Traveling in progress!

Airport part 2: I started to get suspicious about my plane when they didn't call for us to board. I went to check the departures board, but it still said the plane was on time so I headed back. As I walked up a girl my age was asking the gate attendant if there was a delay and he told her that the San Jose flight was now leaving from D 2 not D 5. They had just not made an announcement. So the girl and I hightailed it over to the other gate where they had already boarded most of the passengers. We made it on and I found my seat next to two nursing graduates from Chapel Hill. They were really fun company thought-out the flight and we made the four hours fly by.

Upon landing in Costa Rica we were funneled out onto a staircase and into a bus that would take us to customs. We loaded up and drove about 100 yards in a circle to go about 15 feet from where the plane was parked to the doors. It was a major let down of a bus ride in a foreign country to say the least. Customs was a breeze (knock on wood) and our bags were already pulled off the conveyor belt when we walked to baggage claim about 10 min after landing, and really they didn’t have far to go, you could still see our plane from the baggage claim area.  ( ps. I did find the hidden SIM card kiosk, but their system was down so I couldn’t get one).  I walked out and found my API coordinator right before it began to rain (a regular afternoon down pour).  We met up with the other students in the program at the hotel and did our orientation (all in Spanish no less) before heading out to dinner at a Resturante Asiatico of all places. Each room in the restaurant was themed a different Asian country. It was really neat and only a quick walk from our hotel.  Dinner was somewhat quiet as we were all just taking it in, but the food was amazing. I got Pad Thi and Flan de Coco. It was very Costa Rican of me I think, comida tipica of course.  Afterward we returned to the hotel, where I was surprised to find that it was only 8 (yes I did forget a watch).  I forgot that since Costa Rica is so close to the equator, it gets dark at 6:00 all year round. Either way my internal clock needed resetting and so we turned in early. I hope to report some exciting adventures in San Jose tomorrow! 

PS. I guess that blogger knows I'm studying abroad in Costa Rica and it trying to further my Spanish education, because now it only lets me see the page in Spanish!