I made it home safe and sound! The past week or so has been unbelievable! After our pizza party and slideshow on November 30th, we took our last walks home to spend our last night with our families. It was really sad. I went home an packed, and then hung out with my family for the rest of the night. Alba, my mama tica, bought me a t-shirt and earrings as a going away present, and I made them all CD's of songs they liked throughout the semester.

The next morning after breakfast we got picked up and said goodbye to our families. Then we headed to the study center to say bye to Marlene and Tyra. It was certainly a tearful morning. Then we drove down to the lowlands to spend the day on the beach. It was a really fun day bonding on the beach, except when Lindsay stepped on a stingray and had to go to the hospital. That was no good.

That night we stayed at the same hotel we stayed at the first night, and I was in the same room in the same bed with the same roommate. It was a really interesting way to end the program--full circle. 

Granada

Next morning we all woke up, said goodbye to Matt, Karen, Rolo, and Lindsay (who was going back to MV to meet her brother from home). Natti had already left :( Then the rest of us got a taxi to the bus station and headed to Granada, Nicaragua. Traveling up to Granada took about the entire day (8 hours or so), so by the time we got to the hostel we were exhausted. We checked in to our 6 dollar a night hostel and then took a walk around the city to explore. While we were at dinner, a parade passed by with a virgin Mary on a parade float, which was a cool cultural experience. 

the pool

Next day we met someone from the hostel who showed us a gorgeous hotel where you could pay $5 to use the pool. Jon, Jenny, Korey, Carrie and I spent the morning at this pool getting some sun and hanging out while Julia and Libba went walking around the city. We met up with them for lunch at an outdoor restaurant and then hung out for the rest of the city, walking around and shopping. 

In the morning, we went to a lake that was created by the earthquake some time ago and we spent the day by the water, swimming and kayaking and relaxing on the sand. The next day we hopped on the local bus and then caught a ferry over to Ometepe, which is an island on Lake Nicaragua formed by two volcanoes. Once on the island, we grabbed a taxi to the hotel we were staying at and then headed out for a pretty miserable dinner, after which we returned to the hotel and retired early. 

The volcano we climbed

We awoke early the next morning to head up one of the volcanoes. It was an all-day event, 4 hours up and 4 hours back. The slope was pretty steep and muddy, and at the top was a lake in the center of the crater, which we all stuck out feet in just to say we made it.

The following morning we woke up and traveled to San Juan del Sur for a night at the beach. On the ferry we met a girl who was doing a similar trip as us on her own, so we invited her to travel with us for a bit. Once we got to San Juan del Sur, we went out to lunch and then spent the afternoon laying on the beach soaking up the sun. That night Carrie and Korey ran into Lindsay, who was with her brother. 

The following day we traveled back to San Jose to spend our last night all together. We went out to pizza and rented LOTR. The next morning we woke up early to say goodbye to Libba, who left for France to visit her sister. After sending Libba off, we went back to bed for a while and then spent the day packing and walking around San Jose. On one of our walks, Jon, Carrie and I ran into Ayal, and we invited him to come bowling with us that evening.

The night was super fun! We made ourselves a delightful dinner of pasta, garlic bread, and wine, and then headed out to go bowling with one of the guys from the hostel. We met up with Ayal and his girlfriend and Natti! It was a super fun last evening in Costa Rica.

The next morning Julia and I woke up at 5 to head to the airport. It was somewhat of a miserable trip home because I wasn't feeling well and threw up a whole bunch of times at the airport :( But I finally made it home and my mom was waiting for me at the airport. It was so wonderful seeing my family again after such a long time. It felt as if I had never left.

It's been interesting being home because I'm excited about being home and with my family, but at the same time I miss my friends from Costa Rica a lot. There's a little bit of culture shock going on too. Perhaps I'll post a more reflective blog entry at some point, but this one was just to catch everyone up on what I did my last week.