Lister Academy Costa Rica Class - Kristine: Butterfly Garden

Welcome

My name is Kristine Tirone. My goal is to do something I never thought I'd be able to do. Meaning, I never thought I'd even get close to having the opportunity to leave the country, or be involved with a class in this way. Setting standards for myself and working towards something is a new thing for me. I'm writing this blog to raise money to send my class to Costa Rica. Our class, as a whole, is trying to fundraise over $15,000. This will fund everything from our food, a place to stay, to our flight.

I'm getting a new understanding of what it's like to deserve what you work for. Before, I would sit back and let everyone do the work and I would take the credit. My personal struggles got in the way of my everyday functioning. My focus on education was lost to my other struggles. Not only was I not understanding the work, but I had an increasingly low work ethic. This all started to change over the summer of 2010. Bryan, my teacher, makes it known that he has an extremely low tolerance for slackers. I didn't want to disappoint him, and this motivation was new to me.

I realize as my interactions with people started to change, I started to as well. Bryan always expected nothing but good things from me, and I've given him nothing but that. I suppose if you feel a certain way or act a certain way, you become a certain way. From there it's history, ever since I've excelled in my school work and always do what I say I will. You're only as good as your word.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Adios Monteverde =[

I’m very sad to be leaving Monteverde and the cloud forest. It truly is the most beautiful thing I've ever been privileged to see. The people were so welcoming and warm. I felt at home, but obviously very far away. Out of all the exciting and crazy things we did I loved the Butterfly Garden. One symbol for Monteverde is the Blue Morpho butterfly. In the garden there were at least a hundred of these beautiful creatures. They are deep and silky browns when their wings are up, but when down, it’s like a rainbow of blues and they form circles perfectly all aligning. The symbolism behind the butterfly to me means freedom, and letting your spirit fly. In Costa Rica that’s truly what I feel I have done. As the Tico's have continuously taught me, pura vida; pure life.