Thought processes...

So I'm back. And with the same story to tell. So much for the fun exotic life south of the border. The last time I've actually seen real beach sand was oh, May? I can't even say with certainty that the sun has come out lately becasue I've spent approximately 90% of my time cooped up in front of the computer translating a book that makes no sense. Is this where I start second guessing my choices? Ok, I'm still happy I decided to come down here to study, but why, OH WHY, did I choose to translate Yolanda Oreamuno into English, when it takes a philosopher to truly understand what she is saying in Spanish. I'm an overachiever, thats why. I think its about time I stopped that nonsense. No but seriously, besides the lack of any sort of vacation (even for a day) in the past 4 months, besides the fact that I have never felt so overwhelmed and tired of studying in my life, besides the fact that I still have 5 weeks to go of this, besides the fact that now I am experiencing homesickness, I still love it here. I still enjoy the program and I am still learning more about translation each day. However, I truly believe the only reason I am still here, and will still come back in January after my long needed, long awaited vacation, is because I only have one year left. I'm be an idiot to give up now, right? Besides...I'm not a quitter. I'm tired, stressed, overwhelmed, lonely, lazy, lethargic, depressed even, but I'm not a quitter. One year. Its not so bad.

I have rediscoverd the genius that is Damien Rice these last few days. How I missed his incredible lyrics before I'll never know. I can sit and listen to Cannonball for hours on repeat without growing tired. In fact I'm going to play it on right now..."Still a little bit of your taste in my mouth..." It never ceases to amaze me how there are songs that cut right down to the core of a person without one realizing. It just takes one new experience and a song can mean something totally different than just a few days before.

I'm getting a roommate. That is honestly the most exciting news I've had to tell since my trip to the Dominican Republic back in April, well or maybe my trip back to North Carolina for Carlee's wedding in June. I guess that was quite exciting too. Anyway, back to the roommate. I started looking about two months ago I suppose and although people called, there was always some reason they didn't work out. But I guess in the end it was part of God's plan because the girl that called is awesome. We have about everything in common, she lives in San Diego, so basically I'm already jealous of her, and she plays tennis. Practically from the night she first came over we got along so I'm very excited about her moving in. It will be like having my girls close again, only, she's new and we're a lot alike, which I could really only ever say about Carlee I suppose. But who wants only friends that are the same in all aspects. How boring that would make life. Lauren, Char'Lee, Carlee and I were so different in so many aspects but we complemented each other and that is what made it and still makes it work. We were the complete package, everything from hair colour down to personality.

I really need to go back to the gym. It has now been over two months since I've even gone for a run and I'm feeling it. My shoulders are tense and I'm cranky. The gym and even just running always makes me feel good about myself. I'll start again soon, I know I will, I just need to get the energy and that will come the day I finally finish this semester. Then I think, hey, if this one was so bad, only my second semester of grad school, what will the next to be like. Better to not think of that right now. I feel it though when I go and play tennis, or when I throw the football for long periods of time. P.S. I've totally learned how to spiral a football perfectly. So pretty. But after about 30 minutes my arm wants to fall off. After 30 minutes of tennis I feel like a 50 year old smoker. I can't breath, my legs hurt, and I can't lift my arm over my head to serve anymore. Man I sound like I'm 50. What happened to me. 24 has caught up on me. Only 5 more months until I'm 25. 5 more months until I won't be cheated out of another $20 a day just to rent a car to visit the loves of my life in N.C. That is a day I am looking forward too.

And maybe New Years. Should I be excited for New Years? Can you believe its only two months away? Where did 2009 go? Last New Years I was in California. I went to eat with Julie, Kathy and...Justin...I think we ate at CPK? Maybe. I remember not even being excited as midnight struck. I think I said, yay now I can go to bed. I'm only 24 and yet I sound like I'm ready to kick it. I need some spark in my life. A reason to get excited again. I need a new adventure. A new interest. A new obsession. And I need a vacation. The beach. The sun. A book. And my iPod. Maybe I'll dream about that tonight...

10 minutes to breathe...

I can't really say how long it has been since there was an update on my life...I can't really remember when the last thing happened that was worth updating. Sad, isn't it? To be honest this is practically the first time in weeks that I've even thought about being able to sit down and reminisce about things that happened that were worth sharing. My life has been one constant GO, no time to breathe. Between my thesis translation and translations for my cultural and technical classes I have zero time. It is so bad I even wake myself up at 7:30 am so that I can be working by 8. I never thought grad school would be easy...but then I never thought it would be this totally draining either.

As I'm sitting here now, Jack Johnson serenading me from iTunes and the sound of the Giants/Cowboys game in the background I realize just how little I have been able to do. Last night I went to the movies with my tico brother...the first time I've seen him in probably 3 weeks or a month. I haven't made it back to Barva for a good length of time in even longer than that. I haven't seen the coast of Costa Rica since um...May. I need a vacation. Bad. And yet, here I am...still going...already looking forward to the 2nd of December. Not even the 28th of November (when classes end)...why doesn't the thought of not having any more homework excite me? No, I'm more excited about the day when I get to leave and go home...to see Mom and Gus, family, friends...I need a breather. Thankfully this coming weekend I have no classes...just a conference I'm obligated to go to. Boring yes, but that means I have no specific homework due this weekend...and yet, still, the only thing I can think of going...keep going...keep translating...get ahead of the game...and maybe by November things will calm down. It's in my head now. I don't even remember how to relax.

Besides the piles of translations I have due for classes, I have a few paid one's to get finished too. No, I'm not complaining, but one has most definitely been the most challenging one I have done so far. Technical gun terminology into Spanish is not my thing. I have learned a few things, like, what a hopper is or a slide check, even an open bolt blow-back...now ask me how to translate them, and I'm still clueless. And the worst part is, everything has a due date...and it comes a lot faster than I always hope.

Other news...I am moving...again. In June I moved into an apartment in Heredia from my house in Barva. Now I am moving from my apartment in Heredia to another apartment three blocks away. I was speaking with a friend of mine one day about where I lived, live etc. and she said "don't you want a roommate"...turns out I was just starting to look for one so it worked out perfectly. She was going to move in here, but my apartment is furnished, and she already had everything, so we looked for another unfurnished apartment and are moving in there together. She's there now, while I'm sitting here nostalgically, staring at bare walls and remember the pictures I had up just hours ago. Packing. I am always packing. Always leaving. I love it and I hate it. I'm moving to an apartment that isn't as nice as the one I have now, not as new, or as bright, but it is cheaper and I won't be lonely anymore. I will finally be able to plan my trips to Panama and Nicaragua and apply for my visas because I will have money to save. I think that is what really made me decide to move. I had originally said I wouldn't move unless I found an apartment that I loved as much as this one and was a lot cheaper. Impossible. But then I started thinking about my dreams of traveling and how staying here there is no money for that. The thought of visiting Panama trumps the luxuriousness of this apartment and so, yesterday I said I would move. And tomorrow I have to be out. Another rush. Another day of only GO.

To a point GO is good. It keeps me occupied. It keeps my mind off the guy that didn't work out after 7 months "together" or the fact that I spend most of my time alone (its a catch-22...I like being alone so I can get my work done, but I focus on my work so as not to miss company). And it keeps my mind focused on my future and the day I finally get to go home and establish a life for myself as a translator with a master's degree...its all worth it in the end...I just have to get there.

A semester from...hell...

So another semester has started and man, did it start with a vengeance. Homework from the first two days consisted of reading over 150 pages, answer questions and do research on research topics related to translation, plus then still read another entire book on which I had to write a book review for the following week. Needless to say my social life did not exist. From the time I woke up until the time I went to sleep I was reading, taking breaks only to cook food and drink coffee...even then sometimes with the book in my hand. "If this is an example of how the semester is going to be," I thought, "I don't know if I'll get out alive..." Fortunately though, yes, although this semester is going to be killer, it seems maybe the first week was an exception. Or maybe now I've just realized how to manage my time better with all the reading? Or maybe I'm just kidding myself. Either way, I'll make it, even if barely, but I'll get through.

Interestingly enough, this semester I start to work on my thesis, for which I have chosen a 400 page novel written by a Costa Rican feminist during the 1940s. The book is riddled with metaphores on the oppressed situation of women during the era which I think would be very interesting to analize. We'll see. I have spent this entire week reading the book, and have thoroughly enjoyed it. Luckily we didn't have classes this Saturday due to it being Mother's Day here in Costa Rica, so I was able to forget all the other homework and focus my attention solely on reading the book and deciding if it will work for my proposed thesis. Fortunately I only have to translate about 80 pages of the book, so I get to select my chapters, but in the future I would love to translate the entire book...maybe for publication??? Anyway, here I go getting ahead of myself....I think I will really enjoy my classes this semester. Theories of translation might be the only exception...its not as interesting as Translation of Technical texts or Translation of Literature, but I guess in the end, just as necessary. Of the four professors I had last semester, two are the same and two are new this time around. The two I know were both my least favourite from last semester, but now I'm realizing I think it was more for the subject than the professor...

Yesterday which was Mother's day, I went to visit Nela in Barva and to have lunch with her and all of her sisters and their families. It is a tradition I remember from when I was here in 2007, every Mother's day the whole family goes over to one of the sister's houses for lunch, coffee and cake. I hadn't seen the whole family in a while since I moved to my own apartment in Heredia so I first had to deal with all the "welcome back to the family" and "how have you been, how's life" questions. In the end though I had a great time seeing everyone again, and the cake...well yum...

Other than spending my time doing homework and having zero fun, I'm super excited that the NFL is about to begin again. It is honestly the longest wait ever from the end of one season until the start of another. The Bears lost their first preseason game to the Bills, not great, but then again it is only preseason. I get such hell here for going with the Bears "they're such a bad team, why not support someone that has a chance of winning?" But really I mean I learned to watch and understand American football watching the Bears, I'll be loyal until the day I die. But other than the escape this NFL season will bring me, and the few games of Liverpool that I will be able to catch the next four months are going to consist of a lot of boring homework....here's to the life of a grad student....

T minus 3 days...

It never ceases to suprise me how quickly time goes by. When did a 24 hour day cease to be 24 hours? Or a 7 day week, 7 days? After a fairly lengthy trip to the States to visit my friends and family I have returned to Costa Rica to begin semester dos of my Master's degree. I'm a little suprised at how my feelings have changed in the past 26 days since leaving, or for that matter for the past year and a half since I first left in December of 2007. I was in love with the country and all I could think about was coming back, for whatever reason. As luck had it (and maybe I shouldn't call it luck because I have zero luck) but I found the exact Master's degree I wanted to do at the same university I had studied at in 2007 but for about $10,000 cheaper (an exaggeration? I think not). I had Costa Rica in my system and I wouldn't be happy until it was out. That being said I don't think I ever really had the intention of staying here permanently. Yes, part of me could live here, but the other part is way too in love with San Diego...I first need to get THAT out of my system.

I'm a wonderer. Well, and a wanderer. I get bored in one place for too long and begin to wonder what living in another place would be like. I get urges to pack up and discover something new. There is one downside to this of course, I have to leave everything or everyone I have for the unknown. Everytime I go home now, leaving becomes that much harder. I cannot express how much love and respect I have for my best girl friends, but its not even them I am truly upset over leaving. I guess in our hearts we all knew we would go our seperate ways after college, and even though we're seperated by long periods and even longer distances when we see each other it is as if we were together all our lives. What really upsets me is leaving Mom and Gus, my black lab. I become plagued with guilt, he doesn't know what is happening. He doesn't understand where I'm going, only that I'm abandoning him again. Whenever I pack bags he knows its coming, and it breaks my heart. He is older now, and I wonder what if I'm not there for him when he becomes sick...what if I miss him...I'm not generally such a depressed thinker, but it has been so lately.

Maybe its the lack of caffeine. I have been ordered by my doctor to lay off of caffeine and chocolate until at least December, and it is killing me. I tried going cold turkey, but the headaches that ensued were too much to handle, so I got back on the juice and am trying to quit slowly...for now only one cup in the morning, next week, I'll mix regular and decaf, then only decaf? What is the point of drinking coffee sans caffeine? But I like the taste...its habit...its...comfort. It makes waking up at 5:30am on a Saturday for class just that much bearable...for that matter it makes waking up at 7:30am for no reason every other day of the week that much manageable.

Today I woke up at 7:30am annoyed by the sound of running water coming from the laundry room of the house next door. The splatter of the water on the concrete steps sends shivers down my spine. Instead of immediately turning on the TV to ESPN en español I decided to go for a run...I mean if I'm up that early I might as well make hay while the sun shines. To my disgust it was not a good run. The fact that I'm practically living on a mountain did not help out in the lung capacity area, and after going only about 800kms I was dead. Not to mention the amount of work traffic at that time of the morning made crossing streets a difficult tast. I wonder how much it would cost to buy a treadmill? I mean I have a spare bedroom, not to mention ridiculous amounts of space in the living/dining room. After only about 10 minutes out on the road I decided to return home for breakfast. I did some pushups and situps and am now devouring an egg on toast. Although totally unimpressed by my performance I'll go out again tomorrow...because the only way to get better is to continue doing it.

I don't have much else planned for today. I trip to the bank to pay the rent. A trip to the school that has offered me the much needed job. A trip to buy curtains since it freaks me out that one can easily see into my livingroom at night. Classes begin on Friday so at some point I should invest in some supplies. It all feels so surreal really, as if I'm still in California with the dream of returning to continue my education. As if I had never left at the beginning of July. As if one day I'll wake up and realize it has all just been one long, unorganized dream.

My vacation from my vacation...

So for the past three weeks I've been back in the US. First in North Carolina where I stayed in Sanford with my very disgruntal sister for the majority of the time. Although I had every intention on coming back to the States when semester one had finished, I only made the trip out to North Carolina first because my best friend was getting married, and she had asked me to be a bridesmaid (note: even if she HADN'T asked me to be in the wedding, the simple fact that she is my best friend means I would have made the trip out...that and I'm in love with the groom ;-) Just kidding...) Anyway, so from the very first day in NC I was reminded of all the reasons I hated it for the nine miserable years I spent there before: it was ridiculously hot, humid, and...worst of all...country. I've never taken a shine to much-too-cocky-rednecks waltzing around in there cowboy boots. I mean seriously people...move to Texas...at least there you don't look as much like a...nevermind. Moving on. As you can no doubt tell I have zero love for the eastern part of the country, but not all was bad. I was able to see Drew, Phil and Joe, friends from high school with whom I have all but lost contact...occasionally there would be a random Facebook message, but generally I knew nothing of them. And then of course there was Ms. Carlee Macon's wedding, which was absolutely fabulous.

On July 4th we were all in Charlotte (perhaps the one exception to my hate for the south) for the Bachelorette party. Drinks in the hotel, followed by dinner and drinks, followed by the best bar in Charlotte to have a bachelorette party and drinks. It was great fun from beginning 'til end. It was the first time in six months I had seen my lovelies Lauren, Char'Lee and DeAnna, so it was a great reunion (the only reason I had seen Carlee before was because she picked me up from the airport when my own family came up with every excuse not to). The weekend following was the main event. We all (the bridesmaids) spent the night at the location where we made an attempt to finish off some of the left over rehearsal dinner wine...didn't happen as we switched to Sweet Tea Vodka and Lemonaide instead...great combination...(I had no idea it existed until this return visit). Saturday we set up and got ready, shielding with all our might the fact that it was raining from Carlee. Fortunately right before pictures it stopped and sky broke open with sun, only a gift from the Lord. Our hair all done, pictures taken, we broke open a bottle of wine to toast the beautiful bride and walked the isle...or the grassy patch between the rows of seats. She picked a gorgeous location for an outside wedding, and fortunately that day the rain had cooled the temps. The ceremony lasted a good 20 minutes followed by more pictures, more wine, food, cake and then dancing. I caught the bouquet again...I need to stop doing that or I'll end up...well you know. I saw the Marshbanks at the wedding, the couple that gave me my scholarship to attend Mars Hill. It was great being able to see them again, as they were unable to make it out for my graduation.

Monday after the wedding, I left super early in the morning for California. I woke up at 2:30 am (after only going to sleep at 1am) to get to the airport by 4. My flight left at 6am. All was going well until our unfortunate delay in Texas due to mechanical problems...finally an hour and a half behind schedule I landed in sunny Southern California to be greeted by my mommy. Oh how I have missed this place...and then, not. I was once again in awe of the grandness of the highways and the ridiculous amount of money poured into buildings, but a part of me never came home with me when I left Costa Rica and although I'm home...I'm not. Arnold, my big red Blazer is out of order, so I've been sans vehicle all week, but Mom has been coming home early at lunch time so we've been going out shopping and running errands, buying things for my apartment in Costa Rica. On Saturday we took a trip to the Queen Mary, a retired Cruise Liner and toured that for a few hours. It could quite possibly be my only look at a cruise ship for a few years...maybe until my honeymoon when current chances are that my future husband kills me. Sorry, morbid moment.

Anyway, all that being said. I really enjoyed church this morning as I saw all the people I haven't seen in six months. It felt like I had never left, minus having to answer "So how's Costa Rica?" every five minutes. I actually miss the guys there...not that I'd EVER admit that to them ;-)...well not seriously anyway...

To top off the ridiculous contradiction that is my life, sitting here thinking that in one week I will once again be in Central America makes me oddly sad. I have an excelent opportunity now to sell Arnold and buy my Mazda 3, but chances of having this same opportunity in December of 2010 are slim to none. Leaving Mom and my dogs is always hard...they always unknowingly make me second guess my study abroad decisions. But when it comes down to it I think, I only have three semesters left. Yes semester one was hard. Yes it dragged on and on. Yes Saturday at 7am classes are zero fun, but where else can I get a Master's education for a little more than $500 a semester? No where. So I'll suck it up again. Go back down. Kick ass at semester numero dos, and come back in December for another visit home and then another maybe-I-should-just-stay-here-and-finish-up-at-CS San Diego second guessing-myself-session.
P.S. Don't you love how in English we can make adjectives by stringing together a bunch of normal words??? I do...until I have to translate them :-S

Reminiscing...

So as I was just sitting here doing nothing, waiting for lunch to be served, I was checking my emails and noticed I have 23 pages worth of emails saved up in Hotmail. 23 pages of more than 30 emails is quite a lot...when did I stop deleting them I wondered? So I clicked on page 23 and began reading. An email to Joel after Spring Break of 2006 when Char'Lee, Lauren, Carlee and I all hopped into Arnold and drove down to Boca Raton, Florida. After waking up before the sun and driving 12 hours on I-95 South we finally arrived in sunny Florida. I don't remember too many details of the drive...except that when we finally readed West Palms we were ready to be there...I was speeding as I passed a State Trooper going North (very unusual for me ;-)). He turned around over the median and followed me South and just when I was freaking out because I was going to be pulled over in Florida, on Spring Break, he flashed his lights at a VW Jetta to my left and pulled him over instead. I don't believe I sped the rest of the way there.

This was the year I turned 21...I still don't think the girls have truly forgiven me, but I blame it on them--it was the 3 wise men they bought me that did me in. All I remember is that it is the closest I have come to a run in with a cop, one that wasn't airport security that is. It was a Spring Break of a lifetime...strawberry daquiries on the porch watching the sunset, gorgeous cristal clear blue water and an endless supply of warm sun on the beach. The email was a thank youfor letting us crash at his place, accompanied by the lyrics of the song "Te extraño" and the reply, the very earliest email I have saved, was a sweet reply saying how nice it was to have us down there, and to come back whenever we had the urge to get away.

I guess I began deleting again after this date because I have very few emails for the rest of that year, really until July of 2007 when I made the journey down to Costa Rica for the first time for a 6 month exchange program. The very first email I received when I arrived was from Aubrey. She said we had just gotten off the phone and she wanted to write right away so it was the first I read when I got down here. It was a beautiful email about how thankful she was for my friendship, for always answering my phone and chatting to her for hours, for giving her the energy to follow her dreams because I was stubbornly pursuing mine. She wrote about why she believes the Lord sent her to North Carolina for college, specifically to meet the people that would be there for her always to help her through a bad love, perhaps the most low she had ever felt in her life. I remember the first day I met Aubrey. She was the first student I spoke to at Mars Hill the day I arrived for the Honor Scholars retreat. As Mom, Ash and I were hauling my things up the stairs to my new room, Aubrey came out of her room to say hi and offer me the pins I needed to bunk the beds. Turned out she was also an Honor Scholar and while waiting for the bus she introduced me to Lauren. I met Carlee that same day, on the bus ride to the camp site. We had been asked to read The Metamorphasis before we arrived since it would be discussed on the camp, and in one of my fits of laziness I had bought the SparkNotes instead. Turnes out Carlee hadn't read the book either so I offered her the SparkNotes to catch up while on the way. The four of us spent the next three days complaining about the bugs, instantly bonded by our hate for the outdoors. The day we arrived back we met Char'Lee in the cafetaria as we were discussing setting up a game of sand volleyball and so before classes had even officially started I had met the four girls that were my rock all through college. We laughed, we cried, we fought constantly, but we stayed together and helped each other through any storm that came our way.

After sophomore year Aubrey chose to leave Mars Hill, to leave North Carolina and return home to Texas. She had had a rough year, a broken heart, not only from a boy who turned out not to be worth her time, but also from the loss of a close friend to a motorcycle accident. Mars Hill turned out to be Aubrey's hell and the decision to cut her losses was probably the best she could have made for herself. I didn't get to say goodbye--I had gone to visit my dad in South Africa that summer--but the distance apart didn't kill the friendship. All through junior year Aubrey and I talked on the phone constantly. If two days went by without one of us calling it was unusual. I helped her recover, she helped me keep her close. 3 years have gone by and sadly the friendship has withered. We very seldomly chat, even facebook messages are scarce, but I know that anytime I am ever in need of a friend, anytime I want to make a roadtrip to Dallas Texas, Aubrey will be just a phone call away. Maybe I'll have to wait a few days for a return call, but it always comes, because the bond we made that very first weekend will last for the rest of our lives.

I could keep reading old emails, and keep remembering the good ol' days. It seems that since the day I first arrived in Costa Rica I have not once hit the delete botton on an email that didn't come from Facebook. I have hundreds of emails from Mommy saying how much she missed not having me in the US, emails from my brother and sister catching each other up on our lives in less than 3 lines, emails from Eder making plans to go out dancing, but each email I read brings up a memory, some good, some bad, times I miss, and times I wish I could erase. Reminiscing is fun, it gives a new found appreciation to friends for all the times we have spent together, but it is also depressing, remember what I once had and how all of that has changed. On second thought, maybe it is time to stop reading. Lunch is on the table and my mood has turned as dark and depressing as the black clouds rolling in from the west promising another afternoon of heavy rains. Instead I'm going to look for the sunshine that is in my life now, in the form of new friends, of last days of classes,and I'm going to look forward to the new memories I will make today, tomorrow, Sunday, the new memories that I will look back on four years from now and reminisce of those days when I was a grad student in Costa Rica pursuing my dream of being fluent in Spanish. Of course I will never forget the girls that made my undergrad years all they were, even on my death bed I will remember all the things they gave me. Friends like that are hard to come by and I wouldn't change them for the world.

Another day, another visitor...

I'm almost there...two weeks left. Two weeks to finish (well, start and finish) two final assignments of about 10 pages each and to study for two final exams...mean while, when I should be doing them...i.e. now seems like a perfect time right? I'd rather procrastinate...it is Sunday after all....

Besides my complete lack of motivation, things are going well. At the university I gave a final presentation this past Friday, and I believe it went very well. I turned in my final portafolio, which looked spectacular, even if I do say so myself. Of my four classes I really only have trouble in one of them, and then that trouble only means a B instead of an A so I really shouldn't complain. I am happy that the semester is ending. Eventhough its the same length as the semesters in the US it feels so much longer and I'm definitely exhausted from all the energy I've put into it. But like I said...two weeks left so I'll be able to relax soon.

My sister came to visit last month. Unfortunately our time together was super short (she couldn't only stay one week) but we fit tons of stuff into those six days and I'm pretty sure she left wishing she could stay longer. She arrived on a Saturday night and on Monday I showed her around San Jose. Tuesday we went to a Samara Beach, about 5 hours away from San Jose where we stayed until Thursday. The beach was gorgeous, but very dead. Rainy season had just started, which makes the lack of people more understandable, but it was still unexpected. We spent a great two days relaxing, lying out on the beach, swimming in the hotel pool, eating. One night we went out to a bar where we thought we would find people...nothing. Well except for the rich old man that was hitting on Adrienne to the point of uncomfort. He kept demanding that she get up a dance with him...the only thing he was good for was the mojitos he bought us. On Friday, back here in Barva we went canopying or zip-lining through the forest to the north of us. It was an amazing experience (I had done one before last time I was here, but it a different city) but for Adrienne it was her first. Obviously at the beginning she was nervous, but by the end she was offering to go first and loved it. It was an amazing adrenaline rush...there is nothing else like hanging from a harness attached to a cable, practically flying through a rainforest. Its definitely an experience I would recommend to anybody. On Saturday it was time for her to leave, and for me to go back to classes...the fun was over. I definitely had fun though and it was good to get to see her again.

It's amazing how fast time moves really. To think it is already seven days into June of 2009 is crazy. The soccer world cup is only a year away...football season starts again in just 2 short months! I've been watching a ton of soccer, tennis and basketball lately. Firstly the Costa Rican soccer team has been playing for their spot in the world cup in South Africa. Last wednesday they played (and beat) the US and yesterday they beat Trinadad and Tabago. For the USA game I went to a bar in Heredia with some friends and although I started in support of the Costa Rican side, I switched to supporting the USA when they went down 2-0. To me it would have been a more exciting game if they could score. Well at the end they eventually did, but only through a penalty. I was the ONLY person in the bar that celebrated their goal...bad move...Then well these past two weeks were the Tennis French Open. Today Federer won his first French Open title...most definitely the best player in History! Finally, NBA is coming to a close and somewhere along the line I have developed a soft spot for the Lakers...lets hope they win again tonight!

The only other exciting news I have is that before the month is up I will have moved into my own apartment! I have absolutely loved living here in the house with my (feels like real) family, but I would also really like to live alone again. I've missed it. That in mind, I decided to start looking for an apartment the week after my sister left, and I found the perfect place within walking distance of the university! Now I will no longer need to get up at 5:30 on a Saturday morning for class...I can sleep in until 5:45 haha! The place is quite large...2 bedrooms, a bathroom, living room, kitchen, and laundry room, all fully furnished. I was quite lucky to find it really because it wasn't advertized. The only bad thing is that it will be empty for a month while I am in the US for Carlee's wedding...but I couldn't let the perfect apartment slip away so I decided to take it anyway. It's mine as of the 17th of June :-). I can't wait!