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Hi! My name is Biz and I am a classic example of someone who studied abroad and won’t stop talking about it. In summer 2019, I spent 6 weeks in Oviedo, Spain, in a Spanish immersion program. In 2022, I completed a 3 week Spanish and service learning course in the Dominican Republic. Now, I find myself in the middle of the lowland tropical rainforests of Costa Rica at La Selva Biological Research Station completing a 3 week course in planetary health and global climate change.
When I set out for Costa Rica, I thought I knew how this whole thing worked inside and out. Not quite.
One thing that I have loved about my study abroad experiences is the opportunity to adapt and change. Changing your environment, culture, language, and social group tests you. Often, you are quite literally out of your comfort zone. You try, you stumble, and things don’t go as planned. I knew all of this before setting out. I didn’t just know it, I had experienced it. So how did the challenges related to these changes catch me so off guard?
Part of the answer is that there are a few things that are constant across different travel experiences. Take hard travel days. 18 hour long, mostly solo travel days, like the one I took getting here, are a challenge, but they are just one day, and I know how to deal with them. One thing I didn’t expect, on the other hand, was to be crossing a swaying suspension bridge in the foggy darkness with my 35 lb backpack, unable to see the end of the bridge or exactly what we were crossing over. But, we crossed, walked another quarter mile, eventually got to our rooms at the River Station, and slept.
Besides the stress of getting somewhere, cultural adjustment is often a big stressor in traveling or studying abroad. I’m grateful to not experience a language barrier. This is both because plenty of the Ticos we’ve met have spoken excellent English, and because of my Spanish studies. The food has been excellent as well: fresh, simple, and traditional. Although I minimize meat in my usual diet, las salchichas, or hotdogs, have been a favorite of mine, paired with rice, beans, fresh cut fruit, and simple side salads. In fact, the culturally focused experiences have been a highlight so far. We visited organic banana and pineapple farms and got to hear from tour guides there, as well as see more of the Costa Rican communities on the drive. I especially enjoyed our time at the banana farm. Our tour guide, Francine, shared her experience of being an entrepreneur in a small community, the impact of her grandmother, and the struggles of owning a tourism business during COVID-19. We ate patacones, arepas, and gallos. I loved listening to her Spanglish as well.
The heat hasn’t fazed me too much either. Indiana isn’t quite as hot as Costa Rica in the summer, but it’s not too far off. It’s been over 90 degrees, sunny, and humid every day, with storms and lows in the mid 70s in the evenings. Managing heat, hydration, electrolytes, and exposure to bugs is a task, but nothing too daunting. I definitely practiced it during my time in the Dominican Republic last summer. But, I have to be honest, I come to the library at La Selva much more than I ever go to Wells or any other library at IU. I would like to say it’s because I’m especially eager to learn here, but it’s really just because it has AC.
Most of my learning is, of course, happening outside of the quiet, air conditioned library. Why come all the way here if it wasn’t? Our course is centered on conducting research with a partner, so this week focused on jump starting our projects. This is where the challenge really hit me. Research is always difficult, but I just completed a 400 level research methods course for my epidemiology major this past semester. It’s easy if you’ve done it before, right? Wrong.
This process started before we arrived. We were each responsible for finding an article on the topic we would like to research. Over the week, we have continued to read, discuss, shift, and refine our research interests and questions. It doesn’t sound too stressful when written like that, but that process included preparing 3, 5, and 10 minute presentations with about 24 hours notice. This time crunch was stressful for me, and time is only going to fly by faster and faster. Adaptability is an important skill in both research and study abroad, so this was a double test as well. Still, seeing the progress all of us have made on our projects in such a short time is amazing. As we dive fully into gathering and analyzing our data in the coming weeks, I look forward to seeing how this challenges me to work more efficiently and let go of perfectionist expectations.
In between developing our own research projects, we’ve started to learn more about La Selva. I’ve been on about half a dozen guided and unguided hikes so far. There’s so much to see at every scale, so I’ve enjoyed our guided hikes where I can learn how to pick out the things hiding in plain sight around me. Each day, I’m learning the names of more plants and animals and getting better at spotting them. I appreciate more pieces of the massive biodiversity around us, from the tiniest, hardest working stingless bee to the loudest, most daring howler monkey.
What it comes down to is that all of the challenges I’ve encountered are exactly why I came here. Studying abroad has been rewarding because of, not in spite of, the things that make it difficult. I’m grateful for the chance to be doing it again, and I’m excited to see what surprises come next.
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