This week in the Scene Interational, we visit Arts & Sciences junior Wendy Herbers as she is studying abroad at Universitas Veritas. Herbers talks about her travels and the new culture she is experiencing in San José, Costa Rica.
For the past two months, I have been living, learning and falling in love in Costa Rica; falling in love, that is, with the people, the dancing, the language, the nature and everything else that the small but diverse Central American country has to offer. Living the Pura Vida, translated as “Pure Life,” that Costa Rica prides itself on, is an unending adventure that I am still trying to convince myself is a reality.
My experience of the pure life so far consists of a balance between living in San José, the capital city, during the weekdays and traveling to the many natural attractions around the country during the weekends.
A roommate from the U.S. and I live with our Mama-tica, her four daughters and one granddaughter in a simple one-story house only five blocks from Veritas University, where we attend classes. After eating a breakfast of tropical fruit, cereal with box “milk” and homemade natural fruit drinks that my Mama prepares daily, I attend Spanish class from 8 a.m. to noon Monday through Friday and then take part in various other elective classes taught in English during the evenings.
The weeks simply fly by; every time I turn around it is Wednesday once again and I am buying public bus tickets for my next adventure out of the city. I try not to plan anything too far in advance; simply buy the ticket and see where the wind blows me once I arrive.
This practice has proved quite successful: from bungee jumping from 265 feet, to taking a two-hour surf lesson without a chirp of English, to swimming in multiple waterfall basins, to witnessing a green sea turtle lay her eggs, to dancing more nights away than I can count, all the while staying in ocean-front hostels for $10 a night with backpackers from all over the world, the weekends have treated me quite well.
One of the best parts about being abroad, of course, is diving into a new culture and experiencing differences in customs, favorites and ways of life.
In my experience, the typical Costa Rican, or Tico, eats rice and beans for lunch and beans and rice for dinner, cannot get enough futbol, dances salsa like a professional, is always ready for a “salud” (a cheers toasting health), puts family above all else, gladly lends a helping hand and welcomes foreigners’ efforts to speak his language with open arms.
The unhurried pace of life allows for a tranquil existence where people’s priorities are straight and taking two hours for lunch with friends or sleeping in a hammock on the beach for an afternoon do not come close to leading to worried thoughts of time wasted. In my opinion, the idea that time spent in extreme relaxation alone or with friends is time wasted simply does not exist in Tico Time, as the locals call it.
In short, I am sure that equally rewarding thought processes could take place on Creighton’s campus. For example, I have learned that traveling and living abroad, with a few less responsibilities, provides a person with a plethora of time to reflect on the big picture.
Whether winding through mountain roads on a public bus with the wind in my face surrounded by rain forests and every color of green imaginable, relaxing in one of the thousands of hammocks present in Costa Rica or gazing out into the endless waves of the ocean, I have come to the realization that my life will change drastically once again when I return home. Nonetheless, thanks to my experiences abroad, I will view each day of the rest of my life as an unending adventure and keep seeking thrills everywhere I go! ¡Pura Vida!