Volcanic Activity (6/6 to 6/12)


6/6 to 6/12

In the past week, I knocked a few things off my bucket list while also significantly improving my Spanish. On Thursday, I gave a ten-minute presentation about myself in Spanish without reading from a paper or PowerPoint. My professor openly admitted that he only heard a few mistakes, but could not identify any sort of pattern of error. On Friday, I gave a presentation about the volcano Turrialba, one of the most active volcanoes in Costa Rica. I enjoyed learning about this, but it was a little worrisome discovering how much danger we are all in because of ticking time bombs like Turrialba and others. Regarding the presentation, I was able to discuss many of the scientific topics and answer questions in Spanish without too many pauses or mistakes. After two days of successful presentations in this language, I was left feeling pretty good about my progress toward conversational fluency. 

After my classmates and I finished presenting, we prepared for our weekend trip to Arenal, another one of Costa Rica's volcanoes. For this excursion, seven friends and I made plans privately, separate from the Institute. We traveled approximately three hours north and stayed in an Airbnb not far from Arenal. For the first night, we spent time together and prepared for the next day. On Saturday, we went zip-lining in a forest. Directly afterward, we walked to an upstream site on a small river flowing through the forest and hopped in small tubes to raft down the river. I fell out of my tube a few times and had some small injuries, but nonetheless, it was very thrilling and environmentally immersive. We then headed back to our Airbnb, cooked up some food, and relaxed. On Sunday, we traveled to La Fortuna to see a waterfall and swim downstream of it. Finally, after a long ride home, I showered and ate dinner with my family. 

Yesterday, Monday, was my first tropical ecology exam, which I think went very well. After the exam, we walked through the garden at the Institute to collect different kinds of seeds, fruit, and flowers. It was amazing to discover how much variety there was just in our small garden. This activity allowed us to gain a much better understanding of how truly diverse the species are in this country. In the afternoon, after my Spanish class, I taught my second weekly English class at the public library. After assessing the students in our introductory class, the other two students and I decided to split them up into two groups: one focused employment based English and one focused on general, fundamental skills. I chose to teach the employment class myself, as I have taken a business course specifically on the employment process (job search, making connections, interview prep, resume prep, cover letter writing, etc.). So, my class Monday was mainly focused on interview prep. I decided that it would be best to do this first because it entails determining personal interests, finding an ideal job, and identifying experience in a certain field. These are all fundamental to the employment process and are not difficult to teach. We made great progress, but ran short on time. For this reason, I decided to schedule a second weekly class on Thursdays. My goal is instill confidence in my students, not just in using English to become employed, but also to express their passion for a career on a personal level. 

Today, I enjoyed a day of no class. I woke up at reasonable time, ate four meals, stayed home, and studied Spanish all day long. I probably should have ran or something, but it felt really good to research topics I have been meaning to study for a while now. I look forward to continuing this after I post this blog. 

Thank you for reading!

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