Hey hey. I feel slightly obnoxious, what with this being my third entry of the day, but it's whatever. Let me tell you about the night I had. I'll start with dinner, which consisted of beans and rice (of course), delicious chicken, salad, veggies, and the most delicious banana bread I have had in my life (besides yours, momma). But the food was completely overshadowed by the company. Tonight, Abby, Cayman, and I sat by Dean and his wife, Kathy. Love them! He wants to have us over for "high tea" tomorrow. He is freaking hysterical, and she is probably the sweetest woman ever. After dinner, I had a cup of fresh coffee- black (yes I am awesome). Then, we went on a night hike. Sarah #1 (there are three Sarahs here, and I happened to be the last to arrive so I am "Sarah #3," but do not worry I am planning my coup d'etat so that I may be given the title I deserve) led Abby, Ann, Dean, Kathy, the Holland couple, and me through the forest. We saw so so many leaf cutter ants. They were just going nuts getting leaves to grow their fungus with. There are about 9 million leaf cutter ants per colony, and we saw 2 or 3 different colonies on our hike. We also saw a fatty spider and some really cool plants and trees. My favorite was the swiss cheese plant, which is a vine that has all these leaves with holes in them. There are three theories for why the holes are there: to let sun shine through, to protect from the wind, and to fool insects into thinking that the leaves have already been chewed. Some fun facts: all bugs are insects, but not all insects are bugs. The stars here are BEAUTIFUL! Also my bug bites now have white rings around the fat pink splotches around the teensy red dots. Sweet. I have pics. And one last one: the showers are strongly lacking in the hot water department. They aren't cold like Jamaica showers cold, but they aren't warm by any stretch of the imagination. Apparently the women's public bathroom has really hot water for showers, so I will save that for when I really need it. Who am I kidding? I will probably "need" it before the week's over. Okay I have some homework to tend to, so that's all she wrote. And the wifi still is not working, so I'm sorry for those who have been desperately anxious to hear from me. I will post as soon as possible!

peace love and dean rojek.

I am absolutely exhausted. I thought we got to siesta here. What the heck.

Also my bug bites are growing. The pink part, not the red dots. They are getting grosser by the hours. I feel like the hardcore is wearing off..

I ate a guava from a tree before my last class. It was weird. It's like the texture of a not-quite-ripened pear. Sort of dry-tasting. I kind of liked it, though. This woman who works on campus showed us how to pick the ones that are green with a touch of yellow, and instructed us not to eat the pink middle because that's where the bugs are. And yes I did keep eating it after she said the bit about the bugs. It's fine.

This morning we came across a fat cluster of caterpillar-looking things that actually turned out to be beetles. It was so bizarre- they were all intertwined and moved together in their little clump. Then, when they feel a vibration, they all immediately freeze up as a unit. Apparently, they move together to make themselves appear to be a bigger creature to ward off predators, and then they stop when they feel any potential predators nearby. I took a video of it on my camera, but it's pretty unlikely that I will be able to post a video with the internet here.

It's been really cold today. I just put on my fleece because I can't take it anymore. It didn't rain so much today, though. I mean it rained but I was expecting more. So woo woo. But in case you were wondering, it is still outrageously beautiful even in the rain.

Today was the first day of classes. After lunch, I had Environmental Sociology with Dean, then Spanish with Carla, and I just finished up English with Jeff. Sociology is my biggest class. There are 5 of us in there. Then Spanish is one-on-one, and English is me, Cayman, and Ann. My Spanish class was basically tea with Carla, with friendly getting to know you chit-chat that happened to be spoken in [broken] Spanish. We take off our shoes to go into the classrooms here, so I spent most my classes being barefoot. I think all UGA courses should be like the classes here: ridiculously small, no shoes allowed, and professors are addressed by their first name. But that's just me.

There is a couple on campus from Holland. I got to chat with them a bit between classes. They are just in Costa Rica for three weeks on vacay. They speak no Spanish, and tried backpacking but it didn't work out. It was taking too long to get from place to place or something. But anyways the moral of the story is our campus houses anyone who wants to come stay here. So you should come visit me.

It's about time for dinner, and I know it's going to be incredible. I'll let you know what we ate later so you can envy me.

peace love and bug bites.

Que pasa kilebasas? I'm sitting at the student union waiting for lunch to be served. This morning I was woken by a cow at like 6. It was cute. Then there were these super obnoxious birds that were screaming their heads off. Not so cute. They were so loud we thought they were monkeys. So around 7 I got out of bed and readied myself for the day. I put on my awesome hiking boots, shorts, and all my water-resistant gear, and headed over to the comedor for breakfast. Breakfast did not disappoint. We had fresh fruits from the campus botanical garden, fresh coffee, rice and beans, ham and eggs, and plantains. Deliciousness. Then we had a campus tour and basic run-down of how we live here. Before going, we staked claim on rain boots in preparation for the muddy trails on our walk, and I got the coolest pair. There is a skull and crossbones on the left boot. It's really hardcore, like me. And I added my own touch to them with my hot pink duct tape. It's okay if you're jealous. At 10, we went on a walk through the botanical gardens with Lucas, the sexy garden man. He was so sweet. For every student that comes to campus, 10 trees are planted as part of the reforestation efforts that UGA does here, and Lucas was going on about how he cares for each and every one of those trees and how no tree is ever lost to him. Presh. Then after a walk around the garden we headed back to our bungalows, where I realized what a mistake it was to wear shorts today. I have around 20 bug bites all over the backs of my legs, and I put on bug spray this morning! They are these weird bites that are like a really teensy red dot surrounded by pink splotchiness. Just another level of hardcore for me.

Whatever. I think they are finally going to feed us. So chadios for now.

peace love and good morning moos.

and HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRIS HELLMANN! don't die.