Throughout my time in Costa Rica I know there will be plenty of personal high and lows. This is an experience that is going to change my life while I am there and then upon my return as well. From talking to other students who have studied abroad as well as doing the activities in the Maximizing Study Abroad book, I will face some hardships while I am away. I do want to add that while I was born in Costa Rica and my entire dad’s side of the family lives there, I do not consider it home anymore. As sad as that sounds I will miss home and will be homesick just as much as the kids who have never left home. That being said, my low points may happen with simple things that I messed up on such as: My sister’s birthday was while I was abroad and that made me miss my family, or I got on the wrong bus and ended up somewhere else rather than my original destination. In addition to having low points I know I will also have high points and that it is important to stay positive and be grateful for the opportunity to study abroad. Some high points may be navigating to the city and leading the way, or planning a small trip for myself and the others going. The high points will outweigh the low ones and staying positive and being grateful will keep me going.
While I am there and I have some low points I will have to cope with them. Some coping strategies our book gives us are: keeping a journal, get involved and stay busy to avoid sadness, or plan excursions with others on the trip. I know personally, I do better when I am busy and from my previous study abroad in Spain I learned that I need to stay busy and contact every once in awhile my family rather than over communicating with them and missing them more. I also know that because this trip is longer and I will have family there with me I will be alright and always have someone there that I can talk to or even the girls that are also going.
In addition to personal coping, and hardships there will also be awareness of culture. Cultural awareness is very important and the activity done on page 105 of our book allowed me to see how aware I am of a culture. In some aspects I was unconscious competence and in others I was conscious competence. There were no aspects that I was incompetent in. I think that because I was born and grew up in Costa Rica I am a bit more aware of the culture than others who have never traveled outside of the US. While there might be some unknown aspects of the culture that may make me incompetent, those were not examples listed in the book. I hope that my unawareness of these aspects impedes on my time and immersion of Costa Rica.
Toes in the Water, Tica in the Sand 