Living in the Costa Rican Rainforest was the Coolest Thing I've Ever Done. Past Review
By Elizabeth G (Biology, University of San Diego) for
The School for Field Studies / SFS: Costa Rica – Ecological Resilience Studies
Absolutely. Field experience and new atmospheres can make all the difference.
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 2 weeks - 1 month |
Review Your Program
|
* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
The workload was light and certainly manageable. Field exercise reports were just difficult enough to learn a lot but not overly burdensome. Tests were not extremely hard. We traveled every week and learned coursework wherever we were, and applied it to the locations we visited. Though I didn't feel like I was learning a lot while I was there, upon return to the US I realized how valuable field experience and experiential learning is. |
|
* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
By living in a small community with our peers, teachers, and center staff, the whole experience was very connected and I had a wonderful experience with the all-encompassing atmosphere of my program. The program size was perfect. We had 18 students (10 girls and 8 guys). This made so much of a difference, since so many other SFS programs have a lot more people and a lot more girls. Having a small, close group was perfect for group dynamics. The teachers and staff were very helpful when teaching about Costa Rica- very knowledgable. |
|
* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
We lived in cabins in a rainforest! It was amazing! Just close enough to be able to go into town on the weekends to party, but just far enough so it didn't impede studies. |
| * Food: |
The food was absolutely incredible. The staff cooked typical Costa Rican food for us every day. They were very accommodating of vegetarians. |
|
* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
I can't pick one. We did everything from Latin dancing with native Costa Ricans to playing with local schoolchildren. The field trips every week to places around the country couldn't have been better. We got to see the whole country! We also went to Panama to compare to Costa Rica, and the experiences there were certainly memorable and amazing as well. |
|
* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
|
| * Safety: |
They were very concerned with us keeping safe with rules that were strict but needed. Health problems were only mediocre because of language gap between doctors and injured/sick students. |
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
Yes
|
Finances
|
* Money: How easily were you able to live on a student's budget?
(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost) |
|
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
| If applicable, to what degree did your living situation aid your language acquisition? |
|
| Language acquisition improvement? |
Classes were in English. We had Spanish classes once a week. I didn't get much out of these classes. It would have beneficial to have more Spanish background since whenever interacting in the community, Spanish was necessary, but I got by with intermediate Spanish understanding. |
Other Program Information
|
* Where did you live?
Select all that apply |
|
|
* Who did you live with?
Select all that apply |
|
A Look Back
| * What did you like most about the program? |
|
| * What could be improved? |
|
| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | You must love travel and adventure and good friends and amazing food and excellent experiences. |
