Gap Semester students arrived in Costa Rica last week awaiting many new experiences in the last leg of the program: study abroad. In addition to speaking a new language, eating new food and seeing new sites there was one very important new experience waiting for them upon their arrival: living with a host family. One student remembers meeting her host family and thinking that “they look just as nervous as I do” and “my mind just went blank despite the 5 years of Spanish I took.” In the end, her host family is patient and helps her with her language skills, prepares her delicious typical Costa Rican meals and tells her about the sites she will see over the 6 weeks the group will be in Costa Rica.
In their first week, students began the Culture & Society course and Spanish groups were assigned. Students visited the National Museum, the Costa Rican Science & Culture Museum, a coffee plantation, the National Artisan Market, the original capital of Costa Rica (Cartago), Cartago Ruins which according to the local story are cursed and the La Paz Waterfall Gardens, all in the first week.