Costa Rica: After Thoughts

My main goal for this trip was to improve my Spanish speaking and grammar. I feel like I have accomplished this. Since the course I took at VERITAS was so intense, I picked up more than I usually would in a class back at WIU. I have never been in a Spanish class for that amount of time a day, continuously talking and doing activities in Spanish. It helped that I had a great professor who taught in a way that actually helped me remember what I learned when I left the classroom. Usually I am only in a Spanish class for 50 minutes 3 times a week, so the material does not really stick with me.I feel more cultured after my stay in Costa Rica. I expected the country to be similar to Chile, which it was in some ways; however, the people and places were very unique. I learned a lot about Central America and some of the problems it has that I did not realize it had. Watching Spanish movies in my class really opened my eyes to some of the issues that did/are going on in Costa Rica and other countries in Central America. I did not realize the extent of crime and violence in these countries. I also learned about the struggles immigrants coming from these countries face when traveling to the United States. I feel like this has expanded my knowledge and understanding of the Latino people.Overall, this trip was definitely worth my time and will benefit on my path to receiving my degrees in Bilingual Education and Spanish. This was a short trip, however, I think one month was the perfect amount of time to boost my Spanish skills. When I start my fall semester at WIU, I will be better prepared for my Spanish classes. I am more confident in my speaking and writing skills, but I feel my greatest improvement has been in my ability to speak in the multiple verb tenses besides only the present tense like I did before this trip.