A little about myself

Hello everyone,

Let me first fill you in on why I am creating a blog.

Since my friends and family care to know what I am up to while I am away I decided to create a blog. I'm hoping my writing skills are more profound than my story telling skills (which lacks much eloquence). This blog will be a personal diary so if it doesn't interest you while you are reading it, that is fine I am not insulted. I'm hoping to write in it often enough so I remember events and can be more descriptive about my adventures.

Okay, a little about what I am studying at Drexel University and why I decided to go abroad.
I am now a sophomore at Drexel University studying "International Area Studies- with a concentration in Global Health and Sustainability", yes that is a mouthful! In my field of study so far I have taken classes that range from Linguistics (the study of how people talk)  to Epidemiology (the study of how epidemics occur and spread). I have really enjoyed the diverse set of classes that my major offers.

In my major it is common to go abroad, even by sophomore year. About 20 students in my major out of 40 will be abroad at some point this year, which is fantastic! I decided I wanted to go abroad early on in the year. My goal is to become fluent in Spanish while in Costa Rica so that when I come back to Drexel I am able to pick up a new language! I also chose to go to Costa Rica because of their devotion to keeping Costa Rica's environment clean and sustainable. Costa Rica also has an impressive and growing health system which I hope to learn about while I am there.

What I will be doing in Costa Rica:

• I will be taking classes for 6 months. For the first 3 months I will take classes from the track called "Environment, Sustainability and Development in Latin America".
• For the next three months I will be taking classes from the track called "Human Rights, Society and Development in Latin America". 
• After my 6 months of schooling I will be completing my first co-op for Drexel in Costa Rica for 5 months (not sure what job I have yet). 

I leave for Costa Rica September 4th and come back for winter break (December and a bit of January), so I hope to see all my friends and family over that time because the next time I return to the states will be mid September of 2014!
Chao!

PS.
The next post will probably occur before I leave for Costa Rica (again) describing the packing process and hectic times of trying to get my Visa.