Football I Remember [J]

Everyone wants to know, "how was your trip to Costa Rica?" It seems I should have put more thought into how I would answer that question. I respond in various ways depending on the audience: "it was a great experience," "it was fun and different," "I'm basically a super hero (to some of my sarcastic friends)." What do I honestly think? I would say that I went to work in paradise; that I learned a ton and met incredible people. However, most of my friends can not relate to how different rural Costa Rican life is from what we as Americans are accustomed to.

Initially, when I arrived in Miami, I experienced complete culture shock. I am still in awe every time I enter a massive local grocery store that has everything I need, all the time. But I need shoes and a shirt to enter. Having a car is nice. Having to drive two hours to the nearest beach is not nice. I don't even want to talk about shaving. It's safe to say my return has been bitter sweet.

During my stay in Potrero I was able to design four different surveys, execute, and analyze the data of a total of 94 interviews. These tasks accounted for the bulk of my time spent in Costa Rica. Not to mention my assistance in the classrooms along with other AM programs. I also was responsible for creating a "How-To" guide for future community sentiment surveyors. Ultimately I wrote a comprehensive report of my work with AM. The report is a qualitative summary of the quantitative data. The previous year's community sentiment survey yielded more or less 20 surveys.

Now that I am home, I have a week off before I get back to work. School and work begin on Monday. It is going to be a busy semester. I made some ambitious goals for development in Tallahassee. I plan on making international service learning an annual habit. I have thought about where I would like to travel to next year. My experience in Costa Rica led me to acknowledge the importance of volunteering in a community in which you speak the language.

Special Thanks to Latika Young, Dr. O'Shea and the rest of the Global Scholars community.