Day 13 Back to the U.S.A

Well, this was certainly a day. We were asked to journal a bit about how it was getting back into the US and how much of a culture shock it was coming back to the United States. The trip seemed to be okay. I thought that I would study a little bit on the plane, and I did until I ran out of light, which did not take long. I don't know if anyone else really noticed, but there was a point about 2 hours into our flight which was about 4pm  Costa Rica time where it was roughly 6pm United States time. If you looked out your window (which I was) you could see where daylight ended and evening/night time was setting in it was almost like a line in the sky ... it was cool!
I tried to get some pictures, but I could not really get a good one, but as you all know my other pics can be seen on my facebook. We had our flight back to North Carolina, and then went back to Buffalo. Surprisingly, going though customs was easy and getting everything we needed to hop the next plane was easy too. Everything went very smoothly getting back into the country.
I guess coming back into the country was a bigger culture shock than leaving it, but I don't know how many others shared my opinion. It seemed to me like the states are so busy. Everyone has somewhere to go, or something to do and we do not really stop to enjoy the moment. I realized this when I was getting ready to board my plane to get back to buffalo. I guess that we here in the states are so concerned with what is coming next that we don't see what we are given. It is disappointing really. You see, in Costa Rica they believe in PURA VIDA or the beautiful life. It is very similar in comparison to our Hakuna Matata. Pura Vida is their most common saying and it is said everywhere to everyone. I guess that is one of the reasons that I did not want to leave Costa Rica. I was able to really enjoy and appreciate my life down there. Not that I don't appreciate what I have in the states, but I got to really enjoy what I saw. I learned to be thankful for what I have here at home, the education that I am receiving, my family, and my boyfriend. I saw some things in Costa Rica that a camera couldn't even capture. I really did learn the whole meaning of a beautiful life. It seems that people of Costa Rica do not stress about things. It is almost like they have no worries, or if they do- they do not burden others with it. I think that we do that a lot here in the U. S and I am guilty of it for sure. Everything is very fasted paced here in the states and in Costa Rica, everyone just takes each day as it comes. I learned a lot in Costa Rica and I hope to go back someday. Thank you all for reading and going on this adventure with me : ) it really does mean a lot.

-Kara