theLittlethingsinLife

I am so sorry, it has been quite a while since my last post.  I just updated my Costa Rica pictures, so check it out!

It has been kind of busy around campus these past few weeks.  Professors are trying their hardest to get plenty of work in between our Spring break and Easter break.  My mind is constantly racing between work, class, tests, projects, and all the other little things that need to get done (like emails).  Although it feels like I just came from spring break, I am looking forward to Easter break.

Since I have  not been around very much, let me tell you a little bit about what is going on around campus.

Yesterday began the craziness of Spring Forward (a.k.a. Housing Sign-Ups).  On Sunday night all of the students were free to walk about the dorms and apartments in order to decide where they would like to live next year.  My apartment had the privileged of showing off a 5 man in Mellinger.  We worked hard to clean up and make everyone feel welcomed while they visited.  So this week is the actual housing sign-ups.  The race is on!

After Easter another race will begin on campus.  The race for classes.  All students will be registering for classes in the fall of 2010.  We are all busy trying to decide what to take next year.  I am planning on taking two art classes, Graphics Design I and Photography I.  It is going to be a fun semester!

Well…I better get back to work, have a great day!

So, it is March now and I am finally writing about my trip to Costa Rica.  Let’s see what I can remember…

This trip is a cross-cultural course through Messiah.  So every January our Professor takes 24 students to Costa Rica to study and experience a different culture.  We were required to read a book about Costa Rica over Christmas break.  The trip was plenty of fun, but I cannot forget to mention that we had plenty of work to do.  We wrote in journals every day, to reflect on our new encounters.  We took a test and had a presentation as well.  And in the end we wrote a 10 page paper to sum it all up…

Anyways, enough about the school work.  I learned a lot in Costa Rica, about myself, others, and the culture.  But the only way I was able to do this was by immersing my self into the lives of Ticos (Costa Ricans).  We traveled all 7 providence’s and made many stops along the way.  I visited both coasts and saw a few volcanoes.  Locals came to talk with us and tell us about their life in Costa Rica.  We had a wonderful bus driver, Franklin, he drove us everywhere!  There were good times and bad times.  We ran into some bad flooding along the Caribbean coast and I got stuck in a rip-tide in the Pacific ocean.  Although, the bright sun poked through…we enjoyed the Costa Rican cuisine and the Tico hospitality.  Now, I am just going to mention a few highlights of the trip because there is so much to talk about!

• warm weather
• exotic plants and animals
• hand picked coffee!
• Did you know that Americans are called Gringos?
• rainbows
• church fellowship
• service project- painting a local chruch
• home stay- We stayed with a family for a few nights…
• the local market
• Monteverde- Green Mountain
• zip lining
• Cloud forest- nature tour
• La Paz Waterfall Gardens-we saw the after effects of a large earthquake
• Volcanoes
• Guanabana- delicious fresh fruit drinks
• Baldi Hot Springs- so relaxing!
• group interaction- it was like living with a large family
• dance lessons- I discovered my very bad dance skills!

Well, I am sure I missed quite a bit but I hope that helps.  It was not a vacation, it was an experience that I will never forget.  I will post a few pictures and I am sure I will tell more stories in blogs to come.