¡Otorrinolaringólogo!

¡Hola mi amigos!

I hope this entry finds you well. My stay here in Costa Rica so far has exceeded even my loftiest of expectations. My host family, Xenia, Boliviar, Alejandro, Leo, Cheespa, grandma, and [the other one whose name I cannot remember] are wonderful Ticos to be paired with. I have yet to begin any actual schooling, as this past week consisted of a few tours of the area as well as a trip to the Ecolodge San Luis & Research Station near Monte Verde.

It has been a busy week for me, where: I woke up at 5:30 in the morning to go bird watching (for the first time), milked a cow (for the first time), hiked every day for at least 10 miles a day, played football with my host-brother and his friends, visited the national museum in San Jose, jumped from a ledge into the pool at the bottom of the most beautiful waterfall I have ever had the privilege of viewing, ate the greatest food from the greatest kitchen known to man, played volleyball, learned about plants and their families at the Plant-o-rama, got sick of being stared at by the natives and dyed my hair black so as to fit in a bit more, spoke with naturalists from all over the world and made a fool of myself for not remembering that the Netherlands and Holland are the same place (and that I have been to them), lost my pencil at least six times (but luckily I have found it every time so far), helped a nice Ecologist trap, examine, and release birds living on the coffee plantations, went to a sustainable, shade-grown coffee plantation and got a tour from a native Costa Rican, improved my hackey sack skills, saw the biggest and awesomest rainbow I have ever heard of (!), had deep, thought-provoking conversations while staring at the night sky, wished on a few shooting stars, and probably I whole bunch of stuff I have forgotten already.

My trip to the lodge allowed me to see countless exotic (and not so exotic) wildlife, including but not limited to: bats, a praying mantis, a Clay-colored Robin (Costa Rica´s national bird), some cows, some sort of parrots, many chachalatkas (a turkey-looking bird), the biggest beetle I have ever seen, a few horses, a plethora of Hummingbirds, a Coral Snake (ooh! Poisonous!), plus many more. Unfortunately there was not a monkey in sight wherever I would go, even though some of my cohorts were privy to the shy devils nearly every day.

I start Spanish classes Monday morning, where I will ideally progress with such speed that both my teachers and host family praise me as the genius I am. Tomorrow is a day for a game of football against the Ticos, though I do not expect to put up much of a fight considering the ten year-olds can run circles around even the best players in my group. I hope you are enjoying whatever activities you choose to pursue, and drop me a line if you would like some sort of specific gift from Central America. I would not know where to start otherwise, you see.

I shall see you later, so do not die beforehand!

Thank Goodness for French People

I touched down at 9:49 PM (Central/Standard Time), a return to the earth that signaled a 12-hour journey had come to a close. Though the trip was—for the most part—unremarkable, I finally felt free of the anxiousness and apprehension that had built up over the past few weeks. My new friend Yvan (ee-vahn) and I made our way to customs to enter what so far, is the awesomest country I have ever been in (NOTE: May be slight exaggeration in response to the drastic change from inclement to tropical weather). Unfortunately, his luggage was left behind in Houston, which meant that two non-native English speakers, he and the claims counter attendant, were forced to attempt to communicate in its halting and awkward prose.

Flash forward to outside the airport, where the tour guide-type person that Yvan had procured to take him to his hostel was nowhere to be found. Being that I had no reservations or any idea where I was supposed to stay once I arrived in San Jose, this boded unfavorably for our chances at having a clue what to do next. Thankfully, a nice non-English speaking "taxi" driver hassled us enough to convince us our rapidly dwindling options were, in fact, singular in nature. We accepted his offer, and he proceeded to lead my new friend and me to—rather than one of the nice, official-looking orange taxis in front of the entrance—a back-alley-ish parking structure which contained his decrepit blue van.

A frightening, harrowing drive and subsequent escape later, the beacon of hope and wonder that was Case Yoses stood before us! They were gracious enough to grant me accommodation even though I had not contacted them in advance, and now I find myself at a slow-ish, Spanishly-keyboarded computer reminiscing about the days' activities. No clue what is happening tomorrow, but Yvan wants to get his bags and depart for the coast where he plans on surfing an abandoned stretch of pristine beach front property for six weeks. Sounds delectable, I know—but alas!—I must find other means of entertainment for three days until I meet my, hopefully, amicable and gracious family, where I shall be staying for the next two months.

Wish me luck! and until we meet again!

Prologue to Costa Rica

In order to better serve my adoring fans I have decided to relocate my updating mechanism to this particular website. In less than two weeks my journey into Central America begins, and I have come to the conclusion that despite previous assertions to the contrary, I will most likely not be returning to Minnesota.

Instead, I will take a Tico woman as my wife, obviously making sure her family is of wealthy stature, so that I may spend the rest of my days sipping drinks out of coconut shells on the beach of my illustrious estate. I will also have a cocoa farm, from which I will derive a substance most beneficial and fitting of my newfound position in life. Cocai-... "Chocolate" rather. I meant Chocolate.

If you wish to join me on my excursion, please do so. I will need all the able-bodied help I can get if I am to live in the luxury that I feel I deserve. Thank you for your time, and I wish you good day.

Update: I have relocated all of my entries to this site as of 02 July, 2007, so be happy or something.

I Have Bad News...

Greetings all, the last couple weeks have been filled with such splendor that I feel I would not do them justice with my meager recollections. Thus I will just let everyone know I'm still alive, and in just over a week I will be on a plane back to the good ol' U-S-of-A. I look forward to seeing you all and hearing about your own adventures while I transversed the mountains of Munich and hitchhiked across the English Channel. Good luck surviving the next week, I'll certainly need it to get all my homework done!

P.S. Look at the funny letters I can do on the German keyboard! äö§µßü So silly!

Current mood: nostalgic

Eye Haf Vire Tearibl Noos...

Hey y'all. Back from Scotland and killing time in London until our field trip to a mosque and the key ceremony at London Tower

York was very fun: I saw a play, played hackey sac, watched my classmates get plastered and sit on each others' laps, went to a chocolate factory, learned a great deal about *gasp* international business, played Egyptian Rat Slap—or something like that—until all hours of the night when the security guard kicked us out for being too rowdy, swallowed my tongue ring, witnessed a rugby teams crazy craziness, and basically enjoyed myself in general.

Edinburgh consisted of a ten mile walk to the wrong Argyle St., a ten mile walk back to the right one, a haunted hostel, four Polish bricklayers and a musically induced seizure, [helping] cook lunch for ten (where we bought way too much food), numerous piercings, countless drunken debaucheries, a Norwegian girl getting her purse stolen, passing my tongue ring, SPACEBALLS!, cold and rainy weather, and a five hour train ride back to London.

All in all I'd give York and Edinburgh (on a scale of 1 to sweet): a gnarly. Being that our law firm visit was canceled this morning I'm off to Camden Town to find a piercing/tattoo shop... :) Wish me luck!

Current mood: recumbent

I Have Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad News...

This week was a bit less mind-blowing then the previous one, yet still entertaining enough to allow me to press on. Below is one thing per day I found worthy of sharing.

Monday: We talked to a homeless person in class.

Tuesday: We had class in a pub.

Wednesday: In Introduction to International Business we had a friend of our teacher's daughter talk to us about the Oxford school structure. Interesting, but... really?

Thursday: Went to open mike night and experienced some poetry, examples include: "Ants Are Going to Take Over the World", "Dracula Has AIDS", and "Dinosaurs Died of Indigestion". It was dandy.

Friday: Went to a circus! All human, all fun! Quite entertaining.

Saturday: Guy Fawkes Day! This is the English version of Independence Day, so there was plenty of fireworks and blowing things up all night long.

Sunday: I... did homework. Yeah, exciting I know.

Also due to the fact that some of us feel our classes lack a bit in the 'learning' portion, we have decided to take it into our own hands. Tonight we are going to meet at a pub and present on and discuss the topic we have each researched for the past week. It may sound nerdy, but I'm quite anticipating the feeling of actual growth in my lobal regions. It isn't that our classes are bad, they just don't have much substance. I am not complaining though, less substance = better grade. :)

Talk to you all sometime next week upon my return from Scotland. Spamalot is only two weeks from now! Yipee!

Current Mood: productive

J'ai De Mauvaises Nouvelles...

Salut mes amis! I have returned from my trip to France, and it was undeniably a doozy. To regale you with the tales of the past two weeks would be boastful and could not do my experience justice, so I'll stick with the highlights reel.

Thursday night I slept at Derrick's step-second-cousin's roommate's flat. Friday morning I got into Paris. I learned upon arrival in Rouen that if I valued friends based on the awesome-factor of their home town, and their subsequent ability to guide me through it (which I do), Bastien ranks number one with no contest. That night consisted of a French dinner (cheese) and a Jazz concert. The next day involved a road trip across France to Lyon and another Jazz concert (slightly more on the Gypsy end of the music spectrum). Later I had my first clubbing experience--on a boat--which lasted until daybreak the following morning. Then there was a market, a roman amphitheater and lots of churches. On Monday Bastien and I drove back home with a pit stop in Versailles. The following day I was left to my own devices in Paris, where I stayed in his father's apartment just on the edge of town. I walked for twelve hours the first day, visited the Louvre, walked some more, and met up with Bastien's sister's boyfriend and walked even more the second day. Finally: I went to the Pompidou modern art museum, saved some girls from a transient bum who insisted on throwing crackers--given to him by me--at them, experienced a naked drunken mob of Parisians on the metro, saw a tiger on the street, visited the top of the Eiffel Tower at night, slept in a train station until I got kicked out by the police, moved to the street with some hobos, and then went back to London.

All-in-all it was totally worth it, and I learned more in one week than I have all semester so far.

Most useful phrase: Tu as un beau clu, tu baise?

Thing I am taking back to America: Greetings by kissing.

Only bad thing about the trip: That I had to come home.

Something to look forward to: Moving to France next summer to work on Bastien's farm.

Current mood: satisfied

P.S. Upon returning to Oxford I attempted to reinvigorate my mohawk hairstyle, only to find that my razor died after getting essentially half of it done. Upon trying to charge it without a converter, my adapter has been fried, and hence my new picture showcasing a halfhawk. Enjoy!