Hey everyone, just wanted to introduce myself before I start assailing you with my opinions and thoughts. So here we go:

I'm Erin and I was born in Philadelphia. I'm an only child, which I hate. I'm 23, but I'm wiser than my years. I've also got a mouth to match the wisdom. Speaking of which, my humor is dry and I'm very sarcastic, but only in a tongue-in-cheek way; I try not to be rude or aggressive. I refuse to participate in personal attacks. And, while I will never apologize for being opinionated, I do not intend to hurt people's feelings. If I write something that could either be seen as offensive or as sarcastic humor, you should always assume the latter.

When I was 16, my parents decided to send me to Costa Rica to study Spanish for the summer. (I studied at the Instituto de Cultura y Lengua Costarricense in Alajuela.) I was not happy about going because I had never been to Costa Rica or been abroad on my own. But after 6 weeks in Costa Rica, I was in love. I knew that I would one day return to live there. That visit also awakened in me a passion for cultures and languages, a passion which has never be extinguished. I begged to return to Costa Rica the following summer, but my Spanish was already very good and my parents decided to send me to Brazil to study Portuguese. (I studied at Fast Forward Language Institute in Maceío.) Maceio was beautiful, the school was great, and I met so many wonderful people, but my heart still belonged to Costa Rica.

I graduated from Lower Merion High School in 2001 and began attending George Washington University in Washington, DC. I had the life-changing experience of hearing the actual explosion of Flight #77 smashing into the Pentagon and watching the building smoke for WEEKS. I saw the massive quantities of police and armed guard take over my city, I experienced the after-effects of the terrorist attack on DC, and it was difficult. I decided to transfer to the University of Virginia for my sophomore year. Charlottesville was a great town and I enjoyed it very much. When I graduated in 2005 with my degree in Anthropology, I moved 2 hours south to Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia.

I'm moving to San Jose in August. I'm getting my TEFL certificate (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) and will teach English throughout the Central Valley. (I started a blog--The (Mis)Adventures of a Gringa in Costa Rica--with the intention of chronicling my experiences in Costa Rica, but it seems to have spun off in other directions as well. I talk too much.) I eventually plan to get my Masters in TEFL from the University of Costa Rica and would love to have my own Spanish-for-foreigners/English-for-ticos school someday. I love Costa Rica and when I post from time to time, it will probably be about my beloved Tiquicia. So hello to all and thanks for reading.

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Posted by: David Scott Anderson at May 14, 2006 06:56 PM