This year we have 10 students - 6 from Southern Nazarene University (SNU) and 4 from Northwest Nazarene University (NNU, David's alma mater) to live with us at QERC and study abroad here in the cloud forest for this whole semester. Meredith has also returned as our intern for the next 4 months. So far, the students are awesome. We spent the first week doing an orientation for them out at QERC and also in San Jose to get them a little familiar with their surroundings. Here at QERC we did some cultural activities and got them out into the community to get to know the places and the people around us. Then we took them on a bus into San Jose and split them off into groups to do a scavenger hunt which took them all over the city. They were forced to interact with the Ticos and get directions, buy things, try new foods, and use the public transportation. Though many in the group have limited Spanish knowledge, they all did well and returned to QERC enthused about their experiences and motivated to get to know the language and the people even more. Adele did great being hauled around in the wrap and passed around to new arms as she too is getting to know what life will be like during the semester program!This week began classes for the students. David has them each morning and is doing a research orientation with them to get their research projects going and to get them familiar with the trails and resources they have available throughout the semester. They also have had Skype sessions with professors back on campus to go over the various syllabi and get their other classes started. Evenings have been filled with homework and games and getting to know each other. We are very excited for this semester and being a part of such a huge experience in these students' lives!
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