Blessed Abundantly

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Sorry for the late blog post I had such a productive weekend I wanted you to hear all about it. Have you ever been a place looked out on the skyline and just felt blessed beyond measure. Well that feeling came over me last night. This weekend was full of new experiences that were funny, troubling, essential, and most importantly rewarding.  So Friday I went the artisan market which is a place full of souvenirs, when I tell you walking in that market is like walking in the lions den. Its one long strip of venders every one wants you in their store, everyone claims to have the lowest price and everyone wants to negotiate with you. One thing I learned is take a list to souvenir place and negotiate like you were born on a episode of shark tank. It was cool because some of the vendors spoke english and we shared a few laughs over negotiations. I spoke to one vendor who had lived in New York and we spoke on the topic of thanksgiving and how he was going to miss the left overs from thanksgiving dinner. That night I went out hoping that I would get some luck and be able to practice my salsa, which I did but I truly had never felt like a true foreigner until then. I went with two young ladies and the place had a lot of people on the dance floor but when we went to dance you would think we were on the dance floor alone. Every one moved away from us like we weren’t welcome so we decided to do the electric slide to their salsa music. Then they wanted to act like they were interested in our dance and started staring at us and even tried to do it. So when in doubt in a different country do the electric slide!

Saturday I went with a friend from the church I attend to a church meeting he was apart which was awesome. i got to meet a whole lot of great people and we even had chifrijo. This is a dish with rice,beans,tomatoes,onions,avocado,pork, and chips all in one. It was phenomenal. Sunday I went to my first ever soccer game and when I say it was like nothing I would have ever expected. In Costa Rica the biggest teams are Suprissa and La Liga. When they play its called the classic, its a rivalry like Yankees and Red Sox. I had bought a Suprissa jersey but I actually like La Ligaโ€™s colors more anyway Suprissa won 2-0 and each time they scored Suprissa fans would go crazy while La Liga fans went crazy hurling curse words and giving middle fingers to all Suprissa players. It was good old friendly hate if thats possible. After the game a friend form my school took me to Heredia where she lives and we went to a bar which looks over the whole provinces of San Jose and Heredia. I was able to see the night lights as we sat and spoke about life. It was a great weekend and experiences that I will cherish for the rest of my life.

Zachary Tanner

Hello, my name is Zachary Phillip Tanner. I am a junior Political Science student at North Carolina A&T State University. I never thought I would study abroad; I was under the impression that anywhere other than America had nothing to offer me. I grew up in Washington D.C and the rising Hispanic population always caught my attention. Realizing that this isnโ€™t a black and white world but a world filled with different kinds of people and culture, I came to the realization that the world outside of America did have something to offer something America couldnโ€™t. I choose to study abroad in Costa Rica because I wanted to go to Latin America and experience the โ€œPura Vidaโ€ life style. I also want to graduate from College fluent in Spanish; being immersed in the Costa Rican environment and culture will surely help my development. After I graduate from college I plan to give back by applying for a teaching position with Teach for America. I want to be an example to my peers and other young adults; showing them that stepping outside the box is extremely cool and being linguistically diverse is possible and rewarding. Studying abroad will give me the opportunity to have that connection with Hispanic students because I will know their native language and I will have experienced a part of their culture. I will be a role model to kids because they will see through me anything is possible. Iโ€™m just achieving my goals as they come.