Conclusion: what I learned, or the parts I can express

I found this list in my journal from one of my last weeks in Costa Rica, so here are just a few of the things I learned this semester:

• the U.S. has a dark side
• black and white views are rare
• you can eat anything if you have to
• you can't master a language in 3 months- are you serious?
• my buying habits effects the world
• we aren't taught about the history of Latin America
• our cultures are different, our values are different, our language is different- so why would we expect our solutions to work for their problems?
• all economies are mixed, and maybe, just maybe it's ok if Latin America mixes it in favor of socialism
• novelas are a piece of cake to understand compared to real people
• when in doubt of whether to use por or para, you then have pora hahah jk
• I am ignorant
• it IS possible to live for 10 days out of a backpack
• cockroaches are horrendously frightening
• how to take the corn off the cob and grind it to make tortillas
• if I can talk to a random stranger in Spanish about poverty, the economy, the government, and everything else under the sun, I can talk to people of my own language about anything.
• I don't want to be a teacher.
• I will discipline my children
• how to truly empathize with foreigners and English learners
• my world is the minority
• the sun is stronger in Costa Rica
• A group of 14 Christians of the same culture (U.S.) and the same subculture (Christian college students) can't agree on moral or Biblical issues, how can we expect the world to?
• IMF and the World Bank are a mess.
• social businesses are super cool (i.e. Mohammed Yuniss- you should look him up!)
• home grown development is the only thing that will truly raise countries out of poverty
• hope can be hard to come by
• I am RICH.
• I have responsibilities now bc of how affluent my society is, bc of how many opportunities I have, and bc of how much I now know
• I hate injustice and corruption
• the more you learn, the less you know

mi querida Costa Rica y mis queridos que yo conocí, les extaño y les amo para siempre. Nos vemos.