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INEX Summer University Costa Rica |
Online Diary ISU Costa Rica 07.2008DAY 1 - Sunday, 29 June – Arrival Day
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DAY 2 - Monday, 30 June – Orientation and Intercultural Training at ULACIT
The First Day
On the 30th finally everyone arrived safely in San Jose. After a breakfast in the hostel the group went the first time to the ULACIT campus. After we have received an introduction to the program we went on a guided tour through ULACIT. Following the introduction we received our course material and fancy identification tags.
After the lunch break we got to know Eric Liljenstolpe. He was responsible for our intercultural training. He confronted us with many cultural aspects we should be aware of. So we got to know the “tico time” and he told us what we should ask taxi drivers when we get into the cab. During the intercultural training we also got to know the American students who were attending a language program at ULACIT.
At around 4.00pm we finally met our host families. All of us received a very warm Costa Rican welcome. Soon we took our luggage and went home with our host families. They showed us our rooms and we had the first in depth culture experience.
Even though everyone was jetlagged and tired we met at 10.00pm to explore the nightlife in San Jose. All of us had really good night and we got to know each other much better. After dancing, drinks and a lot of fun we applied the advice of Eric Liljenstolpe. When we got into the cab we asked “tiene maria”, showed our address card and he drove us home. to be postedby Benjamin Schultheis
DAY 3 - Tuesday, 01 July – Café Britt and San José City Tour
At 8 oclock we all met by the parque de Tibas and from there the adventure for the day started. Surprisingly most of the participants were on time and no one was too tired after last nights getting to know San Joses nightlife.
The first field trip could not have started better. We were welcomed at Cafe Britt with a good cold coffee and then we had some time to enjoy the peace and beauty of the place before the amazing introduction to coffee farming started. I was prepared for a boring story of how you get coffee powder from the green beans, but what we got was something completely different. It was a great theater play, and also a fun one.
From there, after some of us had bought some coffees and chocolates, we jumped into the nice big bus and headed for San Jose. With us the whole day we had our very proud of being a Tico-guide Oscar. He knew what he was talking about and we got to know a lot of useful information about Costa Rica. We got to know San Jose by bus and feet, and at 4 oclock we were back in Tibas and it was raining a lot.by Michaela Stahlberg
DAY 4 - Wednesday, 02 July – ULACIT
That day we had our first contact with the public transport system, luckily our host families showed us how to cope with missing bus stop signs and non-existent bus stop names. After finding our way to ULACIT, we had our first lecture with Prof. Milton Clarke on Sustainable Development. We were happy to find that his teaching style was very activating and therefore encouraged lively discussions. This was also the first time having lunch at the cafeteria with other ULACIT students.
After finishing the afternoon lecture we had some free time which some used to either rest, spend some time in the host family or to get in shape by enrolling in a gym at the place central.
The evening was dedicated to celebrate Hubert’s ??? Birthday (we still don’t know your age!!!) at “Giros bar” in Tibas. While chatting and talking we enjoyed delicious fruit cocktails or cool Costa Rican cerveza.by Christine Spernbauer and Natalie Lindner
DAY 5 - Thursday, 03 July – ULACIT
Being on the adventurous bus trip to ULACIT all by ourselves today, it took some of us longer than expected to get there. Anyways, it was worth the effort because Prof. Milton Clarke welcomed us with organic Costa Rican chocolate. Hmmm…!
Can you imagine Costa Rica without its music and dances? We can’t! So we took the chance to learn how to move our stiff European bodies. Our personal trainer showed us that a garage can be more than a place to park your car. With the right Salsa, Bachatta and Merengue vibes it can actually turn into the hottest dance floor in town.
After some warm-ups we danced in pairs and tried to feel the Pura Vida. Luckily all our toes survived the enthusiastic session!
Heated up from one hour of concentrated Costa Rican dance we got thirsty and simply had to enjoy San Jose’s night life and some cocktails.by Christine Spernbauer and Natalie Lindner
DAY 6 - Friday, 04 July – Business Visit, Lecture at Plantation in Limón
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DAY 7 - Saturday, 05 July – Cahuita National Park
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DAY 8 - Sunday, 06 July – Puerto Viejo, Travel back to San Jose
This Sunday morning was the first free morning of the program. Most of us slept until 9 o'clock until getting up to the sound of waves from the sea. After eating a breakfast consisting of bread and loads of fresh fruit we went out to the black volcano beach just outside the hotel. It was very beautiful but the sand was extremely hot as it was black, so we had to race towards the water in order not to burn our feet. The water was lovely and the waves kept us all very preoccupied in the water, but the water was apparently too lovely as most of us burned ourselves quite properly, (some of us even tried some kind of yoghurt therapy to get rid of the pain…) Our hotel and beach was located a couple of kilometres from the centre of the town, resulting wild life around us, and as we were swimming two wild horses randomly appeared out of nowhere and decided to join us on the beach. After enjoying the beach for a while we went back to the hotel and relaxed by the pool before heading towards the small town of Puerto Viejo to have lunch at a sandwich restaurant that served the most delicious sandwiches and fruit juices.
At 16.00ish we started the over six hour long bus ride back "home" to San José, with our dear tourist guide Oscar armed with the microphone in the front of the bus telling us stories about the places that we passed by. We made a short stop in Limón, apparently the most "relaxed" city in Costa Rica where everybody walked around as fast as sloths. At ten o'clock we finally arrived in Parque de Tibás again, a bit earlier than expected thanks to our rally driver, tired but very happy and satisfied with the Caribbean weekend.
by Malin Gardberg
DAY 9 - Monday, 07 July – ULACIT
Starting into a San José day... Full of impressions of the weekend in the Carrebean, pictures of the coast and Reggae sounds in our heads, we all found ourselves apruptly thrown back into the city and university life. Everything had been recognizably slower in the Carrebean and it had taken us all only a weekend to get used to it and adjust. Life in St José was consequently too fast for us on Monday. I started my day with missing my alarm, having to take my breakfast with me, missing the bus and arriving late at class. The bus ride was once more spectacular – you better not look out of the window when the driver rattles down the hill with estimated 70 km/h.
Class impressions... Everybody was still tired, but motivated for a new week of Milton’s grasping lectures. For optimal concentration he once again passed out Costa Rican chocolate, which led to a thorough discussion about Coffee, Cocoa, Chocolate and Banana exports. Obviously 50% of Costa Rican coffee exports go to Germany and most of the remaining to other states of the European Union. We felt kind of caught having to admit our coffee addiction. Dipping furhter into sustainability questions of Costa Rica we had a great guest lecturer , Sergio Rbanca, who provided us with first hand information about agricultural problems and respective development, the world food crisis and the coherent Costa Rican and UN policies on food and agriculture. I was once more impressed by the vivid activities the country is planning and conducting concerning sustainable economy. Costa Rica seems to be one of the few countries that do more than discussing the topics of sustainability – they are here gradually transformed into visible action.
by Katharina Norden
DAY 10 - Tuesday, 08 July – ULACIT
As always the day started with a breakfast that was just brilliant (or as we Ticos say: ¡”Muy rico!”. And that time not only for me: There were 4 other young people who I got to know the day before. One of them was living at my host families place for one month also two years ago which demonstrates perfectly that the place where I live here in Costa Rica is full of warmhearted people that you like to visit even years ago after the programme is over.
Before going to the University there was enough time to accomplish sth very important: the “YOGHURT CURE”. As red as a lobster the people who saw me at that time know why I had to use such means additionally to the Hawaiian Tropic Aloe Vera Apres Sun I had at home and the little Nivea Apres Sun Tube I took always with me when leaving the house. So the procedure was as follows: Put some of low-fat (!) yoghurt on your body, dispense it where ever necessary and feel the instant cooling effect!!! After letting it aspirate a shower helps to avoid people looking at you in a strange way.
So after that and with a healthy snack in my bag I headed to the University where another interesting lecture was waiting.
Normally there is always a programme for the evening such as dancing classes for example or simply going out and discovering new bars and places in Costa Rica but for this Tuesday – as an exception – nothing was planned. So I went home from University not knowing that my host family was already waiting for going out and having dinner with their daughters family and me. Besides some delicious dishes I also (and not only one time) got to know a typical drink of Costa Rica: Guarro! It can basically be mixed with everything and tastes like a kind of Tequila – not so strong though. Even if I had dos Imperiales before they were mistaken with saying: “Today you’re going to fall in love with the toilet” – Fortunately!
So again there was something special that enriched the day once more and exactly that is what I like about not only this summer programme but also the stay in Costa Rica in total so far: As there are a lot of things happening in a quite short period of time you get the impression of being here for a long time already. So thanks to the host family, the trips with mates before the programme had started, the INEX-activities and the interesting lectures I could enter a lot of new exciting settings already.
by Markus Moser
DAY 11 - Wednesday, 09 July – Field Trip to University for Peace and Earth Charter Center
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DAY 12 - Thursday, 10 July – ULACIT
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DAY 13 - Friday, 11 July – ULACIT
The last day in San Jose before we left for our trip to Quepos was full of preparation work for the research project on sustainable tourism. We were discussing in groups about the questionnaire and which of the questions were suitable for the interview target groups. We figured that it was not always easy to adapt them and so lively discussions occurred. Everybody integrated themselves even at lunch at “….”, a nice German restaurant, which was recommended by Prof. Milton Clarke who joined us. This seemed to be the right place to celebrate Katharina´s final exam of her law studies. People were enjoying Apfelstrudel which gave us a delicious taste of home even though far away in Costa Rica.
In the evening some went to bed early in order to get some sleep before leaving at 6 am the next morning, while others were going out, hoping to catch up with sleep on the long bus trip.by Christine Spernbauer and Natalie Lindner
DAY 14 - Saturday, 12 July – Excursion to Arenal Power Plant
On Saturday we had an early wake-up again, we met at 6 o´clock in the park. Some had been partying a bit too hard the night before and had troubles waking up on time. The educational program for the day was a visit to ICE, the electricity and telephoneconnection provider. We had the unique opportunity to visit their hydroelectric plant and windmills. After lunch we drove around the lake Arenal with our guide Oscar.
In the afternoon we checked in to hotel Luigis in Arenal and from there we went to Baldi hot springs by the volcano Arenal. Arenal is one of the world’s most active volcanoes, and it is really close to the village. In the evening, after the relaxing time in around 16 different hot springs and expensive drinks, we saw some lava flows form the volcano, it was quite cloudy and dark, but we saw the red stuff coming up from the volcano and falling down on one side.
The hot springs were hot, most of the water was around 40 degrees and there were a lot of bars in the pools, and also some “chairs” in the water, and a lot of waterfalls. It was quite a romantic place, even if there were all too many people for it to be romantic, but our new couples had fun there.by Michaela Stahlberg
DAY 15 - Sunday, 13 July – Arenal Volcano and Canopy Tour
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DAY 16 - Monday, 14 July – Research and Spanish
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DAY 17 - Tuesday, 15 July – Research and Spanish
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DAY 18 - Wednesday, 16 July – Research and Spanish
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DAY 19 - Thursday, 17 July – Research and Spanish
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DAY 20 - Friday, 18 July – Research and Spanish
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DAY 21 - Saturday, July 19 – Manuel Antonio
Ayer terminó la clase de español. Hoy es primer día libre.
Ni clase de Universidad
Ni clase de español
ni tareas, entrevistas etc.Solamente estamos disfrutando
el sol
la playa
la arena
las olas
todo¡Ojala sigan mas días de este tipo de "PURA VIDA"!
by Hubert Kronfuss
DAY 22 - Sunday, July 20 – Manuel Antonio
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DAY 23 - Monday, 21 July – ULACIT
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DAY 24 - Tuesday, 22 July – ULACIT
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DAY 25 - Wednesday, 23 July – ULACIT and Conference
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DAY 26 - Thursday, 24 July – White Water Rafting at Rio Pacuare
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DAY 27 - Friday, 25 February – Departure
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