San Jose & Rafting

I spent this weekend in San Jose, and vowed not to do that again unless I have to. On Friday, our counselor, Tatianna took us to the theater to see a contemporary ballet show downtown. It was a great performance which taught us a bit about indigenous culture. ICDS paid for our tickets and transportation! It was really nice of them because this wasn't a planned event. We just all expressed interest and they said they would provide the tickets and transportation. ICDS is a great program because they truly do care about our experience and they care how we are feeling. Although, they're not perfect. Most of us came into the program thinking that we would have Fridays off to travel, but we don't. After I expressed interest in changing the schedule of some classes so we could have Fridays off, they denied our request. It really does impede on some of our plans, but they are thinking about giving us a few Fridays off so we can travel to farther places. That would be perfect, but we will see what happens. Also, every student is assigned a volunteer location for Monday mornings. It is supposed to be like a mini-internship in the subject of your program. Unfortunately, its not like that at all. I am in the environmental sustainability program and I was placed at a local grade school to help students learn English (that has nothing to do with environmental sustainability). I'm not too upset about it because I didn't join the program for an environmental internship (I mean come on, I go to Drexel), but a few others did and I understand why they are upset. ICDS can be disorganized. To us it is disorganized, but to them it is normal because that is sort of the culture of Costa Rica. Pura Vida! So make sure to keep on them if you really need something. Some other students have switched locations because they wanted other volunteer opportunities, but I am going to stick it out at my school and see what happens. Its always good to be well rounded. Anyways, enough of my ranting. On Saturday I scheduled a trip with Rainforest Tours to white water raft down the Pacuare River. I never white water rafted before. IT WAS AMAZING! I loved every minute of it. The company picked us up form ULatina, gave us a delicious breakfast and lunch, and took us rafting for 4 hours. Rafting is one of the most exciting things I've ever done. The rapids went up to class IV difficulty, I even fell in a few times, even on purpose! I would go again in a heartbeat... if I had the time and money (It was $85). Today I just hung out around the house with my host family. I needed a calm day to finish some homework. It is important to get all of your homework done during the week so you can be care-free on the weekends. That's gotta be on the top ten list of study abroad tips right there.