Reflecting on Experience

From my experience in Costa Rica thus far I find that my fellow American students and I are well respected by local Ticos. Most Ticos I have communicated with, despite my near total lack of spanish, understood that our purpose in their country was to learn about their cultural customs and improve our language skills. Due to the fact that we are here to learn and experience a whole different culture many Ticos have made exceptions for us where they would not for the average tourist from the United States.

Another interesting viewpoint of Ticos is there understanding of America. When a man born and raised in Pennsylvania says, “America,” he refers to fifty states and a constitution. When a Tico talks of America as a whole he is talking about two continents and the land bridge connecting them. To Costa Ricans the US is just the United States, not America.