Activity: Boston Trip

For the active aspect of my CAS experience, I will start of with the time that we were in Boston. We did a bunch of non-physical activities such as getting into groups with students from Brookline High School and having a conversation with them in Spanish about our lifestyles, the differences and social problems in the world and our own countries. We talked about social justice, racial problems, discrimination against indigenous people, people of color, of different racial backgrounds and racial believes. With this activity it was really fun to see the different perspectives that we all had on these topics and how the culture that we have grown in, influences the way we think. Another day, we had a potluck with all the students that will be coming to Costa Rica, along with teachers and other adults involved in this project. This activity definitely brought us all together and taught us a lot about ourselves, how to make a change in our community and how important it is to have cultural exchanges. Now, when it comes to actual physical activity we definitely did a lot. First of all, we did a lot of walking as we didn't use a car as transportation. We used the subway which means that we had to walk a lot from a t-stop to another, or from one place to another. At certain points it was exhausting as it was also really cold so our bodies were doing something that they aren't used to. I must say that once our teacher headed back to Costa Rica and we were left on our own, it was definitely hard to move around as we were still not completely used to the lifestyle of traveling on subways (it was a first for all of us). However, it was a learning experience and we got to become our own adults and figure out things on yourself. For example, the day we had to go to the Aquarium, the subway was closed where we were living so we had to take the bus. This was definitely the hardest day as we took the bus to another town, we got off, walked for about an hour trying to find the t-stop, we got lost, it was raining, and after asking multiple people for directions we were able to find it and make it to the Aquarium. It was definitely a challenge but not impossible to figure it out. Then, another activity we did with the exchange students was bowling. We had all gone bowling before but this was a different kind of bowling. We experienced candlepin bowling for the first time where the pins are narrow and the balls are the size of your hand. It was a very different and fun experience. Lastly, we were able to play soccer with 5 of the exchange students. We went to a really nice field a few minutes from the houses and spent around 2 hours playing, having fun and spending time with new friends. I must say it was really difficult to play as it was really cold, there was fog and it was raining. We didn't know how to feel since from the outside we were cold but once we kept playing our bodies kept warming up, so we were really confused on how our bodies were feeling. It was also really nice because the four of us enjoy playing soccer and we got to do it with girls and boys who also enjoy it. That was definitely my favorite activity and I hope we get to do again with them in February, but this time in a dry and hot weather! Now, after the trip I didn't do many activities at home, but I did do a set of exercises whenever I could. Exercising is always a goal that I put to myself but I tend to have difficulty in finding the motivation and determination to actually do it. However, I know have an excuse to do exercise and that is that we will be graduating very soon, therefore we will be climbing Chirripo mountain very soon, which means I have to be in a good condition physically and mentally in order to do it. At the same time, my mom has also started to workout a lot more which has also motivated me to do the same. I really hope I continue to do what I love in order to stay active and healthy this new year.