Global Navigators Take Over the Blog!!!

The time has come for our Global Navigators to take over the blog posting honor! Two of our amazing students, Surani Heller and Jayani Suresh, worked together to create our third update for the week. The also had amazing help from Jasmine Rao who contributed this weeks photos.

Here is what they have to say. :)

The past two days were packed with fun activities! Coming from a small Massachusetts town, Monteverde offered a unique opportunity to explore new environments and experiences. Our daily schedule of eating in the dining hall, attending Spanish class, and learning about the intricacies of climate change provided a new routine, but we also partook in exciting adventures.
These excursions included a trip on Thursday to a coffee farm, and a Friday service project.

Bright and early on Thursday morning, the group trekked along the Nino trail to visit a local family farm. Mauricio –great grandchild of the farm’s founders– showed us around and shared the history of the farm. Having existed for over a century, the farm produced a variety of crops. Unfortunately, the farm has not escaped the impacts of climate change. For years, Mauricio’s family experimented with the growth of different plants in order to acclimate to the changing weather conditions of Monteverde. As Mauricio explained, mangoes were not able to grow within the farm decades ago due to the cold temperatures. However, in the past twenty years, mangoes have emerged as a plentiful fruit. Coffee beans also suffered changes of the climate as fungi overtook their leaves. Not only did our farm trip allow us to hear a firsthand account of the effects of climate change, but we were also given the opportunity to translate Mauricio’s Spanish. The two of us seized this opportunity and threw our Spanish skills into action. The outing was highly fulfilling and we left looking forward to future activities!

A highlight from Friday was our afternoon adventure–cleaning up a park and cemetery near campus. The group divided into two: students tasked with painting and planting trees within the cemetery, as well as students working to clean park equipment. The two of us scrubbed down benches, clearing grime. Later, we worked to remove dead grass accumulated throughout the cemetery. Though we left soaked in sweat, coated in grass, and dripping with dirty water, we were delighted to have improved the community’s space. We also felt more connected to each other, and this shared experience helped us form stronger bonds.

As this week concludes, we have all adapted to the Costa Rican lifestyle fairly well. We immerse ourselves in learning through shared events and taking in nature on our daily hikes. Overall, the group is eager to forge deep friendships and we look forward to getting to know each other more in the upcoming weeks. We have had an awesome past couple days and we are confident that the rest of our journey will be equally incredible.