Costa Rica Language Immersion with Rustic Pathways

This past summer, I went on a Rustic Pathways teen tour to the beautiful country of Costa Rica. The program was a Spanish Immersion Program where the goal was to leave speaking much more Spanish than when the program started. Before I left, I was naive about what was going to happen while I was there. I was unaware of the amazing program leaders that would be there to help us enjoy ourselves, the other students that I would form long-lasting friendships with, and most importantly the lessons I would learn about life in general. We learned that there is a large difference between a traveler and a tourist. A traveler goes to a different country and learns the different customs and culture. A traveler tries new food and embraces the fact that they aren't in their home country anymore. A tourist goes on a vacation and acts as if they were in their own country with no changes. Rustic Pathways and their program leaders taught us that it was important to experience different cultures because we are more isolated than we think we are in the United States. We are in a bubble and it is amazing breaking out of that bubble and experiencing what life is like outside.

Within the program itself, we had a daily Spanish class for a couple of hours each morning. In the group, there were 4 travelers and a Costa Rican native Spanish speaker teaching us the language. It helped us practice our conversation to a point where we were comfortable using it to speak to the people around the city. After this, we did some activities such as white water rafting or visiting local coffee farms. During the night, we stayed with a host family and they cooked us a delicious dinner. It was very fun practicing our Spanish skills with them. I would certainly recommend Rustic Pathways to other students because it really changed my thinking about many things and burst the bubble that I was inside of.