I feel that my program provided a great value. Compared to similar programs, ISA's program at Veritas had a lower tuition, and offered courses that can be applied towards my majors. The academics were less challenging than CU Boulder, but this provided more time to explore Costa Rica and learn outside of the classroom. While meeting locals through the university was difficult, I found that involvement in youth groups and in the lives of the members of my host family introduced me to many welcoming locals. Local transportation seemed daunting at first, especially since the U.S. Embassy recommended that it be avoided, but I found that the buses were cheap and easy to navigate in both San Jose and to regions throughout Costa Rica. While I did not participate in an organized ELAP internship, I still found opportunities to volunteer through ISA.

San Jose is not the most beautiful city in the world, but it is a great base from which to explore Costa Rica, and the homestay and ISA program were excellent.

The course are very diverse and have awesome field trips. The teachers make the class worthwhile. The location was near the city of San jose but away enough that you can take a 5 min bus and be down in the city. The excursion were some of my favorite part of my study abroad experience. We got to go on three awesome trips with ISA that were fun and had great excursions. I was able to snorkel, repel and meet a few monkeys on just the trips that ISA provided.

Courses: The courses were predominately easier than anything I took in the United States.
Location: San José is a giant, busy town with 2 million people. Be prepared for bad traffic, and gross smells, but also immense amount of fun. There is something to do every single night in San José. Keep your head on a swivel, pedestrians do NOT have the right-of-way like they do in CO.
Interactions with locals: Interactions happened all the time. Be prepared for every situation. Mentally locate what vocabulary you will need in Spanish before entering into different scenarios.
Excursions: All excursions for this program were awesome. The hotels were extremely high quality, and the included buffet meals were delicious. Traveling in such a large program group however limited the possibility of authentic interaction with locals and culture, and made me feel like a sheep being herded and watcher over for the weekend.

Study abroad with ISA in San Jose Costa Rica was a great program. Centered in the country's capital it was a great location filled with diverse people. The location was accessible to other parts of Costa Rica, and was close both to my private university, as well as larger public universities. Additionally, I felt safe in my location. The excursions that ISA took us on where phenomenal! I loved being able to see other parts of the beautiful country. The only downside to this program is that it was harder to meet and interact with locals. I wish there where more and easier opportunities to befriend locals. Other then that, the program was great!

ISA staff was very friendly and welcoming! They were always willing to help me with directions or basic knowledge about Costa Rica.

The on-site support a staff were good. They stayed in contact through email, and made your in person interactions seem personal. They were involved and cared about their students. I didn't once see or meet the program director, he was out of sight out of mind.

The staff where great. I unfortunately became injured, but the on-site staff where very accommodating and helped me through the injury. Additionally, they where always available and had great advice on things to do, etc.

The orientation was useful and not as long as it was expected to be. I appreciated the tour of the school and how well they explained where things were. I was able to travel alot and it was because of the help of great staff

The orientation was helpful. They went over solid information, opened the door to culture shock, and provided a brief tour of the surrounding neighborhood and city. All excursions for this program were awesome. The hotels were extremely high quality, and the included buffet meals were delicious. Traveling in such a large program group however limited the possibility of authentic interaction with locals and culture, and made me feel like a sheep being herded and watcher over for the weekend.

I lived in a home with my host mom, and 4 other roommates from the United States. Our host mom had her job down to a science and made living in her house comfortable and easy. It did feel like a hostel or hotel more than a family though because there were no Tico kids, or family members. It was a good fit for me because I bonded well with 3 of the 4 roommates, but if that were not the case, I would have felt uncomfortable and left out. Local transportation was extremely reliable. Costa Ricans rely heavily on public transportation, because of this, the bus fares are cheap and buses are on time. My daily commute consisted on either a 15-20 minute walk to school on a single road, or a 2-5 minute bus ride varying by traffic. Depending on the weather and energy levels, I would either walk or use the bus stop less than a block away from my house and get off right in front of school.

Overall my courses were easier than in Colorado. My tropical ecology class was extremely interesting and rewarding. the field trips we did helped teach me with hands-on experience and apply the knowledge we learned in class in the field. They were also in super beautiful parts of the country, don't miss the field trips. My ecotourism class was my favorite and most challenging. The teacher assigned a lot of readings, papers, and presentation but it was all worth it. I learned the most from this class, and loved how i was learning about the places and types of tourism i was participating in at the same time. My peace and democracy class was a joke. The professor did not assign a single homework, quiz, test, reading...nothing. Each day I sat down and listened to him talk for 2 hours, rarely about peace and democracy. I learned some interesting stuff, but do not recommend this class.

I greatly enjoyed my professors in this program. The classes where small, and you could really connect with the other students and professors. The culture is different from the US, and all of my professors really tried to get to know their students, wanted the best for them, and befriended us. Overall my academic experience was great. I learned a lot, and I enjoyed the teaching styles. I wish more upper-division business courses where offered, however.

I would say talk and engage with the locals they are so kind and very helpful. Its easy to stick with just the american students but I wouldn't. The students at my school were always so nice and taught me so much more of the culture.

I interacted with locals everyday. For high quality interactions, error on the side of confidence. If you are confident when using your spanish, you are received much better and the Ticos love it. They are helpful and enthusiastic about speaking spanish with you. I recommend finding a local restaurant, bakery or bar to make good friends with. hangout there a lot and use your spanish. build a friendship so that when you go to these places, it's not simply a business interaction, instead you talk about each other's days and random discussion topics also.

I felt healthy the whole time. Not being in a college town or dormitory really helped decrease the amount of germs and bacteria around me. San José is a extremely dirty city though. Wash your hands a lot, or carry around hand sanitizer... not all bathrooms will have soap.

I felt safe in my neighborhood. The streets were well lit, and busy. There were a lot of kids in the neighborhood and I lived behind an elementary school so it felt homey. The campus security patrolled the area sometimes also. My advice is to use the free transportation provided by the school to get home at night. It was sometimes late or unpredictable. but well worth the safety. do not walk anywhere at night until you have the streets memorized. at night it is not safe, so don;t carry expensive gear or a lot of money.

For the most part living in the program site is safe. My best advice is to use caution and common sense. The people that had safety issues didn't lock their doors, or had been intoxicated.

Costa Rica is an ageist culture. The older you are, the more power you have in the social hierarchy. It was never a big problem, but at times i felt disrespected by older people because of my age. I was cut in line, or helped last or looked down upon. In some scenarios, being a gringo was also problem. Taxi drivers will try to rip you off because they know you are not from the city. Costa Ricans may also assume privilege over you because you are a gringo and use that privilege in some scenarios. I felt a bit excluded because of my religious preference. Costa Rica is extremely religious and their attitude towards social problems and topics reflect that. my mama tica was an example of this, and would often insult or offend me by preaching or talking about things (homosexuality, different races, same sex marriage) with an obvious religious bias.

I think the people who experienced the most discrimination where those that looked the most American or who where "loud and obnoxious". Try to blend in. Don't make yourself a target. Luckily, I did not observe too much exclusiveness or discrimination. They did somewhat see themselves as better then others... however, it was not everyone, and it did not bother me. "To each their own".

The Costa Rican's are very discriminatory towards Nicaraguans, which I believed to be very offensive. I did not appreciate how our host mom, etc. would bash on them.

Yes it will. I will always remember what I did in Costa Rica and how much it challenged me. I wish I could go back and do it again

This experience has instilled a new ecocentric mentality in me, and will effect my decisions in the long run. I had an extreme lifestyle change, and learned that my style of living in United States was extremely luxurious and unnecessary. I now go through my day thinking about the earth first because of the things i learned and experienced in Costa Rica. I hope it continues to have a lasting effect.

My experience abroad taught me to make the best out of what I have, to complain less, and to enjoy life more. I experienced a lot during my time in Central America, and I have become more aware of the world. The experience will impact me long-term by making me more observant and aware of other people and cultures.

I went from being a quite dinner guest at my mama ticas house to a welcomed participating guest. I felt more confident about my spanish leaving as well as learning so much about the culture. The Pura Vida lifestyle is one that we should all live like because it changed my philosophy of life.

I am proud of the volunteer work I did in the Children's Eternal Rainforest. It was part of a field trip for my Ecotourism class. We spent the weekend as 'hard' ecotourist, living in a lodge run by a park ranger and his family. We helped him do about weeks worth of work in one day. We did trail repair, trench digging, etc. It was extremely hard work, but one of my favorite experiences. It felt good to give back to the environment, and the people trying to protect it..

I wish I would have known my schedule and what classes I was going to be taking when I got there. It was very stressful doing that and organizing what classes i needed to take once I got there.

I wish I had known more spanish, My spanish has improved immensely in 4 months however. If i came with a more solid background, I would no doubt be 100% fluent.

Before my departure, I wish that I could have been advised to just do things and not wait. Sometimes you don't get the opportunity to go back and do things again, so being able to take initiative and just try different things and not being afraid to, or saying you'll do it next time you go, would have been thing I could have known.

My study abroad experience was incredible and I was able to learn so much about the culture and country. The homestay experience allowed me to immerse myself in the culture and see what a day to day routine is for Costa Ricans. My courses were all amazing and my professors were super approachable and knowledgable. One of my favorite weekends were field trips with my classes because I learned from locals and went to beautiful areas of the country! Also, ISA took us on excursions the first four weekends which really helped to see the country and not stress about the traveling plans. I would advise prospective students to be brave and travel on your own when you can because you will learn so much about yourself as well as visit beautiful places.

I lived in a homestay which was my favorite part of my study abroad experience. My host family cared for me as if I was a real family member and they always made sure I had everything I needed. I lived with 3 other students but I always felt that my host family cared for us all equally. I lived a few blocks from the University, so it only took about 5 minutes to walk to campus.