A Long Day of Travel

Early Morning

I woke up really early, about 5 am. My parents drove me to one of the other girls' house that is going on the trip, Meaganrose, her mom drove both of us to the airport. We all had to meet at the airport at 9 am however our flight was at 12 pm. The professors wanted to give us enough time to make sure our bags weren't overweight and to get through security smoothly.

Miami, Florida -> San Jose, Costa Rica

We landed in Miami at 4:45 pm and we had 10 minutes until we had to board onto our connecting flight to Costa Rica! The flight lasted about an hour. I remember at one point looking out the window and all that I could see was white. It must have been the cluds we were going through. It is the winter time for Costa Rica which means it is the rainy season. As I had predicted, it was raining when we landed. Once we got through customs we were allowed to change our cash to colones, the Costa Rican currency. We all got out bags and I remember when we first walked out of the airport there were tons of people offering to give you rides. I felt like I was walking down a red carpet with paparazzi except no cameras. We waited around for a bit for our transportation to our homestays. Instantly I felt the humidity. My roommate, or as I like to call her my "froomie" (friend and roommate), Demi and I were the third stop.

Meeting my Mama Tica, Lila and home for the Month

We were able to meet our mama tica, (tica/tico is someone that is Costarican) our host mom. She lives with her cat Lila. My roommate Demi got first pick on the room, my room actually had two beds! It was very cozy. There was a desk, a night stand, a closet and an extra chair. We arrived to our mama ticas around 10. Originally we were supposed to arrive around 7:30. However, since it was the 30th of the month, everyone was out spending all their money because in Costa Rica there are two pay days. It is the 15th and the 30th of every month. After getting all adjusted our mama tica called us down for dinner. She made noodles with mushrooms and a side of plantains. She also had lime water ready for us. At dinner she talked to us about the times we should be coming down to eat for breakfast and dinner, when we should give her our laundry and general house rules. Demi and I are both fluent Spanish speakers so luckily getting to know our mama tica was not hard at all. I do know that some of my classmates that did not know any Spanish had a harder time.

On this night Lila actually slept with me. Her and I had a special bond. Until Costa Rica I never really liked cats, either.