Lifechanging Winter

I had the time of my life in Costa Rica and I wish everyone could have a study abroad experience like I did. The Spanish classes were one of the most helpful things about the program because I was able to learn and practice my regular Spanish, but it also challenged me with specific medical vocabulary and how to talk to patients. I definitely left Costa Rica a much better Spanish speaker than when I arrived. I liked the rotations and community service that we did. I appreciate it more now that I'm back in the United States and I'm working more in hospitals here. Learning about how different the health care system is there has definitely changed how I think about things in my current rotations. I travelled around Costa Rica with the program a couple weekends and with other students on our own trips other weekends. I loved the all the beaches on the Pacific Coast and Monteverde, but coming from a city, I appreciated being based more downtown for classes with more things to do and places to go. I didn't have any issues with safety like others, but I'm used to the city and more people around. I had great homestay parents too. I felt like part of the family throughout my whole stay. If there was ever anything I didn't know or needed help with, my homestay family or someone from ICDS was there to help.