My Reflection

If I could sum up my experience in Costa Rica in one sentence it would be: Living in Costa Rica was one of the best, most amazing, eye opening experiences of my life, which I would not trade for the world. Even that sentence cannot do my experience enough justice. Every day I learned something new. I learned in a first hand manner, not while I was stuck in a classroom; because I learned like this I will forever remember most of what I was taught.

I learned so much about the culture and was able to make a lot of comparisons to our culture in the states. Aside from a few small differences and a little more freedom in Costa Rica, their school system is remarkably similar to our school system. The young generation loves to go out and party and hang out with their friends just like the young generation in the states and they have a lot of the same goals as we do. One pretty big difference I noticed was that Costa Ricans are a lot more family oriented than we are. My family in Monteverde would always spend time together watching television or playing with the girls.

            For me, going to Costa Rica gave me the ability to do something I never thought I would be able to do; successfully speak Spanish. I have always wanted to become fluent in a foreign language but had never really succeeded in becoming comfortable with a foreign language. However, after living with host families and speaking Spanish for three weeks, I learned that not only was it possible for me to become fluent in a foreign language but that I was well on my way towards mastering the language. This trip actually encouraged me to consider minoring in Spanish. I am very thankful I was able to go on this trip. I fell in love with the country and cannot wait to make another trip back; I am already starting to plan one out during Christmas break or next summer.

(6/2/12) We had to say goodbye to our host families in Monteverde this morning. I did not want to say goodbye, especially since this means that my trip is coming to a close. We got to explore downtown San Jose today. It was not much different than  downtown Wilmington in my opinion. Originally we were supposed to visit a museum and the national theater downtown but the majority of the group voted to opt out of that part and shop instead. Luckily I was still able to see the theater with two other girls and our amazing tour guide Javier. I loved seeing the theater, everything inside was original, I think Javier said they had only replaced a few windows since it had been built. When we were done looking at the theater we walked to a small market area and did a little more shopping for our families. Thankfully I had already purchased everything I needed so I could just look around and observe everything.

            While I’m typing this I am also sitting in my hotel room at La Condesa where we originally started this trip only three short weeks ago, slowly packing my bag for the flight home tomorrow. I am not looking forward to tomorrow in any way, shape, or form. I’m really hoping something will be wrong with our plane and we’ll have to reschedule our flight for sometime next week.

(5/30/12) On Tuesday we went to a school in the cloud forest called Creativo. This is a Montessori school, the children here have a lot more freedom than most students in Costa Rica and definitely more freedom compared to the students in the United States. They had a preschool class in Creativo as well. Their 3-4 year old class was called Kinder while their 5-6 year old class was called Prepa which was comparable to our kindergarten classes here in the states. The curriculums were basically the same except they have one teacher that speaks English only and teaches lessons in English and another who does the same but only in Spanish. I really liked this aspect of the school. I have been talking to a lot of teachers here in the different schools we’ve been to and so far I have discovered that the preschool system and curriculum is strikingly similar to the preschools in the United States. This kind of surprised me but at the same time I thought it was really cool that the two countries are so similar. I really don’t want to leave Costa Rica; I am really enjoying my time here.

(5/28/2012) This past weekend we took a trip to Arenal Volcano and spent time in the hot water springs. This was probably the most amazing resort I have ever been to. The hot springs were beautiful and our view of the volcano was breathtaking. I did not know I could take so many pictures in two days. We spent all of Saturday at the springs and ate dinner at the resort. We also met some more students from CPI that stayed with our host families in Heredia the week we left. The next morning only two other girls and myself went on a hike around Sendero Silencio with our wonderful guide Javier. I am really glad we went on this hike; it was a great experience that I would have kicked myself had I missed out on it. After the hike we were able to spend about an hour in the hot springs before we had to check out of our rooms. I hate that we only stayed one night; this trip was so relaxing it definitely should have been at least a two night stay. I plan on coming back to La Fortuna soon, it was that amazing. I also hate that the majority of my group did not want to come on the hike; it really was a great experience they will never get to have.