Stephanie DiSimini- May 21, 2013

Going to Costa Rica with Horizons was one of the best decisions I have ever made! The natural beauty of Costa Rica is breathtaking! We have seen beaches on the Caribbean side, and so many beautiful places. I love shopping and eating, and I have been taking advantage of all of my time in this fascinating country. I cannot wait to experience Monte Verde, a cloud forest which I have heard a lot about.

Upon arriving in Costa Rica I soon realized that my host family was perfect! They have accepted me as one of their own and have shared with me so much knowledge and help, but even more love! They have shown me the true nature of the Costa Rican people. There have been so many amazing memories and experiences that I will never forget. The group of people I am with are all so genuine and amazing that they make the trip that much better. From dancing until the early morning, or just being there for you when you need help of any kind, they are amazing people with even better personalities. I am so blessed to be surrounded by such wonderful friends!

I have also been so blessed to be able to volunteer at the Simon Bolivar National Zoo, and a vet clinic. It has been hard work, but a great learning experience. I get to clean exotic animal cages and prepare large amounts of food for the beautiful creatures. I have seen animals in surgery, and have cleaned up a lot of animal feces and kennels. I can say it has been  fun, but it has been at times very interesting! Getting used to a new cultural can be difficult at times, but in the end I know it will be so worth it. My Spanish is improving and I am enjoying the learning of this beautiful language! This trip has been filled with so much fun and learning and I cannot wait to see what the rest of the trip brings!

Pura Vida!

Stephanie DeSimini

 At my service learning site- Simon Bolivar National Zoo

Finishing up a tour of INbio Parque

 At the Beach!

With my mama tica and friends

Amanda Short- May 20, 2013

Everything is better by the beach…even the rain. Though the day started with some rain it ended up as one of the best days of my life filled with new experiences and memories I won’t forget. Breakfast was consumed at Bread and Chocolate where the raving reviews for the cinnamon oatmeal pancakes didn’t disappoint. I was also grateful for a caffeine boost from an iced mocha (see photo below), and yes it was better than it looks.  

With our bellies full Sheryl, Suzette, Glenda and I headed towards the Jaguar Rescue Park where we received the tour of a life time. Not only did we hear stories about the animals living there, but we were also able to get up close and touch some of them. The highlight of the tour was walking into the monkey enclosure and having a baby monkey scale up my leg and into my arms. Then the monkey landed an impressive dismount after gripping my arm with its tail and swinging towards its playground. You could say it was love at first sight! Unfortunately, I only have a mental picture of this moment as due to the ornery behavior of the monkeys, cameras were not allowed in the enclosure because notorious for breaking them.

Other shining moments on the tour included seeing baby sloths, tree frogs, and a toucan. It’s not an experience that can be easily put into words, so if you’re in Costa Rica make sure you don’t miss it.  

After catching a cab back to town with a girl from England and a guy from Florida we met up with two more Purdue students, Joe and Hector, for a mouthwatering lunch. Not only did this lunch fill my stomach, but it gave me a new appreciation for seafood which I have never been fond of. I don’t know if it was because the fish still had a head and a tail or if it was the fresh flavor of the red snapper…probably the later of the two, but either way it was delicious!

Since things aren’t free Sheryl, Suzette and I experienced another first…exchanging money at a butcher shop. Fun Fact, banks are only open five days a week in Costa Rica, but luckily we asked the right man for directions and he offered to exchange the money for us. We were grateful as this allowed us to shop until we dropped.

As evening rolled around we reunited with the entire group of Purdue student to listen to reggae music, dance the night away, and let the moments turn into memories.

Serjio Valdez- May 20, 2013

When the opportunity to study abroad in Costa Rica came up, I immediatley jumped at this opportunity. I have never left the country and of all the 50 states I’ve only vacationed in 3. Never at one point was I nervous. I was constantly filled with excitement and flying across America and into Costa Rica was the second best experience of this trip so far. Seeing the sea and Costa Rica from above cannot be beat by anything from Indiana down to Florida. Arriving in Costa Rica I was picked up my mama-tica and her daughter. The daughter told me something interesting, she has a pet duck! Not a dog, cat, horse, or fish, but a duck! I found this to be awesome. And since then, living with my mama-tica and her brother has been an enjoyable experience. The food is muy rica and walking around the neighborhood is enjoyable in itself. The houses are very brightly colored and each house just pops as you pass by them.

            My service learning placement turned out to be more internship like. Me and another engineer have been placed with an engineering consulting company in renewable energy. The greatest opportunity was given to us by allowing us to tag along to a hydropower plant. During this tour, we met the company that built the plant along with 2 finaciers from Holland. We got to see the business aspect of engineering along with viewing the completed structures of a hydroengineering plant. We were informed on how each portion of the power plant works and why it is needed. The power plant is built among the wilderness and the scenery is just pure amazing. Every time you turn your head, another view takes your breath away. We also might be able to help install a wind measuring device that is used to determine good good sites for a windmill farm. So I’m looking forward to that, seeing as how Purdue has a wind farm not 20 minutes away.

            We are only a week in, but I am glad I have been able to spend it with the group of Purdue students that came along too. They help make my experience here in Costa Rica that much better.

 Standing at the Hydropower Plan Resovoir

We found a perfect picture spot during our travel break to Cuahita, Costa Rica

Joshua Loera- May 19, 2013

Pura Vida! This is a common saying here in Costa Rica. People use it to express excitement or understanding and for many other purposes. When you translate this expression directly, it means “pure life.” That is the perfect summation of my stay here in Costa Rica. Since the day I arrived, I have felt welcomed and have enjoyed every part of the culture and scenery.  My host family is a very close and loving family that has a very bright outlook on life. I enjoy conversing with them because it’s usually during a meal, which is always something different and delicious, and I get to practice my Spanish as well as learn more about them every day.

I was moved from my first service learning project at FundeCor because they didn’t really have anything going on. My current service learning project is at an Architecture firm that is called CR Arquitectos. So far, I have been working on quantifying materials for estimates on a residential project, which sounds really boring so I won’t go into depth about it. I also type up some code for a website that is turning out to be pretty cool. All in all, I like it there at INbioparque with Amanda.

I think the best part of this trip so far is meeting new people from Costa Rica and the Horizons program. I enjoy having new experiences with peers and getting to know fellow students. We just returned from Cahuita and Puerto Viejo, which is a beach area and it was AWESOME! I had a blast. The hotel was paradise, the Ocean was beautiful, Joe was hilarious, and I got a swimming lesson from the ocean. Besides the one point in time that I was completely the opposite of relaxed, I loved our time in our little piece of paradise. It was just what we Purdue Students needed after another hard semester. In conclusion, I guess you can say I am living life in to the “purest” here in Costa Rica. Pura Vida! J

  I'm the first gentleman on the right toward the camera

In our hotel pool in Cauhita, Costa Rica

Jessica Huemmer- May 17, 2013

Imagine rowdy, screaming children running up and down the halls of a public elementary school. It’s a teacher’s worst nightmare, right? Well, that’s pretty much how it is at Escuela San Felix Arcadio Montero, the school that I’m volunteering at. And believe it or not, it’s not such a bad thing.

My name is Jessica, and I just finished my first year at Purdue studying Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences. I certainly didn’t expect to be helping teach English at a public school in Costa Rica, but I love it. The kids are rowdy and rambunctious, like how kids are supposed to be. They’re also very warm and friendly, and love to talk and ask you questions. If you ever want to feel like a celebrity, I’d suggest teaching English for a week in Costa Rica. (You walk down the hallway and you’re surrounded by your fans all wanting to talk to you at the same time. I haven’t had time to finish eating lunch for the past three days because all these different kids kept talking to me and the others volunteers.)

There may not be much order and discipline, but these kids are doing amazing things, things I’ve never seen kids back in the US do. All of this week the kids were running their own political campaigns for the election of student body president. There were three different parties, each with their own campaign flag and headquarters. They painted their flags and symbols on the faces of their supporters, held marches during recess, chanted and cheered and threw out hand-made freebies (paper glasses, paper headbands, string bracelets) to secure the votes of their peers. And they did all this without an adult or teacher standing in the background supervising or running the entire process!

Of course it’s noisy and exhausting. Ten hours a day in any school would be tough. But these kids give off so much positive energy that I hardly notice how tired I am until I get home. So far this has been a very positive experience for me, and I love it.

Jessica

I am second to the left at a school party!

Me, teaching English at the Elementary school

I'm at the head of the table in Puerto Viejo with my Horizons amigos

Glenda Hernandez, May 16, 2013

What has been constantly going through my mind as the days venture on here in Costa Rica is the F word. Costa Rica has been a lot of fun! I have gone out a few times with people and it’s been memorable. My host family is pretty fantastic as well seeing as they are extremely nice and funny people. My mama-tica is a great cook too, meaning “study abroad 17” (I just made that up) is prone to happen shortly! The bar scene is enjoyable even though I don’t like drinking. People here don’t necessarily drink just to get obnoxiously drunk like back in America. I would also consider Costa Rica to have freaking good food since they have many of my favorite foods that Indiana lacks—fresh coconuts, empanadas de carne y pollo, and every pastry I’ve tried in the 10 bakeries I have visited so far. The plants and scenery is also fabulous. I simply love the vibrant colors belonging to certain exotic flowers. Although Costa Rica has its many positive reputations, where I work has definitely been eye-opening since it reminded me to be truly appreciative of what I have. I have worked in one of the most run-down, notoriously dangerous areas of Costa Rica that most people and even many taxi drivers don’t dare to go near. It is called “La Carpio”.  I was assigned the “simple” assignment to simply help out this community. I could do it in any way I wanted to—help set up a day care, help a group of women sell their hand-crafted wooden jewelry, help set up English classes for the neighborhood children, etc. We decided to choose the jewelry business. These homes in the area, including the ones belonging to my assigned 5 women, are completely run down and most don’t even have a toilet. Kids are running outside with mismatching shoes (as in a sneaker on their left foot and a sandal on their right foot). Even the palm trees in these neighborhoods don’t look good. Overall, I’m really glad I have the opportunity to have really big impact on these ladies with the ideas and actions my partner and I have been accomplishing so far.

-Glenda

 My roommate Amanda and I

La Carpio

Enid Herrera, May 15, 2013

Costa Rica has been a blast so far. I love my host family. The Hernandez family have been nothing but sweet to me and Toyce. Our family's story is different from many of the others. They have only been in Costa Rica for two years. They moved back to Costa Rica after being in the States for 37 years after they were struck by disaster. They were victims of the Wild Fires in California and lost everything.They decided to come home and reconstruct their lives. They are really an inspiration to never give up hope.  Today was the first day of our service learning events. I am part of group 1 which is the group that has to travel the farest. Our work station was in San Carlos which was 2 and a half hours away from where we are staying. We had to be up at 4am to get there at 7am. Talk about tiring! Our work station is very fun but full of hard  work. When we first got there we met the staff, Edgar and Leo. Edgar was our project leader. He is a very knowledgable man. He can name every flower,every animal, every tree we came across. He would give us the scientific name as well as the common name. I found this extremely amazing. I had never seen anyone be able to do that. He told us that our first task was to built a tree nursery that would hold 4,000 trees. We started off by digging a hole and ended up with all four walls at the end of the day. It was my first time constructing anything so I couldn't believe how fast we built the layout to the nursery. Edgar and Leo also gave us a tour of the property and showed us where the snapping turtles were. He told us that would be our task for tomorrow. I am so excited since I adore turtles. Til Next time.


Pura Vida, Enid

Coconut Time! I'm in the middle

Day 1 Project Progress

Poisonous Frog