Placement Tests, Sloths, and Outlet Malls

   Today was my first day to wake up pretty early and head to campus. I arrived at the campus around 8:00 and had an academic orientation (don't cheat, if you fail there is no hope, come to class... blah blah blah). Then, we went on a small tour of the campus. It's a pretty big place and imagine that it is a tropical forest that they built a campus in the middle of it. So, it's absolutely beautiful. I'm talking huge trees, tropical flowers, a waterfall, a small creek, and SLOTHS! These cute little creatures are so important that they are even featured on the money of Costa Rica. Sloths are precious. I mean when have you ever seen a sad sloth? Never. They are completely content with moving at a snails pace and just hanging out in their tree of choice. Anyway here are two pictures from our campus tour.

After the tour we went to a place on campus called the "Casa de Idiomas" to take our placement test. It's sort of pointless though because you are really placed in whatever you want to take. I think it's just a precautionary measure that the school takes so they can say "look we told you that you were not ready to take a high level Spanish and we have your test to prove it." Oh well, I will still be taking Intermediate Spanish II and Composition I starting Monday. After the placement test we went to a different place on campus and had a very delicious lunch provided to us by the MLSA program. Because our day ended early, some fellow study abroad students and I decided to hit up the outlet malls. At first I was really pumped about it. However, once inside I wanted to cry. This place was super closed in, sort of dark, and there were four floors of packed in stores. So, been there done that and don't want to do it again. I know where the food court is in the mall so that's about all I will use it for. After our adventure through hell... I mean the mall... we returned to campus and waited while the rest of the girls went to go see the baby sloth on the opposite end of campus. During our waiting time, we enjoyed the luxury of swinging! Yes. Swinging on a college campus. Take notes colleges of the United States. Swinging is fun no matter what age you are and it's a great way to relax! So here is a picture of me swinging on the beautiful campus of the University of Costa Rica!

   After their sloth adventures we caught the bus home and made it back just before the rain. Tomorrow we will be hiking through the cloud forest on the volcano Poas and will see the top of the volcano and a beautiful waterfall that we can enjoy! I am very excited about it! I will tell you all about it tomorrow night! I am now sitting in my room listening to the rain hit the metal roof outside my window and thinking "Pura Vida." Until tomorrow...