Final post

Hey everyone! This is it for me, I am on my last post of My Costa Rican Adventure. I am currently sitting in Phoenix Airport right now as I wait for my flight home. And the trip is finally starting to feel over. I am excited to go home and see my family and my girlfriend and all my great friends. on my flight home I had a lot of people from veritas with me, including two of my good friends. After we landed 4 of us went and had lunch and hung out and went through security together, then about 20 minutes ago we said goodbye. It was a great relaxed way to end my adventure, with a few friends to help me ease back into the States.

This last week was very busy for me and a lot happened, so I am going to try to hit the highlights without dragging on too much.

Last weekend my friend Sho and I went to Tortuguero, the marshlands/rain forest of Costa Rica. We spent almost all day Saturday and Sunday zipping around the canals there (no roads, only canals) and we got to see a wide variety of wildlife. From crazy cool plants, to alligators, crocodiles, exotic birds from all over North America (they had migrated here) and, the highlight, BABY SEA TURTLES! It was towards the end of hatching season and we found two turtles who couldn't get out of their hole, and we helped them out, washed them off, and took pics with them. Then watched them run to the ocean. for all the pics of out trip you can go here: Tortuguero

The last week of class was fairly easy. We went to the courthouse on Tuesday and sat in on a few court sessions, i only understood about half of what happened, and that was WITH the help of my teacher. Wednesday we had a potluck breakfast, which was a really fun end of class celebration. And then we played a game that helped us identify body parts and actions. And Thursday was the last day of classes. For our final we played a board game where each space was something you had to talk about. My final grade in Advanced Conversation was a 96. Pretty good huh?

Thursday night Mamá Tica made us a traditional Christmas dinner. Complete with Tamales and Champagne. We spent like 2 hours together hanging out, talking and taking some pictures. It was a really great final thing to do with my family. At the bottom will be pics of my family.

Friday was spent packing (sorta). At least I did pack that day, but I mostly just kinda hung around my room, saying I was packing. And this morning I woke up at 4 am (2 am in Portland) and was at the airport by 6 am. Like I said above, the flight was actually pretty good cuz of how many Veritas people were also on the flight with me.

Here are some pics of my family and roommate so that you all know what they looked like. I really feel like they are all my family, and they told me that they feel the same way. I now have family in both the States and Costa Rica. As well as friends all around the country and even Japan. My experience in Costa Rica stretches beyond my new Spanish abilities, I met so many amazing people here who totally blessed my life. I may never see 95% of them again in my life, but I will always remember the 3 months we spent together in Costa Rica. I experience, and became assimilated into, a completely new culture, and I loved it. My friend Jeff told me on Thursday night that "everyone you meet affects you in some way or another and each experience in life teaches you something new about yourself." This experience has been life changing for me and I learned a lot about myself, and I hope I had some good affects on other people, I know they did for me.

My little brother Luis, we called him Luigi.

The whole family. from left: Maria Jose (Majo), Aflredo, Luis, Alfredo, Eugenia.

My roommate Matt from Boone, North Carolina

Thank you all for following my posts and caring for me and praying. I couldn't have survived without all your love.

Vayan con Dios
Nick Culbertson

now get me home!