home again.

I truly cannot believe how quickly my five weeks in Costa Rica passed. I spent the last five days of my trip in the south hiking in the rainforest, kayaking and swimming with more alligators than I've seen in the rest of my life (literally), and playing soccer on the beach with locals. I watched several incredible sunsets and sunrises. Although I'm over the moon excited for the rest of the summer, there are a lot of things I'll miss about being in Costa Rica. While watching the sunrise on my last morning, I thought through lists of these things...
1. my latin american short stories class- I've never ever enjoyed a class so much.
2. trying to make conversation with the old man wearing the white cowboy hat who makes fresh squeezed lemonade out of a grocery cart on the corner by the university
3. having fresh fruit and amazing coffee (from a plantation 5 minutes away) every morning for breakfast
4. hanging out at CafeTeros and eating the world's most delicious brownie with other people from my program
5. the laughter that only latin dance class can bring
6. sitting at the dinner table for hours after dinner is over and talking with my host mom... or playing Jenga.
7. walking the 35 minutes to the university in the only sunny part of the day.
8. venturing every single weekend to do something exotic, like seeing a volcano, riding horses to a waterfall, or surfing.
9. playing soccer on wednesday afternoons with Ticos
10. ordering slushie fresh fruit juice at every single restaurant, because it costs the same as drinkable water.
Even during my Costa Rican adventures, I could hardly contain my excitement for the rest of this summer. The next part of summer takes me back to North Carolina to be reunited with lots of friends, and to take my SENIOR girls to Rockbridge Young Life camp in Virginia. I can't wait to spend the week having great conversations in our cabin and soaking up the energy of these lovely ladies.
Here are some pictures from my last week in Costa Rica...