Sol Abroad High School Program in Costa Rica

I absolutely loved my experience in Costa Rica and it was an amazing first time traveling. Although my host mother had some days where she was rude everything else about my experience was fantastic. I loved every excursion, dance, and food I had in Costa Rica. Rooming with my best friend was an experience we could never get any other way. Our host sister was amazing and the amount of new language I picked up in only two weeks is incredible. I absolutely fell
in love with Costa Rican culture and dance. I made friends with ticos and our tour guides Catalina and Orlando were the most amazing people my group could ask for. We truly became a family on our trip.

BEST SUMMER EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I loved everyone I became friends with there! I still talk with them all everyday. The housing made me step out of my comfort zone completely but in the end I loved it. I wish we had hot water because I was cold but oh well. The food was good and school wasn’t bad at all. I liked our teacher! We did a lot of fun things like shopping and zip lining! I loved meeting the locals and speaking the language with them. I learned a lot about the culture and would do it all over again in a heart beat!

I loved this trip so much i met new friends that i still keep in contact with. It was a great edperience to learn about costa rica’s culture and improve your language skills. The family i stayed with was very kind and My brother and I enjoyed playing with their grandson. Future participants should try this because Sol abroad made the experience amazing and I never felt uncomfortable. The program helps you through everything. After this trip it has made me think about future study abroad trips i can join. The trip has helped me improve my spanish speaking ability greatly. Some useful tips would be PREPARE for the weather you have to bring light dry fit clothes and bring all of your bathroom supplies because it is expensive to buy new things there.

overall this was the most amazing experience. i met so many amazing people who were also going on the trip. the host families were all so sweet and generous and it was amazing to see how they live differently than me. the excursions and activities we did were so much fun and most of it was stuff i probably won’t get an opportunity to do again. i will remember this experience and the people i met for my entire life.

The food is amazing, the people are friendly, and the experience is simply unforgettable. You will form bonds with the people with you, your host family, the culture, and the country. Plenty of chances to practice and improve your Spanish. It was an adventure and I'm really glad I did it. I would do it all over again. A student will develop as an individual and grow in maturity and experience. It truly was an amazing experience and Sol Abroad has done a great job of simplifying and providing a fun, safe, memorable program for all.

This was a really fun experience, the house that I stayed in was really nice, the staff were friendly, the actives were fun and I learned more Spanish. My favorite activities were teaching children English, dancing and cooking. Our Spanish teacher was very nice, I only had two other people in my Spanish class, and it was my best Spanish learning experience. One of my favorite memories was making fruit salad with fruit we bought at a local market.

This Costa Rica trip will be unforgettable. I learned so much about myself, other students like me in the US, and the Costa Rican people, the ticos. I would recommend this trip to someone who desires adventure and friendship, not for someone looking to learn spanish. If you are looking to brush up and communicate decently while also enjoying the beauty and all the fun this country has to offer, this is the trip for you! If your main focus is fluency or a significant increase in Spanish skills, you may want to look into a different program. This experience will be unforgettable and will influence decisions I make in the future.

This program was incredibly important to my growth both academically and personally. I came in straight out of Spanish 1 and now I feel ready to skip Spanish 2, using the book they gave me. Without the book I probably wouldn’t be ready but with the book I’m fine. I have never done something like this before. I’ve never been out of country or thrown into a new language like this. I feel very different and ready to take on more countries and languages-after I become fluent in Spanish of course! I felt slightly disconnected from the staff but I did not make much of an effort to know them so I do not blame them. The director for both programs (Summer 1 and 2) was very fun and helped us make the best of things. She worked tirelessly to make sure things would work out. For example, she moved around our excursions and instead of not doing anything when the waterfall water was too high to swim in, we went and did a sloth tour where I saw my first ever sloth! I had a lot of fun hanging out with other people in the program. I wish I had gone out and interacted with more Ticos but I’ll know for next time. My housing situation was awesome. I will be staying in touch with my house mom. She was great and loved to tease me. I felt pretty safe during the program. However, when I walked home during the dark I did not feel as safe as possible due to the lack of street lights. My favorite part of the entire trip was falling outside of the raft during white water rafting! It was scary but the people in my raft were very bonded afterwards. The instructor was very calm and handled the situation well. It actually convinced me to join my school’s rowing team! Overall, I wouldn’t trade this experience for anything!