Program Reviews

My experience here was amazing and I am so glad I made the decision to come to CR. I will definitely return to CR perhaps even to live. I am not more nature friendly and aware of the issues planet Earth is facing. I learned about treating was water and how to recycle and how to calculate carbon dioxide emissions. My favorite trip was going to Isla de las Tortugas because it was the very first time I went snorkeling and in fact that first time I went inside the ocean. Thanks to this program my vision for the future has been found. As a manufacturing engineering student I would like manufacture any products in the most sustainable method possible.

This course has provided me with a very unique international experience in Costa Rica that many other programs may lack. There are not many locations similar to Earth University. The educational system with its emphasis on creating solutions to global problems is in a league all of its own. The course material went very in depth, and as a student, I was able to gain some professional knowledge which I will likely be able to use in a future career.

Translation: I liked the experience of coming to Costa Rica, the people were very nice. I would like to come again in the future. I like the programs they offer. Something that I liked was when we visited the house of a senor (roots farm) because the food the walk and the history of the senor was something very beautiful that I will never forget. As a Mexican and a Latina, I am glad that I came to this country and in the future I will visit more Latin American countries and return to Costa Rica.

me gusto la experience de venir a costa rica, la gente fue muy agradable. me gustario venir otra vez en el futuro. me gusta los programas que ofrecen. algo que me gusto fue cuando visitamos la casa de un senor (raices farm) porque la comida la caminata y la historia de el senor fue algo muy bonita que nunca voy a olvidar. Como mexicana y latina que soy me da gusto que vine a este pais y en el futuro voy a visitar mas paises Latinoamericanos y regresar a costa rica. pura vida

I really enjoyed learning and applying the concepts we used in a classroom setting to a real life example while going on field trips to understand the impacts from our course. I found the concepts covered important and informative; making sure to address different contextual factors while attempting to understand and create sustainable solutions. This program was a good balance of fun and engagement in the subject matter, especially given that not everyone in the program was in the field of environmental sciences.

i have too many favorite memories that are truly ineffable. our professors are not only highly educated, but also beautiful people. the field trips are mind blowing, enough for anyone to appreciate our majestic planet.
if i must pick one full circle experince
snorkeling in Tortuga:
i was able to feed gorgeous fish from my hands, i cried from on the way home that night from all the beauty and joy i experienced. however, understanding the fact that all of my amazing fish friends will be dead the next week due to red tide is the most heart wrenching thing i can think of. The beach of Tortuga was the most beautiful i have ever seen, though the sands are covered in bleached, dead coral from the reefs... the juxtaposition was hard to comprehend. i am so grateful i have experienced the biodiversity that my children will never see...
i surely hope we can turn climate change around, it is breaking my heart and will kill us all.

My experience at EARTH was exiting. We were able to interact with people from all around the world, see different points of view and have lots of activities during our stay. The course we took were very complete and the material was well delivered by great professors, accompanied with field trips where we were able to apply and see what we learned in class. My experience in the dorms was good, comfortable bed, wide closet for all our stuff and a desk where we could do our reports and study. Even thought time was not our friend and didnt got a chance to see other thing inside the university I wanted to see, I had a nice time and if I had the opportunity for visiting again I would do it without thinking it.

This program involved the engagement of rural communities in modern society by acquiring knowledge, tools and methodologies about sustainable development. Through the concepts learned in class, the works done in groups, videos and especially the field trips I was able to get a much better understanding of what sustainability is and what it involves if we wish to be the agents of change into developing a more sustainable society. Because of this course I will be better equipped for my future en devours both in my educational as well as personal development. Thanks to EARTH University I will leave Costa Rica with a whole new perspective on agriculture, helping me develop new ideas into what I want to do in the future in the field of international agriculture. It has definitely inspired me into keep looking for more educational programs like this one on sustainable agriculture and development in order to redefine the paradigms of modern agriculture and help develop a more sustainable, unified and complete society.

The past 2 weeks have legitimately flown by. I have spent time learning rigorously in a classroom, days out visiting Costa Rican farmers/entrepreneurs and even a day just swimming in the Caribbean Sea! In classes we learned an incredible amount in a short amount of time, through formal lectures but also plenty of discussion, critical questioning and videos. We went on several different field visits, each of which was very different but focused specifically on providing real world context to the material we had just studied in class. If you are a hands-on, experiential learner like myself, you will love a summer course at EARTH.

The Engaging Rural Communities class held by EARTH University in Costa Rica was one of my favorite class I attended while abroad. We had a chance to interact with students from around the world who were at the university studying agriculture, local indigenous communities, rural communities in the area, and the organizations that were trying to help these communities develop further. Not only were these trips informational, they were fun! I had the change to learn about other cultures, try foods I have never had before (like chocolate made in a traditional way by the Bribri), make friends from around the world, and even spend some time at the beach. I would recommend this class to anyone who is interested in learning about social change and/or wants to learn about other cultures in such a short time (because the students are from 46 different countries).

Very unique experience to learn about rural communities in a fun place with great people! I learned a lot in the class, however being at EARTH University was an educational experience its self. The extreme amount of diversity on campus allows you to learn so much from people of different cultures and world views.