Final Experiences
The last full weekend of the trip was during Dr. Magleoca’s class, The Water Planet. We had already taken our final for the class, and we departed from the Soltis Center for three days to travel to Guanacaste, the northwestern most province of the country, to study water use there. Guanacaste produces a majority of the nation’s two most popular crops: rice and sugarcane. We were to study something called the food-energy-water nexus,...
More Experiences in Costa Rica
The first two weeks of the trip were led by Dr. Mathew Lafevor, who taught Geography of Latin and South America. He spoke spanish, and knew a good deal about the culture and geography of the area. The class was engaging, but the activities that we did outside of the classroom made it even better. Dr. Lafevor’s two weeks also happened to line up with the worst two weeks of weather we had at Soltis. It rained every day, sometimes...
Arrival
I arrived in San Juan, Costa Rica, around 2:30 on January 17th. Only after waiting in the customs line for 45 minutes did I realize that the american man standing behind me, who had been on my flight, was also a UA student there for the same program. We hurried through customs, and rendezvoused with the rest of the group, who had been waiting in the baggage claim. We left together, and walked across a crowded street to a shaded...
Coming Home Because of COVID
As everyone else this semester, I was forced to end my exchange early and come home amid the Coronavirus Pandemic. Not only was this very disappointing and sad but it was also a very scary experience with how quickly everything escalated. First, Italy shut its borders. At this point, the severity of the situation had not hit me yet. Sure, Italy was closed, but in my...
The Best Month of my Life: February 2020
I’ll admit, my first month in France was hard. I could speak as much French as the average 3-year-old, and for me, reading French takes the brain power just short of calculus. I knew no one and I was all alone for the very first time, with more than an ocean separating me from all I knew and loved. On my first day, I was very anxious about meeting new people and making friends. Luckily for me, KEDGE did a very good job with their...
Welcome to Seoul!
After a total of 35 hours spent traveling (most of which I was awake for), I finally touched down in South Korea. This was the moment I had been looking forward to for months, and it was finally within my grasp. From the moment I stepped into the cold air outside of Incheon Airport, I was filled with an array of emotions. The main emotion was excitement. I was ready to explore the city and my new home. I spent the first day exploring...