- Posted in All University
- Category: Students
by Latoya Cottingham’13, Political Science Major and Quandalsha Fambro ’13, Political Science and History Major
Hello, my name is Latoya Cottingham, and my name is Quandalasha Fambro, and this past summer, we studied abroad in San Jose, Costa Rica. We knew why we wanted to go abroad and the goals that we wished to accomplish while abroad, however, we weren’t sure if we would be financially able to do so. We first applied for the Vira I. Heinz Scholarship, a scholarship for women in global leadership. Luckily, we both were granted $4,000. Then, we applied for the Gilman International Scholarship. They sent us emails informing us that we were on a waiting list. We were almost sure that we would not be receiving the Gilman Scholarship. However, a week later, we both received emails congratulating us on being awarded $3,000 and $2,500, respectively. We were ecstatic! We used both scholarships to fund our entire study abroad experience.
As we boarded the plane, we had no clue what to expect from the adventure that would be ahead of us. We were in a totally new country, surrounded by people who did not understand our language. Although most people would see this situation as the perfect time to cower in fear, we wore big, bright smiles and tried our best to speak any Spanish that we’d learned in the United States. Our study abroad provider, as well as other study abroad students greeted us as soon as we exited the airport. They helped us with our luggage and transported us to our host family. Our host mom, “Mama Tica”, as we called her, was such a wonderful woman. At first, we struggled communicating with her and the conversations with her were very brief, but after about a week, we had developed a broader vocabulary and we shared so much more information with her and “Papa Tico”.
One of the most beneficial and enjoyable aspects of our study abroad experience was the family dining with our host family. As we began learning the language and culture, we found ourselves spending hours at the kitchen table just talking and laughing. Mama Tica would help us with homework and school projects. The house that we lived in was so beautiful. Our friends would frequently refer to it as a mansion. We had a maid who cleaned our rooms daily and did our laundry weekly.
We met so many friendly and welcoming people while abroad. Often, we went shopping, to restaurants, to the movies, and to nightclubs with these newfound friends. Every day was a vacation in Costa Rica. We had class five days a week and it was very intense, but it did not render us from enjoying every other moment in Costa Rica. On the weekends, we had various excursions. We visited a beach, a cloud mountain, and a volcano. We stayed in five star hotels, and had buffet style meals. During these excursions, we hiked, watched the sun set, went on a cruise, saw the Costa Rican wildlife, went swimming, and zip lining. These trips were a great reward for the hard work that we completed throughout the week.
Some of the issues we faced while abroad were: the obvious language barrier, the disadvantages of being a foreigner and some problems with our class and the professor. The purpose of our trip to Costa Rica was to study the Spanish language and learn about the culture, thus, it was natural for us to experience a culture shock. The way we were able to overcome this obstacle was by maintaining an open mind and taking every opportunity to speak in Spanish as opposed to English. We also challenged each other to speak solely Spanish when possible. As awkward and weird as it may have felt at the time, towards the end of our program we realized how beneficial that actually was. We were able to hold conversations with people in the community, order food when we were at restaurants and even give directions to taxi drivers.
When you go abroad it behooves you to break out of the American way of life. In America, time is very precious; so much so that we coined the expression, “America on the go.” However, in Costa Rica time is not valued; during our stay we viewed this as disrespect because of the societal norms of America. The professor was often anywhere between 15 – 30 minutes late to class daily. At first we were offended, but after we opened ourselves to the Costa Rican culture we decided to use the time spent waiting productively by going over homework or studying for a test. Another issue we had with the class was the teaching method used by the professor. Most of the students in the class were far more advanced than we were. In efforts to keep as many students in the class, the teacher began to treat the class as an advanced course, which made it difficult for the people who were in the correct class. This issue was never fully resolved; however, we treated it by attending tutorial sessions. We both agreed that if there were one thing we were to change about the program it would be the frequency of tutorial sessions, as they were only offered once a week.
The last issue that we faced is common amongst travelers, being taken advantage of. Whenever you visit other countries you run the risk of being overpriced because you are in an unfamiliar place. This was proven true in Costa Rica. The same panhandlers you would find in America can be found in Costa Rica. People would try and take advantage of us was when we were at the market. Costa Ricans would try to increase prices or if we paid in American currency, cheating us out of our correct change. This also occurred while we were traveling the city in taxis. In Costa Rica all of the legit taxis have what they call “Maria” or meters. Sometimes you may find illegal taxis who would try to pick you up at a more expensive rate. The way to spot an illegal taxi is by looking at the license plate and the car doors. All legal taxis’ license plates start with “SJC” and have a yellow triangle. Just getting in a legal taxi was not enough sometimes because some drivers used other methods to overcharge, like leaving the meter running even once you have reached your destination. The way we combated these issues was by using Costa Rican currency, only using legal taxis, and making sure we knew where we were going and the average price to get there. It also taught us the art of negotiation.
Before we left for Costa Rica, we were told that we should not wear jewelry, that we would only eat rice and beans, and that we would only be able to go out with friends during the day time. However, all of these warnings proved to be false. We only ate rice and beans twice while in Costa Rica, often wore jewelry and no one ever tried to rob us, we had community officers on duty twenty four hours in our neighborhood, so we were able to go out at night and enjoy ourselves. We are not saying to ignore warnings, but we are warning you that everything you hear is not true. Of course without certain safety precautions, you do put yourself in danger, so use your best judgment. Always watch what is going on around you, leave your important documents in the safe provided to you, and never travel alone.