Costa Rica

I had been excited to be in a Latin American and Spanish speaking country, so I loved Costa Rica. One of our most unique experiences here was that our entire team stayed in a church gym. We had thin mats and our sleeping bags out on the cement bleachers of the huge room with all the girls to one side and the boys on the other. As someone who always likes to be in the action but also loves bed, I was thrilled to be able to watch soccer, listen to people play piano, and yell across to anyone without getting up. Having come from Europe, we were a bit jet-lagged so we slept well even in the conditions, just happy to be together for the last of our time together. 

Service

We worked with a church and a youth organization while staying in San Jose. Our team spilt in two halves and alternated to each site. While at the church we cut down some of the tall grass on the campus with machetes. If you give a bunch of college kids machetes and other tools, there is a good chance they will start a mock war. We also did street cleanup where I was very thankful to have the ridiculous red rubber gloves that I had gotten in a white elephant gift exchange a week back. We worked to clean up the whole church campus with the landscape and trash and also by sweeping and cleaning inside. 

When we worked with the organization, we went into the precarious, or slums, to work on a youth center that the organization had recently purchased and was renovating. We helped to get a room ready by taping and painting it. We also took a walk around the homes to meet some of the kids in neighborhood which was made of crude houses along a winding, dirt path. Many children started gathering around the youth center by the end of our time to play and run around with us. 

Our last two service events of the entire trip were youth Christmas parties. On Friday night, some of the young people came to hang out and we played games, shared stories, and ate food. The next day, kids from the church and the surrounding community came for a Christmas party where I worked with some of the littlest preschool age kids. We played some simple games, made ornaments, and had face paint and balloon animals. All of the children were so sweet, held my hand and led me around for most of the time which made me smile. 

Finals Week

We took finals on the beach which was not conducive to studying, but it was a wonderful way to end the trip. We ate at our small resort for most meals as the town was a little ways down the beach. We did go into town for ice cream one night, though, and for individual travel team dinners. 

I went surfing for the first time. The water was warm and the waves weren’t too big. A couple of us went out early in the morning when the world was peaceful, and everything about it was rather perfect except two things: I barley knew how to surf so even with my friend’s instruction, I nose dived a lot, and it was the morning of finals. That being said I caught some good waves–and going surfing, even with finals that day, was a great decision!

Our last day, we rented a beach house for team debrief. Our leaders led us in discussions to reflect on our experiences and answered questions about how to share our trip, what to do next, and how to readjust. It wasn’t all serious though, as our team can’t stay serious for long; we also had a belly flop contest into the pool and played ultimate frisbee on the beach as a whole team.

The wind, number of people, and huge field that we drew out made for a difficult and low scoring game. When it ended we all ran out into the water where we swam around, had chicken fights, and whaled people (sneaking up on someone and jumping out at them like a whale breeches). 

The evening contained team dinner, a birthday celebration, sharing the final video projects we were all assigned, and sharing stories and encouraging words with one another. We all said our goodbyes and hugged, because while we all would still be flying home together, we weren’t sure how easy it would be to have time like this again. Plus we’re all just a bit dramatic. Many of us stayed up and played games into the night because we had to leave at 3 AM, so it almost wasn’t worth trying to sleep. 

Going Home

Our flight home was easy, and getting back was bittersweet. I turned airplane mode off on my phone for basically the first time in four and a half months and made a phone call to my parents which I hadn’t done since I left the country (don’t worry I still FaceTimed them and kept in touch). Costa Rica was a wonderful way to end the trip and I’m thankful for the time we had. 

I will be posting a reflection on the whole trip still after this, and I hope to continue blogging some if anyone is interested in continuing to follow one of my adventures. I can’t promise that any of it will be quite as exciting as this semester was, but I do make it my goal to make everything an adventure, even the small things. I encourage you all to do the same!