EF Centro Internacional de Idiomas Costa Rica Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

My teachers and classes at the EF Spanish language school in Playa Tamarindo, Costa Rica were fantastic! The instructors did a fantastic job of finding subjects that kept the students engaged, and helped us to learn Spanish as naturally as possible. I honestly had fun every moment I was there!

On-site administration of your program

EF is very on top of everything. The organization is very well established and has been around for a long time, so they really have everything figured out. It was all so well organized - from class placement to host families to trips and activities I was very impressed! The only thing that didn't meet expectations was that there were fewer students at the school than I expected there to be. However, at the time that I went, the Costa Rica school was fairly new, and there were still quite a few people there - maybe 50 during the busiest week. Despite there being fewer students than I had anticipated, I had no trouble making friends as everyone there was very sociable, and I don't think that the small number of students turned out to be negative at all.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

I had a wonderful experience with my host family. To this day I still think of them as my second family. They were very welcoming and helpful with my attempts to communicate in Spanish. My house wasn't anything special, but it was just fine and I had my own room. A lot of other students from EF were staying with host families in the same neighborhood which made it very convenient and fun! The neighborhood was about 20 minutes outside of Playa Tamarindo, but this wasn't ever a problem because the school had a shuttle to take us to and from the school in the morning and evening, and if we wanted to go to town at a different time there was a bus running or we could call a taxi.

The Costa Rican food is delicious! I ate a ton of fruit, which I love. Tamarindo offers all different types of restaurants, from sushi to Italian to Joe's (home of the kick ass nachos) My host family provided me with breakfast and dinner if I was eating there, and lunch was provided at school. While a lot of the dishes I ate were very new to me, I really enjoyed all of them!

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

My EF school was fantastic at arranging non-academic activities and trips. They told us which clubs were best to go to on which nights of the week, where we could get a discount on surf lessons, they set up horse back rides and sailing trips, planned and took us on trips to other parts of Costa Rica like the Arenal Volcano and Tortugero on the Carribean coast... I had a blast and everything was very well organized and super fun!

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

While the students at EF in Playa Tamarindo are very independent during their time there, the administrators had no shortage of advice on how to stay safe. The key to keeping safe is to stay in groups. The town of Playa Tamarindo is relatively safe, but just like anywhere else, you don't want to be caught walking around alone after dark. Health issues were generally the responsibility of the students themselves. If you were having a problem you could definitely seek help from the staff, but usually that advice would be to go to a Farmacia, which are staffed by doctors, to get a diagnosis and prescription for treatment. The whole experience was very independent, so everything is pretty much in your own hands.

(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost)

When I came back from Costa Rica my Spanish was infinitely better than when I was left. I was there at the school for four weeks, and I feel that I learned more Spanish and gained more ground conversationally that I would have over the period of a year in a class in school in the USA.

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