We have arrived in Atenas!

We had a safe and easy flight into San Jose. At the airport we met up with Maruja, one of the host parents, and her husband who helped us pile all our luggage and our slightly travel weary yet eager selves into their van. Then we took off towards Atenas, taking in all the new sights and smells and humid air. Quite a contrast to the Boston environment. We arrived in Atenas center and met up with Maria from the Spanish school who has organized the homestays for us. There we gathered for a brief orientation and made a plan to for everyone to get to school. And after last little reminders, like remember to throw toilet paper in the waste basket instead fo the bowl, we were ready to pile back into the van and begin the process of distributing us to homestay famlies.  Each student’s famly was waiting to welcome them into to their home and we waved “hasta manana” as we left student by student and bag by bag, slowly carving through the mountains of the beautiful Atenas countryside and the mountains of luggage piled in the back of the van until we were all settled for our first night. Tomorrow we will meet at the school at 8am, learn more about Atenas and what to expect in the weeks to come. Each student will be matched up with a small group and a wonderful teacher and begin Spanish class, and then in the afternon we will have a tour of the town. More to come!

Hope all is well back in Boston!