Phytoplankton

by daviddoubilet

Daily Life

Weekdays

Weekends

Buses

Food

Daily life here in Costa Rica, at least for me, is not necessarily all that different or much more exciting than daily life in the U.S. The major difference is since my workload is a lot lighter here, I have a lot more free time.

A typical week may play out like this. Every day, I usually get up between 7:30-8:00 am. Even on weekends when I don’t have plans, my body is used to waking up early and I usually never sleep to my alarm. This may be because the sun is always up my 6:00 am and my internal body clock has just adjusted to this. On Monday, I don't have class until 1 pm, but I usually don't get home until 7:30-8:00 pm, which makes Monday my busiest day. I usually spend the first half of the day doing random stuff, unless I have something I need to prepare for a class, such as an exam or presentation. On Tuesday, I have class at 10:00 am until 11:40 am, and I have a break to go back home and eat lunch before I have my other class at 3:00 pm, which usually is a little under two hours.  

By Tuesday night, I usually pretty tired (since Monday is always a long day) and I don't do too much since I have no class on Wednesday. This makes Wednesday a day to relax or get a head start on work for Thursday and Friday. Occasionally, I have gone on day trips. For example, one week I went somewhere with my host mom for the day and last week, I went to San José to visit two museums. The rest of my week is really easy class wise, with only one class Thursday and Friday, with both starting at 10:00 am.  

On weekends, I've gone on quite a few trips, some sponsored by IFSA and some as a part of a class. Otherwise, I may go a few places with my host parents, do watch, or watch a few things on Netflix.  

In order to get around, I usually take the bus. I live in Barva and la Universidad Nacional is in Heredia, so I always need to take the bus to get to and from class. One round trip costs about $0.35, and it can take anywhere from 10-30 minutes for the bus to get from Barva to Heredia or vice versa, but it usually takes about 15-20 minutes. Other buses, to San José for example, cost a bit more, but still under $1 one way usually unless it's a few hour trip. That being said, if you plan out which buses you need to take, it is pretty easy to get around, even if you're used to having a car like me.

With my host family, breakfast usually consists of eggs a mix of rice and beans called gallo pinto. We usually have freshly-squeezed orange juice as well, and my host parents also drink coffee. We sometimes have cereal or an egg sandwich too. Lunch and dinner are usually pretty similar, and almost always include rice and beans (a staple in Costa Rica). Sometimes my host mom needs to make food that's a little bit different for me because I'm a vegetarian. We almost always have either some type of fruit juice, usually made of cas, but sometimes mango, pineapple, or watermelon, or iced tea. I usually like everything my host mom makes. I don't have to do any of my own laundry, which is very different from college in the U.S. If my host mom does not do it, the maid that comes on Mondays and Fridays comes.

Adjustments to a different educational landscape

Different systems

Less work

Difficulties

I thought it would be appropriate to write about the different educational landscape after taking my first round of exams for a number of reasons. First, it gives me enough time to adjust (kind of) to the different system, and secondly, it gives me a bit of time to reflect on the system as well.

I'll begin with a brief description outlining different education system. First, most students do not live on campus. Some may live two or three hours away too, which makes me feel awkward when I say I live on campus because the two hour is too long to do two times every day. Second, most classes are only once a week, which can make it easy to forget about work and procrastinate. In fact, my only class that is two times a week is my Spanish class taught by a professor with IFSA-Butler.  

In my classes, there is a lot less "busy work," which is bitter sweet for me since busy work helps me stay on top of content but at the same time reduces free time. This also translate into less exams. In each of my three classes that have exams, there are only two. There is a lot of group work, usually including presentations, but in one of my biology labs, it means a lot of lab/field work. In the same course, called Evaluation of Habitat, we had two weekend trips (one to a refuge and one to a biological reserve) to complete small, independent projects.

Adjusting to this new academic system is difficult, especially with the language barrier. I also think that since there fewer numbers of classes every week, it is a lot harder to get a feel for each professor. It is difficult for me to point to few particular skills that I gained during my first year of college that I have used here because for me, I always need to experience it for myself and then I find my footing. It is hard to do it quickly, but I think that the best way for me to make the transition is to simply immerse myself in the system and my work.

IFSA-Butler's main role, especially during orientation, was giving advice to all of us and letting us know that they are there to provide support to us, including offering free tutoring to anyone who wanted it.

More on phytoplankton to come soon! Check out my first introductory post if you missed it.

Phytoplankton: An overview of the small, plant-like organisms that make the world go round. 

http://becausephytoplankton.blogspot.com/2017/11/what-are-phytoplankton.html?spref=tw

Image Credit: NASA/Goddard/Aqua/MODIS via Flickr

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