As stated in my previous post, I’ve wanted to go to Costa Rica for some time now. Some diligent research over the past few days has led me to a Costa Rica immersion school. The Costa Rican Language Academy or CRLA is a private institution specializing in Spanish language instruction. They offer homestays in which you stay with an actual Costa Rican family. Spend a few hours every day in class learning Spanish and then take it home to your Costa Rican family and practice. This is perfect for me in that it will be a great opportunity to see what it’s like living in Costa Rica, which is my eventual goal someday if I end up liking it as much as I think I do.

I’m thinking a month-long stay will give me a good idea if I will like it or not. Plus, I will be learning Spanish at the same time and killing two birds with one stone is usually a good thing. I would leave this week but apparently my Mother would like to tag along to Paradise for a week or two so we are waiting on her passport to get here. Once that is here then we can get the ball rolling with airline tickets and the like. The excellent thing about the CRLA is, there is no set schedule you have to abide by. Basically, all you have to do is fill out the form on their website or give them a call and let them know when you are coming. They will have someone at the airport to pick you up and take you to the school or your Homestay house if you arrive on the weekend.

Hopefully we get the passport in the mail sometime early in September and then hop on a plane and get our learning on! I just hope it’s as great of a place as I imagine it to be.

I’ve always wanted to visit a Latin American country and through tons of research have settled on Costa Rica. It is a beautiful country by all accounts I have read. Those that live, work, vacation or split time there have a very positive attitude towards it. The only negatives I have seen discussed are crimes such as theft and burglary. I guess that is to be expected when you have a relatively poor population and a thriving tourism industry. Most Ticos think all gringos are rich and sadly to say, from what I’ve read, we do not help that perception very much. I’ve read stories of gringos being mugged and it is usually because some lady thought it would be a good idea to wear her massive diamond earrings, carry a designer purse and video their adventures with a $3000 video camera. They make themselves a target and pay the price with lost material possessions, a skipping heartbeat and possibly worse. Most people have enough sense not to walk down dark alleys in poor neighborhoods with diamond earrings and other flashy things here in the States so why they think it’s a good idea in Costa Rica is beyond me.

I have had my mind made up on Costa Rica for close to a year now. I’m not a world traveler so I had to get my passport and finally received it a few months ago. I would like someone to tag along and see the country with me but at the moment it seems I can’t find anyone with a desire as strong as mine. “Sure, I can go next year.” or “Earliest I could would be fall of next year.” are typical answers I get when asking if someone would like to join me. It’s frustrating because I would leave today if someone would tag along with me. Sure, I could go it alone but as I said earlier, I’m not a world traveler and visiting a country for the first time and not being able to speak the language could be a bit overwhelming. It all comes down to how desperate I become. If I want to go bad enough then I’ll head out alone. My online job would allow me to spend as much time there as I wanted as long as Internet access is available. More and more it appears the best option is hoping on a plane and heading down there myself but , still, I’m hesitant.

I have been trying to learn Spanish for years now and I’m to a point where I can understand certain words in a sentence and somewhat guess what they are talking about. I have the hardest time trying to respond back. A lot of it, I think, has to do with me thinking how completely retarded I must sound. When I’m talking to someone trying to learn English, I don’t think they sound retarded and generally appreciate that they are making the attempt to learn so it could all be in my head but it’s tough for me. I have been able to learn this much completely on my own. I’ve never taken any classes or courses to help me along other than my Junior year in high school when I dropped Spanish class one week into it. At that time, it was the furthest thing from my mind and had no interest in learning it. I probably need to take some courses or hire a tutor but to really learn it I want to do an immersion in Costa Rica where I can hear and speak it daily.

Ideally, I would like to bypass the tourist areas on my trip because I really want to scout what everyday life is like. Where locals go to eat or what type of stores they prefer and things such as that. Someday I would like to live there for six months or a year so these types of things interest me more than tourist areas simply because I can do those if/when I stay for an extended period of time. The other problem with taking someone along with me is they will want to do touristy things and that cuts into my information gathering time.

I’m not sure when or where I came to the conclusion it was a good idea to try my hand at life in another country but that is exactly what I want to do most at this point in my life. It may be the most ridiculous idea I’ve ever had or it could be a positive life-altering challenge. As with most things in life, you never know until you try it. I want to try it!