I Loved Costa Rica!

I absolutely loved Costa Rica! I would definitely recommend this program! I would go to the ISA office almost daily because the ladies in the office were so welcoming and accommodating that I made friends with them. I was in intermediate Spanish which was not difficult but somewhat challenging. I wasn't honestly overly fond of the classroom but when you are there, the classroom is not the best place to learn Spanish anyway: the people are. If you really want to learn Spanish, then I would highly recommend that you make friends with the Ticos and not with Americans. Then use the classroom to facilitate what you learn from speaking with constantly with locals. With that being said, I didn't follow that advice very well. I made very good friends with other American students there with me and we spoke too much English (which was not my plan), but I forged friendships that were so tight that I still speak with most of them regularly almost two years later. I
I had a host family that I loved and we became so close that they even too me to a family reunion and later included me in their Father's Day family photo.
I also liked that ISA provided two excursions and left the rest of the weekends open. This way I was able to be lead in the first two weekends to get my bearings in the country and then my friends and I could plan our own trips after that (which were not very expensive at all).
Overall I can easily say that I had a 5-star experience!