 This is my family in front of our Christmas tree in our living room. From left to right, there's me, my "little" brother Brian, my mother Catherine, my father John, and my little sister Katie.
Home for the Holidays
¡Hola!
I’m finally back in the States now, and am enjoying spending time with my family and friends. The trip ended up taking two days, since there was so much snow in Chicago that my flight got cancelled and I had to spend the night in the airport on a cot! I’m sure most of you have heard about the plane which slid off a runway at Midway airport in Chicago, killing a six year old boy. Well, that was the same night that my plane landed at O’Hare airport, and it was for that reason that most of the flights were cancelled. Talk about a long trip: I left San Jose at about 8:00 Thursday morning and didn’t get into Traverse City until 1:30 Friday afternoon. Needless to say I didn’t get much sleep in the airport, and was exhausted when I finally got home.
Before I left for Costa Rica, I thought that the only time I’d need to adjust would be the first couple weeks after I arrived there to get used to the different foods, climate and people. It didn’t occur to me that I would actually have to get used to living in Michigan again when I returned! The temperature difference was a real shocker. Now that I’ve had a taste of truly beautiful weather in Puntarenas, it’s been tough to appreciate all the snow we’ve been getting here in Traverse City. Sure, I love to ski and snowboard, but there is little else to do in these conditions. Driving also took some getting used to, as it’s been well over three months since I’ve been behind the wheel. I find myself missing beans and rice with my meals and my host mother’s freshly prepared juices, and I long to play soccer again with the ticos.
 Top left: This is Carlos and Melissa, two neighbor friends of mine. I play soccer with Carlos and his friends. Below: These are my friends Manuela, Belén and Melissa (left to right), three sisters who live about a block down from me. They made me promise to bring back some presents for them from the States.
I’ve been planning several trips for when I return, including a daring yet highly rewarding hike into Corcovado National Park. Established in 1975, this park covers 103,259 acres of mostly lowland tropical rain forest, and has been likened to a kind of mini-Amazon. The lush ecological haven protects an astonishing abundance of wildlife, including rare species such as giant anteaters, jaguars, peccaries and tapirs, as well as more than 400 bird species. The 24-mile main trail follows the beach for much of its length, where countless waterfalls plunge down from the higher elevations which receive up to 25 feet of rain per year. Among the dangers my friend Jeff and I must prepare for are crossing numerous rivers which could harbor crocodiles and bull sharks at high tide, poisonous snakes, getting lost on the poorly maintained paths, and (the main cause of death in the park) dehydration. We will be attempting the trip in the middle of the dry season during our spring break. I’ve already been looking into the details of such a hike for several months, and I won’t be caught off guard again as I was in Santa Rosa.
 This is my brother Brian on a bridge portion of our ski trail behind our house. The river he is crossing is the Cedar. My family and I make the same ski trail route every winter, which crosses the river twice and follows its banks through a beautiful hardwood forest.
While I’m back in Michigan, I will be fulfilling the follow-up project requirements for my Benjamin A. Gilman scholarship. Basically, I’m going to be presenting to students of my former high school Spanish teacher as well as my grade school science teacher about my experiences abroad, and how beneficial it has been to me both in an academic and personal sense. I want to get the word out about studying abroad, and hopefully dispel the myths surrounding it. I believe that most college students are unaware of their range of study abroad opportunities, and are thus hesitant to consider studying abroad as an option for them. I feel that it is a sorely underused facet of out educational system, one that should be taken advantage of by students. The potential benefits of pursuing a degree overseas far outweigh any sort of temporary discomfort one may feel at first.
Well, I still have plenty of things to do to prepare for Christmas and my presentations. I wish you all a very merry Christmas, or as they would say in Costa Rica, ¡feliz Navidad!
Until next week, ¡chao!
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