The second half of the study abroad trip was centered around businesses presentations, entrepreneurship stories, site-seeing, and business development. From my point of view, businesses in Costa Rica are much smaller than the US and local businesses in particular love to tell the story of how they’ve gotten to where they are today. There is a sense of pride, appreciation, and passion behind the local businesses we toured and they all seem to have a focus on giving back to Costa Rica in some way, whether it be the people, the nature, or the environment. My favorite business tours were the Cafe Britt coffee tour and the Toucan Rescue Ranch tour. These companies partner together to do more for the wildlife in Costa Rica and are widely known across Central American countries. These tours enabled us as students to see what it takes behind the scenes to keep these companies running in countries where the citizens are not always the main source of income.
Engaging with individuals always seems to be a pleasure in Costa Rica, especially with business owners and entrepreneurs. First off, a vast majority of them speak English as a second language because of the extra outlets and opportunities that provides to a country with a high tourism rate. While it might not be the most fluent English, it is easily understood most of the time. Outside of businesses, the people in Costa Rica were so welcoming to us as study abroad students. This was completely different than what I had expected before the trip and I was very impressed at how kind and encouraging the people can be. Our host home family brought my roommate and I to their extended families New Years Celebration and we were blown away by how welcoming, thoughtful, generous, and encouraging their family was while disregarding the language barrier.
This study abroad experience has changed my perspective completely about Costa Rica and Central American countries, their people, the food and lifestyle, and so much more. There was not a day that went by where I didn’t learn something new and am very grateful for the overall experience. First of all, the scenery and natural environment is beautiful. There’s mountains, rain forests, cities, oceans, beaches, volcanos, and national parks all within 45 miles of driving outside of San Jose in different directions. The food tastes natural, especially fruit, and their diets are centered on rice and beans which was eye-opening because I’ve always taken rice and beans for granted. The lifestyle of “Pura Vida” took me a few days to get used to but it’s relaxing when you accept the slower paced life style. This is true for all things in Costa Rica, except for driving because the traffic is chaotic getting in and out of San Jose. My initial impressions were influenced significantly by the people, culture, and business and I will always be thankful for the time I had in Costa Rica.
