Poco a poco

I have officially been living in Costa Rica for 9 days now — what an interesting experience it has been! From experiencing a very interesting first evening at the airport to taking salsa lessons on top of a mountain overlooking all of San José to learning how to cross a street without being road-kill (trust me it’s much harder than you might think!), Costa Rica has had and will have many more surprises in store.

My first real culture shock was discovering that my image as a tall, pale-skinned woman with “intense eyes” and reddish hair is not so common here. In fact, I’m quite the rare sight — it definitely is taking me some time to get used to the extra attention. Oh, and by the way, excuse my simple English — my transition from thinking in Spanish back to English is anything but smooth.

During the first couple days in Costa Rica we (14 students in my program) spent time for orientation at Juan XXIII—an old monastery with incredibly beautiful grounds and a peaceful perch to gaze atop the entire city. We learned some traditional Costa Rican games, but also spent many hours on the basketball court — a fun reminder of my need to get into shape during my time here! A trip to the Irazú Volcano introduced us to one of the many microclimates of Costa Rica… ¡Hace frío!

I live near Universidad Latina, the school that I attend, with a very nice and helpful host family. My “Mama Tica” has helped me adjust to the city and practice my Spanish at the same time. I’m so grateful for her motto, “poco a poco,” or “little by little.”

My classes at the International Center for Development Studies involve Spanish, Social Justice and Sustainable Development in Latin America are both very interesting and very challenging. My professors are not professors by trade, rather practitioners — for example my Development from a Gender Perspective professor is a leader in the Women's Rights Movement in Costa Rica, and my Human Rights professor is an international lawyer and one of the top advisers on Costa Rica’s Human Rights Council — so we get such an interesting perspective into our studies.

The weather is beautiful, the Ticos are friendly, Costa Rica is the place to be! Pura Vida!

oSha Shireman