la siesta

Hello!

So we finished orientation week, and have a relaxing weekend with our families. Yesterday I got some of the details that were intentionally vague before about the program and what exactly I will be doing. Wow... this semester is going to be intense but hopefully really rewarding. After a month here, where we take language classes everyday and listen to speakers, we go to Nicaragua for about 10 days. No clue what goes on there. After that, we have spring break for four days, and then we break up into our concentrations. I am on the Latin American studies track, which means that for two weeks or so I will have regular class with 15 or so other students, and will then go for ONE MONTH by myself to a rural area of Costa Rica and live with a family. No gringos, no professors... just me and a family. I will either work on a farm or at an orphanage or some type of place like that. I am a little nervous about this month alone... I am mostly afraid that the rural area and too much alone/down time will make me feel lonely and homesick. But I know that it will be a good time just to press into the culture and learn more about rural life in Costa Rica. Then we come back, go to Cuba (hopefully, if the US sends the visas, which is not a definite...) and then come back home.

Wow. Anyway, this morning I went with my mom into town and went to a huge market outside to buy lots of fruits and vegetables. It was beautiful- tons of colors and people and smells and everything. We are now taking a siesta, and later I am off to a baby shower for my host cousin!

Lots of love.

Hannah