Wow, that was fast! Unfortunately, I was only able to stay in Costa Rica up until this past Thursday since I had to make it back in time for my sister’s high school graduation and the start of my internship next week. This past week was most certainly different, and in my opinion much more relaxed than the intensity of the clinical visits and the Medical Innovation Bootcamp. We started Monday off by taking a walking tour around San Jose that Madison found for us, which was honestly one of my favorite parts of the trip. I’m not an adventurous eater in the slightest, but I can proudly say I tried everything offered to me on the food tour, including eating a passionfruit, which looked like it came from a different planet entirely! We also made our own empanadas and tasted some coffee at the end, which was a great experience to try.
Later Monday night, I did some karaoke with Leo, Luke, and Elliot. It was tough to convince them to come on the stage, but I think we all had a great time!
On Tuesday, we started the day off by listening to a speech from professional speaker, futurist, masterclass salesman, and Nobel Prize-winning thinker Henrik von Scheel. Never did I think I’d get the chance to see a Tai Lopez ad on YouTube live in person, but this was as close as I’ll ever get. I’ve never seen a keynote speech designed to mislead people more than that one; Henrik purposefully made his slides impossible to understand and presented them under the guise of being a “Knowledge Award” winner, which meant the Dubai Sheikh decided he was a good person to help further their agenda. The questions he came to answer after made it even worse, as he refused to actually say anything of substance and instead talked about how he’s here to try and invest a billion dollars (presumably from Dubai) in the Costa Rican economy. Never before had I been so heated by a presentation, but I’m still grateful I got to see it because I’ll probably never be that close to someone trying to scam a foreign government ever again!
Later that day, we did some needs finding work and after class I went to a cafe with Elliot, Erin, Sumin, and Madison. This was great and helped me make it through the day after I burnt all my energy thinking about the presentation!
Wednesday was another day of class; I finished up my written need statement and spent a bit of time completing some onboarding tasks before I start work. This was also my last night and Benji’s 21st birthday, so we went out to get pizza and drinks at Pizza Olivera, which was amazing! We later hung out as a group and played games until everyone was too tired to stay up, which was a perfect way to end my last night.
The next morning, I decided to walk to class with the group, then left once they started doing work. It was tough to say goodbye so early, but I had an incredible time and I’m so happy I decided to do this. Thanks to Dr. Wettergreen for coming up with this idea for me to come for half the trip and I can’t wait to see each and every one of you guys when I’m back on Rice campus in spring 2024!
