It was a whirlwind ten days after the beginning of break – the day after I left my homestay and visited Wales I went to Italy!  I was really excited because, for those of you who don’t know, my parents are obsessed with Italy and lived there for two years.  I’ve pretty much been hearing about Italian food, language, hand gestures, cities, art, and natural beauty for my whole life.

DAY ONE: When I arrived in the country, I quickly realised that my lack of an Italian vocabulary wouldn’t be a problem.  Basically everyone I talked to spoke English.  This would have annoyed me if I spoke even the slightest bit of Italian or if I were going to be there longer than a week, but as it were it was kind of a practical necessity.  Soon I met up with Lauren (who has been studying there this semester) in Termini, the main train/bus station in Rome.  She brought me to her apartment, and I loved everything about it!  It is in Trastevere, an area of the city which is usually ignored by tourists but is in my opinion the coolest part of Rome (that I saw).  It is made up of winding streets which you will get lost in VERY quickly, it contains beautiful piazzas, and its shops are restaurants are amazing.  If you ever go to Rome, don’t ignore it just because it’s on the other side of the river!!!  Lauren’s apartment itself was really cool too.  It had wooden beams in the ceiling, which I love, and a pretty view of the nice street below.  That night I ate my first Italian pizza, which was as fantastic as the hype made it out to be.

DAY TWO: The next day I tried Italian coffee, full of high hopes because both Lauren and my mom said they didn’t like coffee until they went to Italy.  However, I still found it almost impossible to finish my cup.  Oh well.  It was at this coffee shop that I also made my first attempts at using Italian.  It was basically a fail, but I guess “at least I tried” pretty much sums up that breakfast!

Next Lauren took me to Piazza Navona, a beautiful square in the middle of Rome.  She left me on my own here because she had her own business to take care of, and I went on to see all of the main tourist sights of the city.  First I went to the Pantheon, which was very close by.  This was the beginning of my realisation that I know next to nothing about Roman history, art history, or religious history.  So basically I thought the Pantheon (along with the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish steps, and Piazza del Popolo) were…really pretty.  I actually liked the Trevi Fountain in particular, though.  I know this sounds really weird, but it just seemed…cosy to me or something.  For some reason, it was nicer than I expected because it was squeezed into a little square.  I don’t know.  Just go see it for yourself!  Anyway, after I saw those places I walked back to Piazza Navona where I’d agreed to meet Lauren.  This is when I had my first gelato!  The Kenyon in Rome people (Lauren’s study abroad program) have found a place called Frigidarium which sells the BEST GELATO EVER.  If you go to Rome, you MUST go here!  Then I walked around the area a little with Lauren while she made some purchases.  After relaxing at her apartment for a little while, we then went out to get apertivos.  This means that we went to a restaurant where you buy a drink for eight euros and then get an all-you-can-eat buffet with it.  It was delicious!  I had a glass of white wine and a lot of pasta!  Finally, I got a chocolate cannoli at a different shop.  SO GOOD.

At this point my impression of Rome was that it was crazy (crossing the street was terrifying), dirtier than England, and probably the prettiest capital city I’ve ever seen.  You would not believe how small the streets are in which the Italians drive, and everywhere you looked there was a Roman ruin or some kind of incredible architecture.

DAY THREE: The next day I toured what many would say are the main attractions of Rome – the ruins.  First I went to the Colosseum.  It was one of those places which you don’t even think about much because it’s just so famous that you know you will go there, but when you actually see it you get why it’s such a popular tourist spot.  It was very cool and…well, you know about the Colosseum.  Then I walked around the ruins of the palace (which must have been HUGE) and the Roman forum across the street.  I particularly liked the forum.  When I was looking at these places, at first I found myself thinking “this is kind of cool…but it’s also kind of a pile of rocks”.  But then I heard a tour guide saying that all of the brick I was seeing would have been foundations for marble buildings back in Roman times.  Then my imagination really kicked in, and I realised how incredible all of these places would have been in their time.  It was very cool.  Also, it was probably 65 or 70 degrees and sunny – basically paradise if you’re coming from an English winter.

It took me a while to walk around all of the ruins, so that’s basically all I did that day.  At night Lauren and I went to a restaurant in Trastevere where I got DELICIOUS pasta.  I then got a chocolate cannoli.  Oh God, my mouth is watering…what I wouldn’t give for a cannoli right now…

DAY FOUR: Sadly, due to a family crisis Lauren had to leave very early the next morning.  I was a little nervous about being alone in a city where I didn’t speak a word of the language, and I was also a little lonely without Lauren there.  But in any case I took the metro to Vatican City that day and saw the basilica.  It was amazing, but again it contained a lot of art that I didn’t really understand.  I was beginning to understand why my mom always told me to take an art history class before I went to Europe.  Ooops.

I had a lot of time after this before I really wanted to be back in the hostel, so I decided to find a pasta place suggested by my guidebook.  It was dark at this point, my feet were in a TON of pain from walking so much, and it was a bit of a trek.  However, I really didn’t want to go back to the hostel and just sit there.  So I walked in a sort of paranoid mood to the restaurant, only to realise that I had no one to sit with so it would be a bit pathetic to go there.  Instead I got pizza at the place next door, which was decent but not like the other pizza I’d had in Rome.  Then I walked all the way back to Vatican City to get gelato at another place recommended by my book (yes, haha Ciara and Dana).  This gelato wasn’t even as good as Frigidarium, but let me tell you, I had ONE LICK of that gelato and the lonely, stressed, exhausted mood I’d been suffering under was GONE.  Not to use the word magical but…it was kind of magical.  Gelato is amazing like that.

I liked the hostel where I was staying for the most part.  It had all the essentials (along with a BIZARRE toilet.  the flusher was a little metal bit above your head.  I was so confused the first time I tried to use it that I had to ask for help, and though the guy made me feel stupid for asking, NO ONE WOULD HAVE KNOWN THAT BUT AN ITALIAN.).  ANYWAY.  The hostel was great except for the fact that I got placed in a room RIGHT off the lobby and literally right next to the door leading outside.  It was really annoying because you could hear everything going on in the lobby.  It actually didn’t turn out to be that big of a deal, though, because people were pretty much quiet after midnight at the latest.  Still, I would have liked another room better.  I liked all of the roommates that I had while I was there.  I stayed in a four bed all women’s room, but there were never more than three people in the room at once.  Actually, I didn’t like EVERY roommate.  The first night there was a girl from Turkey who I bonded with when we both realised that we didn’t want to talk to each other while we weren’t wearing out glasses because we’re both basically blind.  The other girl that night was from China, and she was annoying.  The Turkish girl and I were about to go to sleep when she came in with her computer, complaining about “how she could possibly do anything in the dark room”.  Then she asked the Turkish girl and me to unplug our electronic devices so she could charge her computer.  Annoying.

DAY FIVE: But very early the next morning, 5:45am to be exact, I left them both when I got up to go to Florence.  That’s the city in Tuscany that my parents lived in for half their time in Italy, and I’d heard so much about it that I’d always wanted to go there.  You can take a train to Florence in about an hour and a half, but it’s pretty expensive and I am very poor.  So instead I took the cheapest and longest train ride, which took four hours.  Like I said, though, I really wanted to go.  In retrospect, I definitely don’t regret it.

I got to Florence in the late morning, and my immediate feeling was one of loneliness.  It was slightly depressing going alone to a place I associated with my parents.  Also, the great Italian weather had left with Lauren.  While it wasn’t as cold as England, it was pretty much rainy for the rest of my stay in Italy after she had gone.  However, I really enjoyed the city.  The first thing I saw was the Duomo, the church with the famous Dome in the middle of Florence.  It is extremely impressive on the outside, but honestly the inside was far plainer than the other churches I’d seen in Italy.  After that I went to Piazza della Signoria, where I knew there was a copy of the famous David statue.  I seriously think my mom might be in love with this statue, so I knew I had to see it.  I thought the real one was in the museum behind the fake one, but when I realised I was wrong I found myself wandering the city to figure out where the correct museum was.  In this wandering I found a really cool square with a market in front of a beautiful church.  I really like markets, if you haven’t figured that out already, so I had fun there.  Eventually I did find the museum and the statue.  As usual, I feel like I can’t appreciate famous art as well as I should, but I’m glad I saw it (partially because my mom probably would have disowned me if I hadn’t).

The next part of the day was the one which I was most excited about.  I walked to the Ponte Vecchio, a famous bridge which my parents also have not stopped talking about since 1985.  It WAS really cool.  It might be my favorite part of Florence.  There are a bunch of jewelry shops ON the bridge – it’s almost like there are little houses on the bridge.  It was very touristy, but I have to say that I loved it.  Then came the moment I’d been waiting for for a very long time – my search for my parents’ old apartment.  Since they talked about the year they lived there so much, I’d always planned to go to Florence during my junior year abroad and find their place.  I definitely found it, and it was really cool to picture my parents walking around on that street about five years before I was born.  (Apparently my parents thought about staying there.  I was almost Italian!!!!  No fair!!)  The Italians in the area gave me funny looks as I snapped pictures of random buildings to show to my parents.

I really liked that side of the river a lot in general.  It’s more residential, and it definitely felt homier.  I walked past a museum of a family estate that I really wanted to go into but didn’t want to pay for.  Then I experienced another one of my favorite parts of the trip – as the sun was setting, I climbed high up on the hill on my parents’ side of the river to Piazzale Michaelangelo, which is actually a parking lot.  But it’s the most scenic parking lot ever.  Seriously, the view of Florence was probably one of the coolest city views I’ve ever seen.  It’s either that or New York from the Empire State Building.

The rest of my Florence visit was basically me wandering around the city.  I probably shouldn’t have taken the 6:45am train – because I was too cheap to pay for the myriad of art museums in Florence, I had a couple extra hours there.  Florence is a beautiful city so it was nice to roam a bit, but honestly it would have been more fun with a friend.  I got a nice dinner of pizza and a little pastry, and then eventually I returned to Rome.

When I got back to the hostel both the Turkish and the Chinese girls were gone, and in the other bed there was a mysterious sleeper.

DAY SIX: In the the morning the other girl left before I could meet her.  When I got up, I didn’t really know what to do.  I know it seems silly – I was in Rome, after all.  It’s just that I’d seen the main sights and I don’t know enough about art to truly enjoy some of the other more random things that Rome has to offer.  But Lauren had suggested that I visit Villa Borghese, which is a large park with various ruins, galleries, and ponds in it.  It was pretty, but I was again feeling kind of lonely and bored.  Generally I was just getting very excited to go back to England, since I felt like I’d seen everything I wanted to see in Rome and Florence.  I was also getting sick of not knowing the language of the country, and sick of the general disorder of Italian cities.  But when I went back to the hostel, absolutely exhausted from walking and lack of sleep, the Mysterious Sleeper was in the room and awake.

It turns out that her name was Kathleen, and we bonded right away.  We were both pretty tired, so we just hung out in the room for a while and talked.  It turns out that she was an American WWOOFing in Ireland in her year after graduating college.  I decided to take her to Trastevere when she said she hadn’t had that good of food in Rome!  Little did we know that the evening would turn out to be a bit of an adventure.

As we were walking to dinner, Kathleen suddenly pointed ahead of us at the PREMIER OF SHERLOCK HOLMES.  Like…the red carpet premier!  It was strongly reminiscent of my 2010 Leicester Square Salt premier experience in London with my host sister from the farm.  We managed to squeeze to the front, right up against the barrier, and one of the female stars (not Rachel McAdams, unfortunately) and (I think) the villain were there.  I didn’t recognise them, but I did recognise ROBERT DOWNEY JR.  It was so random, and so great!  However, I was extremely disappointed to find out that Jude Law, who I consider to be one of the most attractive men I’ve ever seen, was not there.  I had actually started to feel faint when I thought I might see him.  Not exaggerating.

When the stars were all inside, Kathleen and I moved on toward Trastevere.  We were chatting as we walked and suddenly this young guy walking ahead of us suddenly said “you speak English?”  It turned out that he was on leave from the American military and had decided to come to Rome.  He said that he was on he way to an Irish pub someone had recommended to him.  We talked with him for a little while, and then parted ways.  However, after crossing the streets a few times we ran into him again.  We laughed a little and then moved on, but then it happened AGAIN.  This time he asked us if we were meeting up with people, and Kathleen said no and invited him to join us.  So with this addition to our party we finally made our way to Trastevere.  We found a restaurant, and Kathleen and I ordered water and pasta.  The guy, however (who’s name was Wes), meant to order a glass of wine but accidentally got a whole bottle.  He also ordered no dinner, but instead just some kind of gourmet ice cream with a filling and sugar encrusted on the outside!  Oh and also, he drank a glass of the wine before proceeding to drink the rest OUT OF THE BOTTLE.  Himself.  It was very odd.  But it was fine.  We were on a windy side street that we couldn’t remember how we’d got to, eating pasta and listening to a guy playing the accordion in the square behind us, so our lives were basically a movie.

Things got slightly weirder, however, when I went to Lauren’s apartment to borrow a towel from the people still staying there (the hostel didn’t have any and I didn’t bring one).  It turns out none of them were there, but their new guests (also from my school at home), Colleen and Marty, popped their heads out of the window.  Wes had gone off to examine some small art gallery and said he’d meet up for gelato later, so Kathleen and I went up into the apartment.  We chatted to the Kenyon students for a while, and by the time we finally went downstairs with the towel Wes had gone.  We finally got gelato and went back to the hostel, where we found a new roommate sleeping.

What a night!

DAY SEVEN: I spent my last full day in Italy with Kathleen and the other people we met at the hostel.  In the morning she wanted to find some sights where some of her favorite authors had lived and worked, so we walked around trying to find those for a while.  We also went into some designer stores near the Spanish steps just for fun, and I tried on some shoes at Prada.  After some AMAZING ravioli for lunch, we finally made it to the Sistine Chapel.  I know this is ridiculous, but I honestly couldn’t tell the difference between the ceiling there and the other amazing ceilings I’d seen in Rome.  However, I thought that Vatican Museum in general was really cool.  It was kind of set up like a house – there were different ways you could tour it as though you were just wandering someone’s opulent home, and the pieces were set up almost like decoration rather than exhibits.

After seeing the Vatican Museum, I brought Kathleen to Frigidarium to spread the word about its deliciousness.  We then made our way back to the hostel as it grew dark.  At this point my feet were KILLING ME, and I was sick of being a tourist and wandering around cities.  Unfortunately, however, I had to return the borrowed towel to Trastevere, which was a long walk in the direction I’d just came from.  I also had meant to buy a present for someone at Piazza Navona, which I had idiotically neglected to do when we were RIGHT NEXT TO IT at Frigidarium.  So, I got directions to a bus which the woman behind the desk at the hostel told me would take me very close to Piazza Navona.  For whatever reason, the bus went in the opposite direction and I found myself in a metro station on the outskirts of the city.  This was fine because I knew how the metro worked (the Roman metro is actually really simple, with only two lines), but somehow I managed to go the wrong way and end up at a really creepy DESERTED station.  I immediately got on the next train back toward the center of the city cursing the evening and sick of not being able to speak English.  I got off at the Colosseum, which was the closest (but not close) stop to Piazza Navona.  I bought the gift, returned the towel, and took a bus back to Termini and the hostel.  Sadly, when I arrived I had missed the free pizza night the hostel does on Mondays, but I bought a piece instead and collapsed into a chair in the restaurant.  Kathleen introduced me to two American girls studying in Ireland, and we went with our roommate (a French girl named Sarah) and this random middle-aged Italian photographer she’d bonded with to get a mediocre dessert at a restaurant next door.

At first I was planning to stay in the hostel for the rest of the night, but when everyone else went for a walk I couldn’t resist.  An Australian guy staying in the other American girls’ room came along too.  We walked to the Trevi Fountain, which was cool to see at night, and I threw an additional two coins into the fountain (I’d thrown one in the first time I’d gone there).  Apparently throwing one behind your left shoulder gets you a return to Rome, two brings you a boyfriend, and three gets you marriage.  So…did I throw in two or three?  It’s hard to say, but being a romantic I’ll take either.  The group then moved on to Piazza Navona (so I was back AGAIN), but they were going to see the Christmas market I’d already seen on my first day.  I was also not interested in seeing the Colosseum at night, since in my epic lostness I’d managed to see that too (my dad later told me that he once leapt a fence at 1:00am and went INTO the Colosseum???).  Plus I was way too tired to enjoy anything at this point, so I took the bus back to Termini and the hostel AGAIN.

That’s pretty much it!  I was excited to return to England the next day, though I definitely loved my trip to Italy.  I am now working at a clothing store called River Island, and I am looking forward to visiting some people,travelling the UK a little, and going shopping (!).  But that’s a post for another day; this one is certainly long enough.

Now that I’m all caught up on blogging, I will soon get some sleep!

Sorry I haven’t written for a while!  I don’t know why I’ve been procrastinating so long about writing this post.  I like writing this blog a lot.  Actually, I wanted to write this the day that I got back to Oxford from my homestay, but I didn’t have time.  That was a while ago, though, so I have a lot to catch up on.  I’ve just been procrastinating in really English ways – putting the kettle on, making sure I put in the exact amount of milk and sugar I want (a few splashes, one slightly heaping teaspoon), letting it sit for the proper amount of time, removing the teabag…anyway, the only real news from that I have from term is that I joined the Mansfield/Merton football team in addition to the uni one.  I’m really glad I did – it immediately proved to be a lot of fun and a great way to meet new people.

In order to get as much out of my English experience as possible, I decided to stay with an English host family for a weekend.  Butler helped to set it up along with an independent programme.  My homestay started the Friday of 8th week (the last week of term).  Priya and I watched Love Actually before I went off to the train station, which was both wonderful and necessary.  I was feeling excited to get out of Oxford for a bit and to be in a real bedroom for the first time in months.  My memory is a bit fuzzy about that weekend because it feels like a long time ago now, but I think that night I just met my host family and hung out with them before going to bed.  They were all really nice.  The mom’s name was Lorraine, the dad’s name was Mike, and they had a fifteen-year-old son named Michael and a thirteen-year-old daughter named Rachel.  AND THEY HAD A DOG, HARVEY, who was a little white terrier sort of dog.  He was SO CUTE AND NICE, and I REALLY miss my dog!

I got familiar with British TV over those three nights, because the Ranaldos (the family name obviously) watched it before bedtime.  We watched one in which they put celebrities into the middle of nowhere for a survival competition, one where they make celebrities dance with professional dancers, and another in the singing competition category.  That last one is called X Factor, which is really popular here so I’m glad I got to see it.  After TV, I WENT TO SLEEP in a huge bed in a Victorian room with a tiny, unusable fireplace.  And I slept in!  Ahhh, I miss that room.

In the morning Lorraine took me to the Malvern Hills.  They’re pretty famous, and I was expecting small rolling hills only a little bigger than the ones in Oxfordshire.  However, they were actually very high – you could almost call them small mountains but not quite.  The views were BEAUTIFUL – just picture a stereotype of England and that’s what it was.

After lunch and a short break (in which I cuddled into my bed – English winters are freezing because people don’t really use central heating in the same way), I met Mike for the first time (he’d been painting his mother’s house).  Mike had a REALLY British sense of humor.  The Brits are REALLY good at keeping straight faces (of course), and he would say things that seemed normal, so I’d start responding to them in a normal way before thinking about it and realising that his comment had been teasing or nonsensical.  Then he’d notice I’d figured out the joke and laugh.  It was really funny – apparently he does this to all the foreigners (the Ranaldos have hosted a lot of students).  He also bought the whole family HUGE Cadbury chocolate bars, which in my opinion is the best way to make friends.

Later Lorraine, Rachel and I went into Great Malvern to see them put on the town Christmas lights and so that we could go to the Christmas market.  The town is cute – apparently the queen gets her water from there, and it used to be a Victorian spa town.  Now there are a lot of nice little shops there.  I was excited about the Christmas market, because the English Christmas spirit makes things SO cozy!  I just wish there was snow, and I’m kind of dreading the winter after the Christmas spirit is gone…but whatever.  The Christmas market WAS very fun, and I bought a bunch of gifts there (as well as a delicious raspberry-chocolate cupcake. mmmmm).  I also saw the town’s priory.  To be honest I didn’t even know what I priory is, but as most of you probably know, it’s a church-like thing.  The one in Great Malvern is almost a thousand years old and was said to have inspired C.S. Lewis to come up with his magical wardrobe.  It was very beautiful, and there were children singing Christmas carols inside.

The next day brought more Christmas markets and shopping.  We went to one at a Victorian needle factory (Michael said that, though it sounded fascinating, he wouldn’t go, but he hoped we got the “point” of it) which was nice but actually not all that Victorian.  Then we went to a more permanent crafts area (which also had a falconry…?).  I think that may actually be all we did that day if I’m remembering correctly.

I really enjoyed the homestay.  I liked spending time with the family and being in a HOME.  At this point I’m pretty sick of being in a dorm and wish that I could be in a house where leaving my room didn’t mean going into a public space.  Just picture CONSTANTLY living in your room at school where you do all your work.  Not great.  But it was time to leave my weekend home, and early in the morning I set off on my own adventure to Wales!

I’d heard from a friend about a little town called Hay-on-Wye in the middle of the Welsh countryside.  I had to take a train and a bus to get there.  The bus ride was BEAUTIFUL.  Seriously, I was not expecting how incredible it was at all.  It was a lot like the scenery in England, but the land rose into HUGE hills which made everything more dramatic.  There were farm animals and old houses scattered everywhere.  And it was almost sunny sometimes.  The town itself was also very beautiful – it was made up of tiny winding streets and very old buildings.  Oh!  I forgot to explain why I was going to this place.  It is known as the “Town of Books” because, though it is tiny, it hosts 20 or 30 independent bookstores of all kinds.  These range from the Honesty Bookshop (literally a collection of bookshelves on the lawn of a broken-down, thousand-year-old castle which asks you to please put thirty or fifty pence in a little box if you want to take a book), bookstores just for children, bookstores just for horror and science fiction books, and antique bookstores.  Needless to say, I had a lot of fun there.  In fact, I felt completely overwhelmed with the amazing surroundings I was in.  It turned out that there were a ton of cute shops that sold things other than books, too.  I loved it so much there that I stopped at the window of a realty store and see how much it would cost to live there.  I had a lovely lunch there too.  Though I narrowly avoided purchasing a couple incredibly expensive sweaters, I did come away with a very old copy of Sanditon in its practically unedited form (that’s Jane Austen’s unfinished novel that she was writing when she died, for those who don’t know).

So that was my first weekend of Christmas break!  It was really nice.  I feel so certain of where I see my future now.  Now I’ll start writing a post about my first full week of break – Italy!

its been a week and a half since ive been home. im still not used to home! I can snack, and there are SO many food options! i come home and look at my closet, i have SO MUCH clothes. ive been putting stuff in bags to give to the salvation army for christmas because i realize i really dont need it all and can live with out it

So weird being home. Everything is strange. My first reaction was , ‘ omg the hot water works! Theres hot water in the sink!’.  Also, I can put toilet paper in the toilet now instead of the trashcan next to the toilet! And modern cars- the majority of cars here are 2005 or newer where as in Costa Rica it is all 2000 or older. Maybe even 1995 or older. its just strange being back in a first world country where everything is so modernized, especially in New Jersey or Washington DC (where i currently am). i drove the other day, traffic laws are soo much stricter here, yet some reason i was still a little nervous at intersections or turning at lights because in Costa Rica they seem to think those are optional haha. my cat remembers me! she is on my bed right now. and i was in Washington DC for a week and it was so great to see all my freinds! i missed them and home so much but so strange to see everyone stressed in final when i was already done/ i wasnt even that stressed for finals in Costa Rica. its strange seeing how stressed everyone is here about EVERYTHING! especially christmas, it shouldnt be stressful, it should be fun! oh my gosh though, COMMERCIALS!! i hate them. so annoying. i miss how in Costa Rica i didnt have to worry about all this commercialization on TV, on websites, on street corners, in every store- much much much less advertizing in Costa Rica and here in the US its EVERYWHERE. im watching  a movie here versus in Costa Rica and here, commerical break means 5 min of 15 commercials. in Costa Rica, it was 3 commercials and then the show would continue. im so grateful of all the options though on television, and food, and places to shop. I went to Kohls the other day and it was cool to see how cheap everything was, because of sales and holiday specials, i got awesome boots for $30 that i could never find in Costa Rica. and most of all, it might be strange to me of course because for the first time in years, im actually celebrating the christmas season. last year i was stuck in Europe because of a snow storm until Dec 23, and the years before that I was busy training for track at American University so id be home after finals just wanting to sleep. this year, i have all of December. ! the house looks great, im really helping out and putting up so much decoration and just stress free:)

its good to be home. i dont miss Costa Rica yet, just my host family. im most happy to be home though because I feel as though ive gained a new appreciation for things. and an annoyance for wasteful consumerism that i used to take advantage of. happy holidays:)

-       Being a social butterfly with everyone/ my friends

-       Good clubs/discotecas and DJs or electronica music

-       Getting ready together or having friends over in general

-       Autumnfestivities

-       Hummus and Balsamic Vinegar

-       Sales/Shopping at Brand stores

-       Modern Fashion

-       Running/training hardcore and being able to run through trails or around the lake

-       Punctuality-especially of teachers and people in higher positions that keep their schedules prompt

-       Resources!Having the resource of awesome research databases and teachers with a lot of knowledge in their field of teaching. The resource of having good guidance from counselors or directors. The resource of having a lot of clubs on campus and being able to be involved in a lot of different activities on campus- seminars, special speakers, workshops, Greek life, clubs- I miss being able to meet other students really easily through these resources

-       Really open minded, liberal, free-spirited, and ambitious attitudes. Here everyone is just getting through life and don’t have great ambitions to be the best they can be. They don’t have huge competition or motivation to get straight A’s because it’s okay to just pass. They aren’t trying to be government officials and change things- just trying to get the gringos to give them more money. They don’t pay attention much to the news. They’re attitude is that they will do it ‘eventually’ instead of getting things done.

-       The easiness of calling someone and talking on the phone for however long- not worrying about prepaid minutes

-       The modernity of things- modern cars and traffic laws! (like more two way streets,cross walks, stop signs, speed laws, taxi stops), modern fashion, modern and up-to-date research and lectures to read, that everyone has internet at home and its reliable, modern styles of architecture and appliances, etc

-       People not obsessed with saving money. Not to sound like a spendthrift but I mean obsessed. I save. Im not rich but LIVE A LITTLE!! Come get coffee with me!!! Come have a drink at happy hour!! Don’t be cheap and not want to speak 1 dollar to take the bus, and then 1 dollar on coffee or 2 dollars on beer. Come to the beach that’s a 5 dollar bus ride. I miss people taking advantage of opportunities with me and making that a priority, not money.

-       People who have my sense of humor

-       Safety and independence. Especially at night. I miss the ability to walk around my block at 3 am without being worried that someone might rob me. I miss just having freedom to do whatever and not get judged or discriminated because I am a gringa. I miss being able to do things alone or in solitude without worrying about my safety.

-       A 24/7open library or CVS

-       Being late and no one caring.. I’ll miss that no one is in a rush and I can just take my time

-       My host mom’s AMAZing cooking. I’ll miss not worrying about my diet or meals or food

-       My host family. I really learned new meanings to ‘family’ and was able to see a functional one

-       DEFINITELY going to miss speaking Spanish all the time, hearing it all the time and practicing

-       Im going to miss the weather. Although it was rain season this semester, I’m going to miss the easy and cheap access to the beach or parks on the weekends and the warm weather and being in the tropical climate

-       Im going to miss fresh fruit (papaya pineapple and bananas all the time) and the fresh juices

-       The reggae culture in all the clubs, bars, radios, etc… plus dreads and feathers style

-       Getting tan

-       Cheap shoes, cheap transportation, cheap drinks, cheap GOOD coffee

-       Café dates.. musmani’s, spoon, or the Frap place by Universidad Nacional!

-       How easy it was to hang out every day with Abe and Chris

-       Beach towns!

-       My fat host cat ‘SiSi’

-       Watching “Cafe con sabor de mujer’ Spanish soap opera with my host family at night

-       having time to sleep and no pressure to have to be busy and doing something 24/7. taking time to read, write and paint finally!

<3 and songs like this

Got a cold. My laptop crashed. Everything gets disorganized with school because my
laptop crashed and I have to be at the library every day. I don’t talk to my
friends at home as much anymore for three weeks because of the laptop crashing
and I get homesick. I fall behind in work because the hours the library is open
is not compatible with my schedule. I am not able to run my stress off. My
advisor forgets that I am blocked to register for Spring classes and I am on
the waitlist for three classes (will I graduate now?). Professor this semester
gives me an unfair final grade because she doesn’t like me. Get ripped off by a
taxi. Brother-cousin gets into a serious car accident and my aunt has a tumor.
Lose my wallet in a taxi aka my credit card, my visa, my license, my school ID,
and 60 dollars. Lose my house keys AGAIN in a taxi on top of everything.

But hey, bad luck happens to everyone I guess right? It can only get better from here. ! Having this all happen to me in Costa Rica really proved to me that sometimes in America, i feel like people make stressful situations for themselves- freaking out over things that arent a big deal or a stressful situation. for example, if the dishes are dirty in the sink and my mom is freaking out, i sincerely think now that hey, thats NOT a stressful situation, RELAX! Or if I’m late to class or if i have to stay up all night for a final exam, i feel like after these past two weeks of literally so much going wrong, that kind of pressure isnt nearly at the same level as these past two weeks so even if it sounds really tough, im kinda greatful it happened because its a good 1. reality check to how good i have it 2. and a good life lesson.

…by which I mean, the Internet is down in my Residence complex. Horror of horrors! Which means I either have to hang out in the library or the Humanities cafe, both of which are a bit of a walk away and aren’t open 24/7, but I don’t really have time for that because I have Welsh to study. Hence the absence of blogging. And I really did want to write another post after my last one which was, admittedly, rather on the depressing side.

So what have I been up to? As much as I’d like to say I was living up my last weekend in Cardiff enjoying all the nightlife/social events on offer and interacting with my lovely fellow students, that would be completely inaccurate. I’ve mainly been sitting at a desk for the past week and a half. No, literally. I just move from desk/table to desk–Humanities Building, Library, Humanities, Library, my flat.

BUT I am more or less delighted to inform you that I have finished all my essays for my modules in the History and Ancient History Departments! As of 26 minutes ago, I have also completed my very last non-Welsh module here. It was a great lecture by the School of Ancient History’s very dynamic and engaging Dr. Evans, on the delightful topic of death in the Ancient Roman world (including a fifteen minute discussion about worms. Delicious).

Another thing to be happy about–the essay I mentioned a few posts back on Ancient Coins that I had such difficulty with and agonized over and thought I would fail–well I did NOT fail, far from it in fact! I was very, very excited about this, as Dr. Evans saw when I picked up my essay from his office yesterday (I think he was amused by my excitement, though).

It’s really amazing. I have learned so much from my modules here, truly; I was so scared when I got that assignment. All I could think was “I don’t know anything! I can’t do this!”…but with many hours of effort, I managed to figure it out all on my own. And I think that’s one of the great things about the academic system here, painful as it is at times–in cases like this, when you are thrust into an academic situation where you are given VERY little guidance at all and know almost NOTHING about the topic, YOU have to go and do the research, starting completely from scratch. I didn’t have any professor here giving me step-by-step instructions as to how to begin evaluating Ancient Coins. I had to figure it out myself.

So I think I get what people mean when they say that the academic system here is much more “self-motivated” than in the United States. And the interesting thing about this process (and probably part of the point) is that because nobody is pointing to reading/sources/etc. and saying “that’s what you need to read/do,” you end up doing a lot of sifting and reading of sources and things that may not be directly relevant, and you learn quite a lot from that in addition to whatever you discover about the topic.

I understand the British academic system! Maybe. Close?

In any case, the countdown to departure is now a mere three (!) days. I still have three Welsh exams, a Welsh writing assignment, and two Welsh lectures to get through, so it’s not over yet! That probably sounds dreadful, but I love Welsh so much, I’m going to try to enjoy it insofar as it is possible to enjoy yourself with your first major oral exam in a crazy foreign language looming.

Many thanks to Anjie, the IFSA Spotlight Blogger studying abroad in Chile, for her comment on my last post; she said “I have a feeling that neither of us are going to lose what we have learned nor who we have become in our semesters abroad” and I think she’s right–thanks, Anjie!

I allowed myself to wallow a little in that post, and I’m sure there will be other times when I want to (and perhaps will let myself) do so (briefly), but I think that what I must do in order to make the transition back to my American life easier is to approach leaving Wales with the attitude I tried to go into it with–a positive one. I have to leave; that is a fact. The only thing I can change is my attitude towards leaving.

I have gained so much out of this experience and I must always keep that in mind–imagine if I HADN’T had to courage to go?! I would have missed out on so much. I wouldn’t have discovered such a wonderful place to which I most dearly hope to return. I don’t know how I will go back, or when, but someday, I will.

So here’s to going out the way I came in–head held high, ready to learn from and take on anything and everything that comes my way. And if there’s one thing I’ve learnt from my semester in Wales, it is that I was living life a bit passively before I came here, and I don’t want to go through life that way ever again–because that’s no way to live at all.

(Kayley)

Saturday November 5th, Ryan and I finally got to go to this zoo in Santo Domingo (the city where Ryan lives) called INBioparque with our amazing tico buddy Alonso. We got really lucky and it was a BEAUTIFUL day. Sunny, about 75 degrees, clear skies and breezy – meanwhile, there’s snow on the ground in New York. Definitely loving the decision to spend these months in Costa Rica.

INBioparque (www.inbioparque.com) is a conservation/education center that’s conveniently located about halfway between Heredia and San José. It’s divided up into several sections: dry forest, rainforest, Central Valley forest, the lagoon, and the finca, or farm. Each section has various little educational stations, many of them hands-on. We didn’t need a guide because we had Alonso (a biology major and an absolute lunatic) with us, which meant that our experience was a little more hands-on than most (although unfortunately all of the iguanas moved too fast for Alonso to grab).

We got to see all sorts of crazy plants and wildlife, and it was nice to go at our own pace while still having someone knowledgeable with us. Some of the animals that we got to see included tarantulas, iguanas, caimans, white-tailed deer, sheep, goats, pigs, roosters and hens, peacocks, bunnies, turtles, a praying mantis, a stick bug, a barranquero (a colorful tropical bird) and some ducks that we ate lunch with, and a yigüirro (national bird of Costa Rica) that would only show us its bright yellow tail-feathers. My favorite station was the Serpentario, because I’m a huge fan of snakes. There were about twenty different native species, and because Alonso is even more of a herpetophile than I am, we spent a good amount of time in there.

If I had to pick the most surreal part of it all, I would have to pick the butterfly enclosure. There were butterflies wherever you looked, including the enormous and magnificent blue morphos. One of them even landed on my foot! Somehow, being surrounded by butterflies brings out one’s inner child, and within minutes we were all stretching out our fingertips hoping against hope that a butterfly would land on us. We managed to catch a few, but it was just an awesome, dream-like experience to look up and see them all floating around above your head.

I think Ryan’s favorite part though had to be the food! Every time we passed a restaurant, he was the first to point it out. We indulged him and got some local fare at one restaurant that looked particularly appetizing. We ended up all getting some combination of meat, tortillas, yuca, chayote, carrots, black beans, and fruit juice, all grilled to perfection. Well, except the juice, obviously. Then we stopped in the farm section to get granizados, mine with powdered milk and condensed milk, and Ryan’s with that as well as ice cream. They were absolutely delicious.

We finished up walking the paths, I totally beat Ryan in a race through a maze with Alonso as the official, and then we visited the gift shop. There wasn’t anything that was cheap enough for our end-of-the-trip budgets, however, even though I was highly tempted by a $20 bag made out of recycled Dos Pinos milk cartons. All in all, it was one of the best days I’ve spent in Costa Rica.

(Ryan’s note: they also have a sweet tunnel made from soda bottle tops)

In exactly one week, I will be back in the United States.

…and my heart is breaking.

I can’t think about this now; I have finals to content with. Essays due in. Welsh exams to revise for.

But it keeps ghosting back into my thoughts.

I Skyped my family tonight. My grandmother is so glad that I am coming home. I wanted to enthuse with her, but instead I just sat, paralyzed at the thought. Not of going home, really; I love my family. Home is home and it always will be, especially at the holidays.

But after that? What will I do then? Who will I be? I don’t want to go back to being the person I was before I came here. But how can I be the person I am here without being here? Without my Wales? My Cardiff? Fy nosbarth Gymraeg?  I have never in my college career been so happy as I am right now, as I have been these last weeks. I don’t dislike my school at home; it is a fine institution. But there was always something that never fully clicked. Something has always been missing. I’ve never felt totally at ease, totally comfortable; there’s always been something niggling at me, a feeling of waiting for something to happen, to find something…just waiting…

I didn’t know this would hurt so much at the end.

“Y drafferth efo breuddwyd, ydy bod chi’n gorfod deffo”
- Pobol y Cwm

“The trouble with dreams is that you have to wake up.”