On Traveling in Costa Rica

[aperfectsong]

Hi, I posted a while back about going to Costa Rica and travel-blogging. I'm home now and I just wanted to share the remainder of my Costa Rica related entries in case anyone is planning on going there and needs some tips.

01. Freaking out after reading about crime in CR.
02. First few days.
03. Excursion to Puerto Viejo on the Carribean Coast
04.

Comments

[kidsgirl]

I've never been to Costa Rica/have no immediate plans to go (I would like to someday though!)... but I got back a few months ago from a term in the Dominican Republic, and I experienced many of the same things! It was interesting to read about another persons experience in a third-world Spanish-speaking country- thanks for sharing! :)

[aperfectsong]

You're welcome! I'm glad you enjoyed reading and thanks for taking the time to comment and let me know!

I feel like a lot of study abroad trips (to anywhere, not just Latin America) have a lot of similarities - mostly in regards to culture shock, fitting in, and getting used to life in a different country, only to leave after a few months or a year. It's a strange, sad, but fulfilling process. I've also studied abroad in Chile (heatherinchile) and my time there was really life-changing. If you're like me and really interested in that studying abroad/living abroad process, you should look for the movie L'Auberge Espagnole. It's about a French student who studies abroad in Spain. It is kind of your traditional French comedy, but it touches on a lot of the things we experience while studying abroad, and the scene at the end where he's saying his last "goodbye" to Spain never fails to bring up that nostalgia I still feel for my semester in Chile.

/writing way too much

[kidsgirl]

J'ai passé aussi un semestre en France, donc c'était vraiment intéressant de voir tous les différences entre France et la Republique Dominicaine aussi- deux mondes vachement différents.

C'est trop bien L'Auberge Espagnole- un de mes films préférés :)

[aperfectsong]

Voy a responder en español porque aunque leo bastante bien en francés, he pasado más que un año sin ni escribir ni hablar en francés y me dará vergüenza cometer tantos errores. =) Yo encontré varias diferencias entre Chile y Costa Rica también y aunque en los dos países se habla el mismo idioma, hay un montón de variedades en cómo se lo habla, y también en cómo se porta la gente, lo que come, cómo se veste, y todo. Nunca he estado en Europa, pero cuando estaba en Chile, me daba un sentido como de europeo en algunos de los lugares que visitaba y también en la ciudad en que me quedaba. Costa Rica, como es más tropical, caloroso y… como, pobre, estar allí era más similar a lo que uno normalmente piensa de América Latina.

Tengo muchas ganas de poder ir a Francia algún día.

¿Has visto la continuación de l’Auberge Espagnole? Se llama Russian Dolls. No era tan buena como la primera, pero me interesó verla de todos modos. ¿Ves muchas películas en francés? Me encanta la cine francesa (bueno, y española y de América Latina).

[kidsgirl]

Yeah, I would assume that Chile (along with parts of Argentina, Brazil) would be more developed and thus more Europe-like than, say, countries in Central America. I just want to visit allllll of them.

I have seen Russian Dolls... not my fave. Bueno, it wasn't terrible, but it was a big letdown from l'Auberge Espagnole. I do try and watch French movies, or at least I'll put on the French audio track if I'm watching an American/English movie. I also took a film class in the Dominican Republic where I watched a lot of movies from Latin America. Definitelyyyy different. of course. it's clear that Europe has had a hold on cinema a lot longer than Latin America. However, that helps in some movies- no special effects or crazy 3D to get in the way of the actual story.