Blog 5

The Summer in Costa Rica program I will be attending this summer will address many of my vocational goals as a senior at Maryville College.  This program will not only meet my education abroad requirement for my major, but it will also fulfill all of my foreign language credits necessary to graduate.  I am also very excited to take these foreign language classes in a Spanish speaking country so I can also experience the culture and its influence on communication.  While abroad I plan to involve myself in as many ways possible to increase my exposure to the culture and day to day life in Costa Rica.  I will be using this time as not only educational, but a time for self development and growth, so I do not expect to be on campus except for attending class and studying.  Outside of the daily academic requirements I intend to expand myself by experiencing the culture and country in my own way.

I plan to connect well with my host family in Costa Rica and improve my conversational Spanish outside of the classroom by experiencing the real world of Costa Rica.  I believe approaching my abroad trip this way will not only increase my academic understanding of Spanish, but it will also make my trip far less of a "cookie cutter" approach to abroad.  I believe my vocational ability will increase with a hybrid approach of education and independence.  In doing this I not only expect network with locals but build my understanding of their culture while drastically improving my Spanish speaking skills.  I fully believe this will not only help me better my social skill set professionally, but also reduce my introverted tenancies.  Upon completion of this trip I plan to develop a confident Spanish speaking ability while better understanding how to branch my professional goals in a foreign market.