Above and Beyond

I was 38 yrs old when I had the good fortune of joining InterCultura in Costa Rica in January of 2016 as a complete beginner student. The school is clean and organized and the staff and hosts were warm and patient with my lack of Spanish. Classes were challenging and effective - I learned quickly - and professors were direct, kind, fun, and encouraging. My first housing match was adequate with a beautiful location. Though after three weeks, was clear it was not ultimately a good fit (noise, bugs, more well suited to younger students, etc.). School managers were understanding and open to relocating me to a calmer host-home environment. Most importantly, this change of location proved to me critical for me as during my fourth week I received very sad and tragic news of the unexpected death of a family member. The home-host, school staff, and my student peers supported me with equal amounts of love, respect and professionalism as experienced the initial shock of deep loss in a forgein country. The InterCultura community helped me communicate with family, airlines and arranged my ride to the airport so I could be back in the US as soon as possible (with in 24-hrs) to be with my family. I will forever remember the kindness, joy, and openness of the Tico/school families I met, the beauty of the location, the excitement and challenge of learning Spanish, and I hope to return one day to continue to develop my Spanish language skills and cultural appreciation. I highly recommend this school.