Ta-dah! Yup, it´s true folks, I really am a Graduate Student!! Enrolled at the Universidad Nacional (or la UNA), in Heredia, I am studying in a master´s program on Human Rights and Education for Peace. It´s still a bit hard for me to believe that I am a grad student....with all my classes in Spanish---what was I thinking?!! :)Even though I am only a mere two-plus months into my studies, I can confidently say that this has been one of the most challenging and also rewarding experiences of my life. Part of Rotary International´s scholarship program for Rotary Ambassadorial Scholars is, naturally, to be a scholar for the year. The idea is that one enters into a year of graduate-level studies where education is furthered in a subject area that will ultimately better our world in some way.
With my undergrad studies in International Service, as well as my volunteer work experience last year in Chicago with two organizations that work--in both the advocacy and direct service sectors--to better our U.S. relations with Latin American countries, my interest in this specific master´s program seemed like it would be a perfect fit.
My program is one of two master´s programs under the auspices of the Institute of Latin American Studies, which is a department within the School of Arts and Humanities. The program is comprised of five trimesters, the first of which I will finish in (a fast-approaching!) two weeks time. Our first trimester´s course load has been: Epistemology (definition: theory of knowledge) of Human Sciences, Theory of Human Rights I, Irenología (the study of peace), and Political History of Latin America. The coursework has been especially challenging, of course, because of the language difficulties. You see, being able to converse fairly naturally in Spanish and ´hold my own´ is one thing; studying at the graduate level in Spanish, I learned early on (like, on day one to be exact!) is an entirely different endeavour. Added to my language difficulties has been the nature of some of the classes--philosophical, theoretical, and, at times, quite abstract. I tell ya, it´s a lethal combo!
I spend my nights up yonder on the top floor of one of the newer buildings on campus--which has a nice open-air, inner courtyard. The National University is one of the top two national universities (the other one being the University of Costa Rica) and has about 14,000 undergrad and graduate students. Thinking back to pre-departure to Costa Rica, I remember attempting to logically envision what my ¨friends situation¨ might be like in the master´s program. Basing my logic off the fact that classes meet Monday through Thursday evenings, from 5-8:30 pm, I figured I was safe in betting that most of my classmates would be coming straight from their work day and busy lives and, consequently, not have much energy or desire to makes friends with the gringa (that´s me!) who wouldn´t really know the half of what was being discussed in the classroom. As it turns out, most of my 25 classmates are juggling both full-time work and our master´s program, and thus they do lead busy lives. However, from the very start I have been blown away and so blessed by my compañeros y compañeras (meaning in Spanish: classmate, partner, or companion) who have befriended me and welcomed me in ways I never expected.
It seems much more logical to me now that I have experienced it, that, of course, in a program such as ours, the people are going to be naturally more inclusive, thoughtful, ready to extend genuine help, solidarity and their friendship. In Latin culture, it is very important to spend time with each other (which brings us back to the term compañero, meaning ´companion´) and so getting to know one another, working together on projects, studying together, and--can´t forget!--the daily routine of an afternoon café (coffee) before class is a must! I´m still acclimating myself to this daily ritual, as often, in my North American mindset, my first instinct is to think, ¨but we don´t have time for coffee, people, we have so much to do!¨ It´s no shocker that the joys of friendship, accompaniment, conversation over coffee and a pastry far outweigh the relative importance of an hour more of reading before class begins.
Compañeros y compañeras Juan Carlos, Vanessa, fellow gringa Jennifer, me, Maria Helena, y Ronald.
Compañeros y compañeras from both of the master´s programs in the Institute of Latin American Studies: me, Abraham, Carlos, Yanory, Sharlyn, Fátima, and Vanessa. Represented countries pitctured are: the U.S., México, Perú, Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Puerto Rico. We are a diverse group--which I absolutely love--with about 2/3 being Costa Ricans and the remaining 1/3 from other Latin American countries and from the U.S. (I am joined by 2 more gringos--Jennifer and Michael--both of whom have lived here for min. 1.5 years). The other non-Costa Rican latinos are from: Puerto Rico, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Perú, and Colombia. Friendships with my fellow extranjeros (foreigners) in the program formed very quickly, as all of us are new to the country. It´s interesting to learn how, even though the common language and culture between those from other Latin American countries are Spanish and Latin respectively, there is still so much variance in language use and country customs and norms. Thus, I´m usually not alone in learning what certain slang means or figuring out just how things get done around here!
Personally, I have chosen the route to further my Spanish language abilities not only by living in a Spanish speaking country, but also by studying at the graduate level--although it´s a painful process at times, what better way to truly learn a language than to immerse yourself fully in it?? At least, that´s one of my self-motivating pep talks that I resort to using on a regular basis!!
Siblings reunited!
Another wonderful reunion: our hermano ticos (tico brothers) with their hermanitas (little sisters)--Megan and Bernal, and Erica and Diego Rivera. Diego was also one of the group of seven that lived with a host family in Decorah nine years ago. He lived with Erica Spilde and her family, and so since Erica has been living here in Costa Rica for the past year and a half, these ¨siblings¨ have also been able to reconnect! The four of us had a fun time meeting up for lunch recently--it was Bernal and Diego´s first time to see each other since they graduated from high school 9 years ago!
During my first weeks of dining in Costa Rica, I discovered a new favorite sound: the sound of the blender. A plethora of fresh fruits are consumed on a daily basis, not only in the form of eating juicy chunks of pineapple, papaya, melon, strawberries, etc etc, but also in the form of jugo natural, or natural juices. To make jugo natural, one simply cuts up the fresh fruit(s) of choice and plops it in the blender, adding water and then a bit of sugar to taste. Mmmmm, so refreshing!
My first experience living with a host-stay family was a wonderful one--I was blessed not only with the opportunity to live with doña Gladys and her son Cesar, but also to meet and spend time with her other three children and their children as well. I was welcomed into a family for a relatively short amount of time, and I did learn that certain boundaries realistically come with such an experience, but I left feeling like part of their extended family. On the morning of my departure, doña Gladys made sure I knew there would always be a bed for me to sleep in and food on the stove for me to enjoy whenever I am able to visit. My despidida--my goodbye-- was made complete with a kiss on the cheek and the sign of the cross made over me, sending me with the accompaniment of God. 
After being awakened by the rooster´s morning song and enjoying a delicious breakfast, Meghan and I were offered the ¨opportunity¨ to ride horses down to the river where we were to spend the day, while the remainder of our new friends drove with a trailer full of a canopy tent, chairs, a grill for a BBQ lunch, and two dogs, anxious for their turn to splash around in the river. Meghan, being the more experienced horseback rider, mounted a calm white beauty, while I cautiously mounted a single-stirruped black beast, who I quickly deemed ¨el rebelde¨, the ¨rebellious one.¨ When el rebelde behaved himself, the 3km ride to the river was amazingly picturesque and peaceful. Our friend, Rafa, graciously accompanied us on foot, holding my stirrup-less foot´s sandal and telling us all we needed to know about the vegetation and livestock we were passing. I held on tight as we, several times, had to coax our horses to walk through rather deep puddles of water on the path to the river. We arrived safe and sound, my heart beating quite a bit faster than normal, and we dismounted to enjoy a fun day of playing in the river, jumping off the river bank, eating mucho grilled meat and warm tortillas as well as fresh mangoes and papayas, picked from nearby trees.
I wasn´t kidding about el rebelde! Thankfully he did no such thing while I was riding him! 
We returned from our day playing at the river, just in time to mosey over to the soccer field to see if any action was going on. We started kicking the ball around with a group of boys who were playing before heading over to the town hall for the evening´s fiesta. My first real game of soccer since arriving into a fùtbol-crazed part of the world, and man was it good! These muchachos were loving not only having a couple gringas visit their small town, but more so having one that wanted to play soccer with them! And I was loving that they were sweet enough to set up assist after assist for me to score gooooooooollllllls! :) 
