I’ve lived abroad before, and while there I wanted to tell my family and friends about everything I was doing. I Facetimed them and took photos to show everyone what my routine was like. Last time I was abroad, I tried to explain where I lived, what I did on a daily basis, the people that I was meeting, all of the new places I was seeing, and the things that I was learning. I told them about everything, but I feel like a lot of things cannot be fully understood without actually seeing and experiencing it. This is one of the main reasons why I was thrilled that my sister and her boyfriend decided to visit me in Costa Rica while I was studying abroad! This past week I had the chance to show them a little bit of why I love this country.
My twin sister, Natalie, and her boyfriend, Jimmy, arrived this week in San José. On their first day here they had dinner with my host family. I was actually so proud because I translated for the night. We were telling stories about our lives, eating traditional Costa Rican food, and enjoying each other’s company. I cannot even explain how much it meant to me to have my family from home meet my Costa Rican family, and for them to welcome them so excitedly.
The next days I had the chance to show them parts of San José and Cartago, which is a city close by San José. We walked around, looked for murals, went to a few of the parks in San José, did some shopping, went to the Ruins of Cartago, looked at a beautiful cathedral, and tried new food! It was really cool that they came this week because they had the chance to see a new sculpture exhibit in San José that displays over 20 unique sculptures from a Costa Rican artist, Jorge Jimenez Deredia. I was also able to show them where I walk to get to class, how to take the bus, and the best place for ice cream!
I was thrilled to share some of the nature in Costa Rica with Natalie and Jimmy. We went to Irazu Volcano National Park and Manuel Antonio National Park. To get to these places we went to the bus terminal to take buses, and they got to experience bringing a backpack for the night and sitting on a bus for hours to get to our destinations.
I’m pretty lucky that I could share a part of my experience with some of my family, and I think that it has created even more memorable moments of my time here. Natalie and Jimmy told me they saw a lot that they didn’t expect and they enjoyed their short time here. Something I hope that you take from this is to try to travel and experience culture. If you have the chance, learn about as many places as you can!
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