Insects

Have almost gotten used to all of the weird insects they have here. Yesterday I found a small spider that reminded me of a pumpkin, and on camp we found the thing on the picture (no it is not alive), also there is some kind of bug here that I think is called a chizarra, and it makes a really loud and strange noise, I totally should tape it.

Most of the insects are disgusting but some are actually kind of cute. The pumpkinspider is one example, and ok I can't think of any other right now. But the only insect that I really dislike is the mosquito. Especially as the ticos barely get one bite while my legs are full of them.

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Since I couldn't stay with my hostfamily I'm currently staying with my IEC. In her house I share room with Anna, her exchange-daughter, and Lotte, her exchange-daughter who was here two years ago and is only here to visit for a couple of weeks now.

sleepover at playa samara

One of the other exchange students lives with her hostfamily at playa samara so we had a kind of sleepover there sunday to monday. We spent almost all of our time at the beach, ate some good food, and had lots of fun. Except for a little bit of sun on monday it was quite cloudy all of the time, but it was still warm and I still got a sunburn. This morning, a friend of Elis, Lenas hostsister, taught us how to surf. It was difficult but awesome so I just want to do it again! This was the first time I surfed ever so at first I was really nervous and scared, but after my first try I could only think of how fun and cool it was. Can't believe I haven't tried it earlier.

 And now I know what everybody has been talking about when it comes to how openminded and friendly the ticos are. Lenas hostparents, and my IEC for that matter, are some of the most friendly people I know.

THE beach

hahahaha cheeeeseeee...

Going to la playa with my IEC and her family today, then tonight I'm going to meet my possible new hostfamily :)

Rainy season

As all days, the weather has been sooooooo hot today, so we went to a pool outside of Nicoya. In San Jose it was really cold and rainy, but here it is the opposite, even though it is rainy season right now. Sure, it's mostly cloudy, but always hot. It's just as a very wise guy told me, in San Jose the rainy season is really the rainy season while the dry season is the not so rainy season. In Nicoya on the other hand the rainy season is the not so rainy season and the dry season is the not at all rainy season.

Love it.

lalala

From when we were at playa Carillo this sunday

I´m going to stay with my IEC for a while now, so she's coming to pick me up soon

pics

 Anna and Bea just about to go

Exciting

Wish I could have taken pictures while doing it too, but my hands were kind of busy keeping the balance and breaking and so.

canyoping

Yesterday we didn't go to the beach, but, we went canyoping! It was so cool and I just want to do it again and again and again. From the top of the mountain we were at, we could see all of nicoya, it was so beautiful. We didn't see any monkeys though, but that can wait. After we had taken the last zipline we got to go in a tarzan-swing. It was really scary, but really fun. For those of you who don't know what that is, it is kind of like a normal swing, but so much more fun. You get tied to a rope that is hanging in a tree while standing high up in the air on a platform, then you just bend your knees and go straight out through the air, like a swing, but with bigger swings, haha I don't know how to explain it. Anyway, it was awesome.

After the canyoping, we went to a pizzeria outside of town to eat. Best pizza I've eaten in a long time!

 The view. Trying to upload more pictures but it wont work, will try again later.

fuimos a la playa

 playa samara

playa carillo

This sunday my HF took me to playa samara where I met Beatrice and her hostsister and friends. The weather was okey, it was warm but cloudy. The beach was so beautiful and the water was warm and the waves were big. Paradise. Then Beatrice had to go back to nicoya to go to church so we went to playa carillo. We were the only ones one this famous and incredibly beautiful beach. Really cool.

:)

Haven't had internet for a few days but now I've bought a really expensive thing so that I can keep myself and you guys updated. So this saturday we got into a car and went towards nicoya, guanacaste. Since then I've had ups and downs, but my hostparents are nice. Yesterday they took me to playa samara and then playa carillo, two of the most beautiful beaches in CR. Today I went to school just to buy a uniform and to say hello and so. It was weird, but fun. Everything works differently from what I'm used to. For example in the middle of the day "la madre" comes in and everybody stands up to say a three minutes long thing, I was just laughing. Also teachers go around during lessons to give food to eachother, so strange. Now I've just gotten home from the gym. My english teacher, contact person and now also my aerobics leader, harold, told me and beatrice to go to his gympass today, so we went. First it was something similar to merengue and later step-ups. Feels good.

This week nicoya celebrates the time when guanacaste became a part of CR so there is fiestas everywhere, at all times. I like this place, but I also miss home a lot. First weeks are the hardest one they say. 

End of camp

Last day of camp, tomorrow we will take different buses out to our hostfamilies. Since we have to drop a lot of people off on the way, the trip to Nicoya will take five hours instead of three...

Today we have been on a museum in San Jose, they had butterflies that were really beautiful, some photos of different places in CR, some weird statues and etc. In front of the museum there was a souvenirmarket with a lot of cool stuff. I bought a handmade small mirror, the woman who sold it was sitting in the market making it herself. Love it. After spending some time there we went back and now we have just finished playing a game. Can't believe this is the end of camp. I will miss it, and all the campers, but I hope to see them soon on a discovery tour.

visa - check

Written in the ashes at the volcano, cool.

So today we've been in San Jose to get our visas. It was quite scary as they asked me a lot of questions in spanish that I didn't understand. But it went well and I get to stay here for a year.

Yesterday the rest of the exchange students arrived, 16 more germans and one from New Zeeland. I don't know, and don't know if I want to know how many germans there are here in total. 

More spanish lessons awaits, here we go!

best day

Had an unforgettable day today! First we went to the Irazu volcano to look at the craters, I've never seen a volcano before so it was really cool and apparently it is still active, scary. After visiting the volcano we went to Cachi to eat fish and rice for lunch. Then we got a little bit of free time in the area to watch the nature. It was probably the most beautiful place I've ever seen. Afterwards we took our bus to various famous churches in cartago, one ruin, one normal church, and one cathedral. When we got back to camp we ate dinner and had a surprise party for Bram and Lena whose birthday was today.

 The pebbles were very warm, maybe it's lava underneath it or something like that.

 The EF t-shirts are just so hot.

 We ate in a restaurant next to a coffeeplantation so the coffee was great. Unusual way to serve it.

 So prettyyyyyyy

 Love this place.

 Ruth found a lian, so cool.

 Just chillin in the ruins

And again happy birthday to the birthday kids!

Volcanovolcanovolcano

Today we are going to the irazu volcano. It's really sunny and warm and I think we might die during our hike since we have to wear long pants. In a couple of minutes the breakfast is served and after that we are going to sit on the EF-bus for an unknown amount of time. Hoping to get some sleep, we went to bed really late yesterday.

San Jose levererar

The clouds have finally disappeared and it has been sunny all morning. After breakfast we were passing by a window when we for the first time saw the view over San Jose, it's amazing!

We also found some lemon trees, one or two lemons were ripe so we tried one. It smelled wonderful and fresh but it didn't really taste like lemons. Actually it was really sweet and not sour at all so I'm not sure it actually was a lemon.

Since it was sunny we had some of our lessons outdoors. Now we have just had our lunch so more spanish lessons awaits. But first; soccer!

Second day of camp

Woke up early today too. The birds seem to have really fun every morning between 4 and 5:30. They sound really awful, it's not like birdsongs, more like birdshrieks.

Yesterday we had spanish lessons the entire afternoon, today we are going to have it the entire day. Not that excited. Tomorrow we are finally going to start doing things outside the camp area, and on wednesday we are going to a volcano nearby. That will definitely be more fun than the spanish lessons.

Don't have that many pictures yet, but here's some.

Linnea (the other swedish girl) and me on heathrow. Our stay on the airports on the way here was short and stressy, shouldn't even mention the one on newark...

Ate up the very last sesamkaka yesterday. Sad.

Valentiiiiinaaaaa.

Soon the breakfast is served. Hoping it will be different from yesterday. Then they served fried toasts, eggs and some sort of sausages in a sauce. But of course I shouldn't forget about the fesh pineapple and watermelon. Yum.