Costa Rica & Week 1 of Grad School

It has been one month since I've written a real post. Here's what I've been up to:

Costa Rica

I spent 10 days in Costa Rica. It was probably the most amazing place I have ever been. After arriving in San Jose, we rode from the San Jose airport to the Quetzal Education Research Center (QERC) located in San Gerardo de Dota in the rain forest. It took several hours to get to San Gerardo since we had to ascend 10,000 ft to the top of a mountain and then descend 3,000 ft into the valley. We spent two nights at QERC taking in the rain forest and relaxing. We ate dinner at Savegre Mountain Hotel, located next door to QERC and hiked in the rain forest.

After QERC, we spent the next four nights at Reserva Conchal in Playa Conchal in the region of Guanacaste. We stayed in a villa with a private pool and view of the pacific ocean. Staying at Reserva Conchal was the most extravagant experience I've ever had. The people were incredibly nice and the accommodations were unbelievable. My days consisted of waking up shortly after sunrise, reading by the pool (picture of pool to the left), walking by the ocean, eating breakfast at the beach club, and going out to dinner. Talk about living the life.

After leaving Reserva Conchal, we spent two nights in Arenal at Volcano Lodge. All rooms had a back porch that faced the volcano, second picture on page is the tip of Arenal on a cloudy day. Our first night in Arenal we visited Baldi Hot Springs, something I was glad to have experienced but something I wouldn't do again. By this point in the trip I was pretty worn out, missing Sam, and starting to feel a little anxious about getting settled in at my new apartment in grads school so I didn't participate in the hike up the volcano trail. I did however zip line at the Arenal Ecoglide Canopy Tour. Zip lining, at first, was the most terrifying thing I have ever done. But, after half way through it became really fun and I would do it again in a heartbeat. Arenal was nearly as beautiful as San Gerardo.

Moved in to a new apartment

After returning from Costa Rica, I finally finished moving into my new apartment. This effort required a multitude of efforts including help from Sam, my grandparents, my mom, my roommate (thanks Kendall!) and my friend Heidi. With their help, my bedroom now has two dressers, a desk,and a queen size mattress on a new frame (that Kendall helped me to assemble). As if I hadn't packed, unpacked, and moved enough heavy things by this point, I then decided it would be a good idea to buy a small used deep freezer.

Bought a deep freezer (yes, this deserves its own header)

So, my roommate and I find a 5 cubic foot deep freezer on craigslist and manage to set up a date and time that we will pick it up. My roommate was driving a loaner car at the time that is bigger than both of our cars so we figured it would fit in the back seat. We arrived at the lady's apartment, gave her the money, and with her help, lugged the freezer down three flights of stairs to our car. And then the freezer did. not. fit. Plus, it was heavy. HEAVY. I still have battle wounds (bruises) from carrying this thing. We were trying to figure out what to do, and none of the options were desirable and all included carrying the freezer back UP three flights of stairs. Thankfully, a couple living next door returned home from work and the husband put the freezer in his pickup truck and drove it to our apartment and helped us carry it to the second floor. Good samaritans do exist!

Survived first week of graduate school

My first day of graduate school was last Monday. I have my own desk in a gang office, a mailbox, a department e-mail, and a biweekly paycheck! So far my workload is fine, though reading Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations does make me want to take a nap. I really like my cohort; they're a great group of people who I'm pretty sure I won't mind spending the inevitable hours on end of studying with. It's hard to grasp the idea that I'm at the very beginning of a five year program. It's overwhelming to think about all of the work that's ahead of me, so I don't. It's been easier to get back into the school mentality than I thought, but it was also a relatively easy week.

Costa Rica Pictures

Pictures from my Costa Rica trip can be viewed here or on my facebook page. Enjoy!

Goodbye, Philadelphia

I have officially moved out of Philadelphia. I signed my lease and moved half of my things into my new apartment in Maryland on Saturday and said goodbye to my roommates on Sunday. I have been staying at Sam's since Sunday evening and will stay until I go to Costa Rica. After spending the past 14 months living and working in Philadelphia, it feels like I'm merely away for a few days and that I'll be returning soon. I've always struggled a little with change, so even though I'm looking forward to living in Maryland and starting grad school this fall I can't say that I'm anxiety-free either.

I have learned so much in the 14 months that I have been out of college. I gained a better understanding of my own strengths and limitations, how to be more fair and level-headed in a variety of unpleasant situations, and faced plenty of interpersonal challenges throughout the year. I know that I don't particularly enjoy working with 7th and 8th graders (who, by the way, seem and act much older than 11-13 years old!) and that social work isn't my calling. I was reminded time and again that some things and people never change.

Three days from now I will be in Costa Rica. Part of me still doesn't believe I'm going and the other part of me is kicking myself for allowing myself to spend so much money that I don't really have. When I decided to go, I told myself that it was a great opportunity that I shouldn't pass up as it is both a reward for finishing a year of volunteering and one last adventure before starting school all over again which, by the way, is coming all too soon. But until then, I'm going to be spending my time on beaches, at swim-up bars, viewing active volcanoes, eating delicious food, maybe splurging on a massage, and maybe zip-lining over a jungle. Speaking of zip-lining, perhaps I'll add that to my bucket list now.

No, I Will Not Watch The Secret with You

Today I had the unfortunate and very unpleasant experience of sitting through a "seminar" led by Lee Brower. The summer day camp that I am working at invited Mr. Brower to be a guest speaker on Teen Empowerment. When the campers realized that they had to forgo regular camp activities to listen to the guy featured in the film The Secret, they were less than thrilled. "It won't be so bad," I told them. "I'm sure he'll be really interesting, besides, it'll be over before you know it." Turns out, I was wrong on both accounts.

The "seminar"* started at 9:30am, stopped at 12:30 for lunch, and resumed around 1:15. The assembly finally ended around 3:15, thus making the kids late to board their buses home, something I'm especially bitter about since I am a bus monitor and got home about 20 minutes later than I should have, but I digress. Please keep in mind that the summer camp I'm working at is a camp for at-risk, low-income urban youth. The campers required to attend today's assembly ranged from 7th-10th graders. These kids did not have the attention span for what was being said, let alone that they couldn't care less to begin with. In all fairness, I felt nearly the same way.

Though I spent all day in the assembly, I can't really tell you what Mr. Brower talked about today. I remember nearly nothing from the morning except that we had to break up into groups of four and take turns being told by the rest of the people in the circle what they saw for you in the future. For example, "I see for you a wonderful summer," or "I see you graduating high school." Three hours, and that's about all I remember. Somehow I made it through both high school and college with decent grades, yet I took nothing away from three hours of someone speaking. I'm pretty sure it's not my fault.

After lunch, Mr. Brower spent two hours explaining to the group that "there is no such thing as low self esteem." To prove this point, he asked the audience to think of babies who are between 1-4 years old and list their characteristics. The characteristics included trusting, loved, curious, fearless, innocent, etc. Since we were all born with these characteristics, then we also once had a high level of self esteem. Then, at some point someone came along and broke our trust and said mean things to us and our self-esteem became covered by negative thoughts (he called this "junk") and so then we start to wear a mask. To demonstrate his point, he poured Coca Cola into a pitcher (Coca Cola because they used to have some slogan about being "the real thing"), poured vegetable oil on top to represent the "junk," and then sprinkled glitter on top of all of that to symbolize the mask that we all wear to hide the "junk" that we feel and that brings us down. Umm, what?

Much of the reason it took two hours to talk about the falsity of low self esteem is because we had to partner up and do several little exercises. For example, you would have to ask your partner "Who are you?" over and over again, and each time they would have to answer differently. So, "I'm a girl," "I'm an athlete," "I'm a good friend," etc. Other exercises included "What do you want other people to see you as?" and "Who are you really?" At the end of the day, everyone got to shake Mr. Brower's hand as he gave each and every camper their very own Lee Brower Gratitude Rock.

Curiosity got the best of me and I decided to figure out exactly what Mr. Brower's credentials are that gave him the authority to speak on the topic of teen empowerment. According to his website, he is "a multigenerational wealth expert" and "a noted authority on helping prestigious families create enduring legacies that flourish generation after generation, he is also an accomplished teacher and mentor for entrepreneurs and CEOs." Most importantly,"he was featured in the blockbuster book and film The Secret, where he shares invaluable insights about gratitude and other tools to success. "

It all makes total sense! A man whose claim to fame is being a multigenerational wealth expert who helps prestigious families create legacies is the perfect person to teach impoverished urban youth about self esteem and empowerment!!! What a total and absurd waste of a day.


*I have seminar in quotes because I have no idea what to really call the five hours of Lee Brower's rambling. Perhaps I will just go with assembly instead.

Time to Breathe

Three weeks ago I had so much free time that I was getting anxious and bored. I didn't know what to do with myself; I didn't even want to read anymore. Two weddings (in attendance as a guest at one and a bridesmaid at the other), a weekend at Sam's, a trip to my new apartment in Maryland, my first week of work at the summer camp, and spending the long 4th of July weekend with Sam in Philadelphia later, I'm exhausted. Though I'm exhausted, this type of zero-to-sixty lifestyle is not unusual for me and it seems that when things in my life pick up, they go at full throttle and when things in my life slow down, they come to a sudden halt. I've barely had time to breathe up until this weekend, which will be over when I head to bed in about an hour. But first, I'll provide a quick recap of these past few weeks.

Amanda, a good friend with whom I had spent several weeks with at church camp over the years, got married on June 20. That weekend I stayed at Sam's and we attended the wedding together. It rained nearly all day, but things went really well and I was happy to be able to go. Her reception was at a beautiful venue and the theme was unique.

The following Monday, I drove to Maryland to meet my future roommate in person and also to sign my lease. Unfortunately, my lease was not drafted and my original application had been lost, forcing me to submit an entirely new application. Though I'm not moving into my next apartment until early August, the lease was supposed to start July 1 and I still haven't signed a lease. This has been frustrating, to say the least.

The following weekend I had the honor of being a bridesmaid in the wedding of one of my best friends. It was a busy weekend - bachelorette party Thursday night, rehearsal and rehearsal dinner Friday night, and the wedding on Saturday. While I had a lot of fun participating in all of these activities, I'm not so sure that I would want to do all of those things when I get married. But Neysa wanted all of those things, and man, did they turn out wonderfully. It was an opportunity that I'm glad to have experienced. In fact, I joked about how I was living vicariously through Neysa's wedding activities since I would rather elope and get married in Hawaii or something.

Sunday I left Lock Haven to return to Philadelphia, stopping briefly for dinner with Sam. Monday marked my first day of 5 weeks at a day camp. In addition to being a camp counselor at the day camp, I signed up to be a bus monitor on the bus that picks up campers in the Northwest region of Philadelphia. My days start at about 7:05am when I board the bus and end around 5:15pm when I depart the bus. The only positive to these 10 hour days is the 2 hours of overtime each day. Otherwise, the job is pretty difficult. I'm working with at-risk, inner-city youth who are going into the 7th and 8th grades. It's a terrible age group to work with without the aggravating circumstances of poverty, crime, absent parents, etc. A big part of me is hoping that the rest of the summer improves and that the first week is the hardest because the campers are getting to know new faces. I'm not holding my breath.

The long weekend was a welcomed and necessary break for me after the first week of working at camp. Sam and I went out for a delicious breakfast at Sabrina's in South Philly. I ordered the red, white, and blue stuffed french toast - DELICIOUS but mammoth-sized. We laid around and read a lot, drank Dogfish Head Festina Peche beer, and just relaxed. We didn't even leave the house for fireworks, instead we watched them on TV. This weekend was how life should always be.

I Love my Autonomy

Being temporarily unemployed is awesome. I love being able to go where I want and do what I want on my own time without the constraints of a scheduled job. Things I have been doing now that I have so much free time (but still limited resources) include:

• Reading. A lot. Staying up until 3 am to finish a book is even better. I've learned that I'm a big Wally Lamb fan after I read three of his novels in a row. My latest novel is The Idiot, which just so happens to be written by Dostoevsky. If I read it cover to cover, I will be able to cross it off of my bucket list!
  
• Cleaning. This one isn't so exciting, but I do enjoy clean and uncluttered living spaces.
  
• Exercising. Okay, I'm just as infrequent with exercising now as I was when I had less time, but I've had a cold! However, over the weekend I went on a bike ride with Sam on a rails to trails path. It was rather relaxing. Also, we went to Hershey Park yesterday and were on our feet and walking around for 10 hours, so that has to count for something.
  
• Sleeping in, probably because I like to stay up until 3 am to finish books. Plus, I love to sleep.
  
• Going on weekend excursions - Hershey Park, Knoebels, long weekends at Sam's house, visiting Laurel in Maryland, etc. Sam and I went to Hershey Park yesterday and it was so much fun. The weather was perfect and since we went on a Monday, the park wasn't overly crowded and the lines got shorter and shorter as the day went on. We rode my favorite roller coaster, The Great Bear, six times. I've been to Hershey Park on days when the ride for The Great Bear is nearly two hours, we were waiting less than 10 minutes toward the end of the day. The most amazing part about the day though: we didn't eat any chocolate - this feat itself has to count as exercise.
  

I think one of the things I've missed most about college is my autonomy and the freedom to work on my own schedule. It's definitely one of the things I'm looking forward to when I go back to school, though I know that my self-discipline will need some work. But for now, I'm simply enjoying all of the things listed above.

Because I Love to be Amused

Visiting amusement parks make me happy. Yesterday Sam and I joined my grandfather for his company picnic at Knoebels Amusement Park. There aren't many "thrill rides," but the quaintness and richness in history really make it an enjoyable excursion. I also appreciate that Knoebels is located in a rural area, making for a scenic drive. Unfortunately, yesterday was a particularly busy day so Sam and I only rode The Phoenix once because by the time we finished going through the Knoebels History Museum, Mining Museum, and the Bald Eagle Habitat the lines had gotten too long to bother. It was worth it, though, because I think that the eagles were one of my favorite parts of the day.

The bald eagle habitat had two eagles named Henry and Hattie after the founders of Knoebels. Henry and Hattie were rescued from Florida after they flew into a live wire; Henry lost half of a wing and Hattie lost a whole wing. I learned that Eagles mate for life and Henry and Hattie were likely mates before being rescued. In the picture below, Hattie is the larger eagle on the left.

Next stop: Hershey Park, the happiest place on earth; Sam and I are going this coming Friday.

Overdue Part 3: Unemployed (Yay!)

My last day serving as a full-time volunteer at the shelter was Wednesday, May 27. To celebrate Colleen's and my completion of volunteering we went to El Azteca, a Mexican restaurant with great food, huge portions, and kick ass margaritas (you provide the tequila because it's BYOB). At 6:30pm we all piled into the Servant Year van and headed toward Center City via I-76 (the Schuylkill Expressway). As we were driving slowly in the left lane merging into traffic, the van lost power and stopped. In the left lane. On I-76. At rush hour. Other drivers beeped at us and gave us the finger, as if our only purpose in life was to stop in the left lane on I-76 at rush hour. Eventually a state trooper pulled in behind us, another blocked off the other two lanes of traffic, and we were pushed to the other side of the road where we were no longer in traffic. Overall it was a horrible experience; the state trooper was rude to us and treated us like criminals instead of like four women in an emergency situation, but we all remained safe and unharmed.

When we finally got to El Azteca we had a good enough time given the circumstances of just having broken down on I-76 and having our cars broken into only a few days prior. I had the jumbo shrimp quesadilla and a couple of margaritas. The cheese dip is also pretty amazing there. And I learned something new about iPhones that night: they are not waterproof, so do not drop them in a glass of water when you meant to drop your waterproof camera.

So, as of May 27th I am unemployed until June 29th, though I use the term loosely because I have work lined up. I have not had this much time off in several years, and I am filling my calendar with as much as I can this month while spending the interim relaxing and reading for pleasure, a privilege I will lose once school starts again.