Valpo Voyager

Student Stories from Around the World

Category: Costa Rica (page 6 of 10)

Familia

June 12, 2017 / / 0 Comments

Blogger: Kortney Cena

Program: San Jose, Costa Rica – Study Center

When you study abroad, you are thrown out of your comfortable little pillow of friends and family, and you must grow an entirely new community. Your cohort becomes like family, and your host family, even more so.  

There are only 3 people in the Valparaiso Costa Rica study abroad program this spring—Erin, John, and I. While I knew Erin before coming here, I had never before met John. After this experience, we have grown close enough to talk about anything together, and we often do talk about anything and everything in order to entertain ourselves during the train or bus rides home each day. We have shared classes, group trips, ice cream stops, and all of that really has been wonderful, but when it comes to bonding there really is something special about being able to talk to people who are going through the same struggles that you are. For example, it is far more satisfying to discuss the language barrier I face with Erin or John than it is with a friend from home, even if it’s just because one of those two can respond by telling me of their own language mistakes! But like we all say, nothing helps you bond like fending off a persistent drunk guy who wants to chat you up on the bus ride home from San Jose. After that experience, we have a greater level of trust and comfort with one another. (Don’t worry, that’s not normal here, that only happened once).

As for my host family, it has been such a humbling experience to receive their love, to learn to relate with them, and to finally grow relationships with them. When I first showed up, I only seemed capable of making messes. They do things differently, and so I didn’t understand how I could help out with anything in the house. And the worst part was I couldn’t even ask about it since my Spanish was at such a low level. But my family loved me anyways and expected nothing from me. Over time I have learned how to fit into the families’ daily schedule and help out here and there. I’ve also gotten more and more able to discuss things with my family, more in-depth things than just the daily necessities. To give you a little taste of the people I am growing to love like family here, here is a little introduction to my host family:

I have a pretty strong connection with mi Máma, Isobel (probably because she feeds me every day). She is both enormously hospitable and also feisty. For example, when I arrived, she made sure to let me know I was welcome by giving me gifts— a butterfly postcard that read “Bienvenidos Kortney!” and a cute little moneybag. But also, when one of her teenage children get out of line, she has been known to chase them out of the kitchen with a large mixing spoon, asking Dios Mio for patience. The special thing we always do together is go to community Zumba classes with a bunch of other women in the neighborhood. She swears that the exercise of Zumba makes you thinner, and she tells everyone who meets me that Zumba is teaching me to dance like a Tica! She also loves to brag about my cooking habits to everyone. She tells people about how I like to cook united-statesian meals for the family sometimes, or how I made my host sister Ashly a coconut chocolate cake for her birthday.

Mi Pápa, Francisco, likes to keep busy. He is always working on some new home project, and yesterday I helped—minimally—while he constructed a new table. Once we discussed how to live a healthy lifestyle, and he explained that taking time to yourself to relax is important for your emotional and physical health since it lowers overall stress. But when I asked how he ever gets time for that, he joked that his personal relaxation time is whenever he is working on refurbishing a new couch. He loves to share things with his family, and sometimes he’ll go on a surprise ice cream trip to bring everyone ice cream!

The oldest son, Kendall (18 yrs old), goes to school some mornings and works some evenings. He is pretty busy, but when he is around the house, he is quite chistoso— he only seems to open his mouth for funny or sarcastic comments! He loves to learn about new cultures, so he enjoys having foreign exchange students living at his house. The company he works for is actually going to be sending him out to the United States for 6 months of training in August, where he will likely learn what it is like to be the extranjero! He also has a talent for baking, and I have to say, his tres leches cake is one of the best baked goods I’ve eaten!

Ashly, my beautiful 15 year old host sister, is kind but feisty (like my host mom) and she has a crazy personality. She has a horde of poor Tico boys who want her attention all the time. She finds school exceedingly boring, and always doodles during the times her school friends get together to do homework together. But it has been cool for me to be able to help her with her English and Math homework whenever she can be motivated to work on them. She loves to listen to popular music, dance like a silly person, and to make you laugh.

And, finally, Ian Santiago (Santi for short) is only 6 years old, and he is my constant companion. He seems to think my second job (other than being a student) is to entertain him! Which, most of the time, I really don’t have a problem with: we watch movies together, give each other pen tattoos, and play with cars. It is also very fun to go to his futbol games, even though he has his head in the clouds and doesn’t really touch the ball much– (last game the only time he touched the ball is when some other kid accidentally kicked it into his face). He is an especially sweet kid and already great with the ladies—he told me (bashfully) about how he has four girlfriends! Apparently, none of them have a problem with his infidelity, and he doesn’t seem too conflicted about it. But I suppose that is relationships in elementary school!

Other than my host family, there are a lot of other unexpected friendships that have bloomed up and grown the community that I have in Costa Rica. I have had good times with people from classes in the University of Costa Rica, have met people from around my neighborhood who come over to hang out with my host family, and have spent considerable time with both Erin’s and John’s host family and their friends. Finally, I didn’t expect to have such fun spending time with the program director/professor Heidi Michelson! Class discussions with her often feel more like friends meeting together and talking about life than a necessary academic activity.

This all goes to show, that you may leave your comfort one and head to a new place where you don’t know anyone, but with time, people come in and fill up your life. It happened when I first headed out to Valparaiso University after high school, and it happened again in Costa Rica. Without these connections and people, I think I would probably be miserable, even in Costa Rica, the most beautiful of places. In fact, I think this is why the first couple of weeks were the hardest, because it was before these relationships had really formed. But being kind, attentive, and interested in the people around you– asking other people questions and then listening to the answers—these are the things that have grown my community. Little by little, people are being added to my family, people from all kinds of different places in the world: Colorado, Indiana, Michigan, Florida, Costa Rica… and all I can do is be so thankful for them all.  

Coffee Break

May 29, 2017 / / 0 Comments

Blogger: Kortney Cena

Program: San Jose, Costa Rica – Study Center

All my life, I hated the taste of coffee. Even through college, I resisted being one of the many students who were coffee or caffeine dependent. But after only two weeks in Costa Rica, I have learned to like coffee. I suppose when coffee is fed to you in the morning, again during morning coffee break, then during afternoon coffee break, and sometimes even with dinner, you have no choice but to start enjoying it. And a lot of sugar helps!

Indeed, Ticos like their coffee! But the cultural tradition of the ‘coffee break’ is about more than this rich drink. The coffee break is a cultural expression of Costa Rica’s community culture.  In a community culture, there is a greater commitment to relationships than there is to work or to other obligations. Everyday in Costa Rica, there is at least one break sometime around 3:00 pm for people to get coffee and to develop relationships with the people around them. At work, the time is spent getting to know co-workers. In school, sometimes we have multiple coffee breaks throughout the day in order to break up 3 hour long classes and to talk about life with other students. When I have spent coffee break at home with my Tico family, I have found the coffee break is a greater family event than even dinner is. Everyone sits together and talks during coffee break, while the same may not be true of dinner.

I very much enjoy the community culture of Costa Rica, but it is very different from the culture that I come from in the United States. In the United States, work is done first while relationships happen second. At first, I thought that business in the United States was more efficient because of this priority. Maybe this is true, but having seen business in a place with a community-oriented culture like Costa Rica, I would challenge that idea a little bit. The idea here, is that doing work with others is easier when you have a relationship with them and have established trust. And I have seen this to be true. It is not as if work doesn’t get done!

Confronted with this different way of life, I do wonder if the different priorities of the community-oriented culture is better than the priorities in my home culture in some ways. When every business transaction is also about the relationships with other people, I tend to think that those transactions would be more enjoyable and could result in new friendships. Overall, we end up with a population that is more happy at work, and each person has more friends to speak of. Finally, the community is more connected on the whole. There is a reason Costa Rica is one of the happiest countries in the world! So even if these priorities are not the most efficient way to run a business, would this be justified by the fact that the people are more happy? In this war between happiness and efficiency, it seems to me that while Costa Rica has chosen happiness,  the United States has chosen efficiency. I have seen this through my experience in college, where the amount of work that students are expected to do is ever increasing and a great importance is given to a student’s productivity. Its almost like a competition between students: who can handle the most work?

Perhaps the United Statesians can learn something about happiness from this small, central American country where everyone wants to go on vacation and where people live la pura vida, the pure life. Perhaps we can change the cultural structure that makes work separate from friends and leave little time for relationships to have a more community based culture too. But the most concrete takeaway I can give here, is try and take time to appreciate the people around you, and if you ever get the chance to visit Costa Rica, don’t miss out on spending time with the Ticos during coffee break!

Spanish-isms

May 19, 2017 / / 0 Comments

Blogger: Kortney Cena

Program: San Jose, Costa Rica – Study Center

No one ever said that learning a new language was easy. I did expect it to be a massive challenge, and the experience has certainly risen to meet my expectations. But learning a new language has had a lot of interesting side effects that I had not expected upon my ability to speak English and on the manner in which I normally communicate.  

  1. 1. I can’t spell words in English anymore. In elementary school, I once won the spelling bee and have always found spelling to be natural for me. But the way things are spelled in Spanish is so consistent. Each letter makes the same sound almost all the time, and there aren’t any strange letter combinations like ch or gh, so there is little guesswork when it comes to spelling Spanish words. They don’t even really do spelling bees here, because it is not impressive to be able to spell words in Spanish. Now, I find myself second guessing each word I write in English and sometimes I find myself writing in a kind of Spanglish. (Ex. Consentracion?)

2. There are certain phrases that are just said differently in Spanish than in English. When you are hungry, you say yo tengo hambre, which literally means “I have hunger”. So sometimes, when talking to my cohort here, I’ll say in English something like “I have so much hunger right now” (and then they laugh at me for speaking Spanish words in English). Similarly, to introduce themselves, people often say “I am called…”, or “I call myself…”. But people think it’s very odd to ask “what do you call yourself?” in English.

3. In Spanish, there is no fast or slang way to do possessives. In English, you may say “Jenna’s shoes” but in Spanish you would have to say “the shoes of Jenna”. I find myself avoiding possessives even in English now. (Ex. “Erin, can we all go to the house of your mom?”)

4. The last one is more about the difficulty I have with speaking Spanish than the language itself. My Spanish skills are limited, so whenever I respond, I usually have to do so in a roundabout way in order to use the words that I know. So sometimes, when I talk to someone in English, I’ll be thinking about what words I know in Spanish to convey my thought. I plan my response with very simple, basic words. And then I realize, wait, this is English! I can use whatever words I want!

Learning a language is difficult, but very fun and rewarding! Just don’t forget to laugh at yourself for your mistakes.  Go ahead and try even if you sound like an idiot. Because people appreciate it when you at least try, and you learn 5 times as much that way (and are therefore investing in a future where you don’t sound like an idiot). But now, you can be aware that there are a couple of side effects that come along with becoming bilingual!

Nicaragua

May 12, 2017 / / 0 Comments

Blogger: Kortney Cena

Program: San Jose, Costa Rica – Study Center

During Holy Week, the Costa Rica study abroad program took an educational trip to Nicaragua. Though the trip was technically to teach us about the realities of poverty, the impacts of historical events upon current day circumstances, different types of healthcare systems, and many other things about the unique Nicaraguan culture, it conveniently served the dual purpose of fulfilling Costa Rican immigration law, which only allows foreigners to stay in the country undocumented for up to 3 months at a time (After a week in another country, we were safe to re-enter Costa Rica for another couple months)!

To make sure we are all on the same page here, geographically, Nicaragua and Costa Rica are so close to each other on the map that they share a border (neither Costa Rica nor Nicaragua is islands, they are both small countries that make up part of Central America, connecting Columbia to Mexico). So, driving up into Nicaragua from Costa Rica only took a couple hours. The weather in Costa Rica is amazingly temperate most days– Ticos say it’s cold when it gets down to 65 and they complain of heat when we get to the upper 80s. I expected Nicaragua to be similar since it is so physically close to Costa Rica on the map.

But Nicaragua is different. Now I have experienced heat—I was born in Arizona, have lived through a Midwest summer, and even have visited Texas during the hot month of July—but heat is different when there is no air conditioning, no ice, and no possibility of a break from the constant heat. The only moment of any day when I did not feel smothered by heat was when I was taking a cold shower (which was good because warm water was not really an option). Nicaragua has the kind of heat that makes your clothes stick to you, that makes it hard to concentrate, and that saps all of your energy. Being in the car felt like being in an oven, and opening the windows only let more warm air in. Erin, Daniella, and I, who were riding in the back seat of the car, ended up plugging in little USB powered fans into the phone charging port of the car order to survive car trips!

Knowing that us extranjeros were delicate, my Nicaraguan host family provided a fan for me. I became very attached to this fan— It is funny how valuable something so simple can be when it is all you have. My first host family was a middle class, typical family in Managua. It consisted of about 11 people living in one (relatively) big house. There was one shower and one toilet, both in the backyard. I didn’t mind using them, though I haveto say, there is a special trick to being able to put on new clothes while in the shower, with sandals on, in the dark, without dropping all of your stuff or old clothes in the soaking wet. They fed me gallo pinto most meals, a simple mix of rice and beans and a staple for poor families in Latin America. But often, wanting to make something special for me, they were nice enough to make me fruit juice from purified water, since I couldn’t drink the ordinary water which often harbors bacteria or even parasites.

After only a couple of days, the people of my host family were talking about me as part of the family, and I was amazed how fast these people had accepted and decided to love me. The mama of the house, a delightful older lady who loves to tell stories, wanted to share everything she had with me. She even paid a motorcycle-taxi to take us to the house one night, just so I could have the experience of riding in one (which was very exciting by the way). The little girls of the house did my hair, gave me stickers, played games with me, and one even translated my homework for me! The stories go on. From these people, I learned about the openness, kindness, and willingness of the Nicaraguan people to share their lives, their limited resources, to teach what they know, and to welcome you into their midst.

More than learning about generous hospitality, I also learned some practical skills as we traveled in Nicaragua. I learned to wash clothes by hand and hang them up in the courtyard to dry overnight. I also learned to play “duck duck goose” in Spanish. Some ladies taught our whole group how to handmake corn tortillas, laughing at our weak hands which get burnt so easily, and explaining how some days they make over a hundred of these tortillas. We also learned to make some traditional Pascua (Easter) deserts. When it came to the farm, we learned how to milk a cow with your bare hands and how to catch a baby chicken (tip: you get a local kid to do it).

Of all these things that I learned, the most impactful experience was in rural Nicaragua, a small town called El Bonete. The people in this town were severely impoverished and had little access to resources. It was explained to me that the only way to have a real house is to have a family member in the States. Despite the fact that every adult in the village had at least one school degree, and many had two or three, they were all struggling hard and fighting to get by. Recently, this has become a fight against their very environment, as each year it gets hotter and the rain starts later. Most of the livelihood of this community comes from agriculture or livestock, and those things directly depend on the environment. As I looked at each dusty, brown field where herds of emaciated cows tried to find shelter from the sun in the scant shade of a couple trees, I wasn’t sure who was going to win this fight. The change in the environment for these farmers has been partially due to the deforestation of Nicaragua. Most Nicaraguans still cook with wood rather than electric or gas stoves, and as the land is deforested it gets hotter and has worse soil. But additionally, Nicaragua has the severe misfortune of being geographically situated where climate change has great effects. “Our children don’t know what it was like before, they only know what it is like to grow up in this heat,” said one mother. “Go back, and tell the United-Statesians, how we are suffering from the heat,” said the Pastor of the town. As we drove out of El Bonete, seeing the heat waves radiating off of the road in front of us, we noticed on the side of the road a bony, white horse laying in the dead grass, unmoving.

 

Food Experiences

April 10, 2017 / / 0 Comments

Blogger: Kortney Cena

Program: San Jose, Costa Rica – Study Center

I have never been a picky eater. Growing up, I could count on one hand the foods I wouldn’t eat— I would eat basically anything except those individual slices of American cheese (those tasted like plastic). But coming to Costa Rica, I have discovered myself to be very picky about the foods here! One may be tempted to think that all Latin American food is similar to Mexican food if Mexican food is all they have encountered. But if you come to Costa Rica with this assumption, you will be disappointed! In reality, each Latin American country has distinct food customs—for example, Costa Ricans eat rice at every meal while the Salvadorian’s staple food are pupusas. I suppose I finally have to accept that my mom was right when she told me, as I was growing up, that taste is a learned trait. However, there are many Costa Rican foods or food customs that I do not think I will be developing a taste for any time soon. Here are five interesting food experiences that I have had so far in Costa Rica!

  1. Imagine a pineapple. Now make it twice as big and pour vanilla yogurt inside of it. If you’ve been following along in your imagination, you might have a pretty good idea of what a Guanabana is like. Despite many attempts to get over my gag reflex, I could not finish the slice I was given. The juice is actually very tasty, and if you ever get the chance to try guanabana juice I suggest you get a whole glass! But the texture of the fruit — the creamy, milk-like substance coming out of a soft but stringy inside– it was too strange for me! Some English speaking areas that cultivate guanabana call it the ‘Custard Apple’.
  2. While we are on the topic of strange fruits, granadilla is one fruit that I have mixed feelings about. When I first wrote this, I tried to find a way to describe the seeds that didn’t make it seem gross, but I couldn’t because in reality the granadilla does not look appetizing! A granadilla is an egg shaped fruit with a thin, soft shell. You crack open the shell, and on the inside is what looks like a bunch of fish eggs. This is really a bunch of black seeds mixed in a mess of some grey substance. Granadillas taste great if you can gather the courage to try eating some of it. The grey liquid is deliciously sweet and the seeds are tart, creating nature’s own version of the popular candy ‘sweet tart’. As long as you don’t get all of the seeds in your mouth at once, (which feels to your tongue that you are indeed eating fish eggs), granadilla is a wonderful snack fruit, and pretty cheap to buy!
  3. My family comes from an Italian background, and as such we have some very specific ideas about how mozzarella cheese should be used. Therefore, I was very surprised when one night for dinner I was handed macaroni and cheese, straight out of the kraft box, but with mounds of mozzarella cheese on top. Talk about a double cheese pasta. Of course, I still ate the plate—this was not even close to guanabana-level dislike. But I don’t think I would ever do it myself!
  4. As a special treat, sometimes my host mom warms up milk for Santiago (my six-year-old host brother) to drink before bed. The first time I discovered this, my host mom warmed some up for me too. And I thought ‘oh, warm milk– that should be fine, I mean, I like cold milk’. But I think that somewhere in my mind I had connected warm milk to spoiled milk, and so I could not shake this bad aftertaste (though it was probably imaginary). I pretended to drink the milk until my mom went to bed, and then I carefully dumped it into the sink.
  5. Another custom Costa Rican’s have is to pour canned fruits on top of your ice cream. When I say canned fruits, I mean the kind you used to get for lunch in elementary school. Can you remember the grainy square slices of pear, the green grapes, the slimy peaches, and if you were lucky, a hollow half of a bright red cherry? That canned fruit. Along with all that sweet, syrupy juice that it’s all pickled in. It was not really gross, just different. I felt that the pure taste of the delicious ice cream was compromised by the canned fruits, but, of course, I still enjoyed eating the bowl!

Now you have a little taste of some of Costa Rica’s food traditions! Now I feel like I must defend Costa Rican food by explaining how, on the whole, tico food is delicious! Ticos (Costa Ricans) eat rice at almost every meal, and they like to have beans, fried pork, and plantains as well. But Costa Rican food it is not to be confused with Mexican food. As I have been learning, just as each Latin American country has a distinct culture and history, so also does each have its own food traditions.

Whether it is trying new and exciting fruits, or getting a feel for the different ways people here eat the foods that I already know, it is all a part of the Costa Rica experience. Study abroad really does broaden your mind, as your understanding grows in every topic. As I learn more about Costa Rican history in my mind, my tongue learns more tastes!

Pura Vida,

Kortney

Adventure?

March 31, 2017 / / 0 Comments

Blogger: Kortney Cena

Program: San Jose, Costa Rica – Study Center

If you were to look at my Pinterest account, you would notice that I have a deep desire to travel (that may border on the obsessive). I have always been so interested in other cultures– the people, traditions, languages, architecture, history— all of it. To me, the world looks like a fractal of brilliant colors and designs made up of beautiful people, rich music, strange foods, and different ways of life.

Part of it is that travelling is such an adventure. Personally, I love adventure—but I wouldn’t ever be able to be one of those crazy cliff-diving, parachuting, bungee-jumping thrill seekers. The type of adventure that comes with travelling comes in small but common doses. You may not get an adrenaline rush from being utterly lost and trying to catch a bus, in Spanish, to somewhere you do know. But it certainly is an adventure. And you feel so capable when it’s over!

Each place you go also has its own adventurous activities to offer (if you have seen The Amazing Race, you probably have a good idea of this). For example, in Costa Rica the most common activities are surfing, zip-lining, hiking, rafting, and volcano viewing trips.

But something I have come to learn is that it is not the activity that makes a trip memorable, but the people you have by your side.

Last week a friend from Valpo, Krista, came to visit for a couple of days of spring break. She wanted to see the nature and adventure of Costa Rica, so she, along with me and another study abroad student Erin, began to research nearby places with waterfalls and zip-lining. We had a really hard time, since online we could only find the very touristy and expensive places, and of course, we don’t have $75 just laying around to spend on a zip line trip. Luckily my host family hooked us up with a place that had a waterfall hike, some zip-lining, pools, free lunch, and a collection of watersides that we could enter for a daily fee of $30. This was more doable.

But we realized why this place was cheaper when Krista, Erin, and I arrived—the park was incredibly under-whelming. It did have all of the things mentioned, but all done rather poorly. The waterfall hike took all of 10 minutes to arrive, the pool was so cold that we couldn’t stay in for more than a minute, the slides had no water, the zip-line crossed over trash heaps, and even the lunch was sub-par. Perhaps other girls would have seen the poor craftsmanship and the lack of fun activities and decided to go somewhere else. But not us. While this park was disappointing in many ways, I must say that I have no regrets in going there, because Krista, Erin, and I had an amazing adventure there that I will treasure forever.

We took our water bottles, filled them with pool water, and proceeded to drench all of the waterslides so that they were usable. Along the longest slide, we set up stations where we would pour water in as someone was sliding to help them through dry patches. We found the little kids jacuzzi, which was heated, and invaded so we could do some swimming. We climbed to the rocks underneath the waterfall and took some awesome pictures. And the view of ziplining wasn’t spectacular, but the activity of zip-lining was the most fun adventure we had the whole day. The guides were a ton of fun, so we would joke with them and with each other as we went along. One carried around Krista’s phone and took pictures of our adventure (along with a couple of un-planned selfies). And when we got to the rope-bridge section, whoever was on the bridge in front knew to be wary, because those behind would do their best to rock the bridge and knock them off.

This is just one example of how I have noticed that it is the people that make an activity enjoyable. Another example would be the bus trip I mentioned earlier. I really did get lost with Erin in a town we had never been in. The trip home took two hours when it probably should have taken more like 30 mins. After asking the 10th person for directions to a bus stop, or after watching yet another bus go by that goes to the wrong city, it would have been easy to become frustrated (especially since we both had a paper due that night as well!). But instead of becoming exasperated as we sat at the bus station waiting, Erin started to sing to pass the time. So we sang songs together, we talked, we ate some cookies and some watermelon, and when it finally came, I looked ridiculous boarding the bus with half a watermelon in my arms. I will remember this adventure forever.

I have learned that people are what make any activity enjoyable, and with the right people around you, every day can be an adventure! So, I would suggest that all you adventure seekers out there stop trying to find the perfect activity or take the perfect trip, but instead, try to surround yourself with adventurous people. People who like to laugh and who can look past obstacles to find fun solutions. People who make mistakes into memories. And maybe, try to be that person yourself—it is all a matter of attitude!

Pura Vida,

Kortney

The Importance of Community

March 24, 2017 / / 0 Comments

Student Spotlight: Erin Brown

Program: San Jose, Costa Rica – Study Center

¿Qué es esto? (What is this?) This phrase has quickly become my “catchphrase” since arriving in Costa Rica two and a half weeks ago. Learning, living, and growing in a new culture and country has reminded me of my childhood. Here, I am experiencing everything for the first time. I am trying new foods. I am visiting new places. I am learning new facts about history.

Getting to know my neighborhood and community better by going to different events in town like the feria (farmer’s market).

The Feria – farmer’s market

I am experiencing new customs and sayings. Some days seem like they are filled with information overload. With so much to constantly take in, I often feel like there is so much that my brain can’t absorb.

I have always been an independent person and have liked being able to solve problems out on my own. Studying abroad has been a humbling experience in that regard, because I have to learn how to do little things that used to be insignificant to me all over again.

 I need to learn how to use the shower, how to take public transportation, and how to function in a different language. In all aspects of living right now, I feel like a child completely dependent on those around me. I’ve needed to learn how to ask for help. It has been through these experiences that I have come to see more clearly the definition of selfless love. In my confusion and in my doubts, my host family has been there to help me through all of it.

My host parents are patient, kind, and understanding when I am unsure of how to do something. They are willing to listen to the stories that I have to tell about the information I am learning in my new classes.

Host Family

Host Family

They are excited to share the culture of this beautiful country with me and all of its new and lively tastes, sights, and sounds.

In my search for independence in my first couple weeks of being in Costa Rica, I have been blessed with the gift of something even better… community. Intentional community is an essential part of the culture of Costa Rica. People intentionally sit down with one another once or twice a day to drink coffee and catch up on how each person is doing. They sit down with one another for meals and talk about how their day has gone. The men and women here do not run by a rigid time table like the United States that can be sometimes be constricting or limiting. They are intentional with one another and are more interested in knowing the person in front of them than knowing how many hours have passed by.

Drinking pipa de agua (coconut water) for the first time with my host dad.

Drinking pipa de agua (coconut water)

Instead of trying to figure out how to do things on my own, I have found a new sense of freedom through the community that surrounds me. I have made new friends and relationships that fill me with joy and love. If I have a question about something, I can freely go to my new friends and family and ask them for help. In the middle of all of the newness, my community has been a beautiful reminder that I am not alone and that I am loved and cared for. Romans 12:4-5 states, “For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” It has been a wonderful, beautiful, and liberating experience to interact with more of God’s children on this earth and come to know a little more clearly what the body of Christ represents… community, family, and love.

 

– Erin Brown

How to Be Self-Sufficient in Someplace New (Answer: You Don’t)

February 20, 2017 / / 0 Comments

Blogger: Kortney Cena

Program: San Jose, Costa Rica – Study Center

I didn’t realize how ‘gringa’ I was until I came to Costa Rica. It’s like how one never realizes they have an accent until they leave their native area. But it’s deeper than that: everyone has a cultural accent. My native culture has shaped how I think and how I see things so that I behave in a way that makes me distinctly United Statesian (aka gringa). For example, when I look back over the week, I realize that I was thinking in such a goal-oriented way when I first arrived. I may not have literally made a list of the things I wanted to accomplish while I was in Costa Rica, but I realize now that I subconsciously had expectations for myself during this semester. One thing that I really wanted to achieve before I left Costa Rica was an understanding of the language, culture, and area that would allow me to function self-sufficiently. I wanted to be able to take care of myself (by myself) and to interact with Costa Ricans, but not as a tourist who needed special treatment.

With this goal subconsciously in my mind, the first week here, I went about learning how to be self-sufficient. I made a small book to write down useful vocabulary as I learned it. I made a mental map of where all the important places were in the neighborhood. I took note of how people used the bus system, how they walked around the neighborhood, how they bought things at the market, how they say hello to each other at different times of the day. And I tried to remember everything. It has only been a week, but I have already decided to give that idea up. I know what you are probably thinking: “It’s only been a week; you shouldn’t give up after such a short time!” Well, I’m not ‘giving up’ the way you are thinking. Rather, I have learned something that has convinced me to stop trying to be self-sufficient.

kortney_1I have discovered that this desire to be self-sufficient or independent is a goal, or a mindset, that is fundamentally foreign to Costa Rican culture. In the United States, being successful is being able to support yourself, by yourself. Capable people do things for themselves and try not to be a burden to others by asking for help. By contrast, Costa Rica has what is called a ‘community culture’. The focus is always on relationships here. And helping others or being helped is a way for relationships to grow. I have found that the only way for me to function sufficiently in Costa Rica is to be reliant. This shift in view has allowed my host mom to show me her affection by cleaning my clothes for me when I had originally wanted to learn how to do my own laundry to avoid being her burden. It allows me to spend time talking to my host sister Ashley while she walks me to new places. People prefer to do things together here, and so I don’t have to learn everything. Even people I talk to who have been in Costa Rica for years say that they still need to rely on others for help all the time. Learning to think in a way that is community oriented rather than individually oriented is a multi-faceted task, and this is one of the ways the struggle has shown up for me.

So, I am trying to learn the Costa Rican cultural accent. It is contrary to my nature, it feels, but I have to stop thinking like a gringa, and startkortney_2 learning to let others help me. I need to practice focusing on the process of doing things with others rather than on the task itself. Already, I have seen wonderful relationships grow, and these are all you really need to function in a foreign land. I don’t need to know everything or be self-sufficient because I have so many kind people here who can, and more importantly, want to help. I may not know how to speak Spanish very well, I may be confused about the bus routes around San Jose, and I may not be able to accomplish every daily task that I could at home, but one thing is certain: I am able to function in Costa Rica.

— Kortney

 

Meet our Spring 2017 Bloggers!

February 17, 2017 / / 0 Comments

alyson_kneuselBlogger: Alyson Kneusel

Location: Reutlingen, Germany

Alyson is a Chemistry and Biology double major with a Music minor and a Christ College associate! She is studying abroad at our study center in Reutlingen, Germany! She is excited to be a Valpo Abroad blogger because it will allow others to view her experiences in a more personal way! She can’t wait to share this incredible opportunity with all of you!

 

natalie_wilhelmBlogger: Natalie Wilhelm

Location: Cergy-Pontoise, France

Natalie is a French and International Relations double major studying abroad in Cergy-Pontoise this semester! Natalie has always been interested in blogging, so she can’t wait to incorporate two of her passions together: writing and traveling! Natalie is excited to share her adventures with her friends, family, and the Valpo community!

katie_karstensenBlogger: Katie Karstensen

Location: Windhoek, Namibia

Katie is an Elementary Education major with a Mathematics minor! Katie loves to travel and can’t wait to see where her semester in Namibia takes her. She is thrilled to share her adventures, thoughts, and challenges during her time abroad. Katie is looking forward to this major life endeavor and can’t wait to share what she learns from it!

kortney_cenaBlogger: Kortney Cena

Location: San Jose, Costa Rica

Kortney is a Global Service major with an Engineering minor and a Christ College associate! She loves how blogging allows her to think deeper and reflect on her experiences! Kortney hopes studying abroad will allow her to experience difference cultures and broaden her world view! She can’t wait to start blogging again and share her love of traveling with others!

abigail_littleBlogger: Abigail Little

Location: Newcastle, Australia

Abigail is an Actuarial Science major and is off to Australia for the semester! She hopes to inspire others to pursue the experience of studying abroad through her international  experiences. Abigail is very passionate about expressing herself through writing and can’t wait to share her story with all of you!

 

Internship at Hogar de la Esperanza (Home of Hope)

January 17, 2017 / / 0 Comments

Author: Caylyn Moglia

Program: San Jose Study Center

Hola Todos!

Friday, the 2nd, was my last day as an intern at Hogar de la Esperanza, a super cool organization that works with carriers of the HIV virus. Hogar de la Esperanza was founded 24 years ago by M. Sc. Orlando Navarro Rojas in 1992. It currently serves 28 permanent residents as well as a women’s group. The residents are all HIV+, but that does not mean that they all have AIDS or that they are all dying. Many of them are managing their condition and living their lives. Aside from HIV, the biggest health problem is smoking and drug/alcohol consumption among some of the residents. Over the last 3 weeks, I have learned so much, and I am so thankful for the opportunity to have met these people. During my time at Hogar de la Esperanza, I have done a few Bible studies with small groups, and each time I learn something new about the textts. We have studied the stories of Amnon and Tamar, David and Bathsheba, and Rahab.

Some Information about HIV:

It is NOT AIDS, it is HIV.

It is NOT a death sentence; it is a life opportunity.

It does NOT exclusively affect homosexuals.

It is NOT a sickness, it is a health condition.

It is NOT caught; it is transmitted.

Today we had a special meeting, and we read and discussed various Bible passages, including:

Proverbs 19:1-8, Psalm 41, and John 12:20-26

Today we made Christmas decorations…with glitter. I still have some glitter on me, and somehow, when I was done with two pictures, I had glitters all the way up my arms, and I felt like a five-year-old.

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