Carly: Final Week in Nosara

       Due to the rapid spread of the coronavirus around the world, my family and I have decided to make this my last week in Nosara. I am incredibly disappointed to have to leave 2 weeks early, but given the way everything in the world is going right now, I think it is the right choice for us.
       As I reflect on this experience, I can't stress enough how amazing of an opportunity it was and how much I feel like my perspectives and values have changed and broadened. If you asked me a year ago, I never would have dreamed that I would be living in a small beach town, but I have thrived here. While I miss my city life, I have loved everything about living in Nosara.
       I have lived a very different life here. I came from a life that was completely busy and scheduled. There were rarely times when I didn't plan ahead what I would do. Here, besides school and work, I have no schedule. My friends and I make plans in the moment. Most of the time, there is nowhere we need to be. Every weekend, we stay out all day, walk everywhere, and just enjoy each others' company.
       I have found a really special group of people here. They were so friendly and welcoming to me, and even though I've only known some of them a month or two, I feel like it has been years. We all click so well together, and they have really made this experience what it was for me.
       School at Del Mar Academy was also an amazing experience. Just like at Post Oak, I have found teachers here that care very deeply about there students, which is beautiful to see. It is fascinating to see how an environment can influence a school, because even though DMA is very similar to Post Oak, there are obvious differences, some of which are just based on the location. Since I have gone to Post Oak for my whole life, it has been very interesting to see how school looks somewhere else, even somewhere pretty similar.
       My primary goal for coming here was to improve my Spanish. I have definitely done this. While my speaking is still not great, my levels of comprehension have spiked very high, especially in the last few weeks. Given a few more months, I think my speaking would catch up to this too.
       I plan to continue working on my Spanish and staying in touch with my friends, and I can't wait until I get to come back!

Carly: Limon Field Trip

       This week, I have been on a field trip with Del Mar to Limón, a province on the caribbean side of Costa Rica. It has been a great trip, and seeing a different part of the country has been amazing! We visited San José, Limón, and Puerto Viejo. There was a lot of history to learn in each place, and Puerto Viejo had amazing nature. We saw tons of animals like sloths, monkeys, snakes, and bats, and also got to snorkel and see stingrays and sharks! This side of the country is much more humid than Nosara. While some of the landscapes look similar, the different wildlife makes it easy to tell the difference.
       This trip was supposed to be for the whole high school, but unfortunately the 11th graders were unable to go. While this was very sad for me as I have been spending most of my time with them, it was also a good opportunity to step outside my comfort zone and become closer with some of my friends in the lower grades. It was also really interesting for me to see how a field trip is run at a different school. Since I have been at Post Oak my whole life, I have gotten very used to the expectations and rules on our field trips as well as the types of activities we do. It was really interesting to see how a different school handles their field trips and what kind of things are important to them.

Carly: Caminando en la Playa

       Hay muchas cosas que me gusta mucho en Nosara. Uno de estos es la opción a caminar a muchos lugares. Yo siento ligera y libre desde puedo ir la mayoría de los lugares en mis pies. Hay muchos caminitos lindos y me gusta mucho explorarlos. También, me gusta caminar en la playa, especialmente durante del atardecer porque es muy linda y hay mucha fauna. Siempre veo monos, iguanas, aves, y muchos otros animales interesantes. Mi otro tiempo favorito a caminar en la playa es después del atardecer. Toda la gente salen la playa, y es pacífica y linda. Mis amigos y yo caminamos mucho en la playa durante la noche. Podemos escuchar las olas en el mar, ver las estrellas, y ver muchos cangrejos en todos partes de la playa. Es muy divertido.

Tomé este fotografía cuando caminaba en la playa durante del atardecer. 

Ayer, vi monos durante de mi camino a casa. 

Carly: Living in the Moment

       Recently, I have been making friends and spending a lot of time with people who don't attend Del Mar. Since Nosara is so small, most of the teenagers who have lived here for a while know each other, even if they go to different schools. Additionally, as schools in the US have started letting out for spring break, several people who used to live here have come to visit. It is amazing to see the joy that their visits bring to all my friends and the excitement beforehand. Since people come and go fairly frequently from Nosara, everyone seems pretty accustomed to it, and it is easy to fall into a rhythm with whoever is here. I think this is one of the reasons why everyone here seems so friendly and welcoming. They are used to making friends fast and then seeing them go. This is kind of sad to think about, but it also means that everyone is living in the moment because they want to enjoy every moment with the people currently around them. Especially in the last few weekends, I have felt myself doing the same. It is an incredible feeling to not be worrying about the future and to just enjoy every moment with everyone around you. I hope that this is something I can bring back with me to Houston and my life in the future. While it is important to think ahead, I think that it is equally important to be able to just enjoy yourself and live life in the moment.

Carly: Me Gusta Mucho Surfear

       Yo he estado surfeando entre 3 y 6 veces cada semana desde llegué en Nosara. Es un deporte divertido, pero es muy difícil. Voy con mis amigos de Del Mar y también he conocido amigos nuevos en el mar. En la semana pasada, finalmente, yo hice  progreso en mis habilidades del surf. No sé que pasó, pero tuve un progreso grande y realmente surfeé bien. Puedo ver porque mis amigos quieren surfear cada día. Es adictivo. Es una manera perfecta para ejercitar, socializar, y refrescarse después de un día largo de escuela.
       La otra cosa que me gusta mucho cuando yo surfeo es para mirar el atardecer. Es hermoso y único cada día, y nunca me canso a mirarlo. Me gusta mucho surfear durante el atardecer porque tan pronto como ya no puedas ver el sol, muchas personas salen y es mas fácil para atrapar olas buenas. También me gusta ser en la playa cuando es oscuro porque es posible para ver incontables estrellas y el Vía Láctea.

Carly: Risk Taking

       I realized recently that I have taken a lot of risks coming to Nosara. Not just physical risks, but  a huge jump outside of my comfort zone for an extended period of time. I keep hearing from different people how impressed they are by me, how scary this all seems, how brave I am to try something like this, and etc. I always just brush it off and say thank you and I just wanted a change in my life. I was so determined to get myself here and find my place that I didn't really reflect on how much of a jump outside my comfort zone this was until recently.
       I have always seen myself as a driven student, but I never saw myself as the exchange student type until this year. Now that I'm here though, I'm so glad that I did it. I feel like my perspective on life has changed forever. For example, I used to be convinced that I could never thrive outside of a big city, but Nosara is a pretty small town, and I'm doing great. I've mentioned this in several previous blogs, but the attitude and lifestyle differences here are also shocking and amazing things for me to see and experience. I hope that I can bring back what I have learned from this experience and share it with those around me for years to come.
       On the topic of risk taking and comfort zones, I have realized recently that one of my big roadblocks of learning Spanish is just trying to speak it and being alright with being uncomfortable. My comprehension is improving drastically, but I'm still having to really push myself to try speaking to people. It's scary to try to communicate in a language you aren't confident in. Thinking about this though, and all the other risk taking I've done on this trip, it should be no problem. In the last month and a half, I've left home, started at a new school, made new friends, moved between two host families, started learning a new (sometimes terrifying) sport, taught voice lessons for the first time, and so much more. Just looking at this list makes it obvious how much I have grown during high school and while I've been here. I have always been a little risk averse, but obviously I have grown to a point where I can push past that. I am thriving on all the new experiences I have had here, and I am so glad my time at Post Oak has helped me grow to this point in my self confidence and individuality.

Carly: Aparentemente Me Gusta Enseñar

       Aparentemente me gusta enseñar, porque yo lo he estado haciendo mucho aquí. Durante las últimas semanas, los Martes, yo he estado ayudando enseñar dos clases del cuarto grado en Del Mar Academy. Ha estado muy divertido y me gusta mucho los alumnos. Algunos están tomando los clases que yo enseñar en el Nosara Performing Arts Academy (NPAA). En uno de los clases en Del Mar, yo ayudo enseñar los estudiantes que no hablan español, y en el otro clase, todos los estudiantes hablan español, entonces ellos están ayudando sumergirme en español como tanto estoy ayudando como su clase.
       Esta semana pasada, en la primera clase, me sentí realmente útil por el primer vez. La maestra necesitó hacer varias cosas a la vez, entonces yo ayudó los alumnos con un proyecto por treinta minutos. Fue un poco difícil porque todos los estudiantes necesitaron ayuda al mismo tiempo, pero fue divertido.
       Esto combinado con las clases en el NPAA me mostraron que me gusta enseñar.