Costa Rica Summer Service Adventures

My trip to Costa Rica with this group was hands down one of the best weeks of my life. I was able to experience so many new things from making new friends around the country to learning about a whole new way of life to helping out in the community and speaking the little Spanish I know to the locals. The fact that I was able to experience a whole other way of living at this young age really made an impact on me. Going on this trip opened my eyes to a whole new perspective. I've realized that we should not take anything at all for granted any day of the week because we don't realize how good we have it and how much we ave. I've become a lot more appreciative and also a lot more accepting. With that, I learned through the people in the villages and how they go about their way of life that you should always extend a helping hand and make sure everyone is accepted. Other than my learning experiences, I had such a blast everyday with anything we did - especially the surfing and the late night talks with my group. We were all able to get really close with each other since we were such a small group and it really meant the world to me. This trip was truly such an amazing experience and I would definitely do it again, or something like it, in a heartbeat.

My experience on this Global Works trip was nothing less than phenomenal and life changing. Every day I spent in this amazing country helped me grow as a person in knowledge and understanding. Those who accompanied me on this trip would definitely say the same.

When our group traveled to our first destination after San José, el Rio Pacuare, I knew it was going to be an amazing trip. Just as we started our bus ride toward the river, I began to see the immense beauty of the country with its endless mountains and lush greenery. Also, friendships were quickly made. I found that regardless of it being a sort of long bus ride there was never a moment when I felt bored. I was always talking to the people around me and trying to get to know one another. The friendships were so close, but yet very inclusive. I loved the lifestyle and friendliness of Costa Ricans-¡Pura vida!

The Puda Vida life means living your life as if every obstacle is a piece of cake. It means being happy and welcoming to everyone around you as well as looking at the bright side of everything. I would love to be around Costa Ricans all the time. The community I stood with was so loving and caring and still to this day opening there homes to me if I ever go back to Costa Rica which I most defiantly will do!

This trip was my first overseas camp. All I know is that the description fits. It is a wonderful experience and I made so many great new friends! I got significantly better at speaking spanish which enabled me to skip a class! I also did so many cool activities that I wouldn't have been able to do anywhere else. For starters, I was really nervous for the rafting trip. However, it was completely safe and absolutely thrilling! We got to go swimming in all these waterfalls and go surfing down the rapids. The views were stunning especially with no one around us but the wildlife. Ill also say overall the lodging and bathrooms were all really nice, compared to what I expected. Next, the cloud forest was really, really nice. Off the bat if you are going to this particular trip you need to be fit. The exercise and exertion that goes into this part of the trip is intense. So be prepared!! Here we did TONS of work everyday and we learned a lot about the wildlife too. The food on this part of trip was to die for. The people are also super nice and you never feel pressured about the spanish. Next, the home stay is probably the most impactful. Here you get to practice your spanish the most. You are also rarely with your counselor and you have the most freedom, but it's still safe!! The people, again, are also very nice and there are tons of little kids to play with. We do community service everyday but its easy stuff and then we do fun activities like playing in the river or games with the kids. I should also mention that we have to wake up around 7 am everyday and go to sleep around 10 pm. We also always pretty much have access to food. We also went on a few field trips like visiting another but huge waterfall. There isn't as much shopping on this trip as I personally expected but we got to go to super markets a lot. Then we travel to the national park. Unfortunately I got sick during this part but I got lucky because it has the best lodging! We saw amazing sunsets, went to hot springs and ziplining of course! Do not do this trip if you are afraid of heights!!! You are hundreds of feet above the forest for a large time in the air. But don't be afraid to try new things! Last but not least, the surfing! The beach is just beautiful. The water is warm and safe and the bottom is all sand. The surf instruction is great and you are guaranteed to stand up the first day. There is also a nice pool too or you could walk up and down the beach and collect shells. The shacks that we live in are super comfy but I hope you are not afraid of giant lizards! All in all this trip is just..its soo nice. I completely recommend this to anyone! Lastly, the counselors are the sweetest people who you can really trust and they always do everything with the safety of your child in mind! This the right decision for an overseas camp. And don't forget Global Works offers other locations and specializations as well.

While on my trip in Costa Rica with Global Works, I had the time of my life. The hardest part for me was feeling comfortable with my group because many of the kids came with friends. I can be shy anyways, but it was a great learning experience and it has made me more outgoing. By the end of the trip, our group was very close and it was sad to see everyone go.

I loved all of the language games we played and I have since decided to major in Spanish and use it in my daily life in the future.

During the reliable afternoon thunderstorms of Costa Rica, the newly built beneficios, an elevated wooden room that oversees the town’s coffee processing plants, was our official work station. But outside the beneficios was an even more intensive study of the culture shock. As we adapted to the masculine-dominated, agricultural society, we also had to adjust to the fact that the entire village was literally one family! In return for our dedication, the locals shared their long-standing traditions with me, a complete stranger who barely spoke any Spanish, save for a few phrases from a tourist guidebook. The exchange was not always tangible; it still baffles me that they were so willing to do so much for others without expecting anything in return. My inclination to attempt to help was largely because I felt a new connection to these people who have made me feel as if I was a part of their culture. This trip has introduced me to the boundless opportunities that await me in the field of business, and I am surprised by what I did accomplish in these short weeks. My experience in Cedral has passed, but Cedral and the memory of it live on.

Here is an essay I had to write for college, it's a great review of how the trip made me feel and the impact it had on me...

This past summer, I spent a month traveling in Costa Rica with Global Works, a community service-based adventure program for high school students. I wanted to indulge myself, experience new things, improve my Spanish, and maybe do a little volunteer work. Luckily, I found much more than that. I have participated in other teen tours, but I never came away from a trip feeling like I did after this one.

While in Cuipilapa, a small village in the Guanacaste region, we worked every single day, from early light until dark, on the community center building. We cleaned and swept the floors, scraped rust from the fencing along the outside of the building, and sanded 40 tables and 65 chairs. We painted the entire inside and outside of the center. As we worked, the village children would gather around us, giggling while trying to communicate to us in the little English they knew, while we responded back in what we thought was our impeccable, surely unaccented Spanish. After a while, the children didn’t just watch. Seeing us hard at work influenced them to help, too, taking pride and ownership in fixing up their community. I had similar experiences during the other projects our group worked on, such as when we dug up wet mud in the rainforest to clear a 1.5-mile path to a breathtaking waterfall.

Although I spent hours working to improve the 3 different areas we visited in Costa Rica, I had the most transforming experience during my homestay with the Fonseca Family. The Fonseca Family has lived in their small village of 100 inhabitants for their entire lives. The Fonsecas felt themselves very fortunate because they were the only family with a TV, despite the fact that it only offered one channel! To me, their house felt like a mansion because of the things it was filled with: laughter, love for one another, and happiness. But what really floored me was how they welcomed me into their home and into their lives. They had no knowledge of my life at home, how much money or status my family may or may not have, what my reputation might be, what my school and town are like, or how good or bad my grades are. No idea, and they didn’t care. All they knew about me was what I brought from home – myself. I had my smile, my valiant efforts to speak their language, and my willingness to throw myself into their lives. At dinner, they constantly offered me food, wanting to be sure I had enough; at bedtime, they brought blanket upon blanket, to make sure I was comfortable. This sense of acceptance, purely for who I was on my own, without my friends, my family, and the trappings of my life at home, taught me that I didn’t need a warm shower, fancy clothes, or a flat screen TV. I only need myself, and people whom I care about and who care about me.

I have noticed that people in other countries seem to be happier than people in the US. I’m not entirely sure why that is, but while I was in Costa Rica, it was one of the happiest times of my life. Perhaps it was because I chose to engage rather than just pass through, connecting with people and having an impact on the community, rather than being a tourist or visitor. Perhaps it was the simple lifestyle, the ability to feel rich without having a lot of material things. Life occurs at a slower pace, friends and family spend time together rather than on their cell phones, and people choose to see the positive, rather than the negative, in others. Most likely, however, it was the experience of connecting with my own self, seeing what makes me happy, what I am capable of, and the kind of person I want to be.

On my last night with the Fonseca Family, we trudged through the rainforest, collecting our ingredients for that night’s dinner. We found vegetables of all kinds, sugar cane, and even medicines from fresh plants. As we prepared the meal, I found myself standing together with mother Rosa, rather than sitting outside with my friends. We shared just the occasional word or two, communicating in other ways, as we fried fresh banana chips and created a lasting masterpiece in my memory.
...to include all the amazing detail I had to combine a few things like the homestay and one of the rainforest trips, but it doesn't take away from the truly amazing experience I had, which I at least think is very apparent in this essay.