I studied abroad for three months in San José, Costa Rica at the arts and design college Veritas. I took a combination of Spanish, cultural, and biological courses at the university, as well as volunteered at a local hospital in the city.

The biggest takeaway from Costa Rica I had was noticing how I kept myself from meeting new people who could help me be more open-minded. I developed a routine during my past few semesters of hard courses and other commitments that made me isolated from being exposed to new people and places. I only socialized with close friend and members of my organizations for that was all I allotted time for. I do not regret the commitment I put into my academics, however I now know that meeting new people helps me understand perspective in different ways. Costa Rica made me recognize how I do not think of my life and experiences on a global scale. I did not think about the people living outside of the United States, and how our nation is viewed.

I began to recognize this after a month living in San José, and I began to focus on my daily interactions. I learned so much about Costa Rica from honest opinions of students, Uber drivers, food vendors, and others. People were willing to share their opinions and current important topics in the country. Learning pop culture and home life from my home-stay family highlighted the similarities across cultures and families. I try to recall this important lesson I have learned whenever I can learn from someone new, asking questions that can build relationships and connections.

The two activities I focused most of my time and effort were my volunteer position at Hospital San Juan de Dios and my marine molecular biology research class. I developed long-lasting friendships from the people in these programs, and I accelerated in one of my major goals of learning conversational Spanish. My interactions with these groups provided me support and confidence in reaching out to others, asking complex questions in Spanish, and being patient if I cannot comprehend what they were saying. Day after day I began to orient myself better in conversations, thinking of what might be said contextually when I was talking. My comprehension of Spanish increased, which in turn made me learn more about Costa Rica, the United States, and myself.

Volunteering at San Juan de Dios opened me up to a different country’s medical system, and opportunity many people cannot see. I spent most days at the hospital going around to the patients that were able to be seen, providing books, crosswords, cloth to sew on, and gifts to help occupy their time. The patients really appreciated the company. I learned from the volunteers, Las Damas Voluntarias, who were a connected family of volunteers who organized events and provided food within the hospital as well. A large majority of the volunteers were older women, who all loved to train me in Spanish and make me food from their homes. They helped me realize how much the patients appreciated and valued the conversation we shared. My time at the hospital also opened me up to other public services that I would of never tried. I used the public transportation, I shopped downtown, and worked in a pharmacy as well because the hospital work.

The marine molecular biology course created a network of researchers who are working with the protection of shark species. I did not know the severity of shark finning in Central and South America and how it is pushing key shark species to extinction. The course allowed me to talk to students and researchers who were in the lab where the course was taken in. I got to ask new questions and relate my medical research at Ohio State to my course. Our field trip put us directly into biological field research, catching rays with big nets and releasing sea turtles into the ocean. I continue to talk to some of the researchers in the lab, and I hope to organize meeting them again to see what they are doing with their investigations.

I chose Costa Rica as my STEP Project because of my desire to apply my years of Spanish classes in a place where my passion of medicine and biology could also be explored. I developed skill sets in understanding language through trying new things when I would speak, something I would have never thought of doing when primarily speaking English. I also learned more about different types of biological studies through my classes. I devoted much of my time to research in the lab, which made me realize that research is a professional field I want to continue to explore. The hospital let me see a different system of medical care, which opened me to compare and look into my countries medical system and structure. All these experiences let me develop friendships that will last for life.

I have attached a link to my video project of the amazing field trip for the marine molecular biology course, and pictures of my classmates and the Damas who helped me grow!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X84UCj6D8CQ