Last day in Lawrence

Word of the week: abroad -- [en el] extranjero 

The day is finally almost here after over a year and a half of planning.  Saying I'm "excited" probably doesn't even begin to describe it, but I can't say that I'm not a little nervous as well.  I leave at 6:00 am on Saturday morning from Kansas City International and will arrive in San Jose, Costa Rica around 2:00 in the afternoon.  From there, the rest of the group and I will go to the University of Costa Rica (UCR) for a campus tour, and then meet our host families and have until Monday to get acquainted with our new surroundings!  I believe Monday will be the placement test and class starts on Tuesday; not the semester classes which start at the beginning of March, but the early start program I am doing includes a month long intensive language course.  More details on all of this in the next post.

For now to start off the blog, I'm going to do a short post of the Top 5 things that I am most excited about over the next 6 months.  I'm sure that coming away from this trip some of my most favorite parts will be things that I had no idea I would experience beforehand.  But for now this list will have to do...

• Photography
• My most recent gift/investment was a new Canon T3i camera to take on this trip.  I have enjoyed learning (slowly, but surely) more about it the past month, but there are so many tricks to learn with DSLR's that it will have to be process.  Hopefully I can get some canvas-worthy shots will I'm there.
• Language
• The obvious choice.  I have really liked studying Spanish during my time at KU, but am extremely excited to fully submerge myself in the language.  Hopefully the result is an almost-fluent Andy (I see fluency as something very hard to gain, but I will do my best).
• Culture
• I love the Land of the Free more than anything but am looking forward to some Central American culture exposure.  I'm sure I will experience some culture shock, and I will probably stick out like a sore thumb, but hopefully I can just learn how to surf and look like a local.  Easy enough, right?
• Climate
• Probably doesn't need any explanation, but 80 degrees on a beach throughout January, February, March...  Tough life.
• Biodiversity
• Being the biology nerd that I am, Costa Rica is said to have the highest density of biodiversity of any country worldwide, with many of the species being endemic to Costa Rica (meaning they can't be found anywhere else).  I am a little torn on this though, because I'm terrified of spiders and can't say I would like a encounter with a 6 inch snake with a 1 bite, 1 kill attack.  But the non-lethal stuff, that will be cool.

That's it for this week.  Hopefully I can stay true to my one-post-a-week ambition, but I can't promise anything.  I'm sure there will be plenty of pictures to follow!  Check my Facebook, Twitter (@AJLarkin) and Instagram (@ajlarkin_) for other updates as well.  Whichever floats your boat.