One semester abroad by Zack Salvati

What can I take away from studying abroad the last three months in Costa Rica? Well, this question has a answer, but it's not "I learned so much about the culture, how to better speak Spanish and how to travel." That would be too easy and in fact too cliche to actually be true.

When I really ask myself what I learned down here, I come up with blanks. It's not that I didn't learn, it's that I lost. What I mean by that is that over the past three months I have become more mature, more comfortable with myself, and more at ease in my life through the gradual loss of what I know to be true.

But you may be asking yourself what I am talking about. Well, it sounds strange and maybe even stupid that losing what you know to be true makes you happier and more peaceful but it's absolutely true. I personally came here with pretentions and ideas about how things should be, but these have only hampered me-as I have seen over the last three months. I discovered that when I stop expecting things to be a certain way, I learn to see things in a different light. I start to see things as perfect, even if the perfection is different than what I am used to.

As Americans, I think we tend to easily label things as bad and ugly when we first see things as different. When I came to Costa Rica I immediately did this and still catch myself doing it over and over again. When this happens I question my beliefs, because I want to understand why I think the way I do. I see run down buildings, gates on every house and a lack of cleanliness overall and think, "What's going on here?" But I am learning to take a step back and lower my expectations or, even better, eliminate them.

There is a passage from the Tao Te Ching which I think describes this:

Can you coax your mind from its wandering
and keep to the original oneness?
Can you let your body become
supple as a newborn child's?
Can you cleanse your inner vision
until you see nothing but the light?
Can you love people and lead them
without imposing your will?
Can you deal with the most vital matters
by letting events take their course?
Can you step back from you own mind
and thus understand all things?

Giving birth and nourishing,
having without possessing,
acting with no expectations,
leading and not trying to control:
this is the supreme virtue.

When we have absolutely no expectations and don't see things as in comparison to other things, we begin to slowly see the beauty in it all. We start to see things not as good or bad, but as one, and that is when we begin to really enjoy ourselves.

So this is exactly part of my learning here in Costa Rica. I am beginning to loosen my idea of how things should be and starting to see things from a larger magnifying glass. I remember hearing from Allan Watts, something to the effect one of the only things you ever need to know is that you can't have white without black. In that way, I can't have pristine neighborhoods without impoverished ones. I can't enjoy good food if there wasn't crap to eat. I can't feel safe at home if there was no dangerous feeling away from home.

I don't know if I really have taken in some of this deep,(but yet very simple) stuff I have been reading about on my own. I only know that life is much easier and funner when you don't know what to expect and how to do things. This reminds me what the German girl Kalina said to me in a recent conversation, "Life is easier when you're not talking about people." Life is easier when you're not using your previous understanding to approach new conditions. It's better to just go along life, as the Taoist Holy book says, with a "cleansed inner vision" and see things as they are, making the best with what's offered.

Three months in Costa Rica. Three months of my life in another country, away from what I know to be true. Ironically enough, these three months have sent me closer to what I can imagine truth to be.

So, that leaves me still to answer the question, "What can I take away from my time here? Um, why am I asking this? What do I need to "take" something with me. Why can't I just leave something behind and experience life in the unique way I do? I don't know if I am better off coming here in any sort of external way but I do know it was worth it. Costa Rica is a beautiful country, and my experience here has been awesome. I have seen another part of the world and am better off for that. But, I am not better off and that's why I loved it.

Recipe for Happiness by Meg Dolan

-Rub fruit all over your face with your Tica mom
-Sing in the shower
-Recognize what you are greatful for
-Acknowledge the insignificance of your own problems
-Pay someone a compliment
-Run until you cannot stand
-Smile at strangers
-Draw rainbows and butterflies with young girls
-Have a Britney Spears dance party with your younger sister
-Do something goofy

MASAYA VOLCANO

During Semana Santa we went to Nicaragua to renew our passports. We had an amazing time exploring the colonial town of Granada. My favorite part of this adventure was sitting on the edge of the ACTIVE Masaya Volcano! At the top of the volcano was a cross and the view inside the mouth of Masaya. Due to the heavy smoke it was hard to see the craters, but the smell of the sulfur was evident. ~ Jay Celin ;)

Fifth Graders

It has been the ongoing joke since we got here that we are all in the 5th grade. It started with us waiting to be picked up at school by our moms and having our moms walk us to school the next day. Then, we all proceeded to wear our bookbags everywhere and plastic watches because we don't have cell phones to tell us the time. We ate what was put in front of us and had minimal conversation due to lack of vocabulary. All of our activity pointed to an awkward 11 year-old.

However, in our reading for GST I came across a quote that explains this better. In the story, "The Chumico Tree," boys are playing a game in the dirt. The author writes,"Each hour turns into a whiff of time, a triumphant cry, a wild joy." This has to be the real reason we feel like we are in 5th grade. Our time here is flying by and filled with wild joys. We get excited to go to the grocery store and are proud when we ride the bus by ourselves. How lovely it is to feel free and be continuously excited by the "small things" in life.

Posted with permission of the author, Jessica Dobyns, from her class journal

Rima de Vallbona, "The Chumico Tree," in Costa Rica: A Traveler's Literary Companion. Barbara Ras, Ed. (Whereabouts Press, 1994), 34-36.

Monteverde: The Reserve; Caroline Smith and Meaghan Collins

Interesting Facts:

Female Tarantula molts and eats her own skin. She does not eat her mate.
More tree species in the Cloud Forest than in the US and Canada combined
69 types of avocados can be found in the Cloud Forest
Male Quetzals are more beautiful than female Quetzals. They use their beautiful colors to attract the females.
There is a plant called HOT LIPS now nicknamed Angelina Jolie :-D

On Saturday we woke up early to go to the reserve in hopes of sighting the beautiful Quetzal bird during our nature walk. The group split up in two: half went with JC, and the other half went with Adrino.

The main objective was to explore the biodiversity and learn more about the nature that surrounds us. We ended up learning much more than we bargained for and gained a greater appreciation for the Tican culture as well. Costa Ricans have many superstitions. Both guides carried a handful of seeds in their pockets to ward away snakes. Also, at the beginning of each year to give good luck to their friends they present their friends with a purple flower.

One group had the unpleasant experience of tasting Heart of Palm. The vegetable causes extreme hunger after consumption. Those who ate it felt a hollowness in their stomach for the duration of the hike.

As we entered the Primary forest section of the reserve we approached a Hollow Fig Tree. The fig tree had grown on top of another tree and strangled the other tree species. The dead tree began to decompose and left the Fig tree hollow.

Artifacts and Updates: written by Dr. L-L

On the Thursday before spring break, I asked the students in my class to bring an artifact (or picture or description of one) to class, something concrete or abstract that has come to mean something special for them. The ”collection” was pretty amazing, so I wanted to share them with you.

All of them were symbols of “how do I live” artifacts—how people and themselves are living in Costa Rica. Most students discussed objects: a chorreador (a simple drip coffee maker, used by everyone here), a collection of rocks and crystals in a Tico home and a newspaper clip of the student’s Tico dad in younger days as a track champion, ceramic shapes collected by a student’s Tica mom and similar to a collection she and her mom collect in the States, a picture of a student’s Tico family, stone spheres of mysterious origins found all over the country and in a story the class read , the wall of a Tica sister’s bedroom which is covered by phrases and drawings by friends, and the gallo (rooster), which decorates another Tico home and is a prominent sight (and sound) in C.R.

One student brought a bracelet that she wears to remind her her of a particularly memorable time while traveling, while others opted to bring food: a prickly green guanabana fruit that makes particularly tasty milkshake-like drinks ; salsa picante, a spicy sauce that no Tico kitchen would be without; and a coffee bean, symbolic of the heritage of Costa Rica, one of the main export crops, and the drink of choice here.

Lastly, two students chose to look at linguistic artifacts, both of which have significant meaning to visitors and natives alike: pura vida (literally pure life), used in response to “How’re you doing?” or How’s everything going,” to indicate “thank you ,” “ I’m doing well,” or simply as a tag line to be polite. The other word we hear often is gringo/a, and in Costa Rica simply refers to anyone from the US, Canada, or Northern Europe and not in a negative way as in some other Hispanic countries. The origin of the word is not clear, but there are some colorful stories.

I especially enjoyed the responses to this assignment at the mid-term point of the semester because it shows how well the class is noticing and reflecting on important features of this new culture. As we enter the second half of the semester, we are studying many areas of sustainability, looking forward to our mandatory visa trip to Nicaragua, and presentations of their semester-long projects. They look very promising, too, so we’ll talk about these later on the blog. And I’m sure there will be some interesting stories of Spring Break adventures, so stay tuned!

Zip-Lines: Monteverde

The highlight for most of us on our trip to Monteverde was the highly anticipated zip-line course! Some of us knew what to expect and others truly thought they would chicken-out. Before we even got all geared up in the harnesses and helmets, we all crowded around the map of the course and gasped at the altitude and speeds we were about to reach. Jessica was not feeling too confident, but told herself that she would be fine for the 8 seconds in the air...that was before she read that the shortest line would take 40 seconds...and at 42 mph, 330 feet in the air!
Despite many hesitations, we all made it up the Sky Tram to the highest peak. The thrill of the height, speed, lack of control and of course the breathtaking views kept each of us moving through all 9 lines. By the third platform, we were all running up the stairs to our next perch to jump off. Most of us would say that the 2nd to last line was our favorite. It was the longest, one of the fastest, and it was also one of the opportunities to ride tandem with another person.
It was SUCH a fun experience, and we would all agree that we are happy that we got to have such a cool experience, and of course another perspective of the beautiful cloud forests of Monteverde!