Since my last blog, I've done a little bit here and there. We had class/group project work all day on Tuesday then on Wednesday, we presented our projects and took our final exams. The group projects required each group to research a US company and make a proposal to them as far as how they can become sustainable. My group researched the Glad Product Company. It was really interesting to listen to the other presentations and realize how unsustainable companies currently are such as Fruit of the Loom and Proctor and Gamble.
We all celebrated last night by going out to a bar that was always the first stop everynight throughout our trip. It was a blast. A bunch of us ended up going to McDonalds at 1 AM and ordering french fries. Good memories!
Today we woke up early and headed to Poas Volcano. Right when we walked up, the clouds cleared and we saw the caldera plain and clear. It was ironic that it happened because there was a group that had been waiting for 2 hours to see the clouds clear and we saw them clear right as we were walking up. Apparently you can only see the caldera 75% of the times you visit? It was really a pretty amazing sight. After that we went to La Paz waterfall which had a big bird sanctuary type thing, a butterfly house, a snake house, a frog house, and a hike down a bunch of different waterfalls which were all beautiful. It was funny because if we hadn't see any of the common Costa Rica animals/reptiles/insects while we were out on our other hikes, we could have seen all of them at this place somewhere. It was a nice place for close up pictures. We took a long busride back and everybody was sleeping the whole way. We just got back here to Veritas where they are having a party for "Welcoming students from other cultures" aka us. It should be fun. Tomorrow is our last day here in San Jose before we head back to the states. A big group are going bungee jumping in the morning but I'm holding out on that one to do with Jeff (awww). I think everyone sticking around here is going to head downtown for some last minute souvenir shopping and hanging out. I'm excited for the freedom we have tomorrow. I'm also excited to come home and not excited at the same time.
This has been an amazing trip and I feel like I've made so many close friends. It's going to be weird not having the same people around me that I have for the past four weeks. We've all clicked so well it's like we've known each other forever. I think we definately got lucky with this group. I'm definately going to miss them :(
I think I've learned alot being here too. Just trying to adapt to the differences in cultures has been rough and I still haven't completely but its been a good experience. Living with our host family was a learning experience too. I picked up a little spanish throughout the month which is exciting. I don't know if I will ever use it again but its been fun learning at the house. I realized that there are alot of differences between the opinions of Costa Ricans and those of the US in terms of politics. Our host family is from Peru so it may not be the common opinion of the ticos. Last night at dinner, our host father went on a speal about how he doesn't want Obama to be our next president solely because he's black. It caught us all off guard and it also caught him offgaurd when we said that his skin color didn't matter. Apparently in Peru, blacks are greatly looked down upon. He also told us that he likes President Bush because he helped the citizens of Peru when they had terrorist issues. When my roommate Lindsay said that she didn't favor him anymore, he couldn't understand why not. On top of that, when he started talking to Lindsay about her engagement, he went on about all of the things that a wife needs to be to make a marriage work. He said they needed to be loyal, loving, a good mother...then he said they need to be a good lover and sexual. It was very weird/awkward and I was expecting Carmen to interrupt him but she didn't. He went on about how you need to both like to dance with each other. It was all interesting and it made me realize how different cultures really are. Obviously alot of the marriage stuff is true but to be so forward in front of us was surprising. We ended up having our last dinner last night for two hours. We sat and ate and drank white wine and talked about all different things. At the end, Carmen gave us a few recipes that she had made us over the time we were here. I'm really excited to try to make them when I get home!
I think I'm really going to miss being here once I'm back but I'm also ready to be home. I've learned alot and it has been a great experience.
I hope anyone that has read my blog has enjoyed hearing about everything going on during my trip. You pretty much know everything. I hope to see everyone soon!
I'm putting this in here one last time. If you would like to help:
http://pages.teamintraining.org/soh/nattri08/aminneman
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