Howdy! I had the privilege of going to Costa Rica this Spring break, and I can honestly say that I truly learned a lot from this experience. One of the first things I noticed was how intentional every Costa Rican is with their time. Unlike the United States, the people of Costa Rica are not always on the go, but they find time for a mid-day coffee visit with friends, or just sitting and enjoying each other’s company. The hospitality of Costa Rica is something that I couldn?t have ever imagined. Everywhere we went we were served with open arms, even if we were supposed to be the ones serving.?
While we were there, we were able to visit with a few different business-oriented people. One of which was a representative from the U.S. Embassy of Costa Rica. It was very interesting to learn the roles of each individual and what working in the U.S. Embassy really entails. We were also able to hear about the governmental differences between the U.S. and Costa Rica. I feel as if it is really hard to realize that other countries do things differently and different things work better for individual countries.?
Finally, I learned a lot about the power of service on this trip. Over our short time abroad, we were able to provide service to three different organizations. The first of which, was helping watch the children of teenage girls in government housing, so they were able to go to school. Secondly, we had the opportunity to help clean up and repaint a community center in one of the most impoverished areas of Costa Rica. Lastly, we were given the chance to visit with girls who were a part of a safe house. Now, none of these things were exactly what I was expecting for this trip. Nevertheless, each of these services projects impacted their individual organizations in a big way. This was something that was hard for me to see at first, but over time it was shown to me that any type of help was a blessing in disguise.
