Today was our first day in Costa Rica. We arrived last night and met our host families. Who we will be staying with for the next two weeks. After a good night’s rest, we really got to explore. Starting off with Breakfast. Our host mom made us toast and eggs. I was surprised just how similar things are to the United States. For some reason, I thought that things would be vastly different. As I continued to learn throughout the day, perhaps my expectations of how different it would be were wrong.

Later in the day when we went on a tour of Heredia, I was surprised yet again to find very similar areas to things I might find at home. The streets, the traffic, and the shops, including the market all, made me think of similar things or places at home. However, there was a significant difference in the people here. They were more relaxed and easy going. It didn’t feel like anybody was rushing anywhere or people were stressed. At home or even in Pittsburgh it feels like everyone is walking somewhere or doing something. When we spent 15 minutes walking around, La Plaza Central, everyone was sitting down enjoying the day, feeding pigeons and in general relaxing.

Although this is my first day in the country I get the impression the people here are more relaxed and tend to enjoy taking their time with things. Honestly, it’s something I heard about prior to coming but didn’t truly consider. My expectations of how different everything should be were completely shattered by the very familiar-seeming streets, markets, and shops. While simultaneously realizing just how much the people of Costa Rica take their time to enjoy life.

I can’t wait to explore more tomorrow and learn even more things about the place I will be for the next two more weeks.