Costa Rica
Costa Rica's history & society ... photo album ... maps ... links

The program
Immersion in daily life ... schedule ... orientation ... field trips ... Spanish language ... Intro to Costa Rica ... Rural Stay ... Core Course ... Independent Study Project

Information
Eligibility ... credit and grades ... academic year program ... program staff ... living arrangements ... ACM Center ... costs ... how to apply

Contacts
Campus program advisors ... ACM office

Introduction to Costa Rica

This overview of modern Costa Rica features discussions of geography, history, religion, social life and ethnicity. Readings are drawn from literature, and the social and natural sciences.

Taught in Spanish, the course includes field work in San José and incorporates the Rural Stay. (required, 3 credits)

Above: Bri Bri children in Limon province, one holding a poison arrow frog.

Left: Stopping at a grocery store in Cahuita.

Rural Stay

Part way into the program, students leave San José to live with rural families for two weeks in order to explore urban and rural contrasts and further develop their language skills.

Student journals and interviews provide the basis for an oral report in the Introduction to Costa Rica course.

Above: A student with a member of his host family in Santa Elena during the rural stay.

A member of a student’s host family and her friend in the rural area of Cahuita, Limon. (Photo courtesy of Gail Lehman)