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Costa Rica: Field Research in the Environment, Social Sciences, & Humanities

San José & field sites, Costa Rica

Living arrangements

A tour of a student's host family

During the first month and the last month of the program, students take classes at the ACM center and live with families in San José.

Housing arrangements during the field work phase of the program vary widely according to the location of the student’s research project, but many students are placed with families who speak only Spanish.

For those in remote areas, conditions may be quite rugged. The staff assists students in finding suitable housing.

Costa Rica: Field Research in the Environment, Social Sciences, & Humanities

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Stephanie Jaros, Research Coordinator at Stanford University's Bipolar Disorders Clinic My ACM Costa Rica experience can best be summed up as inspirational. It was the first time I truly felt useful as a researcher, carrying out research that was bigger than me but somehow, made better by my hard work and by that of my team members. Also, I got my first true idea of just how research can go wrong and, in spite of the best-laid plans, can be taken off track by external forces. As a result, I learned the best lesson of social research- what I want to learn and what others want to teach me are often two different things, and the only way to make the best of it is to change my perspective, not that of those who are being kind enough to share their lives with me. The ACM Field Research Program is the only one I know of that truly challenges its students, and I managed to love every second of it.

—Stephanie Jaros, Research Coordinator at Stanford University's Bipolar Disorders Clinic, Costa Rica, Spring 1998

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