Monteverde!

I've been in Costa Rica for 4 days and I am already obsessed. It probably helps that we have an awesome group that we are all here with. We have all become really good friends really fast. I can't imagine being here without this group of people. 

On Sunday morning, we officially started the program. We had breakfast as a group and all got to know each other. 

After that, we started actual school stuff. We took a really really really long test to evaluate our levels of Spanish. We also explored the gardens around the hotel which were absolutely beautiful. 

In the afternoon we took a four hour bus ride to Monteverde where we are staying this week. It is beautiful here too, just like all of Costa Rica. After we arrived, we met our host families that we are staying with this week. Mine is super nice and funny. I have a mom, dad, two sisters (Alondra and Nazareth), and a cousin. Nazareth is kind of quiet but Alondra is super talkative. She has Down's Syndrome and loves to play barbies with me and also loves to do my hair. I don't remember the last time I wore pigtails but I've worn them 3 times already this week. 

This week, we've been going to Instituto Monteverde where we've been taking Spanish classes. The institute is really nice and has a really cool outdoor classroom. 

We all have to walk there everyday. From my house it is about a mile. But on the way there it is all uphill and along a dirt road. 

Through this program we have "Amigos Ticos" which are college-aged Costa Ricans who hang out with us and show us around town. We have 4 of them and they are all so nice and funny. Everyone in Costa Rica is nice (so far). 

On Tuesday after class, we went on a night walk through the rainforest. It was fun but a little but scary because our guide kept showing us holes with tarantulas in them. I was not a fan of that. We also saw a couple nocturnal animals which was really cool. 

On Wednesday, we had class from 8-12 and then we had the rest of the day free! We all stayed at the institute for awhile (to use the WiFi) and then we got ice cream from a factory that is about a minute walk from the institute. After that we met up with our Amigos Ticos and they took us on a hike to a tree that you can climb all the way up. It was about a half hour walk all uphill. Not little hills. Steep hills. Very steep ones. But once we finally got there it was really cool! 

We got to climb up the tree and we also saw monkeys! There were dogs that followed us there and they were barking at them. So the monkeys broke off branches from the trees and threw them at the dogs. The dogs stopped barking. 

Our amigos took us to a pizzeria after our hike. One of our amigos was singing with his band at a hotel so we went to watch him play after we are dinner.  

It has been so so fun! I thought I would be so homesick at this point but I am still loving being here.