Blog 1: Goals

Goals and personal agenda:
   
     I have many goals and aspirations ragarding this trip.  In the Army I traveled extensively both in the states as well as to many foreign countries, but never for strictly educational purposes.  My goals for this trip are to become conversationally fluent in Spanish, while also educating myself culturally.  My end goal is to complete the necessary classes I need to finalize my graduation.  I also hope to take a photography class for an elective, so I can immerse myself in the landscape of Costa Rica while learning to capture the memories of my trips through photography.  I feel that this will allow me to see some of the less tourist prone locations of the country.  Upon leaving I plan to take trains/buses from Costa Rica north traveling to Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Belize and Mexico.

Feelings about impending journey:

     I am very excited to travel to Costa Rica.  I am very eager to get there and begin discovering what the country holds for me.  I am nervous about my skill level in Spanish not being fluent enough to make basic conversation, but at the same time that drives me to prepare before leaving.  I am a well experienced traveler, especially to countries in which I have never visited before, so rather than "fear" I am experiencing impatience and excitement.  I am pretty anxious to see what the home stay will be like, this will be completely new to me as I usually plan my own lodging.  I think it will be very interesting to stay with a local family and I feel like this will ultimately help improve my Spanish by fully immersing myself in the culture.

3 things to maximize my experience:

     I have so many things I plan to do on this abroad trip!  I am very excited to take a cultural photography class!  I feel that doing this will not only let me experience the hidden gems of the country, but it will also let me document my travels as best as possible.  I am also planning to take part in as many excursions as possible, either with a group or on my own.  I want to travel to the rain forest and spend some time hiking and exploring the nature of the country.  I also plan to attempt backpacking my way back to the United States from Costa Rica and have begun mapping my travels.  Traveling is my passion and if I can find a way to travel back to the states while seeing 5 more countries I will do everything I can to make that happen.