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!

Our first taste of Heredia

After our placement interviews for Spanish classes at Intercultura, the language school we attended while living in Heredia, we were taken on a tour of the town.

Heredia is a dynamic little town. Each day, Dana and I walked ten minutes uphill (no, really... it was an entire uphill walk to the school from our house) to get to school, and once we emerged from the housing area, we would pass numerous schools (there are several schools on one street), each with their own park or fenced-in playground, a few pharmacies, movie rental stores, bakeries, and stores of all types. General stores, beauty parlors, pet shops, restaurants, and clothing boutiques are set up side-to-side, lining the sidewalks.

enjoying the marketplace and tasting the fruit!

On our first tour, we were taken to the market in the town square. There were varieties of stalls inside the marketplace. Ticos sell baked goods, fruit and vegetables, clothing, and more. It was very interesting to see the way Ticos buy their fruit from the market daily. Dana and I once bought some starfruit, "moras" (blackberries), and "mamone", a fruit with a shell one peels off to reveal a grapelike seed to suck on, from the market. "Guanabana," or guava, is also a common fruit in Costa Rica. One can find it in cookies and artificial flavors all around the country.


After the market, our group stopped for lunch at "Las Fresas" for lunch. There, we were introduced to the typical Costa Rican lunch, "casado," which directly translated means "married." This national dish contains rice and beans with cabbage-and-tomato salad, fried plantains (YUM!), and meat. At Las Fresas, we each had our choice of the steak, chicken, fish, or vegetarian version of casado. I elected to try the chicken, and it was pretty good. My favorite was definitely the friend plantains, which are a staple in almost every lunch and dinner in Costa Rica.

To drink, Ticos frequently enjoy "cas" or "guanabana," a fruit drink made from the fruits that supply their namesake. Cas is a type of guava and is a little less sweet than guanabana (I preferred guanabana), and they are both in a smoothie form. It is normal to ask for these drinks "con agua" (with water) or "con leche" (with milk). With milk, the drink is less of a smoothie has more of a milkshake consistency.

That first tour gave us a small taste of Costa Rican life. After Las Fresas, we passed many of the shops and bars that would become landmarks and hangouts to us in the weeks to come. We couldn't wait to get out there on our own!

Dana, Lauren, and me enjoying our lunch at Fresas