Amazing Experience

This was hands down the best experience, so far, in my life. I decided to take a break from school and my parents suggested to me, going to Costa Rica for 3 months with CCS. I am so happy I did, I have taken away and learned so much from my time spent there. I spent time at a nursing home, special education school and a daycare. At each placement I felt very useful, each place was understaffed so they really needed the extra set of hands to help provide more attention to the kids or residents. A typical day started at about 7, which is when breakfast was served, we left home base at about 7:30 to drop everyone off at placements. At placement it depended what you did on a day to day basis, at the daycare I would prepare about 4 or 5 activities for the kids, usually trying to work on skills like counting, colors, and some English. At the nursing home the day began with feeding the residents who needed help and then helping with laundry or therapy, and at the special education school I was placed with a teacher and would help her manage the classroom and do projects. We usually were picked up from placements between 12-12:30, and once we got home we were welcomed by a wonderful meal. After lunch, depending on the day we would either have free time, dance class, Spanish class, cooking class, a field trip or sometimes a guest speaker. None of these cultural experiences were required, besides the Spanish class, however, I would highly recommend them. All the activities were very fun and I learned a lot from each activity. Dinner was served at 6 every night, and the food was always amazing. Bernardita, the cook, is an amazing cook and if you have any allergies or dietary restrictions, or simply do not like something, she will accommodate you. After dinner we usually had free time, we did have Spanish class two nights a week, but only for 30-40 minutes. On the weekends we were free to travel, getting around Costa Rica is very easy, you can take a bus most places for cheap, and the staff was happy to help us figure out where to find bus schedules and any other information we needed. Overall, this program was more than I could have ever imagined it would be, I met the nicest and most amazing people and had so many wonderful experiences. The money you spend is worth every penny, personally it confirmed what career I wanted to pursue and taught me so much about myself and the world I live in.