Aero: Ana Northrop – Costa Rica 2016 – My Expectations

Aero: Ana Northrop – Costa Rica 2016 – My Expectations
Creative Commons Image via The LEAF Project

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As the trip to Costa Rica approaches I can feel the excitement and anticipation of the unknown.  I have traveled outside the country before, but that was a long time ago.  As for the language barrier I’m not too nervous because I know a little Spanish from taking it in high school and in college, I also work with many people who are from Mexico or Puerto Rico that speak it fluently.

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Ana Northrop

What I am most nervous about is meeting the host families and getting to know them.  I’m sure they are all wonderful people, however when you’re an introvert like me it can seem like a daunting task to get comfortable in some one else’s home in a different country.  I also recently found out that you can’t flush toilet paper either?  That’s going to be… different.  Other that the host situation I believe it’s going to be a magical experience of food, beautiful landscapes, and culture shock.

I think the people in Costa Rica will be nice and just want to get to know us.  While as a group we’ll be going to all these different places I think we will encounter some funny people on the bus or at the market and maybe even some weirdos.  Since I think it’ll  be obvious we are American I feel like maybe people will stare at us or try to get us to buy things or maybe just want to talk to us about where were from.  I am nervous about not having a way to at least message my family if I can’t use my phone.  I don’t necessarily need it, but it would not be a good feeling of not having it there just in case.

The part of the trip I am looking forward to the most is the food! I hope I will be able to help out the host family when it comes to meal time and see how they prepare food in their kitchens.  I wish to learn some new techniques and try new foods especially from the street vendors. I expect their food to have more spices and herbs than here, this could seem to hot or spicy to us Americans. I hope try some exotic fruits and vegetables as well.

Overall I don’t really know what to expect just because I am so accustomed to life here. I am nervous and excited and overwhelmed with all the different experiences I’m going to be able to take in and observe.

Ana Northrop
LEAF Contributor
ML@FLCC – Costa Rica 2016