Meghan

Name: Meghan
Major: Biological Anthropology/ Spanish
Program: USAC
Where: Heredia , Costa Rica
When: Spring 2007
Favorite Course: Tropical Ecology

Hightlight: The people I met

Favorite Dish : Gallo Pinto
Next Destination: Peru

How do you see this experience affecting your future?

This experience has already affected my future in so many ways. I am now not content to stay in one place for too long – I want to see the whole world. I am already working out the details for another study abroad next year, hopefully somewhere in South America. I decided to change my majors to something that I know I will really enjoy, one of them being Spanish. Even though this will keep me in school longer, I’m glad I made the decision later rather than never. I am a much more confident person nowadays and I know that this new aspect of my personality will help me immensely in many circumstances and settings for the rest of my life.

Submit a piece of your writing that you feel captures an important aspect of your study abroad experience.

I have changed since the day I stepped onto the plane and was lifted off of North American soil. I changed a little bit every minute, every month. Costa Rica was what it was when I arrived and Costa Rica is something new and different now. I have known many Costa Ricas during my stay here and I have in turn loved and despised them all. The country has warmed my skin, drenched my clothes, whistled as I walked down its crack-laden sidewalks, almost hit me going sixty kilometers per hour, torn up my stomach and introduced me to some of the most amazing people in the world. I came here with goals, with expectations. But I found myself quickly transformed and unable to hold onto what I once though I wanted. Fortunately, I came to find that the most fun part is not knowing, not even caring, really. Waiting for it to happen and riding it out. Living pure.