If you were to tell me that I would have the opportunity to study abroad in Costa Rica when I arrived at UConn peak-fall 2020 pandemic, I would’ve laughed. Entering college as a first-generation student is scary enough. You don’t know what resources are available to you and you have to figure everything out yourself. You can’t turn to your parents or look around at your friends because they might be going into different fields or also just don’t know. But by some miracle, I was blessed to be able to study abroad through Student Support Services (SSS).
Applying to study abroad was brought to my attention by my advisor (shoutout to my advisor, for real!). I always mentioned that I would like to study abroad but money and time are things that aren’t necessarily in my favor. But having that connection and being personable with my advisor helped. I know, it’s hard to find an advisor you can trust and also get close to, but they are out there! When I was told I was accepted into the program, I couldn’t believe it. Me? Studying abroad? Did I manifest study abroad by saying it when I was talking to my advisor? I’d like to think so! Nonetheless, it’s important to reach out to every resource and not shy away from asking, because the worse you’ll hear back is no.
Packing for Costa Rica was fun, because yes, I was going to go study, but you have to dress according to the weather. I highly recommend watching packing videos on TikTok because I learned a lot about luggage space when I was looking into it. When we landed, oh, the warmth of the tropical storm that just passed welcomed us all. I entered the country with an open mind. I didn’t want my implicit biases of how Americans view Costa Rica to prevent me from shaping my own view. I love watching travel vlogs on YouTube and finally being able to do the things I saw online was a surreal experience.
The program itself lasted a little under a month. Enough time for me to be immersed in the culture, but also to leave me wanting to go back. The course that I took was Human Rights in Latin America. We did community service-based learning and worked alongside our professor to plan activities to engage with our coursework. If you are worried about the workload, I will say this: don’t worry about it. You will have plenty of time to do fun things and do your schoolwork (I promise!). Our class was about 3 hours long, BUT we did get a 30-minute coffee break. Costa Rica is KNOWN for its coffee and being able to walk down to the cafeteria and find coffee and fruit ready for us to devour was the best part of class. Yes, the content was good, but the coffee was just SOO good! As a coffee addict, coffee culture is something I’ll never forget and I will always reminisce about it. Dunkin will never outdo Costa Rican coffee!
I will say, because of this trip, I changed my pathway from pre-med to pre-law. I say this because I found that the laws of the country shape the people and how they view their lives. Many of the local people I spoke to were very proud of their country and aren’t shy from saying that. It makes me happy to see people proud of where they are from and be so welcoming to foreigners. As a Pakistani American, I immigrated here with my parents and I always love finding ways to embrace my culture. Just seeing people be proud of where they were from made me happy. I learned through my course that the way they treat their citizens is very different from the United States, and being able to do community service and be immersed in the culture really spoke to me. I wanted to be able to bring change to my communities and also work on important issues that affect our quality of life. Everyone says that studying abroad changes you, but they aren’t kidding!
For fun, ahh… the things we did! Fun fact: Costa Rica is known for its coffee (If you haven’t noticed yet). Specifically, volcano coffee! I went on a coffee tour with a friend and enjoyed the various types of coffee produced in Costa Rica. Best 20 dollars I spent. I’m not kidding, two hours of tasting different types of coffee and doing immersive activities to learn about the coffee culture in Costa Rica was just what I needed as a Coffee addict myself! Also, the weekend activities that we had in the itinerary were just as fun too. Visiting the highest point in Costa Rica, Parque Nacional Volcan Irazu, and then the next day going to the lowest point, La Playa Jaco. It is mind-blowing how the landscape can change drastically depending on how far you drive. The food, coffee, people, and scenery are now just a memory but oh, such a good memory!
If you are thinking about studying abroad, PLEASE TAKE THIS AS YOUR SIGN! You won’t regret it. I never planned to study abroad, but sometimes things happen for a reason, and honestly, I’m glad it’s that way. If you want to know, yes I do plan on going back to Costa Rica and exploring the parts I couldn’t see. Pura Vida!