Upon arriving in Costa Rica I was extremely excited to see how it would be compared to the United States. Initially, I was surprised to see that there was a lot of similar business to what you would see in America. We stayed at a Hilton Inn and were a short walk away from a Denny?s which I thought was quite interesting. We then visited Jaco Beach where we were able to explore on our own and experience what the beach has to offer. Near the beach, there were various tourist shops and restaurants similar to what you would see at beaches in America. The area was quite nice and the beach was beautiful despite the hot weather.
That night we were able to meet our homestay which in my opinion is one of the coolest aspects of this experience. We are able to live with locals through the different parts of their culture. Firstly, the language barrier is both difficult and fun because they don?t speak any English and my Spanish is limited. Our host family has cooked the best food and I?m looking forward to our future meals. In the house, it is normal to wear sandals and when using the bathroom you throw your toilet paper in the trash can instead of the toilet. These subtle differences have been an adjustment for me but I?m slowly learning how they do things here. Even family life is way different here as the children are expected to live in the house until they get married, so the son still lives here at the age of 31 so he can go to university and take care of his parents.
Today, we were lectured on the Economy of Costa Rica, including its economic system and large reliance on small- to medium-sized businesses. Our professor was extremely qualified and teaches at one of the top universities in Costa Rica. The university has classrooms similar to Texas A&M and it had an open cafeteria which was nice considering the weather was great. We also took a dance class where we were taught Latin American dances that were difficult. It was definitely a change-up from the typical dances I?m used to but at the end we did teach our instructor about line dancing and did Cotton-eyed Joe which was a lot of fun.
Going forward on this trip, I want to try and experience things that you can?t see or try in the United States and that are specific to this region. Even the small details are what make traveling so enjoyable and going abroad is a great way to escape the culture at home and try new things. I?m looking forward to visiting the different businesses, specifically the ones that are related to tourism. I think it?ll be a good way to learn about an important sector of their economy in a way that will be most beneficial for us. I want to learn more about how cultural differences affect how businesses are run.
