Footnotes and such

Today my cartography class went on a field trip, and I have some footnotes and/or insights to share, even though I desperately need to be working on my paper that's due Tuesday. (I have a fairly well-fleshed out outline, but that isn't consoling me much right now since I only have the rest of tonight and tomorrow to finish it.)

Our field trip was mainly to Parque Nacional Volcan Poas, (Poas Volcano, for anyone who needed that hint), although we also stopped at the La Paz waterfall and a few random places on the side of the road. This field trip was kind of surreal for me for a few reasons.

First, I've already been to La Paz and Poas. La Paz especially was trippy because that was one of our first trips way back when. As of today, I have exactly one month left in Costa Rica. As much as I think symbolism is a bunch of nonsense, returning still kind of felt symbolic of how far I've come and how long it's been.

Second, although all the Ticos know the country and cities much better than I do, it would appear from the small sample size that my class represents that I am better-traveled that most Ticos. Of the 6 of us on the field trip (the class only has like, 8 people), I think only one other person had been to Poas, and I was the only one who had been to La Paz. I'm sure the Ticos have been plenty of places I haven't, but it surprised me that they hadn't been to see all these cool things a million times before on field trips or with their families.

Third -- perhaps this is redundant, but -- we went on a field trip. To a volcano. A VOLCANO. When was the last time you went on a field trip to a volcano? That field trip would be the height of cool back in the states. And although we didn't go on field trips to the Caribbean or Pacific, those were options for other classes. How cool is that? There's no way I'd be going on a field trip to any ocean back in the states, much less having a choice of two. This is one of the really cool things about Costa Rica. It's such a tiny tiny country (about the size of West Virginia), so all of the wonderful things they have to see are condensed and easily accessible from almost anywhere in the country. ("Easily" is relative). You can see cities, mountains, beaches, rain forest, and coffee and banana plantations all in the same day. I repeat: How cool is that?

Fourth, I have an inkling that I'm not the only one who did not-so-hot on the test. My professor was telling us something about the next test, and all the other students were making comments that, assuming I understood correctly, were complaining about how hard/long the last test was. Better yet, I am nearly positive that they all missed points on the same blowing-up-the-map question, because it was specifically pointed out and requested that for the next test, she NOT enlarge the map. This makes me feel better about myself.

I think I'll end there, since I REALLY need to get to work on the destroyer-of-my-soul also known as my paper that's due Tuesday. I have a month left here, and just about half a month left of classes. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, but I can't get there because of the cave-in (made of homework, presentations, papers, and tests) that's in front of me. I know being home will heal my soul, but I'm not sure I'll have any left to heal by the time I finish all this work. (Sorry, I guess I'm in a symbolic and philosophical mood today. I blame school.)