Personal Narrative: My Trip To Costa Rica

Traveling, observing nature and exploring. These are passions of mine that help define who I am. A love for the outdoors has been a personal trait my whole life, growing larger with every adventure I encounter, especially with my friends and family. A family vacation to Yellowstone National Park and a school trip to Costa Rica are specific events that expanded my love for traveling and the outdoors. During the summer before third grade, my parents took my sister and me on a trip to Yellowstone National Park. As our plane waited to land, it circled Jackson Hole, Wyoming, showing me my first glimpse of the Grand Tetons, a spectacular sight that I remember very clearly. This view, and the thrill of flying for the first time, sparked a strong

These forms of nature were intriguing and completely foreign to me. Animals that I had never seen before, such as enormous bison and elk, and mountains much larger than the ones found in Maine, made me realize that there are places different from my hometown, or even my home state, and this realization caused the growth of a great interest in discovering and exploring new places that I'd never been. My sophomore year, I went on a trip to Costa Rica with my Spanish class, and I was amazed by how the foreign landscape and culture contrasted to home. Multiple times in my life I have driven over the border into Canada, but many elements of the culture, and all the environmental conditions were similar to those of Maine. Seeing the completely different environment of Costa Rica was an incredible experience because I was exposed to a biome unlike the one I live in. Observing animals I'd never seen was an incredible experience. Ear piercing howler monkeys screeched from the tall canopy, sloths' slept hanging upside down from branches, and exotic toucans with multicolored beaks perched on treetops. The diverse ecosystem of the damp rain forest amazed me; these foreign plants and