Weekend on the Osa Peninsula

Hey folks! Lisa writing again, and I’d like to share with you a taste of my most recent weekend adventure. Unfortunately, it was also my final trip (for now) in Costa Rica. My last weekend was one of the most awesome adventures I had during my three months away. It was a testament to the unplanned adventure! A friend and I went to the Osa Peninsula with the intention of meeting other friends who were already there at a predetermined location and also with ideas of camping in Corcovado National Park. What actually happened is we ended up meeting some locals who invited us into their home.

The Osa Peninsula is at the southern end of Costa Rica; to get there we had to take a bus from San José to Golfito, and then scoot across the gulf on a boat to get to Puerto Jimenez. From Puerto Jimenez, we followed the dirt road that runs along the coastline by means of the “colectivo,” a tarp-covered flatbed with benches. It was a bumpy ride!

 The road was beautiful however, and we twisted through the jungle for over an hour, feeling as if we were on another planet. Our “directions” said to get off when the colectivo passed the house of Don Miguel and proceed to the beach, whereupon we should continue until coming to the house of our friends. Everything went smoothly until the actual finding the house part. We never located it, but as we swam on the beautiful abandoned beach we almost didn’t mind.

It was when we returned to Don Miguel to ask for information about our friends and their house that we came to the conclusion our friends must have returned to San José already. In a beautiful gesture of hospitality, they offered that we stay with them to make up for the disappointment of not meeting our friends. That’s how we came to pass the night with a random family on the Osa. That night we had a bonfire on the beach and when fishing for shrimp – which we ate for breakfast the next morning!

The Osa was a great place for seeing wildlife, although my friend and I didn’t get to see the famed dolphins or crocodiles, we saw beautiful scarlet macaws, monkeys, an owl, iguanas, and lizards by the ton.

cuerpo sano en mente sana!

Healthy body, healthy mind!
My second month in Costa Rica was very different than the first month. It did not consist of as much adapting to the culture as it did learning the culture. Februrary has taken lots of patience and perservence. I moved up a level in Spanish class and my new professor had much more complex teaching strategies. I loved how intense the course was, but some nights the homework was very overwhelming. What can you expect when taking an intensive Spanish course? However, it has really paid off.
Every weekend my friends and I plan new adventures to go on! This month I went to…
Puerto Viejo – a really awesome town on the Caribbean coast. There’s lots of surfing and tons of other things to do. We rented bikes and biked from beach to beach

My Environmental Science class took a field trip to Ostional on the Pacific Coast. It was a great experience. We walked the beach and picked up trash along the way. The beach was so empty, because it’s a national wildlife refugee.

Ostional is the only legal place in the world where hunting for turtles eggs is allowed. It’s actually really neat. The whole communitys’ success and wealth are based on the production of the eggs. Once a month an “arrival” of millions of turtles come on to shore (9 Kilometer beach) and lay their eggs. This goes on for about 5-7 days. The first day of the arrival, people are legally allowed to hunt and take the eggs left by the first batch of turtles in a specfic (only 1KM) section of the land. Millions of eggs are extracted from this. The remainder of the eggs left during the Arrival must be left alone. The taken eggs go through a system worked through by the community to get them prepared and ready to be shipped all over Costa Rica. On our night hike we were able to find some turtles eggs and relocated them to a safer, better nest.

The eggs that are found and kept are cleaned and then used to make shot-like drinks for people.

You couldn’t taste much of the egg itself, mainly just the sauce mixed into the drink. A turtle egg has 10x more protein than a chicken egg. Crazy! It was a nice “cultural” experience eating the turtle egg.

The beach was absolutely beautiful!

The next weekend I went with a friend and two other Ticos to Poas Volcano…

It was breathtaking. We loved it! We hiked up a little farther and saw this lagoon: 

We had a lot of fun ! The last weekend of February, my friend and I weren’t sure where exactly we wanted to go and so we just decided to get on a bus and see where we end up! We woke up at 4AM on Saturday morning and took a taxi to the bus station, got on a bus headed to the Pacific coast and next thing we knew we were at Dominical beach! It was too perfect. The beach was beautiful and not too touristy. We built a nice fort out of palm tree branches and played in the water all day. It started to get dark and we still had not checked in to a hostel, so we decided to sleep out on the beach. It was awesome! At 7:00 it was dark and since we had no place to go, we just went to sleep. The sand was actually really comfortable and we had hid ourselves behind some branches and felt kinda safe-ish. Thankfully, God was protecting us and we woke up the next morning to a beautiful sunrise.  The rest of the day we spent surfing of course. 

To say the least, February was full of adventure, fun, new experiences, lots of studying, tons of Spanish, and a whole lot of traveling.

Before arriving in Costa Rica I knew to expect a world of Spanish speaking locals, rice and beans, beaches, and to be living a bit less “comfortably.” Now that is has been two months, I can confidently say my expectations were correct, but I was also very blind to just how much I would end up loving this third-world country. The people are incredible, the food is way too tasty (it’s dangerously good), and the country itself is gorgeous. All month I haven’t had a drop of homesickness or desire to come home early. I love how much I am learning inside and outside of the classroom. I am able to practice my Spanish everywhere I go and it is constantly improving. Thank goodness!

It is sad to think I only have a little over a month left in Costa Rica, but at least a month is still plenty of time to embark on more adventures. I have great plans awaiting me in March. After my classes end, I am traveling to Nicaragua to work on a an organic farm for a week. I can’t wait! Returning to the United States will be quiet the shock. Especially after eating so organic and natural while in Costa Rica.

On Valentines Day, my boyfriend managed to send me flowers all the way to Costa Rica! It was really really sweet of him. They were delivered to me in my Spanish class along with a letter. My professor and class (full of all girls) were all shocked. I took my roses home and my mama tica started crying, because she thought it was just so precious. This is my mama and my uncle:

My Tico family is so great! I got pink eye early this week and my mama tica took very good care of me. They always go over and beyond what they need to do. Lunch is not included in this program, and so everyday my housemate and I go to the market and buy fresh fruit and use my mama tica’s blender to make smoothies. I love it!

I feel myself growing intellectually and mentally. I haven’t been able to find a church to attend and there are very few fellow Christians in my program. I pray God can continue to use me as light for those around me, as well as help me to grow spiritually while abroad.

For now, PURA VIDA!

Echando a perder se aprende

Hey folks -
This is Lisa Gibson coming to you from San José, capital city of the central American country Costa Rica. I’ve been studying her for about a month, and I have about two more to go. The first few days were quite tiring – as I went from theoretically speaking Spanish, to actually using it 24/7. Right now, my favorite part of the day is my 4-hour conversation class. It is with an extremely patient professor who helps me and the five other girls of the class as we stumble along with verb tenses and vocabulary. After class is my best moments for conversation, because I’m at the “top of my game”.

I came to Costa Rica with a high school level of Spanish, and I quickly realized that I knew a lot less than I thought I did. In practice, I realized that I had gaping holes in my vocabulary knowledge, and my grammatical skills were more like guesses. This is not to scare you from heading to a country to learn the language! As the title of this post could be translated, “We learn through mistakes.” However, with the prevalence of English around the world, you may be wondering why it’s worth it to go through the sometimes embarrassing struggle of a new means of communication. (For example, the other day I accidently said “I eat cats” instead of “I feed cats”… a bit awkward!) In this post, I’d like to share a bit more about my experience with language learning and why I feel it’s important for you to learn a new language as well.

Learning a language entails a lot more than memorizing verb forms; you also have to learn when to use certain phrases and their connotations. It’s really tough to meet new people without that subconscious knowledge… I miss using English at those times because I’m still learning to understand and project subtleties through the elements of language not found in a dictionary: vocab choice, tone of voice, stress on words, slang, etc. However, I am gaining a newfound appreciation for language learners everywhere, especially those millions of people learning English. My intended career is to teach English to language learners, and as I stated, now I can truly empathize with my hypothetical students. I also have a reason to teach English: communicating through a common language brings about relationships. Through the many positive and negative outcomes of globalization, one result has been the rise of English as a worldwide lingua franca. The beauty of this is that more people than ever are now able to communicate on a common ground. However, English is still not the heart language of every person on Earth, meaning that their most comfortable mode of expression may be Tagalog, Mandarin, Bulgarian, etc. To build a relationship, we ought to stretch ourselves to learn to communicate on someone else’s level. Nothing is forcing us to learn another language, except the urgency to live in peace with our neighbors. When we challenge ourselves to do so, we reject self-serving complacency… and the world benefits.

So start picking up Somali or Urdu or Azerbaijani today! As for me, I’ve going to keep on trying to get the knack of Spanish so I can stop eating cats.

Chau y buena suerte!

Mi Casa Es Usted Casa

Three weeks abroad and I already feel at home! BUT it definitely did not start off that way…

Upon my arrival in Costa Rica I felt many different emotions: reluctant, scared, anxious, humbled, at peace, hungry, in awe, thankful, safe, not so safe, excited, thrilled, adventurous, proud, encouraged, and full of life.  I’ll admit it- there were moments were I found myself questioning why I even chose to study here in the first place, as well as moments were I was so excited for the adventure to begin. The first week was…. hmm- bittersweet.

Lessons I have learned (the hard way) within the first month:

1. To accept discomfort not as a challenge, but as an opportunity.                          Every morning I have the joy of waking up to 5 different alarm clocks. Why? Well, the walls are really thin, my window doesn’t completely shut, and plus I am a pretty light sleeper.
The alarm clocks in order of experience:
5:20 The neighbor’s rooster
6:00 The neighbor’s alarm clock
6:25(ish) The birds pecking at my window and their little tripod nails clanking on the tin roof
6:40 My housemate’s alarm clock
7:00 My alarm clock (but by then I am usually already dressed for the day).
No worries, I have learned to laugh at this.

Also.. I have been waking up at 6:50 morning to shower.
I have been suffering through cold showers for 10 days.
I have been taking 2 minutes shower to avoid frostbite.
Today, I found out the hot water gets turned on at 7AM.
Curse.

2. A life lesson we’ve all heard before: “It’s not where you are, but who you’re with.”
I don’t think I ever fully understood or appreciated this cliche phrase until now. Costa Rica is great and is full of beautiful places, but even when I am standing in front of the blue waters of the Pacific or peering across San Jose admiring the mountains in the distance, I still feel a sense of sorrow and miss the people back home. Every rare opportunity that approaches me here I take, but I don’t doubt that the experiences would be ten times greater if the people who are dear to be were able to experience it with me. As time progresses I am able to fully enjoy each experience and so sharing the stories with friends and family is more rewarding.

3. Learning a new language is TOUGH. That is all.

4. Culture Shock is a real thing. They say many study abroad students go through a pattern of cultural shock in which they experience 4 different stages: free, flight, fight, fit. Traveling to Costa Rica and the first night here I felt very “free” and excited for this experience. Day three I was already feeling the “flight” stage. I felt uncomfortable and really disliked the uncertainty of what I was doing. After the first week, these feelings fluctuated. By the second week, I only felt homesick after skyping friends or family and I was genuinely beginning to feel happy to be here. Its now already been over three weeks and I don’t want to leave. I have some basic Spanish now, more friends, a sense of independence, freedom, and an establish routine.

Before I left home I made some goals for my time in Costa Rica:

• Learn how to surf.
  

  Learn to surf: CHECK

• Pick a coffee bean. (In progress)
• Learn Spanish (In progress)
• Be open to all things adventurous (Continuous goal… but have already repelled down waterfalls, ziplined, done yoga on a cliff, mini-bungee jumped..)

  

  

  

  
  

  

  

  Learn to surf: CHECK

  
  

My reasoning for studying abroad was purely for adventure. However, I have found myself loving this experience for so many other reasons as well. This first month has been life changing and I am excited to see what the next 2 months bring.

For now, PURA VIDA!!!!! – Nette Schulze

I’ll Be Home for Christmas!

cyfarchion(Greetings) Everyone,

Well it is a bitter/sweet time as things are wrapping up here in Bangor, Wales I only have four more days until I am back in Minnesota.  I have had an amazing time and I am truly blessed that I have had the opportunity to come to Wales for a semester.  To anyone considering studying abroad I say “DO IT!”  I have met so many people from all over the world, made life-long friends, and done things I could have never done if I stayed at Concordia for the semester.  I know it is a huge decision and it can be very scary but I promise you will never regret it.  I have learned so much living in another country and I can’t wait to share all those experiences with my loved ones and friends.  One of the best cultural experiences I had was celebrating a British Christmas dinner with my flatmates.  I learned all about their customs at Christmas time.  Some of which were similar to the U.S. but others that are common for them. In the picture below you will notice that we all have crowns on our heads they are part of a tradition where everyone has a gift called a “Christmas cracker” in front of their plate.  You each hold on to the crackers and pull them apart. Inside you get a joke, small toy, and a crown. Everyone wears their crown throughout the rest of the meal. Almost every family does this during their Christmas meal.

Christmas Dinner in Bangor

Below are a few suggestions I have for anyone who wants to study abroad.

• Take lots of pictures!
• Make a budget for you money before you leave.
• Meet the locals.
• Write a journal (you may think you will remember everything but you don’t and it is nice to have a written reminder).
• Try the local cuisine.
• Travel as much as you can. Don’t just stick to the area you are living.
• Most Importantly……HAVE FUN!

Outdoor Pursuits

Hello Everyone!

So I have been having an amazing time Wales exploring all over.  I wanted to take a little time to tell you about an amazing class I have the opportunity to take here.  It is called Outdoor Pursuits and the name says it all we get to do a bunch of fun outdoor activities.

WEEK 1

The first week we did some low ropes course challenges to work on teamwork since we have to work together throughout the entire semester.  We also got to go canoeing in the afternoon in the Menai Straight.

Low Ropes Course Week 1

WEEK 2

During week 2 we went gorge scrambling which is basically making your way through a gorge made in a mountain caused by wear from weather.  We got to climb up and slide down waterfalls, jump into waterholes, and rock climb.  This has been my favorite activity so far in the course.

Groge Scrambling Week 2

WEEK 3

I was sick during week 3 and was not able to attend class, but my group went mountain scrambling.  This is basically climbing up the side of a mountain.  I am sad I had to miss because it looked like they had a lot of fun that day.

WEEK 4

In week 4 we went to the indoor rock wall to practice our rock climbing skills to prepare us for outdoor rock climbing.  I was very proud of myself during this because I climbed all the way to the top and didn’t allow my fear of heights to hinder me.  We also had the opportunity to practice some boulder climbing were you climb up different inclines that are closer to the ground without a harness on.  There were mats below us when we fell during this activity to be safe.

Indoor Rock Wall Week 4

WEEK 5

Last week which was week 5 we got to go surfing in the Irish Sea.  This is the first time I have ever tried surfing and only the second time I have been in salt water.  I didn’t get to stand up the board, but most of us were just having fun riding the wave in on out stomachs.  It is a lot of hard work surfing and everyone one in our group slept the whole way back to the university afterwards.

Surfing Week

Anyone who is considering studying abroad should look at the class options available on the programs that may not be available at their home institutions.  I am so glad I chose to take this class it is a once in a lifetime opportunity that I will never regret.  Even if it seems scary or odd still try it out.  This class has made my study abroad experience 1,000 times more exciting!

Bore da (Good Morning in Welsh)

I have already been in Bangor,Wales a month and I can’t believe how much I feel like it is my home.  There is a group of 29 students who have come through the Central Abroad Program this semester and everyone is very excited to partake in this experience.

I may be a month in to my time in Wales, but I only began modules(classes) this past week.  The first part of the month was time spent traveling all over the UK and I want to let everyone know who is planning on studying abroad to make sure they travel.  Traveling is the best way to learn about the area you are living.  We started our experience by traveling around Northern Wales visiting Norman Castles, Slate Mines, and hidden mountain lakes.

Central Abroad Group at a Mountain Lake in Snowdonia

We then went on a six day tour of Ireland where we visited both Dublin and Galway.  I found Ireland to be a very beautiful place where the people are very proud of their heritage.  While in Galway we took a ferry to the Aran Islands where many of locals still speak the Irish language.  Being able to hear the Welsh, Irish and Gaelic languages is amazing because they are all languages that are slowly fading away.

The dinner we made at our hostel in Galway. It consisted of lamb chops and mixed vegetables.

After we returned from Ireland we had five free days to do whatever we wanted.  A small group of us made the decision to go to Edinburgh, Scotland for three days during this time.  Out of all the places I have visited thus far Edinburgh has been my favorite.  It has a very old medieval feel to it which I loved.  Everything you saw you wanted to take a picture of.  We went on a few walking tours where we were able to learn the rich history of the city.  On the day tour we saw the cafe where J.K. Rowling wrote the famous Harry Potter series.  Then we went on a ghost tour because Edinburgh is supposed to be the second most haunted city in Europe next to Prague.

The Elephant Cafe where J.K. Rowling wrote Harry Potter.

Trying to fit into a phone booth in Edinbrugh. Everyone at least got a foot inside.

When we returned to Bangor from Edinburgh it was time for registration and modules to begin.  Traveling was fun, but we had to remember that part of the reason all of us came here was to study in a foreign country.  I am truly enjoying my time here so far and I am looking forward to many more adventures over the next few months.  Next on the list hopefully is London!