Costa Rica Day 7 - San Pedro campus, Goya exhibit

Not sure if I can keep up this once-a-day blogging...it's starting to wear me out! But I don't want to disappoint all of my readers reader!

Started the morning off with a 2 hour drive back to San Jose to visit the San Pedro campus--the largest of the UCR campuses. If UCR Turrialba was like FSU Panama City, then San Pedro would be like FSU Tallahassee. There are about 28,000 students enrolled in classes on campus, although according to university officials, there are presently about 35,000 that are officially recognized as UCR San Pedro students. In terms of size and aesthetics, the campus in San Jose is completely different from the Turrialba campus--this one is much more representative of what Americans would picture as a large D1 research university--tons of buildings, lots of cars, lots of people--it reminded me of FSU and UGA, although UCR has much prettier mosaics. Unfortunately, not many of our experiences today were very photo friendly, so I'm sorry if these photos aren't as interesting as exotic birds or mechanical bulls or what have you.

Stopped off at the UCR apparel store so I could buy myself a bro-tank, and then we went to visit el CITA (El Centro Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología), where we sat in on a presentation regarding the mission of el CITA and some of its current projects. Basically, el CITA deals with food science. They look at beneficial foods, sub-products, and a bunch of other things that were far too intellectual for my plebeian brain to process. It was cool to hear about their funding system and current projects--apparently they are developing cookies out of beans and they are [allegedly] very tasty!

After lunch, we met with the Director of the Office of International Affairs. She is responsible for coordinating all of the cultural exchanges (like Beyond Borders) for all of the 6 branch campuses. FSU has three existing partnerships with UCR, the University of the West Indies (where I interned in 2009), and a university in Dresden, Germany. UCR has partnerships with dozens of institutions--ranging from the National University in Singapore, to the Netherlands, to Central Missouri, etc. Also unlike FSU, which has two separate departments that deal with cultural exchanges and study abroad programs, both of these responsibilities fall under the supervision of one office at UCR.

Last stop in San Jose before the return home was el Museo Calderón Guardia--one of San Jose's art museums. This particular museum was hosting a special Goya exhibit featuring 80 pieces from his Los Desastres de la Guerra collection.

 

According to Wally Wikipedia...

"Los Desastres de la Guerra are a series of 82 prints created between 1810 and 1820 by the Spanish painter and printmaker Francisco Goya (1746–1828). Although Goya did not make known his intention when creating the plates, art historians view them as a visual protest against the violence of the 1808 Dos de Mayo Uprising, the subsequent Peninsular War of 1808–14 and the setbacks to the liberal cause following the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy in 1814.

(Sorry for being lazy...)

But for real, Goya's works are really awe inspiring. I was much more familiar with his oil paintings prior to today, but his whole perspective is just incredible. Haunting. Grotesque. Other than being afraid of having nightmares tonight, I was really glad we had a chance to visit the exhibit. The prints were just a crazy mix of beautiful and awful at the same time--which seems to be exactly what Goya was going for. I'm definitely interested in doing a little more research on Goya as a person/artist and also the violence that he was protesting against.

Wrapped up my night with a solo dinner at La Feria--this cute little open air restaurant a few blocks from our hotel. I'd describe it as the quintessential Costa Rican dinner venue--bright colors, friendly servers, great food, not crowded--just absolutely perfect in my opinion. I went in armed with the book I was reading and my feeble ability to speak Spanish, and I came out with a completed book and a belly full of mango milkshake and a HUGE red steak.