Inicios y Finales

I'm sitting in my house at St. Olaf, watching the snow come down outside, and thinking about Costa Rica.  I'm glad we are getting at least a little bit of snow before I leave... maybe I'll finally be able to break out my cross-country skis that have been sitting in the basement all year!  Plus, it would be exciting to go from this:

Source

Source

to this:

...all in one plane ride (or two plane rides plus a several hour layover, but close enough)!

Either way, I'm excited to embark on this adventure!  Here is my schedule for the four months I'll be spending in Costa Rica:

January 29: Arrive in Costa Rica!  I'll be picked up by my host mom, Vicky.  One of the most important factors for me in choosing this study abroad program was the opportunity to stay with a Costa Rican host family (actually, I'll have two different host families during my time here).  From talking to people who have done this program in the past, ACM does a wonderful job matching students up with host families.  I am so excited to get to know Vicky and her family!

January 30 to February 24: Courses at ACM in San Jose.  I'll be taking an intensive course in Spanish language and Costa Rican culture, as well as choosing my research project, writing a proposal, and visiting my field site.

February 25 to April 22: Field research.  I'll be living with a new host family and collecting data for my independent research project.  My advisor, Hugo Hermelink, owns an organic cacao (aka CHOCOLATE) farm near the eastern coast of Costa Rica, which is most likely where I will be staying while I conduct my research on some aspect of sustainable cacao farming.  I anticipate lots of chocolate in my future.

April 23 to May 18: Back in San Jose.  The Spanish language course will continue, and I'll also be writing up my research paper.  The program will finish with a presentation of our research results.

May 19 to May 24: Travel!

Of course, I can't wait to leave for tropical paradise, but it will also be hard to say goodbye to my friends and family.  It's been a strange year, with many of my school friends abroad for a semester.  There are some people (Molly, Ben) that I will go for a whole year without seeing!  Still, I'm excited for all of the stories we will have to share when we do reunite.