A month in Perez Zeledon

04Oct

A month in Perez Zeledon

Hi I’m Sara! Welcome to my first blog post. I am one of two bloggers in Costa Rica and I am going to write about our life here in paradise.

We are 21 Norwegians and 1 Swedish student here studying at San Isidro Labrador International University (UISIL). There are about 2000 students in total at UISIL. We have classes from Monday afternoon until Thursday afternoon. It is great to have the Fridays off, since it makes traveling on the weekends much easier. These “mini vacations” on the weekends are really needed since most of us are very tired after a long week with many classes. The classes usually starts in the mornings, and the ticos (Costa Ricans) usually have classes in the evenings. We have three different Spanish classes, “escrita, gramatica y oral” with three different teachers. The teachers are very knowledgeable and helpful, but only speak Spanish. This was really challenging in the beginning since many of us never had spoken any Spanish before. It was frustrating, but we somehow managed to communicate. Now that a month has passed, it is a lot easier.

View from the garden

La feria (The market)

The biological center in Quebradas

We are divided into three different houses. One is located in the centre, one house is really close to the school (Morazan) and one house is a little bit further away (Quebradas). I live in the house in Morazan with six other girls. We have three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, a living room, a nice outdoor area and a beautiful garden. Something I really enjoy is to hang out in my hammock in the garden. It is such a great way to start your day, chilling out and just listening to the sound of the river.

Now that we have been here for a month already, I have found some fun things to do in the town. If you enjoy working out, I really recommend the CrossFit center, sign up for a membership and join the locals for really tough but fun workouts. Doing activities like this is a great way to get new friends and practicing your Spanish. Another thing I enjoy in town is “La Feria”, the huge market in the center, which has a lot of different fruits and vegetables from local farmers. If you are vegan or vegetarian, “La Feria” is like heaven. My favorite things to buy there are mangos, pineapples and tomatoes; they taste amazing and are cheap as well. There is also a biological center not very far from the university. It is possible to do volunteer work there. We visited the place with the school, and it was beautiful. I have not had time to visit it again, but I really want to volunteer there.

So far, I really enjoy my time here in Costa Rica. I have already learned so much Spanish, and met so many great people. I am really looking forward to the rest of my time here.