University of Costa Rica and the movies...

On Wednesday, I went on a field trip to the University of Costa Rica in San Pedro to check out what a public university in Costa Rica looks like as well as to the see the Insect Museum on campus. It was there first week of classes for the trimester, and there was a race, concerts, vendors, etc. all around the campus. The campus is gorgeous, and there were a lot of banana trees, bamboo, a river running through campus, and there are actually wild sloths that live in the trees on campus. We think they may not have been around because of the excess noise. The campus was rather large, and the atmosphere reminded me more of Penn State.

Some of the beautiful scenery at UCR

The insect museum was really cool. Costa Rica, of course, has a large percentage of the world's biodiversity of insects. There was one showcase that just featured metallic insects that live in Costa Rica. They were gorgeous. There were also pictures of some of the effects of diseases caused by insects...I only have about 14 days left and I have not gotten Dengue or Malaria yet...fingers crossed. Actually Malaria is more of a problem in Panama and Nicaragua. It has almost been completely irradicated from Costa Rica, although there are a few cases now and again. The real threat is Dengue or Breakbone Fever. Certain strains can be fatal, but all strains are extremely painful. Where is Dengue most prominent? Right here in downtown San José... of course.

After touring the museum, we walked around the campus some more. About a kilometer off campus, there are athletic facilities including a pool and a large park just for university students (as if the campus itself was not enough of a park). Students at UCR have less general education requirements than most liberal arts schools in the United States. In fact, most universities in Costa Rica are more like technical schools in the States. You learn only what you need to learn to succeed at the job. UCR does have reading, writing, history, and physical education requirements. (Veritas really does not for Tica students)

We were all going to go to a bar that served amazing nachos for lunch, but a couple of people in my group forgot their copies of their passports and could not get in. Even during the day, you need proper ID just to get into a bar (even if you only order food). I cannot even explain how bad it would have been to forget your passport copy in Egypt, but that is another story. So, a few of us went to a different restaurant that did not require IDs and order casadas. Casada means marriage. These dishes are referred to as cansadas because they are the perfect combinations of different types of foods. I order casada arroz con pollo, it included chicken, rice, beans, salad, and plantains. If you are a bit of a picky eater, casadas are perfect because the food is all separated and everything is pretty plain.

Afterwards, some people were going to go out for a while. Emily and I decided to ditch and walk home, even though it was almost an hour walk for me. On the way home, we passed Mall San Pedro and randomly decided to check what movies were playing. We saw that Black Swan was playing, and it was only with Spanish subtitles so we decided to go on a whim. Black Swan was amazing, but really creepy and weird. If it were not so controversial, I am sure it could have won best picture. After the movie, I walked Emily back to her house and walked home to grab my books for my next class.

Of course, I had to walk the whole way back to class...we watched the documentary Armadillo for Documentary appreciation and production. Afterwards, I walked back...this day kind of reminded me of my hike at Santa Rosa. I will be kind of glad to have my car back when I get home, even though I may not have enough money to actually put gas in it...

On Thursday night, after my Tropical Ecology class, Rebecca (the resident director) took us all to see the King's Speech at the VIP lounge theatre for free. I also really liked the King's Speech and I would recommend it.