THE 3 Most Influential Months of My Life Past Review

Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc.

This was one of the most academically rigorous semesters of my college experience, but the semester is definitely what you make it. We wrote a final research paper that for me ended up be significantly extensive. It was the framework for my senior honor thesis research and later my Fulbright research grant. Programs was then called, Revolution, Transformation and Civil Society.

On-site administration of your program

Our program administration was excellent. We were so well taken care of and looked after while being encouraged to embrace our independent explorations of Nicaragua.

How satisfied were you with your living arrangements?

I stayed with a host-family and it was such a wonderful experience. My host mother, father and brother are people I adore. They looked after me and treated me like their own (and still do to this day). I loved home cooked Nicaraguan typical meals. I loved the way integrating spanish language into my home environment helped me to exponentially develop my capacity for spanish speaking. The only downfall to the host-family experience was seeing that level of poverty first hand and not really being able to help. I was there to study and had to be very clear I could not be a source of income outside of what was being paid by the program.

Food was very very yummy. I loved pretty much everything I had there. It is very cheap if you are buying out in the street. You can pretty much always find food in $3-8 range. I loved going to the mercado oriental to by my own food to prepare at home as well although I wouldn't recommend going on your own as a foreigner. The diet is very heavily meat based and starches. It's easy to work around if you are preparing your own meals; however, buying in the street or eating with a Nicaraguan family its a little tricky (though not impossible) to navigate.

How integrated did you feel with the local culture?

I felt incredibly integrated into the local culture. The program really is structured so that our lives are deeply connected to the Nicaraguan culture and reality of the society. We lived with Nicaraguan families. Studied at a Nicaraguan university and exchanged with language partners from the university. And we made friends in our barrio and through our independent research projects. I planted roots during my study abroad semester that drew me back to Nicaragua for an independent Fulbright research grant two years later. When I arrived back, it felt in many ways that I had never left and it made adapting to living there for longer term so much easier. I will say two stand out issues I ran into were adjusting to treatment of woman and people of color in Nicaragua. Woman are highly objectified and dealing with that and grappling with that requires a much different approach than I would experience in the states. I have a similar reflection on race as well. Nicaragua is pretty geographically racially segregated. Most black Nicaraguans live on the Caribbean/atlantic coast of the country. I, as a black woman, was very much a rarity to be seen on the pacific coast. It added a another level of complexity to integrating myself into the society. I was often identified by my black skin in social settings and amongst friends in a way that would never happen in the US. I was catcalled in the streets on occasion with people calling out about my skin color. Despite some slight aggravation from time to time it was nothing that was overwhelmingly uncomfortable/bothersome. Mostly just required becoming more 'thicker skinned' :)

How well were health issues addressed during the program?

I was actually very fortunate not to have any medical issues however during my program and upon returning a few years later I observed others deal with health/medical issues with significant ease. There is a wonderful private hospital that is fairly inexpensive (in comparison to US healthcare) and for more minor issues there are a number of public hospitals that are pretty great as well. I was living in the capital city of Managua however; so I am not quite sure what it would be like to be in more rural regions or the Caribbean coast.

Managua felt like a very safe urban environment. Here and there you hear of robberies and theft, but that is something I would certainly expect from a poor urban setting. In most of those cases, people who didn't resist and just gave up whatever was trying to be taken from them were fine. I once again was fortunate and never really dealt with an safety/security issues during my study abroad semester or in the year I returned for my Fulbright grant. My advice don't travel alone after dark. Be cautious in taxis. Be very cautious in the markets. Be mindful of cultural differences when going out to bars/nightclubs... Respecting a women's rights to dress and act the ways she wants can be missed in many cases Nicaraguan society.

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

0 = No encouragement, 5 = frequent encouragement to use the language

We had more than half of our classes in Spanish. We had a number of presentations and assignments that were conducted/presented in Spanish. We lived in homestays where most of our families did not speak any english. We were not allowed to speak in English in the study center.

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• Host Family
• Apartment
• Hotel

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• Americans
• Host Family

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• Americans

• True Language and Cultural Immersion
• Vigorous Research Study
• Amazing Travel Opportunities (In-Country and in Central America)

• Program could have been longer.. I felt like we were rushed in our excursions and we were leaving as soon as I was beginning to feel comfortable

The Academic or Linguist