We made it! I cannot believe that we are here. There are so many aspects of this situation that feel unreal. After finding out a few weeks ago that only two other students would be joining Beth and myself on this program that usually has 15-30 students we decided to go forward with it anyway, hoping that we get along with the other two students. Both of us were really excited to do study abroad in order to meet new people and immerse ourselves in the local community, both of which would be much harder in the COVID-safe bubble that CIEE has created on its campus. More importantly, however, we are so grateful that CIEE is doing everything possible to create the most COVID-safe situation for us, the involved staff members, and the surrounding communities.
After anxiously packing and preparing for this program, we were held up in Texas for another week due to the winter storm that shut everything down, including roads and power and water. We did our best to tune into zoom lectures for our program despite the circumstances, so that we wouldn’t have too much to catch up on once we finally got here. My dad kept joking that we were studying abroad in Costa Rica in Texas. Finally, five days after we were supposed to fly out, we flew out and got to Costa Rica with almost an extra week of quarantine under our belts.
All of that waiting was so worth it!! When we woke up the next morning, the program director came by to welcome us (socially-distanced) and explain everything about our quarantine situation. She noted that this exact program usually begins with a field trip that would have made it impossible to join five days late like we did, but that we were now able to join fairly seamlessly with the adjusted schedule for COVID safety. The program director is so nice and made us feel immediately at home. She walked us around the trails and told us about the animals she’s encountered here.
That same morning, I left my breakfast out on the porch to get my coffee, and when I came back out there was a strange animal perusing around our porch. I had never seen an animal like it before, except that it kind of reminded me of a raccoon. It ended up being a coati, which is a species in the same family as raccoons, so I was kind of right! I was startled, and immediately thought to stand in front of my food to make sure the animal didn’t get it, but the little guy was harmless and just hung out with us as we ate and soaked in the morning. Later, the program director told us that there is a troupe of coatis that hangs out around here, but that one in particular thinks it’s a dog, lays on the dog bed on her porch, and tries to get into the house. She said: “they’re harmless, just don’t feed them.” Glad to know my instincts panned out!
That night we walked with our two biology/ecology professors who took us down a trail and to a pond to find Leopard frogs and Cane toads for our species reports. I was astounded by how many stars I could see in the sky, how the only things we could hear were the wind blowing through the trees and the music of crickets, and how the air smelled like trees and dirt and everything nice. We found the species of frog and toad that we were looking for, and I was able to hold the Cane toad for a long time while we talked about him. His belly was so soft and he was adorable. Despite my disappointment in missing out on two weeks of “normalcy” (as normal as it can get) on this program due to our delayed quarantine period, I am so excited to be here. Tonight, I go to sleep filled with gratitude and excitement.
