Hello everyone! It has been a busy couple of weeks, so I haven't had time to post anything. Therefore, this one will be long. Enjoy!

The weekend before last, my friends and I went to Las Musas, the first waterfalls that I have seen in Costa Rica. We hiked around and swam in the pools at the base of the falls. It was very relaxing. That night we went to a discoteca for the first time in San Ramon. We did a lot of dancing, and met a few locals our age. I'm starting to make some Costa Rican friends, which I am excited about. I will be able to practice my Spanish a lot.

(above: my friends Molly, Casie, Travis, and Sarah)

Last week was exciting for me. I got a surprise (almost) visit from my brother Lauren. He called me on Sunday to tell me he would be arriving in San Ramon on Tuesday! It was a really short visit (less than a week), but it was great to see him and have him see the country where I am living. We spent a little bit of time in San Ramon, and then he took me to the Arenal volcano and Tabacon, a really nice hot springs resort nearby. It was wonderful. We also saw a bunch of Coatis (pictured below), a local animal related to the racoon. They were adorable, and not afraid of us at all. They just wanted food. Then he did a little exploring on his own.

This last weekend was my firt field study course for Tropical Ecology. My fellow classmates, three professors, and I (13 of us) went to Santa Rosa national park. It is in the northern part of the country, on the Pacific Ocean. It is very close to Nicaragua. It was beautiful! It is very interesting and rewarding to learn about an ecosystem and then actually be able to go out in the field and see it with your own eyes. I am glad I am fortunate enough to be studying ecology here. We did several field projects during our stay. One was an insect study where we set up flood lights in two locations (a disturbed area and a pristine area) and studied the bugs that were present. As you can imagine, there were some really big ones. It was fascinating, however. The other thing we got to do was go snorkeling in the park. There were tons of tropical fish, and we got to see two eagle rays (the blue ones with white spots). They circled around underneath us for a while. They were my favorite thing of the whole weekend. We also got to see a lot of monkeys, a sea snake, a vested anteater, and even a whale (from really far away). We were also able to relax a little on the most beautiful beach I've ever seen. It was in the park, so it wasn't very crowded and was more secluded. It was a great weekend!

(third picture: Me with my friend Morgan on the snorkeling trip)