Wassup from Chicago!

A new look for a new occasion – welcome y’all to a brand new 2.0 edition of my blog. I expect this next instalment of my online chronicles to be just as long-lived as my previous one, so be sure to stop by every now and then and check out what I’m up to. As always, I’ll be happy to receive comments and respond because, you know, I’m an attention whore like that.

So there’s a fresh new look to this thing, entirely in keeping with the overall theme. ‘Pura Vida’? It literally translates to ‘Pure Life’ and is both a common phrase used by the Ticos, as the local inhabitants of Costa Rica call themselves, and a sort of philosophy toward life they share. Another rough translation is ‘distilled life’, meaning all the positive facets which make life good: friendship, relaxation, flirting, happiness, fun... now conjure yourself an image of this tropical country, with ocean breezes and lapping waves on white shores and people who share this outlook, and you have some idea of where I’m travelling to next. And why I’m absolutely psyched to the bone ;)

That deserves a little explaining. So here’s the deal – Costa Rica is my next stop in my studies, a place I’ll be spending six months writing up my masters thesis, my final piece of work that will allow me to complete the five year study program in Aalborg University I’m enrolled in. After that, I’ll be getting away with my M.Sc. in Environmental Management if it all goes according to plan… what happens after that is completely up in the air, and I’m not really in any hurry to decide upon it at the moment. Right now I’m happy enough looking forward to my stay in Central America.

First up, though, is a week’s stay visiting family and friends in the Chicago area in the US. I’ve been quite busy doing a bunch of stuff while here in the States, so I haven’t had time to do a proper blog – rest assured, I’ll give you guys a lot more detail once I touch down in Costa Rica’s capital, San Jose, and get myself settled. As I write this, I’m about to head off to sample the Chicago nightlife. My cousin here has a friend who’s DJing at a club, so that should be chill.
Before I go, here’s my first blog cookie: We did some tourist sightseeing shit in Chicago earlier this week, even though the weather here is freezing and it was in the middle of a winter storm. Here’s me and family in front of the Sears Tower… we didn’t go to the top because visibility was absolutely zero. This is the next best thing. David out.