The home of my Nicaraguan Host Family
Program Overview
- Program: CFAES First Year Experience Education Abroad Trip to Nicaragua
- When: January 1 – 12, 2015 (During winter break my freshman year)
- Focus: Understanding the coffee production process, completing a homestay with a Nicaraguan farming family, and comparing Nicaragua’s agriculture to American agriculture
- Structure: We took a pre-departure class for the semester before this trip. During the class, we learned about Nicaraguan culture, agriculture, education, natural resources, etc. The actual time in Nicaragua consisted of a lot of tours and site visits, along with a some free time.
Pre-Departure Reflection
I found out about the Nicaragua program during my college orientation, which took place the summer before my freshman year of college. I was very interested in other cultures and traveling, so I immediately was interested in the Nicaragua trip when it was mentioned. My parents shared my excitement, so we pursued the opportunity and continued to gather more information. I was excited at the possibility of traveling out of the country so soon in my college career and getting to know other freshman while doing it. My parents graciously agreed to pay for this trip to Nicaragua, once I was officially accepted into the program.
I did not know much about Nicaragua before taking the pre-departure course for the trip. Honestly, I did not even know exactly where Nicaragua was located. I remember being extremely excited for my study abroad to Nicaragua. Before traveling to Nicaragua, I had traveled to the Dominican Republic, France, and Austria. I saw a lot of poverty in the D.R., which helped to prepare me for what Nicaragua would be like. We talked a lot about the strong sense of machismo present in Nicaragua in my pre-departure class. I was having a hard time grasping what machismo even was and did not know what to expect in terms of machismo when I was actually in Nicaragua.
Preparing to pick coffee!
The picked coffee cherries, ready for further processing
The finished product! Getting ready to “cup” coffee
While Abroad Reflection
I absolutely loved my time in Nicaragua. I did not want to come home at the end of the 12 days! My favorite part of my study abroad was the homestay. I remember soaking every experience in and feeling so amazed to get to be a part of my host families life for a few days. My host families house was a good distance walk from the main road. I was in shock and a little embarrassed when my host dad carried my heavy suitcase in the dark all the way from the road to the house! I was excited to sleep under a mosquito net at night. The shower I experienced at my homestay was the coldest shower I have ever taken. The water was flowing from a nearby waterfall and was ice cold. I could barely keep from screaming as I scooped water from the bucket and poured it over my head. During our homestay, one of my peers accidentally broke through a floorboard of my host families house. We could hardly keep from laughing, but we also felt very bad for making such an impact on the house. My host mom served us coffee each morning and evening. They grew and made their own coffee, which was amazing! Before my trip to Nicaragua, I had never had coffee before. I had my first cup of coffee the first evening at my homestay. Even though I did not love the taste of the coffee, I still drank it all. That night, I lay under my mosquito net and tried to fall asleep. However, no matter how hard I tried, my body would not let me sleep. The caffeine from the coffee kept me awake almost all night and I only got 2-3 hours of sleep! When my host mother offered me coffee the next evening, I graciously declined and received juice instead.
My host family and I
There were a few challenges on my trip to Nicaragua. One challenge had to do with the coffee growing and making process. We spent a lot of time touring many coffee farms and processing facilities. The tours and information was interesting at first. However, the tours became mundane and somewhat boring later in the trip because we had already learned all of the information we were being told. Another challenge for me personally was some of my interactions with my peers. Since drinking alcohol in Nicaragua is legal at age 18, most of my peers chose to get alcoholic drinks. Coming from a conservative background, I was very surprised and unnerved by the choices my peers were making. I felt like our evenings could have been spent in a much better way than getting a little tipsy.
After Return Reflection
Overall, my experience in Nicaragua was wonderful and if I could go back in time, I would definitely do this program again. I loved how this trip was focused specifically on agriculture. It was incredible to see how vast and varied Nicaragua’s agriculture was. This trip gave me a group of friends right at the beginning of college who were going through the same transitions that I was. College only gets busier as time goes on, so I am thankful that I took advantage of this opportunity when I could. This trip prompted me to think about my passion for international work. For example, I learned the importance of using model plots/farms in order to show the success of a new method and help convince local farmers to try that new method.
This trip taught me to be flexible. Things do not always go as planned in other countries, especially in developing countries. We had to deal with roads that were almost impassable because of heavy rain and I learned to live with a family that only spoke Spanish when I only spoke English. I would definitely recommend this trip to another student in the future.
The whole group!