Spanish Class in Costa Rica

After an interview in a small office with a teacher in the Intercultura, we were all placed into our classes.  Since most students along on the trip were simply finishing their spanish language requirement credits and not minoring or majoring in Spanish, I was guessing my class would be small.

dance class with our teacher Kike was always a lot of fun!

I was right! My class of Advanced Spanish Conversation and Intermediate Spanish Grammar (combined into one class) consisted of two other students and myself.

Our teacher, Nuria, was a super nice Tica.  I was a big fan of hers throughout our stay in Heredia.  She wasn't much older than we were.. I would assume in her late twenties, so she was more like a friend.  This made our class time really fun (which is a good thing - class is 5 hours long Monday through Friday!)

Nuria and our class on Presentation Day - we had to wear the old-fashioned clothing of San Jose

Nuria taught us many things other than the curriculum.  In fact, every time I learned a new/interesting word, I wrote it down.  My list grew to some interesting terms:

cita a ciegas - blind date

trasnochar - to stay up all night

goma - hangover

batido - milkshake

carambola - starfruit

promedio - GPA

me cae bien - to get along with (if you like a person, unless it's a love interest, it is incorrect to say "me gusta (person)"

molida - crushed

cangrejo - crab

estar con sueno - to want to sleep

cordales - wisdom teeth

hacer trampa - to cheat

chupete - hickie

trenzas - braids/dreadlocks

guacala - ew!

culo - butt

These are the kinds of things I really take away from my trip to Costa Rica, not all that bookwork!

We also had some great dance classes, beading classes, and cooking classes at the school.  In dance class, we learned salsa, merengue, and other latin dance.  Our dance instructor, Kike, was pretty cool.

In cooking class, we learned how to make empanadas and chorreadas, which are just like pancakes; however, our teacher, pictured below, would get very angry if we said "pancake."  Apparently, chorreadas are a big deal, and much better than pancakes (I actually would just prefer pancakes. She served the chorreadas with some gross sour cream).

our interesting cooking teacher making empenadas

Obviously, the classes were the reason we took the trip to Costa Rica, and they taught me a lot, but I think I learned just as much outside of the classroom as I did in class!