Going abroad is intimidating and can come with many challenges… discomfort with the language, trouble making friends, and walking around somewhere where everything feels new, exciting, unknown, or unfamiliar. Although these things are intimidating, you gain a sort of confidence and proudness within yourself when you start to push your boundaries and begin to discover what you are really capable of accomplishing on your own. Just journeying to Costa Rica was a scary accomplishment for me as I was arriving at the airport at 1 or 2am which was well before my program’s local mentors/guides were set to pick me up from the airport. Let me share with you two things I find important: making the most of your time abroad and making friends.
Continue readingCategory Archives: Costa Rica
Not your average Spanish story…
My experience with the Spanish language and culture is slightly different than the majority of students I have met throughout my time at UMass. When I was 11 years old, my parents sat my brother and I down and told us that we would be leaving the town we had lived in our whole lives to move to a third world country. At this time in my life I had never even traveled outside of the United States. After many tears and much resistance, I eventually tried to come to terms with the fact that we would be expanding our worlds and moving to Costa Rica.
Continue readingHay más tiempo que vida
When I think about the idea of “culture shock”, the first thing that comes to mind is an uncomfortable experience related to a difference between my culture and another one. In Luis’ IE class this semester, we read the essay “You Have Left Your Lotus Pods on the Bus”. In that essay, the author told a story about being on a bus in Thailand and there being a person at the back of the bus yelling out instructions to the driver as a “back seat driver” would here in the U.S. The narrator feels tense and worried about the situation, and eventually realizes that this is a customary practice in Thailand, that this person’s job is to shout directions at the driver. The tension of the essay quickly resolves.
The tensions of culture shock are usually resolved in this way—sometimes quickly and other times slowly. Over time, one becomes accustomed to their new environment, and hopefully stops comparing the culture they are visiting to their home culture. But the theme of culture shock that I’m interested in exploring in this blog post is the idea that sometimes by adjusting to a new culture, we learn about our own temperaments. Specifically, I want to explore my experience of time while I was in Costa Rica and think about how my relationship to time has changed since I went to Costa Rica and came back. Continue reading
Finding Comfort in Being Uncomfortable
Currently, I am finishing my Fall 2019 semester of my senior year of college. However, it wasn’t until the end of my sophomore year that I fully declared my major in Spanish. Between graduating high school and entering college, I took a gap semester to Central America. Therefore, I entered UMASS in the Spring semester. Not only was I unsure of what I wanted to study, but I also wanted to be involved in an experience involving learning about other cultures. I additionally wanted to focus on my own personal growth. Initially, I was extremely nervous going to a location that I was unfamiliar to. When I mentioned to other people where I was going for my gap semester, often times, their reaction wasn’t as positive as I anticipated. This was commonly affiliated with their ideas regarding safety in such areas. The initial responses I got from other people about where I was going provoked high anxiety and doubt in continuing with the program. However, it was one of the best things I have ever done. Continue reading
Sustainable Tourism
For my integrative experience, I took a gap semester and traveled with a gap year program called Carpe Diem. With Carpe, I traveled in a small group to Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Honduras for a total of 3 months. I lived in Guatemala and Nicaragua for 5 weeks each, and then stayed in CR and Honduras for only a week each. My trip consisted of traveling to and staying in a new place just about every week, which allowed me to see and experience a ton. During my experience, I learned a lot about sustainable tourism, sustainable volunteerism, and sustainable travel, and I wanted to share some things specifically about sustainable volunteerism, because service learning is something that many students consider when thinking about an integrative experience. Continue reading
Following the Signs: You’ll always make the right choice.
I applied to a program in Valparaiso, Chile. It offered both Spanish and Sociology classes which is perfect because I just added my secondary Sociology major in the spring of my sophomore year and really need to play catch-up. While Argentina also offered these courses, the Valparaiso program cost less and sounded more colorful, interesting, and suitable for me.
Unfortunately, things took a turn after the long process of running around getting approval from this person and that person and after turning in this document and that document. I was accepted into the program, turned in my housing and course information, and paid what I needed to pay after my financial aid award. Then I began to hear of trouble brewing in Chile. Thanks to the weekly assignments in my Spanish Speaking World Prep program class (Spanish 394Pl) to read a Latin American newspaper story and write about it, I kept a close eye on Chile. With a slight increase in metro prices after an increase in electricity costs a month before, the country blew up in nationwide protests. Continue reading
A Student Athlete’s Study-Abroad Experience in Costa Rica
I, like most other Spanish majors, had always dreamed about the opportunity to study abroad. However, as a three sport athlete on the cross country and indoor and outdoor track and field teams here at UMass, studying abroad during the academic school year was simply not an option for me.
So, I set my sights on going abroad during the summer. I wouldn’t let myself miss out on the study abroad experience, as I knew it was an important step in my quest to becoming fluent in Spanish. And beyond language fluency, I also saw the priceless value of having the opportunity to delve into the culture of a Spanish-speaking community, live with a host family, and go outside my comfort zone to experience life outside of the United States.
¡Sí se Puede! Student-Athletes CAN (and should) Go Abroad
I spent this past summer in San Ramón Costa Rica running up and down mountains, taking classes at the local university, and interning at the hospital. This is surely an experience I would not want anyone to miss out on just because of the confusion surrounding athletes going abroad. Hopefully, this post will address and ease some of your concerns and inspire you to embark on the best adventure of your college career. Continue reading
From Study Abroad to Research: The Gradual Shift
For a while I have known that I wanted to be a teacher, but I always struggled with which subject I would teach. After taking Spanish in middle and high school and going on a trip to Spain my junior year of high school, I knew that I wanted to pursue the Spanish language and culture more in depth. When I first came to the University of Massachusetts it was assumed that I would study abroad in a Spanish-speaking country. I mean, if I wanted to teach Spanish to others, I should have studied in a Spanish-speaking country. I should speak with natives and I should surround myself with their culture. At the beginning of my time at UMASS I wanted to study for a semester in Spain, then I decided I wanted to study for an entire academic year. However, something changed as I continued my career at UMASS. As I began to take the required education courses in order to get my license to teach, I realized that I wanted to be more on the education side of things. I became fascinated with research and how education could be used for liberation. I saw the social justice side of education as a highly important aspect of our society, and I wanted to continue to explore it. Continue reading
Soñando en español
“Un viaje de bucear no vale tanto,” dije en una manera confundida cuando el director del programa académica me dijo el precio de una excursión. Ya fui en el mismo tour el año pasado con mi programa de study abroad. ¿Cómo y por qué el precio había bajado tanto en los últimos meses? No lo pude creer. Sigue peleando con el director para asegurar que pudiera tener la oportunidad bucear en Costa Rica. Al final, me permitió participar con los demás del programa y vi algunas ballenas. Todo parecía muy vago pero familiar a la vez. Ya estudié en Costa Rica, como podría estar allí ahora mismo? Es que estaba soñando, y por la primera vez estaba soñando en español. Continue reading