweb.google.com/jelizabeth.hullar. The pictures shown here are some examples of just how beautiful this country is. 

Mi Horario

These are more images of my campus. (Thanks to my friends who let me take these pictures from their profiles!)

My class schedule:

Monday- 

8:00 am-9:30 am Spanish

10:00 am-12:00 pm Syntax

Tuesday- 

9:00 am-11:30 am Women's Studies Class 1 (General Topics) 

Wednesday-

8:00 am-9:30 am Spanish 

10:00 am- 12:00 pm Syntax

Thursday-

5:00 pm- 8:00 pm Women's Studies Class 2 (Communication from the Perspective of Gender)

Weekends OFF!

La Explanada y La Calle

Pictures of La Explanada, the main entrance to the campus of "La UNA" and the central street that runs next to it. It's difficult to get the full perspective, but in the pictures with the cars, the tree in each one is the same tree. 

El Viaje

Well, starting at the beginning, this is the view that you would see as you are coming into the airport. I didn't take this picture (or any of the ones I will post) because my camera stopped functioning in the first week. Anyway, when I was looking at these beautiful mountains, I was very, very nervous. My first journal entry in the journal that Joc gave me for Christmas starts out like this, "I'm scared to death." Haha, I guess it didn't really hit me that I was leaving the country that I belong to until I was in the air. Marissa had given me a letter with some pictures in it to open on the plane and it was perfect, she has always been able to read my mind. She reminded me what I was coming to Costa for: to learn spanish- a language that I have fallen in love with, to find confidence, to have the courage to adapt to a new lifestyle, and to strengthen my faith. The entire trip was very emotional.

But as you can see, Costa Rica is so gorgeous, and I started to get excited when we were directly over the country. I didn't realize that this was going to be the last time for a couple weeks that I felt like I was in reality. Once we landed in the heat I was immediately sweating with my NY clothes on. And then the man in customs was asking me questions in spanish. From then on, everything was like a whirlwind. My host Mom, Mayela, and the little girl she watches, Mariana, were waiting for me outside the airport with what seemed like a hundred other people (waiting for their family, etc.). They had a sign with my name on it and it was so cute! I had been imagining this for months and it was finally happening.