4- 13 Back in San Jose

Whew! What a whirlwind! Its been crazy to be back in San Jose. This morning we had class at LASP at 8:00 to “debrief” from our internships. As I left the house this morning, the sun was shining and I just had to praise God for all He has brought me through and taught me not only in the last few weeks, but throughout this whole semester. All of the Latin American Studies students got together and shared about our experiences, talking about one influential lesson we learned and how our host family and internships went. It was interesting to hear about what everyone else did and it made me want to talk to each of the other students for a few hours to get a fuller understanding of what everyone's been through and what we can learn from it. The internship experiences ranged from fantastic to “challenging,” and I felt like I could relate best to the group in the “challenging” category. It was a little overwhelming trying to explain the experience and what I learned in a few short minutes, and I felt sort of bombarded with the group's response.
We talked a lot about cultural barriers and differences between hospitality standards. Javier, the professor leading the discussion talked about how he has struggled staying with host families when he has traveled to other countries as well. Over lunch I talked with a few other girls more in-depth about their internships and I really enjoyed those conversations. Haleigh and I went downtown for the afternoon in search of ice cream and some sunshine. She and I both had internships in places where its much colder than San Jose, so we were craving the heat. It was great to have time to catch up with her and have some independence for the afternoon.
When I got back to my host family's house, the living/dining room was all set up for a rosary meeting. I had forgotten that they pray the rosary on the 13th of every month in memory of my host mom's dad, so I was surprised but happy to participate. I enjoyed being able to understand most of the conversation and talking to the people who came about my internship.
I'm feeling pretty worn out and excited to get packed up tomorrow after our Cuba orientation. It feels good to be almost done with the semester and to know that in two short weeks I will be on my way home!