How I Spent My Summer Vacation
This article describes one student's experience with the ECU summer program in Costa Rica. This and other articles may be found in the University Archives.
Citation for this article is: Smith, Doug, "How I Spent My Summer Vacation," ECU Report, Spring 1989, Volume 20, No. 3.
When I first heard about the ECU-Costa Rica Summer Program I wondered why anyone would want to study in Central America. Like many Americans, I tended to think of that part of the world as a land of poverty and power struggles.
A six-week stay in a small country that is bordered to the north by Nicaragua and to the south by Panama seemed dangerous in ways I didn't even understand.Why not go somewhere romantic and safe like Scotland or France?
Yet two years later, as a testament to how time changes us, I found myself on an airplane bound for Costa Rica.I wasn't searching for answers to any profound questions; I simply wanted to take a break from my life as an American in order to try to understand a little of what it means to live within another culture.
My companions in adventure -- 12 students and two professors -- ranged in age from 18 to 50-something, and our backgrounds and majors were as diverse.
In preparation for the trip, we had met a few times to learn more about the country we would be visiting. We saw slide shows.We read books.We learned that Costa Rica is a peaceful democracy with honest elections and no army. The country also places great emphasis on free education.
Although armed with all of this information, I still had no idea what to expect.As the plane descended into the San Jose area, my ears popped and my mind wandered. Will my Spanish be adequate? Will my host family like me?Will I die of dehydration?
Entering the customs area, I could tell some of the others were thinking similar thoughts. The girl in front of me was still clutching her silver bag of peanuts the way she had done when we landed.
As it turned out, our first days in Costa Rica went well. After settling into our host homes, attempting to communicate with our families, and figuring out which buses would get us to the university on time, we were able to concentrate on our studies.
In a class taught by the program's directors -- Dr. Holly Mathews, an associate professor in ECU's Department of Sociology and Anthropology, and Dr. Vince Bellis, a biology professor at ECU -- students examined Costa Rica's place in the growing world market, stresses of development on a Third World country, and ecological concerns such as pollution and deforestation.
As the class progressed, it was interesting to find out that many of these problems were interrelated. And because Costa Rica is in many ways a case study for other developing nations, our discussions often crossed the borders of other countries.
A class in conversational Spanish was also offered, which everyone found to be especially helpful. It was taught by a faculty member from the University of Costa Rica in San Jose.
Although we were expected to write papers and do homework as any other college student, these classes were unlike any I've ever had. Instead of lecturing, the professors encouraged us to participate in class discussions by relating our personal experiences.
Many students chose to carry out independent studies in subject areas such as photography, elementary education and writing. This allowed us to further pursue specific interests and get credit within our majors.
Weekends were reserved for field trips.These excursions proved to be an important part of the program, for they gave us the opportunity to experience what we had read about in books and talked about in class.
We traveled to the Pacific and Caribbean coasts, visited an active volcano and a tropical research institute.An optional trip to Monteverde Cloud Forest was planned for those with special interests in tropical plants and animals.
I had always heard that travel was the best education, but that summer I believed it for the first time.The world was our classroom. We heard lectures while hiking up a mountain trail. We met people whose situations we had studied. It was the opposite of the ivory tower where scholars are often accused of retreating.
Although enjoyable, these trips were not without their problems. On the way to the Caribbean our bus came upon a roadblock on the main highway. The farmers had joined together to protest the low prices they were getting for their crops. We understood their problem, but were not pleased when we found that the only alternate route added about four hours to our trip.
On the way back from another field trip our bus broke down, stranding us for a couple of hours outside a rural bar called Salon El Descanso, or "the sleepy bar." But in the spirit of adventure, even these problems seemed minor.No one was expecting perfection, and looking back, they probably made the trip more interesting.
Other benefits of the program had little to do with academics.Learning in the classic sense is important, but what sticks with me most is the knowledge that I can adapt and live within a foreign culture. This satisfaction was shared by all of the students; through interaction with our host families and Costa Rican society at large, we came to know and appreciate something that only six weeks earlier had been a mystery.
The challenges of living in a foreign country were made more manageable by our host families, who were always cheerful and generous. They answered all of our questions and helped us find things.They fed us and washed our clothes, generally supporting us in so many ways.
In general, it was very easy to get to know Costa Rica.Because it is a small, cohesive country where transportation is cheap, there was great freedom to follow your own interests.Students interested in the arts could go to museums or the national theatre in San Jose.
If someone wanted to focus on education, they could visit area schools. When I wanted to be alone to write or just watch people, I went to the central plaza in Heredia.Our experience was not dictated; it was up to us to get something out of the program.
Most of us found that we learned not only about Costa Rica and its people, but a great deal about America and ourselves.We changed our perspective on the world, and that is no small thing.
There are still mornings when I wake up to fresh images of that country. Under the comforting cover of sleep, I hear the afternoon rains again; I see the green mountains which rolled so smoothly outside my bedroom window in Heredia. The whole experience is permanently etched into the retina of my mind's eye, and I can tell how deeply it affected me by the frequency and brightness of these images.
Obviously, I am glad that I took the risk and accepted the challenges of living abroad.I recommend the trip highly.
Editor's Note: Doug Smith graduated from ECU in December 1989 with a B.A. in English.After a summer of travel in Europe, the Burlington native plans to pursue a graduate degree in international studies. The ECU Summer Program in Costa Rica is open to all interested students and alumni. For more information, contact the Office of International Studies.
