This weekend some friends and I went to Corcovado National Park in Costa Rica. It is located on the southwestern tip of the Peninsula de Osa and according to National Geographic is “the most biologically intense place on Earth in…
Dancing in the Moonlight: Move like a Tico (or try to at least)
Both of the orientation programs I had when I came down to Costa Rica (one through KU that lasted an entire month and one through the Universidad de Costa Rica that lasted one day) involved dance lessons. I have to…
Learning with language barriers: that one time when I cried in my History of Africa class
A few weeks ago, I was supposed to give a twenty-minute presentation about slavery in my Historia de Africa class at the Universidad de Costa Rica. Eventually all forty of my classmates and I would have to present, but a…
Oye Machita!: Everybody’s Little Blondie
By Betsy Tampke Before I came to Costa Rica, I was warned about the machismo culture. I was warned that I would be yelled to, whistled at, and stared upon with hungry eyes. I was also told that as a…
Ladies’ South American Packing Tips
This post is for my fellow female travelers. It is about avoiding stereotypes, and it is about avoiding that feeling that you stick out with a sore thumb because you are wearing a bright red dress with multi-colored stripes and…
COSTA RICA INFO SESSION – November 13, 3:30 PM, 203 Lippincott
WHERE? Lippincott Hall, room 203 FOR WHAT? To learn more about KU’s exchange program with the Universidad de Costa Rica, the longest running exchange program in the Western Hemisphere! Two KU staff members within the Universidad will be skyping in…
Costa Rica : Travel Writing
Don’t Fight the Ocean Betsy Tampke You are hot, sweaty, and tired when you finally reach the top of the cliff after hiking through the Costa Rican forest with three other girls on your two week study abroad trip and…
Ariane Tulloch’s Tips for Packing for Nicaragua
Ariane Tulloch studied abroad during the summer of 2013 on the Language and Culture in Nicaragua program. She studied Miskitu. I participated in KU’s study abroad program to Nicaragua. I had an interesting time studying abroad. My former professor suggested…
Semester or Year in San Jose, Costa Rica
The University of Kansas Program in San Jose, Costa Rica, began in 1958 and remains the oldest exchange program in the Western Hemisphere. UCR’s fall semester begins in August and ends with final exams in mid-December, and spring semester begins…
Universidad de Costa Rica
by Marlene Koch This is part of one of my blog posts from “La Pura Vida” during my time abroad at the University of Costa Rica in San José from February-July 2013! Have you ever been dumped out of…