So you learned about my 1st day, now I'm going to talk about my 1st week. The 1st couple of days were a little slow. I received my luggage the next evening around 6 and at that time I received Internet connection!! WOOHOO!! I was the most happiest girl ever!! I had things from home that comforted me a lot and I could call and email people! :) It was very comforting to be able to settle in my new home! Meeting the parents was very different. In the culture here, the greeting of females to females or males to females are always with a kiss on the cheek. That was very different for me. I didn't realize this was the norm here in Costa Rica until the daughters came home and did the same. In my household, and from what I've seen, the families are very family oriented. When food is served we eat as a family,or whoever is home at that time, we eat at the dinner table. We discuss any events or things that pop to our head that occurred during that day while eating. At home, for me, when dinner is served, we go our separate ways. Speaking of eating!!! Prior to coming here, I had this big fear of not liking the food, but was I wrong!!! The food here is more American than what people! I eat pork, chicken, french fries, salads, sandwiches, etc. Yes, there is a Costa Rican twist to everything, but the point of coming here was to adjust and try new things. I am satisfied highly with everything I'm given, and if I don't care for something, I just say no me gusta mucho (I don't like this a lot). :) The means of traveling here is mainly by bus or by walking. In order for me to get to school, I have to take the bus. Man was this scary for me. I've never taken a bus before and to me, compared to where I live, this city is HUGE! The father took me for my first bus ride and I have to admit, it's still hard getting use to. You have to pay attention to your surroundings at all times so that you know where to get off at. Luckily the dad was with me the 1st couple of days, but the 3rd day I was off to school on my own. After getting off my bus I have to walk a distance, and my 1st bus ride alone I thought I was lost.. YIKES!! I was forced to approach a stranger and ask for directions. Of course I had no idea what the girl said, but from her sign language I figured it out and found out I wasn't really lost, just couldn't remember where I was! Hahaha I made it to school on my own the 1st week riding the same bus to school and back home with no problems. Classes began on a Monday and beginning the class the teacher immediately got into speaking Spanish! WHOA! What was I getting myself into? After being into the class for about 30minutes, I relaxed a little and started realizing, "hey, I know more than I thought I did. This may not be so bad after all." For the first week, it was a little hard for me because I was surround by a lot of strange people and in another country. I was very slow at meeting people at first so I went home immediately after classes to study Spanish and more Spanish. Slowly, as days passed, I began to be more comfortable with people around me. Though I was starting to become comfortable with people, I was still not comfortable with my surroundings and exploring on my own as others were doing. Like I said before, I'm from a very small town and this place was huge to me. Big city with my poor communication skills didn't go well together so I spent my 1st week back and forth between home and school. Sounds pretty boring, but I learned more in each day than I would've learned in a semester at home and that part alone was exciting. The fun comes soon!
Leaving everyone I loved was the most difficult thing I had to do in my life. I mean 4 months at a time does not seem very, but to me it seems like forever. August 18th was definitely the day that I will never forget. It will be hard to forget how nervous I was when I stepped off the plane in San Jose Costa Rica at 1:35pm that day. This was my 1st time flying, my first time going to a different country, my 1st time losing my luggage (what were the odds I said), and my 1st time being around people where I didn’t know one person and didn’t understand anything that was said. How scary was that?? Well honestly in my opinion, everything went smooth! I didn’t panic when I found out my luggage wasn’t there. I had a girl who has studied abroad before stick by my side for a little who talked me throug
h some things and gave me important information. I guess I got lucky. I didn’t panic when I didn’t know what the parents were saying at dinner, but I must admit the panicking came a little later. Well, not really panicking, but a state of being lonely came that evening. I was told that we didn’t have internet at the time where I was staying, and it wasn’t like I could easily pick up the phone to call home and talk for hours about what has happened so far. So I didn’t have luggage, no internet, no form of real communication, and no true understanding of the parents. Well guess what, I cried! For a whole 5minutes I cried my eyes out, but the rest of the evening I was teary eyed and went to sleep. (lol) Before I came I was warned of culture shock. I think that was my biggest portion of culture shock because everything else came to me ok. I didn’t panic when I saw how different things were here. The things I thought about on the taxi ride home was wow, things are so condensed here. Where are the road signs? Where are the stop lights/stop signs? Where are all the stores? Wow, people drive crazy here. The air is really dirty, and WOW there is a lot of construction. So many things going through my head, but I kept my cool. This was only the 1st ten minutes into a new country so I had to be patient and not be so judgmental about things. I had to be open-minded and not crawl into a corner and hide because I was not use to these things. This was my 1st day and you might think how did I do it. Well simple, because there was no turning back after getting on the plane in Charlotte NC. Hahaha.. I got on the plane saying I’m actually going to do this and got off the plane saying I’m here and Costa Rica bound! No turning back!!!
Day before flight. Day before the biggest change of my life. Where do I begin? Well, lets start with the official "yes I'm going to study abroad." November 2009, I committed myself to what will make my life here on out. I never thought I would make such a decision. I mean, I have a family, why leave? Why? Well, this is why... to better myself, to get out of my comfort zone so that I can learn to face fears in my future, so that I can say I’ve done something a lot of people will never get the opportunity to do, so i can be different, so i can learn that there is life outside of me. Some say I’m crazy and some say that what I’m doing is pointless, but I say I’m committed to 
have a better life than most. One other thing I can say… I WAS SCARED. I’m going miles out of comfort zone and I had every right to be, but leaving out that zone was not my only fear. The fear was leaving behind loved ones and things in fear that it won’t be the same when I return. Lets think logically here, duh-things are never bound to remain the same, but I’m still faced this leave. Many thoughts were going through my head, so many words like what if I don’t fit in, what if I never pick up the language, what if, what if, what if? Urgggghhh. I think my ultimate fear was not being understood when in time of an emergency or getting lost. That was my biggest worry. Every one who has been tells me “don’t worry, you will be fine,” but seriously how can I not? I’ve never flew before and here I am hopping on a four hour flight AND going to a country where I don’t know the language. What is there not to freak out about? It’s funny when thought about, but I’m doing it. You only have one life to live, make the best of it and I plan on it. So here it was since November until now I’ve been anticipating the day that I take the hugest step of my life. It’s the night before my flight and I’m inspired to write down every experience, feeling, emotion, etc that happens starting now. Someone else will face what I face now and I want to be a living testimony. Did I mention I was nervous as crap?? Hahaha. I Could’t sleep with thought running through my mind. All summer I’ve been putting thoughts together. What should I bring? What will be my goals? What will I do when I come back? All these things are guaranteed to cross the mind. Question #1. What should I bring, answer: not everything could come Hahahaha. The day before my flight someone special, who has traveled abroad before, told me “bring anything that makes you at ease when stress levels rise” and that for me was my Mp3 player (music). The best advice I was given because I’m sure times like that will occur. Question #2. What are my goals, answer: LEARN!! Take everything learned and take with me in the future. Of course that’s not my only goal though. I want to change as a person mentally, emotionally, and physically. I want to adapt to a different culture and make their habits my own so that I can say change in lifestyle is possible. Question 3: What will I do when I come back? Answer: I DON’T KNOW!! There were sacrifices that came with this decision, no car, no phone, no job. Basically coming back with the same thing I had to leave with. Sacrifices must be made, and determination will have to become stronger when returning because starting over is a definite. This is a new chapter in my life, and coming back will be another, and becoming successful will be the ultimate!!
Hello Friends,
My name is Ashley Nicole Tingle. I am currently a senior at Coker College in Hartsville, South Carolina. I am majoring in Psychology and planning to make Spanish my 2nd major. I am 21 years old and I have faced some very challenging things in my life making me the person I am today. I am very hardworking, ambitious, open minded, and an all around fun person. At home, I work and go to school full time. Things haven't always been easy for me. I've had to work ten times hard than the person beside and had to keep a smile on my face at the same time. My freshmen year of college I lost my scholarship due to a lot of problems at that time and ever since I've been struggling to get by in school, but here I am going to Costa Rica. How? Well entering Coker I declared my major in Physical Education and I can't say that was the best decision for me. I struggled for three years in that field until I decided to change my major. I changed my major last semester of my junior year. Yes, it sounds crazy, but believe it or not without studying abroad I would graduate on time, but I decided to extend my education a year and go for more instead of settling due to inspiration from my professors at school. Now I'm focusing on two majors and I'm striving for everything I can get. I never had things handed to me. I've always had to work for them, so here I am in Costa Rica and I'm working even harder! Me on my own, no help, no person guiding me along the way. JUST ME!! BUT, I'm happier than I''ve ever been! I honestly feel that this is the best decision I could have ever made in my life. How many people can say that they have done what I'm doing? Not many, but you can. :)
So you learned about my 1st day, now I'm going to talk about my 1st week. The 1st couple of days were a little slow. I received my luggage the next evening around 6 and at that time I received Internet connection!! WOOHOO!! I was the most happiest girl ever!! I had things from home that comforted me a lot and I could call and email people! :) It was very comforting to be able to settle in my new home! Meeting the parents was very different. In the culture here, the greeting of females to females or males to females are always with a kiss on the cheek. That was very different for me. I didn't realize this was the norm here in Costa Rica until the daughters came home and did the same. In my household, and from what I've seen, the families are very family oriented. When food is served we eat as a family,or whoever is home at that time, we eat at the dinner table. We discuss any events or things that pop to our head that occurred during that day while eating. At home, for me, when dinner is served, we go our separate ways. Speaking of eating!!! Prior to coming here, I had this big fear of not liking the food, but was I wrong!!! The food here is more American than what people! I eat pork, chicken, french fries, salads, sandwiches, etc. Yes, there is a Costa Rican twist to everything, but the point of coming here was to adjust and try new things. I am satisfied highly with everything I'm given, and if I don't care for something, I just say no me gusta mucho (I don't like this a lot). :) The means of traveling here is mainly by bus or by walking. In order for me to get to school, I have to take the bus. Man was this scary for me. I've never taken a bus before and to me, compared to where I live, this city is HUGE! The father took me for my first bus ride and I have to admit, it's still hard getting use to. You have to pay attention to your surroundings at all times so that you know where to get off at. Luckily the dad was with me the 1st couple of days, but the 3rd day I was off to school on my own. After getting off my bus I have to walk a distance, and my 1st bus ride alone I thought I was lost.. YIKES!! I was forced to approach a stranger and ask for directions. Of course I had no idea what the girl said, but from her sign language I figured it out and found out I wasn't really lost, just couldn't remember where I was! Hahaha I made it to school on my own the 1st week riding the same bus to school and back home with no problems. Classes began on a Monday and beginning the class the teacher immediately got into speaking Spanish! WHOA! What was I getting myself into? After being into the class for about 30minutes, I relaxed a little and started realizing, "hey, I know more than I thought I did. This may not be so bad after all." For the first week, it was a little hard for me because I was surround by a lot of strange people and in another country. I was very slow at meeting people at first so I went home immediately after classes to study Spanish and more Spanish. Slowly, as days passed, I began to be more comfortable with people around me. Though I was starting to become comfortable with people, I was still not comfortable with my surroundings and exploring on my own as others were doing. Like I said before, I'm from a very small town and this place was huge to me. Big city with my poor communication skills didn't go well together so I spent my 1st week back and forth between home and school. Sounds pretty boring, but I learned more in each day than I would've learned in a semester at home and that part alone was exciting. The fun comes soon!
