Third and Final Week

For our last week in Costa Rica, we spent the majority of our time focusing on our presentations for the end of the trip. However, we were able to visit GMI Manufacturing and Siropes La Mundial. GMI Manufacturing produces electric circuit boards and is a company originally based in North Carolina. Currently, they started to outsource production in Costa Rica four years ago and have had tremendous success.

GMI Manufacturing

Siropes La Mundial produces and sells syrups for soft drinks along with the soft drinks themselves. They've been in business for about 40 years and is a family business that mainly sells in Costa Rica but in a few other places, such as New Jersey.

Siropes La Mundial production

At Intercultura, our Spanish school, the chef taught our class how to cook tortillas de queso (cheese tortillas) from scratch. We also had a dancing class from the specialist there, but we will save those photos because they are too embarrassing.

Tortilla Cooking Class

For graduation, our mama ticas (Costa Rican mothers) joined us for our presentations and lunch reception. It was a bittersweet moment because we've missed our family and friends in the US, but we are going to miss our new families here. We will return now to practice our sports and get ready for the season.

Jonathan's Mama Tica and her new granddaughter

Second Week

This week we gave a presentation in Spanish to Florex, a green cleaning supply manufacturer from Costa Rica, on how best to enter the US market. Afterwards, we toured the facility and witnessed its eco-friendly methods.

Later in the week, we visited Costa Rican Investment Promotion Agency (CINDE), which is a non-profit organization that fosters foreign direct investment in Costa Rica.

Our last trip during the week was to Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica, which is one of the five public schools in the country.

During the week and weekend we did some cultural outings to further enhance our immersion into the Tico culture. We traveled to La Paz Waterfall and its accompanying zoo and also made a trip to the coast and stayed at Jaco beach. Below are some pictures of our adventures.

Alex caught a frog in action

We had high expectations when we first started our surfing lessons. At first we got the hang of it, but this was when the instructors were helping us. After they left, we got pummeled by the waves for about an hour and called it quits.

Jaco Beach

View from our hotel

First Week

Background:

Leading up to our trip to Heredia, Costa Rica, we had 6 pre-departure classes in Spanish to prepare for our travels and visits to companies here in Costa Rica. This program involves Spanish classes during the week for roughly 3 to 4 hours, business visits in the afternoons, and cultural immersion activities. It is a global immersion elective; therefore, each person stays with a host family. On the weekends we travel to special landmarks in Costa Rica to understand the culture, history and beautiful scenery.

We spent the day after we arrived getting our feet wet by practicing our spanish while unwinding on Isla Tortuga

Coffee has been a historically important crop in Costa Rica and we visited a coffee farm to understand the business

Our group experienced a Costa Rican Jazz Concert in the National Theatre of Costa Rica

We relaxed on the weekend at Volcano Arenal

Jonathan: I felt really comfortable about traveling to Costa Rica because I've had extensive abroad experience in Germany, Israel, Mexico, Italy, and Tanzania. However, this was the first time that I would be immersed in a culture and stay with a family that doesn't speak English very well.

Alex: Leading up to my trip to Costa Rica, I was excited for the opportunity to develop my communication skills by speaking and working with people from a completely different culture and with a foreign language.

We learned how to cook a traditional Costa Rican empanada - a culinary treat!
 

Take Away Point: Even though we've taken Spanish courses in school, the courses don't compare to immersing in a foreign country and having to speak another language to order food, give directions to a taxi driver, and speak with your host family. We've enjoyed getting to know the Costa Ricans as friendly and hospitable people, and we are tremendously thankful for the opportunity to spend three weeks in such a beautiful country.