January 17–23, 2007, Number 131
This picture is of me standing across the street from
my house and in front of the beach.
Amazing Life in Puntarenas
Hola! This past week in Puntarenas has been wonderful. I love it here. The average year-round temperature is 28 degrees Celsius, which is about 82.4 degrees Fahrenheit. Every day that I have been here has been so amazing.
I love my housing family. My housing dad and mom own a hotel called Hotel Tioga that is located on the main street in Puntarenas. Our beautiful house is located across the street from the beach and a couple buildings away from the hotel. My dad speaks a little English but my mom doesn’t speak any at all. Despite the communication difficulties at times, they are still able to make me feel so welcome. They are great host parents and have been teaching me a lot about Puntarenas and Costa Rica.
Left: This is a picture of me standing in front of my house. We have a balcony that overlooks the beach in the photo above. Below: I took this picture while I was walking on the beach during my first night in Puntarenas. The sunsets here are so amazing.I might come back to the States weighing a lot more because my family feeds me way too much. I am not complaining though, the food here is great. I am served rice and beans with all meals. Every morning we have the most incredible coffee and the freshest fruit I’ve ever tasted. Eggs and milk can be stored at room temperature here. Initially, I found this kind of scary since I am used to having both refrigerated, but now it’s growing on me. The eggs are really good. The milk is pretty good, too, as long as you chill it before serving.
The class structure here in Puntarenas is a definite change from what I’m used to at Michigan Tech. Here I have class from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. with two 15-minute breaks during each class. It doesn’t feel like I spend very much time in the classroom, but outside of the classroom I am practicing and learning Spanish every minute of every day. My Spanish professor here in Puntarenas makes sure that every student completely understands the material before moving on. The pace of classes is a lot faster at Michigan Tech. Also, my Spanish class here only has ten students, so each student gets a lot more personal attention than I’m used to.
I feel like there are many more distractions for me here than at Tech. There are so many new things to do like traveling, swimming, snorkeling, diving, surfing, sand volleyball, soccer, and much more. Every weekend is going to be packed with overnight trips to surrounding places. Despite the many distractions, I have really been working hard at improving my Spanish.
This upcoming weekend I am traveling with a group of students to Jaco. Jaco is located a little over an hour away from Puntarenas. From what I’ve heard, Jaco has a great beach and many surfers go there. It should be a fun trip and I am really looking forward to it.
I am having so much fun here in Puntarenas. I hope that everyone at Michigan Tech is enjoying the winter and having a great semester.
- Sincerely,
- Michigan Technological University
- 1400 Townsend Drive, Houghton, MI 49931-1295
- 906-487-1885