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By Hannah Gieseket - Guest Blogger studying in Heredia, Costa Rica
The anticipation of leaving for the trip made it difficult to sleep the night before, but I woke up early on Sunday to make the trip to the airport to begin my journey to Costa Rica. I will be studying in Heredia, Costa Rica for 12 weeks and volunteering for 4 weeks. I did not anticipate the flight to be long since I was leaving from Atlanta but I was anxious about the arrival at the San Jose airport since I would be arriving in a foreign country all alone. AmeriSpan had prepared me that it would possibly take a while to locate the family after I arrived. When you get through customs at the San Jose airport you are awash with taxi drivers and many people with signs trying to locate their next fare or the person that will be staying with them. It did not take me that long to actually locate my host mother and as soon as I waved to her she greeted me with a warm hug and a kiss on the cheek. I immediately felt at home and more relaxed
Her daughter and her granddaughter were also with her so the drive home was full of conversation. Given that I am quite rusty on my Spanish, even the 3-year-old granddaughter was difficult to follow but they were so very patient with me and were willing to repeat things multiple times until I understood. The drive through the city was the first taste of the set up of my new home and I can't wait to see more. I start school tomorrow and I feel that I won't be able to sleep for fear that I will over sleep and be late to class. It has been a number of years since I have been in school so the anticipation is like a piece of childhood again. Feels like the first day of elementary school all over again where you wonder who will be in your class, will you be able to find everything okay, will you be able to keep up with your classmates. My host mother will walk me to school in the morning so I'd better get a good night's rest because we have to be there very early. I can't wait to see what tomorrow holds.
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