Costa Rican Living Surprises KUStudentsonSemester Visit
Living in Costa Rica for two months has already proved to be an interesting experience for nine KU students in the remainder of their junior year of study there.
By Lacy Banks
The students are; Judy Beeman,
Oxford sophomore; David Diepenbrock,
Shawnee Mission freshman;
Terry Foute, Overland Park junior;
Theda Herz, Olathe sophomore;
Judy Holden, Basehor sophomore;
Gordon Loeffler, Kansas City, Mo., junior; Judy Myers,
Overland Park sophomore; Marilee Neale, Galveston, Texas, junior,
and Kathy Sayers, Centerville sophomore.
IN A RECENT packet of letters written to Thomas Gale, assistant dean of the College and the director of KU's Peace Corps operations in Costa Rica, told him of some of their experiences up to date.
All these students have majors in Spanish or Latin American studies. They are sharing the junior year program with four students from the University of Colorado.
For Miss Neale this was her first experience traveling by plane and it gave her the first-flight flutters. But she said that a tranquilizer and the comforting of friends helped to pull her through and made the "lovely ordeal more like a ferris wheel and not quite like a roller coaster." she said.
The students, after a brief orientation program in Washington, D.C., at the beginning of the semester, arrived by plane in Costa Rica February 22.
"Our first view of Costa Rica was aerial," she said. "Everything seemed mountainous, green and inviting."
FOUTS SAID that Costa Rican hospitality was shown at the airport with a shining expectant face. The cultural shock, about which they had heard so much was also there, he said. It was present in the hustle and bustle of getting adjusted to the language, the food and the accommodations.
The group first stayed at the Alameda Inn in San Jose before moving into the homes of Costa Rican families. Fouts wrote, "We eventually decided our stay at the Alameda was for the best. The race for the shower provided a little exercise but we could be lulled to sleep at night by a never
ending chorus of unmuffled motorcycles on nearby Avenida Central and the insect bites kept our minds off any preoccupations we may have had." he said.
"In short, it prepared us well for the next stage—moving in with our families." Fouts wrote.
THE UNIVERSITY of Costa Rica, like many other Latin American schools, did not have the on-campus living quarters as those here in the States, the students wrote. Students must therefore live off campus with families or in apartments.
The KU students followed the same rule and after a few days in the Alameda Inn, they moved in with Costa Rican families where they are staying during their study there.
Commenting on the advantage of this system, Miss Holden said, "The adjustment between people who speak different languages and are accustomed to different cultures is quite interesting.
"My Costa Rican family and I have had several discussions in which we each discover new facets in the others and new comparisons between the U.S. and Costa Rican cultures," Miss Holden wrote.
"THE PARENTS of the family consider me as a second daughter and are very particular about what they let me do," she said. "They instruct me on the standards of dress as well as help me to do shopping and save money."
Miss Holden said she liked the food which was a mixture of Italian and Costa Rican cuisines but she regretted she was on a strict diet and couldn't eat more.
Lunch was the main meal of the day, she said, and it included several courses: salad, meat, vegetables, rice, beans, bread and dessert as well as a variety of native fruit papaya, the mango, the platano, the fresh pineapple and the sweet lemon which has the flavor of orange and lemon mixed.
THE MAIN dishes are often Italian like lasagna or spaghetti, she continued, but there were also Costa Rican dishes like "arroz con pollo" (chicken with rice) and tortillas. Some nights there were hamburgers and hot dogs, she said.
"I am really satisfied with my
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family as a marvelous group of individuals and with the house as well." Miss Holden said. "I seriously feel that because I am living with this family, especially my understanding not only of the Costa Rican culture but of other cultures and peoples outside the United States will be greatly enriched by the friendship that I'm sure we will maintain for a long time.
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Miss Myers said her adjustment with her Costa Rican family and the university atmosphere there was difficult at first but eventually she made many friends at the university.
One reason she gave is that her Spanish improved and her communications were made easier. Another reason is just adjusting to the new situation all together.
MISS SAYERS was very surprised when, on the first day at the University of Costa Rica, they were met by a group of students there with scissors in hand crying "Pelo! Pelo!" (hair). She later discovered that it was a custom for male students arriving at the school for the first time had to have all their hair cut.
The students said they first had difficulty getting their lessons finished because their inability to understand the lectures caused them to miss many valuable notes.
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