First of all, here are some general observations I've made thus far about Heredia:

1. There are no rules for driving, except for this one: It doesn't matter whose turn it is--the bigger vehicle always gets the right of way. Trucks will just pull out into oncoming traffic because they know they have the power!
2. There is an odd, overwhelming abundance of stores to make copies at. Still not quite sure why that is.
3. The view is beautiful. I wish I got to wake up and see these mountains and hills every day.
4. People here are generally much nicer than people in the States. I like that.
5. Umbrellas and rain jackets are 100% necessary EVERY DAY or you will suffer the consequences--I learned this quickly!
6. There are dogs EVERYWHERE, both as pets and strays. In my opinion, this city needs more cats.
7. Sleeping in is virtually impossible here. I pretty much wake up at 6 a.m. every day because of dogs barking, cars honking, people yelling, and alarms going off. Twice now I've even heard a car driving up and down the road saying something into a loudspeaker. So weird! It's not too bad though--I don't want to sleep the day away anyways!

So, yesterday five of us girls from USAC thought it would be fun to take a spontaneous trip to San Jose, but we quickly realized that we like Heredia much better and that going without someone to show us around wasn't the best idea. We successfully found the boulevard where many shops are located, but I actually prefer the shops that I've seen in Heredia. Plus, since we left San Jose around rush hour, it took us two hours to take two different buses in order to go home. All in all, definitely not worth the effort, time, and money. I think we are going to go to San Jose as a group with someone to show us around sometime next week, so hopefully that will turn out better! The most successful part of the San Jose fiasco was a bar we found to relax in after walking aimlessly for a couple hours. Oh well, Pura Vida!

Today, one of the program directors took us to play soccer at a local facility, which was a lot of fun! We just played against each other with three Ticos and it was definitely a work out! Even though I used to play, it's been a long time since I've even touched a soccer ball, which quickly made itself apparent when we started playing. I was so rusty! But my team won and I scored two goals! Woo! I think we're going to play again next week.

Sadly, my camera decided to make Heredia its final resting place :( I was looking into buying a new one, but electronics are so much more expensive here that I don't see the point. I plan on just stealing everyone else's pictures from facebook since we're usually all together anyways.