I've lived a fairly simple life. I've gone to school since I was five, have been working since I was sixteen, and have lived in West Valley, Utah my whole life. Aside from a couple childhood trips to Disneyland and a few summers spent in Tennessee visiting my father (with two weeks vacation in Tybee Island, Georgia), all I've ever known is West Valley. The summers are hot and dry, the winters are cold and stiff, and I've always dreamed of visiting another place and experiencing more then what happens in this small city west of downtown Salt Lake. With college, I had always considered Studying Abroad to not really be an option for me. We are a lower income family and just being able to attend the University of Utah was already a great privilege. When taking the Innovative Scholar Program, we learned we needed to take three classes and have two hands-on, engaged learning experiences. For my major I had to take an internship to complete my degree so there was one, and I pleaded my parents to help me with the finances of the Study Abroad in Costa Rica. It was about a year away and figured that was plenty of time to save the five to six thousand dollars needed for the trip.
Getting ready for the trip was super stressful and time sensitive. I had problems with my passport because I was adopted into my father's name when I was younger. So I only received my passport a week and a half before we had to leave. On top of that stress, packing for preparedness was nearly impossible. We were provided with a suggested packing check-list but it still left me wondering if I had packed everything I would need for this trip of a lifetime. Before I knew it, we were at the airport and taking off to our destination.
Arriving in the San Jose airport I couldn't hold in the excitement. I remember thinking, "You shouldn't be smiling this big, has tourist written all over it" and "I wish I remembered the little Spanish I learned in high school". We walked out of airport into the dense hot air with the first sighting of palm trees. I already felt like I was in paradise, and that feeling never left me.
We stayed at many places in Costa Rica, basically from coast to coast in one thick line. We stayed in cabins, hotels, resorts, and ranches. We took many tours of the rainforest, canals, wildlife, and town life. A lot of the places we stayed were very tourist base so about half of the students in the class, including me, loved to go into town to talk and eat with local people. Out of the fifteen students, only three students spoke Spanish, one person fluently. So he would talk with people and find out the best places to hang out at each place we went to and we always tried to find a good place to go dancing. Though we were taking two classes on this trip, Deforestation and the Paleontology of Costa Rica 's Rainforests, nothing was more fulfilling then being out in the culture and seeing first hand what it was like to live there.
Everyone was simple, humble, and loved where they lived. They took pride in their home and most people seemed to have an understanding of the rainforest that surrounded their homes and how the forest benefited them. I can't tell you exactly how I felt when talking with them, but I remember being touched by their love of place and wishing that back home we had that kind of love for where we lived and their passion for keeping nature around them and abundant. We learned that the rainforest replenishes fairly quickly, but the ecosystem that it houses takes many more years to develop. We learned that conservation is a hard thing to obtain and is very complex when your country makes a large amount of money off of tourism. They focused on educating people of why the rainforest is important to all living things and had enthusiasm in showing tourists why.
Two of the greatest things about living in Utah are the scenery and the mountains, which often times are one in the same. Utah is a beautiful place to live and the mountains offer so much activity and learning from. We snowboard, hike, bike, camp, climb, swim, boat, picnic, and live on these amazing bumps of land. I always look at the mountains in amazement, but I feel some people may take them for granted and get used to seeing them as a back-drop to the city. I feel that being a more developed society has separated us from nature. We drive to nature (the mountains) instead of feeling that it exists around us and maybe that is what dilutes our sense and love of place.
Having a love of where you live is more than just an attitude; it's a perception of how everything is connected and how it needs our respect in order for us to coincide together. My Costa Rica experience opened my eyes to living more sustainable as living simply and living with respect for what is around you. I've learned that becoming less materialistic and doing what you feel is beneficial for you and the environment makes you feel that love for place and makes you feel more connected to what is around you. Feeling connected to the Earth and your surroundings is motivation for living sustainable; if you and nature (or your environment) is one in the same, why would you disrespect or not be thoughtful of yourself?
To teach others this connection and the importance of taking pride in where you live is one of my goals and I feel may be the foundation of what sustainability is all about.
Below is our Itinerary from the trip:
Getting ready for the trip was super stressful and time sensitive. I had problems with my passport because I was adopted into my father's name when I was younger. So I only received my passport a week and a half before we had to leave. On top of that stress, packing for preparedness was nearly impossible. We were provided with a suggested packing check-list but it still left me wondering if I had packed everything I would need for this trip of a lifetime. Before I knew it, we were at the airport and taking off to our destination.
Arriving in the San Jose airport I couldn't hold in the excitement. I remember thinking, "You shouldn't be smiling this big, has tourist written all over it" and "I wish I remembered the little Spanish I learned in high school". We walked out of airport into the dense hot air with the first sighting of palm trees. I already felt like I was in paradise, and that feeling never left me.
We stayed at many places in Costa Rica, basically from coast to coast in one thick line. We stayed in cabins, hotels, resorts, and ranches. We took many tours of the rainforest, canals, wildlife, and town life. A lot of the places we stayed were very tourist base so about half of the students in the class, including me, loved to go into town to talk and eat with local people. Out of the fifteen students, only three students spoke Spanish, one person fluently. So he would talk with people and find out the best places to hang out at each place we went to and we always tried to find a good place to go dancing. Though we were taking two classes on this trip, Deforestation and the Paleontology of Costa Rica 's Rainforests, nothing was more fulfilling then being out in the culture and seeing first hand what it was like to live there.
Everyone was simple, humble, and loved where they lived. They took pride in their home and most people seemed to have an understanding of the rainforest that surrounded their homes and how the forest benefited them. I can't tell you exactly how I felt when talking with them, but I remember being touched by their love of place and wishing that back home we had that kind of love for where we lived and their passion for keeping nature around them and abundant. We learned that the rainforest replenishes fairly quickly, but the ecosystem that it houses takes many more years to develop. We learned that conservation is a hard thing to obtain and is very complex when your country makes a large amount of money off of tourism. They focused on educating people of why the rainforest is important to all living things and had enthusiasm in showing tourists why.
Two of the greatest things about living in Utah are the scenery and the mountains, which often times are one in the same. Utah is a beautiful place to live and the mountains offer so much activity and learning from. We snowboard, hike, bike, camp, climb, swim, boat, picnic, and live on these amazing bumps of land. I always look at the mountains in amazement, but I feel some people may take them for granted and get used to seeing them as a back-drop to the city. I feel that being a more developed society has separated us from nature. We drive to nature (the mountains) instead of feeling that it exists around us and maybe that is what dilutes our sense and love of place.
Having a love of where you live is more than just an attitude; it's a perception of how everything is connected and how it needs our respect in order for us to coincide together. My Costa Rica experience opened my eyes to living more sustainable as living simply and living with respect for what is around you. I've learned that becoming less materialistic and doing what you feel is beneficial for you and the environment makes you feel that love for place and makes you feel more connected to what is around you. Feeling connected to the Earth and your surroundings is motivation for living sustainable; if you and nature (or your environment) is one in the same, why would you disrespect or not be thoughtful of yourself?
To teach others this connection and the importance of taking pride in where you live is one of my goals and I feel may be the foundation of what sustainability is all about.
Below is our Itinerary from the trip:
costa_rica_itinerary.docx | |
File Size: | 99 kb |
File Type: | docx |