Costa Rica 2025

      One of our two finals for this program was to write an option piece, similar to those seen in magazines. I drew on the six weeks of experiences and focused on what stook out to me the most and emerged as a new passion, out relationship with food.      It took me a bit to finalize it to be blog worthy since I hand wrote my original final and typed up most of the draft on my phone.  I really enjoyed looking deeper into this topic and found so many interconnecting strings. I would love to continue exploring this topic with a masters some day.  But finally, here it is.

    After six weeks on this trip, I filmed a film roll and a half and am so excited to share with you. For my first time working with a film camera and being selective with photo subjects, I think they turned out great. I'll attach the link to a folder with all of my Costa Rica film photos. Also, I did a small collage of these photos on my Instagram so check those out if you'd like.  Link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1TwgmrJHC6ALySZju9lZ77rN9QbZrzbme?usp=drive_link  Instagram: @izbiz23 

These 6 weeks have been very physically and mentally demanding and seemed to have gone on forever but has also weirdly gone by so fast. So much has been accomplished and learned over this time and even though I am looking forward to coming home, this was still an unforgettable experience that I’m glad I took a chance on going on. Now these final days are mainly for completing final research projects, essays, field journals, and a final exam.  However, we are still learning even though our days are counting down. Our group toured Finca Köbö which is a mixture of cacao plantations and primary and secondary regenerated forest. We learned how they use intercropping/ permaculture practices to increase biodiversity within the cacao plantations. They also grow a large stock of vanilla bean, which grow on large vines in structures similar to vineyards. I had the honor of manually pollinating the rare vanilla orchid. It was an insane hands on experience using what was briefly explained to m...

New hobby unlocked! Wow this was so fun. We had a surf lesson ran by locals in Mato Palo, which is a world famous surf spot. And we surfed little baby white water waves but I still found it easy to get up and ride the wave all the way in. I’m excited to do more once I’m home! While in this location, we also took the time to do some surf ethnography and observed local and tourist interactions both on the waves and on the beach. It was a great experience to sit and watch very skilled surfers on gorgeous waves. Also, we went to a small night market/ bar for some ice cream but also as another opportunity to observes and be apart of local communities 

 This program has been pretty rigorous with its academic requirements as well as physical activities so I fell like I’m always doing school work. But, taking a small study break and seeing tucans and endless jungle when I look up is worth it. Here are some pictures of our study/camp spots. 

I’m officially half way through my six week program!! We’ve done so many things, seen so many animals, and been to sooo many different places that it’s hard to keep track of everything. But it’s so beautiful here, monkeys are everywhere and I’m starting to get used to the early early morning bird calls. These animals are seen through my binoculars; the spider monkey, scarlet macaw, and the white faced capuchins. All of which we’ve seen very frequently and in large numbers which is insane. I’ve woken up serval times to monkeys right over head!