In conjunction with faculty members from the Spanish department, the International Studies Office will be offering its first study abroad program in Costa Rica this summer.
The six-credit course is directed at students who are hoping to complete their language requirements in Spanish 201 and 202. A maximum of 20 students will be accepted.
International Studies Office director Rebecca Brown said one reason for creating this program was to accommodate the growing number of students in study abroad programs.
"Students have been requesting more programs in Latin America," Brown said. "We only have one and it's in Lima, Peru. The Lima program has been becoming increasingly popular."
Brown said another reason for the program was to have students avoid the tedious process of online waitlists for enrollment in Spanish courses.
Among those attending the trip are Spanish Prof. Gustavo Pellon and teaching assistant Daniel Hartnett. Pellon is also the program director for this year's trip.
"It is the first time that I have run this thing but I have taught in many study abroad programs," Gustavo said. "I'm looking forward to it."
Pellon said he hopes the program will continue to be offered at the University after this summer.
"We can only take very few students, so there's going to be competition for this," Pellon said. "It's a smarter thing to go little by little, but certainly [it] will expand in terms of numbers."
Students will be housed with local families in the city of Alajuela, which is approximately 10 miles from the Costa Rican capital of San Jose.
In the mornings, they will split up into sections with native Spanish-speaking instructors from the Instituto de Cultura y Lengua Costarricense (ICLC). Afterward, they will convene for the lecture session with Pellon.
"They'll be able to cover the full 201-202 series, speaking Spanish 24 hours a day, as well as take field trips and do everything in Spanish," Pellon said.
In addition to lectures and sections, students will have the chance to explore the many sights and sounds of Alajuela such as beaches, active volcanoes, butterfly gardens and tropical rain forests. Several day and overnight trips are also planned.
"I hope that the language and the culture will become alive and I think that's going to happen," Pellon said.
Spanish Prof. Michael Gerli, a native of Costa Rica, recommended the program to Brown and secured connections with the ICLC, Intrax Education Abroad (IEA) and universities in Costa Rica to make the study abroad program possible at the University.
"We think it's going to be a good program," Gerli said. "It's a great language, a great place, the garden of the Americas, the Switzerland of the Americas. It's a very beautiful country."
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