Today was my first full day spent in Costa Rica. My activities today included going on a walking tour of Heredia, eating at a wonderful restaurant, and hanging out by the hotel pool. Due to these experiences, my first impression of Costa Rica are that it is an old yet beautiful place with very kind people.

On the tour, I learned that Costa Rica does not have tall buidings or magnificent architectural feats due to frequent earthquakes; rather, buildings are contructed to be low with very thick walls. Nevertheless, the warm weather and pretty plant life made up for that. In addition, I had several positive interations with locals today. For example, one of my friends was buying fruit from a vendor, and, after she dropped the fruit, the vendor kindly offered to give her another one for free.

My current impression of Costa Rica matches my expectations pretty well. When I was in middle school, my family went on a cruise that visited Mexica, Belize, and Honduras. Those locations didn’t tend to have very extravagant architecture, and most of the buildings were very low to the ground. Still, the weather and environment were beautiful. Thus, I was expecting Costa Rica to be a lot like those places.

In overall, I have had a great start to this program because of my wonderfully welcoming introduction to Costa Rica.