Earthquake

When I first arrived in San Jose, Costa Rica I was informed that it is not rare for Costa Rica to experience earthquakes.  They come on a fairly regular basis.  I braced myself considering I was informed of an earthquake that happened yesterday and I didn't even feel it.  I did not expect an earthquake to suddenly occur while I was in class this afternoon.  We were in class on the second floor and suddenly we were kind of shaking around.  I felt like I was sitting in my desk and felt as if I was moving on an amusement park ride or something.  Hard to explain if you've never experienced an earthquake.  It is rare to experience an earthquake as strong as todays, about 6.8 I've heard.  We just sat in our room until the earthquake stopped until we decided to go outside for a bit where we saw any Tico in sight on their cell phone.  Since this was a rare earthquake just about 90% of Ticos were probably freaking out.  It was kinda cool and surreal.  I know I should be a little more cautious but we were informed that Costa Rica has strict building codes they have to follow because of the occurance of earthquakes so the chance of a building collapsing is very small.  Still, it was kind of cool to have lived through the strongest earthquake in San Jose this year.  I should make t-shirts and sell them here.  I'll bet I would make a fortune.

I'm predicting now that there will be earthquakes in San Jose in August and this is why.  In Costa Rica, the farmers believe that the first 24 days of the new year will predict what the climate will be like in each corresponding month.  Since today is the 8th then it would correspond to August.  On the 5th it rained, which was fine because in San Jose it normally rains in May.  On the 13th it will go back to January and end on the 24th or December.  

Lucky day as well, I was able to get into ecological photography.  I went to change my class last night and it was full so this morning I came to inquire about an opening spot and I took the last spot.  I thank that person that dropped out because now I can take a photography class that takes fieldtrips.  The first portion of the class is easy because it's starting from the basics but I'm sure it'll get a bit more interesting once we get to start producing projects and such.  That way I only have classes besides Spanish on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Tomorrow we get to go to Manuel Antonio.  I'm excited to spend the weekend on the beach and get rid of some of my pale Nebraska skin.  There's a lot of trails around the beach so it should be an awesome weekend.  Ashlee and I are just excited to get there and do some exploring on our own.  Can't wait to take some awesome photos as well.