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Hey! Thanks for stopping by. My blog has moved over to the new website listed below. Head on over and let me know what you think of it!

http://copywritersdiary.wordpress.com

Best,

Jesse

Thinking about Quitting...

Well...not exactly. But that headline definitely got your attention, didn't it?

I think it's time to realize that this blog has gotten pretty stagnate over the past few months. I'm thinking about pulling it off the 'net and continuing my journaling in a private notebook. Yes, I know, that kinda sucks...but here's my reasoning:

I have very little time, and when I write on a public blog, I tend to spend too much time making each post interesting, entertaining, and "perfect". Because of this, I tend to procrastinate my writing and write less often because I know that each post is going to take a lot of valuable time. Not only that...over 150 people each day were reading this blog at one time, and knowing that sometimes made it a little difficult to write as I would in a true diary.

Not only that, I began to realize that certain people with close ties to my family or to Cedarville University were beginning to watch my blog like hawks and negatively "spin" the way I live my life. I have very little patience for this kind of ignorant, judgemental behavior and I normally avoid wasting my time thinking about it. However, the fact that I value peace (especially in the family) makes this particular situation worth considering.

Anyway, that's the story. The good news is that I'll soon be starting a new and improved blog on another website which I will reveal on here in the next couple of weeks. It will be focused on a more specific "theme" (like life lessons, success principles, or profound thoughts) rather than simply documenting my life. It'll be launching soon, and I promise it'll be worth checking out! Stay tuned.

OK...now that we've covered those things...here's a quick scoop on what's been happening in my life lately. 

I'm now back in the States from an incredible three months living in San Jose, Costa Rica. What an experience it was. Although I'm still not truly fluent in Spanish, I feel like my goal to reach a conversational level was successfully met. My Spanish went from a vocabulary of about 20 words on the day of my arrival to the ability to hold a decent conversation. The beaches, the rainforests, the food, the culture, the girls...I truly loved living in Costa Rica. The day I returned home felt a little weird...but it always does. For a day or two, I feel like a foreigner. It's as if everyone can look at me and know that I'm not "from here". Kind of a cool feeling, actually. It's been great to see everyone again...especially my family.

I spent the past weekend at Cedarville catching up with some old friends and hanging out with my sister Lacey. It was amazing to hang out with them, but being there also brought back the negative feelings I've had while studying at the school. I've lived in several different parts of the world now, I'm beginning to realize that I feel happy, balanced, and successful pretty much everywhere EXCEPT Cedarville. Is it me, or is it the place? Probably both. But it is what it is. I'm going to check to see if there's any possibility of finishing school online. If not, I'll deal with it. After all, I only have a year left. But there's no harm in checking!

In about 2 weeks, I'm packing up and moving to Florida. I was fortunate enough to land a very attractive summer internship with Citibank's Latin American Headquarters in Miami. Until August, I'll be living in a Miami highrise and working on Biscayne Boulevard in a Spanish-speaking office. Should be an incredible experience and I'm looking forward to it.

Meanwhile, I'm finishing up my latest travel eBook "77 Secrets of Costa Rica" and also writing a really cool little eBook for a real estate agent in San Diego. Both should be finished and launched within the next few weeks.

OK...time to get to work. Lots to be done. Stay tuned for the link to my new blog!     

Weekend in Hermosa and a Jungle Spring Break

I don't know why I keep doing this, but once again, a couple of weeks have passed since my last post. And an incredible couple of weeks they've been. Just this past week, it has occured to me that my time here in Costa Rica is quickly running out. Just two and a half weeks remain. No quiero irme! But, I do miss my family, so a part of me will be happy to go back to the States.

Right now, I'm lying on the one of the couches in my host family's living room. The futbol game between Mexico and Saprisa is on TV...a huge game...and my host dad and roommate are around me watching it unfold. Right now it's 3-0 Saprisa. Speaking of Saprisa, the leaders of our CEA program here arranged for us to go see a Saprisa game live a couple of weeks ago when Travis was here visiting. What a cool experience! I was glad they scheduled it while he was here.

On the Friday before Travis left, I arranged a little trip to Playa Hermosa for us and two friends I had recently made here, Ashton and Tamika. We stayed in this cool little hotel, right on the beach with a beautiful pool. It was a great night and we had a great time. I wanted to stay longer, but Travis' flight was scheduled for Saturday at 5:15PM...so we took the 11AM bus back to San Jose. I think I he had a great time while he was here, and I did too. It was cool to catch up again and somewhat "relive" our times as good friends at college back in the States.   

In "other news", I've realized lately that my Dublin Secrets eBook business has reached a "plateau"...a fork in t he road. It's becoming obvious that I need to either begin investing a LOT more time and effort into building the business, hire someone else to build it effectively for me, or sell the business altogether. The latter sounds like my most favorable option right now. In all honesty, I'm tired of writing about Ireland all the time...and also tired of investing time in a project that I know only has short-term growth potential and small-to-medium income potential. I want to be investing my efforts in something more long-lasting...something that could become an empire. I have a few ideas that could make this happen. But for now, if you know anyone who would be interested in buying an eBook business, let me know!

I've been spending quite a bit of time lately trying to decide what exactly to do this summer. A lot has happened lately to shape those decisions. First, the Dublin Secrets decision...and my progress with my new eBook on Costa Rica. Second, through a connection gained by my dad, I had an interview last week for an internship with CitiBank's Latin American division in Miami/Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. The interview went really well, so it'll be exciting to see where it goes from here! I feel like the internship would provide some great experience and help me develop some key skills. It lasts for 6 months and even allows me to become a project manager for the last half of the internship. It also pays pretty well for an internship. If I do this, I'll have to take a semester off from classes at Cedarville. That wouldn't be a problem, though...I mean, who says I have to graduate in 4 years? Gaining experience and taking advantage of great opportunities is far more important. And it's not like I've done things traditionally up to this point anyway, haha. So...at this point, I have 3 options to decide between. 1) Move to San Diego, California (my plan for several years now) and begin creating a life for myself there while continuing to build online businesses. 2) Take the CitiBank internship in Florida (if it's even offered to me, that is) and move to Miami or Ft. Lauderdale, or 3) Move back down here to Costa Rica and continue my efforts to become fluent in Spanish while building online businesses. It will be interesting to watch these options unfold over the next few months.

That's it for now. I just returned from a very unique Spring Break in Puerto Viejo last night. Throughout the 6 days there, I wrote in my little black Moleskine journal. My entries there will be posted here on my blog soon...maybe tomorrow. Until then...tenga una buena noche!

Below: The pool of our hotel in Playa Hermosa (taken from the edge of the beach)

More Adventures in Costa Rica

Our weekend in Carrillo was a blast...very relaxing and just an all-around good time. The beaches there were absolutely beautiful with nice big waves and soft sand. And my host family's beach house was great as well! I really enjoyed waking up each morning and hanging out by the pool, reading a little bit or jumping in for a quick morning swim before breakfast.

We returned to San Jose late on Sunday night after a long, tiring drive. Traffic was crazy and bumper-to-bumper much of the way. I didn't realize I had fallen asleep in the car, but I must have because suddenly Diana told me that she had just talked to her mom and that my friend Travis had arrived. Travis is a good friend of mine from Cedarville and it's been incredible to hang out and catch up over the last few days.

Today, I skipped class (for only the second time in 2 months) and we went on an all-day guided excursion to the zip lines (canopy tour) at San Lorenzo. What a day! The zip lines were actually better than the ones I did in Monteverde a month ago, in my opinion. It was a blast flying along hundreds of feet above the ground through the rainforrest...the views were spectacular. One of the guides (the photographer taking photos of the whole thing) was a girl about my age and she was beautiful. Actually, stunning would be a better word. All the guys in our group of 7 or 8 were talking about her, and she seemed pretty elusive too...which was even more attractive to me. I actually saw her flat-out turn down an older guy who asked if he could get a picture with her. I don't have time to tell the story right now, but one of the highlights of the day for me was that I ended up connecting with her somehow and leaving with her contact info. Speaking of that...I've been meeting some really interesting Costa Rican girls lately...including a really cool 23 yr-old preschool English teacher and a model for Coca Cola (and several other famous companies). It will be fun to see what happens as I follow up with them over the next few days.

Travis wanted to check out the VIP theater here in San Jose, so we went there tonight to see Meet the Spartans. I'm not usually a fan of spoof movies (at all)...but I have to admit..this movie was fantastic. Haha! It was just plain ridiculous and I couldn't help but laugh almost constantly.

Tomorrow is a normal school day. I'll be getting up at 7 AM to go to Spanish class, and Travis is coming along for the ride. I like this new Spanish class much better than the last. The professor in the last class treated my classmates and me like 5 year-olds. Literally. This new professor in Intermediate 2 is fantastic. She treats us with respect and the class is filled with constant conversation. It's exactly what I need to improve my Spanish. Tomorrow night is dance class and Castros.

That's it for now...gotta finish up some homework and go get some sleep!

The End of Basico II...and a Weekend on the Beach

I awoke this morning and rolled over to see the large, digital numbers on my alarm clock saying, "7:49 AM". It wouldn't have been a problem except that the final exam for my Espanol Basico II final exam was scheduled to begin at 8!

I jumped out of bed and stumbled toward the shower. Ten minutes later, I had showered and shaved and thrown on a clean t-shirt, my camo cargoes, and a pair of flip flops...and I was out the door. Joey came to check on me just as I was leaving to make sure I was awake. I was. Sort-of. It was now one minute until 8. Thank God for Tico time!

By the time I walked quickly into the entrance of Veritas 10 minutes later, I was wide awake and had my review sheets out trying to drill those direct object pronouns into my head one last time. The first pleasant surprise came when my professor handed us our exams first-thing when she came into the class room. Usually, we spent the first hour or so of exam-day singing Spanish songs and doing other weird activities, which they probably think helps us calm down before an exam. The second pleasant surprise came when the exam that she handed us was only about 4 pages long. The midterm exam was more than double that!

Yesterday, I scratched all my plans (including my daily 1.5 hour workout at the gym) and devoted the afternoon/evening to studying for today's exam. I walked to Bagelmans after lunch (very similar to Panera) and spent the day reviewing all the material from the past few weeks and writing up review sheets. It was a really cheerful, productive afternoon and, now that I've already finished the final exam, I can see that it was also very worthwhile.

This weekend, I'm going with my host sisters and my roommate to my host family's beach house in Carrillo. I hear the place there is beautiful and the beaches are amazing. I can't wait! It'll be a great getaway after studying so hard for that exam. I'm looking forward to relaxing on the beach and getting some more sun. Maybe I'll finally finish Awaken the Giant Within by Tony Robbins, too. I've put it on the backburner lately, but it's a fantastic book and I can't wait to get back into it.

One of my best friends from my university back in the States, Travis, is flying in on Sunday evening to visit for a week. It's going to be a lot of fun to hang out with him again and show him around San Jose.

More updates soon...have a great weekend. Off to Carrillo!