Pura Vida! Past Review
By A student (Oklahoma State University - Stillwater) - abroad from 01/13/2018 to 04/21/2018 with
Study Abroad Programs in Costa Rica
I learned a whole lot of Spanish! I also gained a lot if individuality. I got the travel bug and want to continue pursuing other languages.
Personal Information
| How much international exposure did you have prior to this program? | 1 month - 6 months |
Review Your Program
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* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
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* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
I loved our directors!!! They helped so much on everything and the excursions were absolutely incredible!!! |
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* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
My mamá Tica and host family made living incredible. they cooked meals, took me and my roommate on a trip one weekend, and loved on us so much! |
| * Food: |
I cant talk enough about the tropical fruits!!!! It was beyond belief and I really am sad the States doesnt have any!!!! |
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* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
They only real time where we weren't integrated was when there was a large group of SOL students and no spanish was spoken, otherwise, we were talking spanish the majority of the time! |
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* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
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| * Safety: |
Like any country, just take precautions and dont make dumb decisions, Heredia felt very safe! |
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
Yes
SOL did a great job with activities that gave us a full experience of Costa Rican culture. Also, the directors wernt distant from the students. We saw them at least once a day to say hi! |
Finances
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* Money: How easily were you able to live on a student's budget?
(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost) |
Depends on how much you like to eat! I was able to go to the market and buy fruit for snacks for an entire week for about 10$ |
| Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? | 60$ |
| Do you have any general money-saving tips for future study abroad participants? | Take sunscreen with you!!! Its super expensive down there and one of the ones I bought was expired so I got a really bad sun burn! And take bug spray!! |
Language
| * Did your program have a foreign language component? | Yes |
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How much did the program encourage you to use the language?
0 = No encouragement, 5 = frequent encouragement to use the language |
All. Every aspect! |
| How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? | Advanced |
| How would you rate your language skills at the end of the program? | Fluent |
| What was the highest level language course you had completed prior to departure? | I had taken 4 years from high school, including 4 college courses |
| How many hours per day did you use the language? | 10+ |
| Do you have any tips/advice on the best ways to practice the language for future study abroad participants? | Take notes of new words! it helps to remember! Also, you get what you put into it, so if you dont speak alot, then you wont learn alot! Youre gonna make mistakes! But thats how you learn! |
Other Program Information
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* Where did you live?
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* Who did you live with?
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* Who did you take classes with?
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| About how many local friends did you make that you will likely keep in touch with? |
A Look Back
| * What did you like most about the program? |
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| * What could be improved? |
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| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | Dont be afraid to speak! Lots of people in my group didnt improve on their spanish because they were too scared to speak! In order to learn a language, youre going to make mistakes! So just go for it! |
Reasons For Studying Abroad
| To help future students find programs attended by like-minded individuals, please choose the profile that most closely represents you. |
The Academic or LinguistYou went abroad with specific academic goals in mind; the program credentials and rigor of your coursework abroad were very important to you. You had a great time abroad, but never lost sight of your studies and (if applicable) were diligent with your foreign language study. Good for you! |
