2014-2015 Academic Year

During JanPlan 2015, I was able to spend four weeks studying Spanish, living with families, and exploring the country and culture of Costa Rica. Centro Panamericano de Idiomas, where I took classes, provided me with private instruction in the language in the mornings, giving me the entire afternoon to experience the towns I was in. I was able to stay in three different locations, a typical city, a cloud forest town, and a beach town on the Pacific coast. In each town I lived with a family, all of whom were very different, but even more different from myself and my prior expectations. I learned more about Spanish and Costa Rica from my families than I could have any other way. Perhaps best of all was the amazing environment of Costa Rica, from the cool, wet mountains to the scorching beaches. The only thing better was the friendliness and vitality of the people; Pura Vida, their universal response, is truly a lifestyle.