Week 3: Data Collection, Coconut Water, and Pride!

My third week here in Costa Rica started off strong on Sunday when I went with a group of about 15 students to the Pride march in San Jose! I got up to shower and get ready before breakfast with Ronal and then we got on the bus for the 2.5 hour drive to the city. I accidentally forgot the sign I had made for pride, but that wasn't a big deal. Once in San Jose we met up with a couple of professors and staff from EARTH and headed to the start of the march where we walked for over 2 hours through the streets of the city. Right when the parade ended it started pouring, perfect time to find somewhere for lunch, Ronal and I ended up going to taco bell and siting and resting for a bit. After that we met up with everyone else and we decided we would stop at the mall for an hour before heading back to campus. It was super nice to change up the scenery and see some of San Jose. Some pictures from pride below!

Getting back from pride I planned to go straight to my room and shower then go to bed early but instead got back in time to make the end of dinner with Ronal. Then I ran into Daniela and Noriko and they told me we were going to Cedro, the dorm building where out team is based that also happens to be across campus from ours. We needed to work on pieces for the scenery for our dance since Juegos EARTH is next week already! Then 3 hours later we finally headed back to our dorm and I showered and was in bed no earlier than 11:30pm.

Hand Painted Team Flag!

Then Monday and Tuesday were both pretty slow and I worked on my research paper some, cleaned, hung out with friends (Mateo, Daniela, Noriko mainly), and had dance practice and painting our scenery for the dance.

Working at the library on a stormy day

Then Wednesday came around and it was another data collection and work experience day meaning an early morning. For the first hour of experiencia de trabajo I helped clean the hydroponic tanks as there was an infection and we were draining and cleaning all of it. Then at 7:30-8:00am I did my data collection and can already see some differences in the plants grown in substrate vs soil. After my data collection I spent the rest of the time (until 11:00am) helping harvest, clean, and re set up the hydroponic systems. During our break we shared a pineapple and I chatted with one of the guys that is here for Experience EARTH, a week for perspective students to get a look into life here at the University. The rest of the day was a mix of downtime where I read a lot and then an evening with friends.

My project!

Harvesting some lettuce from the nutrient film technique (NFT) hydroponic system

Thursday was another busy day and I got up with Daniela and we headed to breakfast then got on a bus headed to a solar farm for her renewable energy class. This field trip, though the same 6 hours on a bus, was so much more fun than the last one I went on, the main reason being the people. I luckily already knew a handful of people but even more than that I met so many friendly people and had so many conversations. The whole time while at the solar farm it was pouring so we did all get pretty soaked, but it was still interesting to hear about this plant and see some of the components that helped it run smoothly. One of these is the sheep and cows they have to keep the grass and plants low without having to mow or cut manually. After a good couple of hours there, we loaded back onto the bus and headed back to campus, making a pit stop at a restaurant area where I got some subway, and though nothing fancy it was nice to eat something other that rice and beans! Right when we got back to campus I realized I shouldn't have gotten subway though because my floor of the dorm was doing a chalupada, basically they get the ingredients from the cafeteria and we eat chalupas together to hang out as a floor. It was fun to meet the girls living around me and hear about past bananero parties, and you'll hear more about what that is in the coming weeks. My night didn't end there, I then went to hang out with Ronal for a bit and chat before going back to my dorm for 10 minutes of rest. Then off to Cedro to do some more painting. As you can imagine I was super tired by the end of the night and slept in on Friday.

Solar panels!

Walking back to my dorm at night

Me and Arka

It is now the end of Friday and I had a very slow reset day today. After sleeping in pretty late I hung out in my room and tidied and was going to start some laundry but the University power went out so then I finally started some laundry after having lunch, once the power was back. And from then on 6 hours of my day were scheduled around my laundry... because the first dryer I used did not work, something I realized after 2 cycles, and at that point there were no working dryers available. So then I waited until one was open and it still took around 3 hours for my close to be somewhat dry, meaning I still had to hang some up and hope they somehow dry in this humidity. But anyways after that I went to dinner with Daniela and Noriko then we headed to Cedro and added some of the finishing touches to our signs and scenery. I also learned the two dances I got put in last minute. Now I'm back at my dorm and probably going to bed far too late for having to be up at 5:30 am tomorrow morning.

This next week is going to be packed with activities here at EARTH so I'll have a lot to report in my next blog!