Heredia
Flying into San Jose back from Los Angeles at 5:30 AM was not ideal, especially since I was expecting to go to class right after. But after the morning part of class was cancelled (yay), I took a much needed nap, and we went to Heredia in the afternoon for observations. I misunderstood and thought we were meeting Ulacit students there, but we actually met up with the other Rice study abroad language immersion program. I was shocked to see my former ENGI 120 teammate, Harlan. It was great hearing about their experiences and exploring the city with them.
Back to prototyping
After realizing that our materials wouldn’t come in time, we had to pivot our direction a lot. Instead of sewing in conductive fabric into the TENS sock, we decided to sew in the electrode pads to a) make a functional prototype and b) choose an alternative solution that conveniently didn’t need the user to put on the pad themselves.
Then, we tested our prototype with Ulacit students, which was probably most interesting experience I’ve had during our design process. I definitely had to go outside my comfort zone to practice some Spanish with students during testing, though their English was definitely better than my Spanish (a guy who said he didn’t know that much English told me to just speak English with him haha). Anyways, I learned a lot about testing and the importance of remaining objective and precise.
San Jose: Crafts Market
Fun story: At the Municipal Crafts Market, I went to one shop and saw a cute wooden box to get for my aunt. It was listed at 9,000 colones, but the lady at the shop told me she could lower it to 7,000. Yay, a discount, so I bought it. Literally, I take 2 steps to go to the shop right next to it, and the man was selling the same box for 4,000!
I felt so betrayed (and scammed) that I went back to the lady to tell her. She just weakly smiled at me, said sorry, and noted that his price was cheap. Then, I returned to the man’s store, still a bit bewildered. The guy told me in Spanish that it wasn’t her fault, since she’s only an employee and not the owner of her store. He, on the other hand, was the owner of his store, so he could make decisions about lowering the price. That interaction completely changed my perspective, as I realized that things weren’t always as black and white as I assumed it to be.
The night before the last day, we all went on an outing to celebrate. We went to a Chinese restaurant that had the most menu items I had ever seen, including submenus of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese food, and random hamburgers and spaghetti. The stirfry I got was good, the sushi was not (maybe I just have high standards for sushi as a Los Angeles girl). Afterwards, we knocked down some pins with a bit of bowling. Memorable moments: Jeff’s confident strut, Brendan as Brenda, and me scoring zero points on a round (but I got a spare later).
We finished the program strong with our final presentation. A rather bittersweet ending. It felt weird leaving the classroom and walking up the hill back to Selina, realizing that this was the last walk from Ulacit I would be likely be taking. I’m grateful to Ulacit for hosting such a memorable experience for us.
Manuel Antonio: Sloths and Monkeys!
Alice, Leticia, Brendan, and I went to Manuel Antonio for the weekend, since our flights were not until Sunday. The Airbnb we stayed at, Rosa House, was so spacious with a huge bed that fit the 3 girls and an outdoor balcony overlooking the trees. Our host was also very kind…and quite trusting. She told us that we could just pay by leaving cash on the counter before we check out the next morning.
When we arrived at the park, there was an indigenous guide who welcomed us, promoting his group’s tour. He walked with us to the entrance, impressing us with his knowledge of the plants around us (perhaps they were planted there for that purpose, but it was still cool). On our 5 minute walk to the entrance from the bus stop, he showed us plants that shrunk away when you touched them, big leaves whose underside felt like velvet, and mango tree leaves that also smelled like mango when they were crushed. We were originally not going to have a guide, but we realized that there was so much to learn about the forest that we likely couldn’t learn on our own.
I’m really glad we hired a guide. While it was a different guy than the first one, our guide was very kind and fun. With his help, we spotted Halloween crabs, frogs, and bats. We saw a sloth moving across a branch high up in the trees (they move faster than I expected) and monkeys leaping across trees (monkeys also like juice).
The beaches were also incredible! The sand was so soft and the forest trees were great sources of shade. It was so relaxing that I took a nap on the beach, only to wake up to Leticia yelling my name from the water, warning me about the huge iguana that laid right next to me as I slept. The iguana was people-watching and modeling for me as I took pictures. At the last beach we went to, the sky was turning gray, and it started to rain. A typical Costa Rican ending to our month-long adventure.
Closing out and Reflection
I’m going to miss Costa Rica 🙁 especially the amazing weather. It was an incredible experience, and I loved that we got to interact with Costa Rican students. I learned a lot about pivoting during prototyping, interviewing and observation, as well as the Costa Rican culture. This iSeed program was certainly unforgettable.
If I were to offer a suggestion for future iSeed programs, it would be that students have an orientation before going abroad (like the GMI students did and other study abroad programs) to feel a bit more prepared and organized, because the first week was really tough for me. However, it worked out in the end, and the program enabled me to meet people and classmates I would have likely not been able to meet, even at Rice. I got to be immersed in the Pura Vida culture and the language of locals.
On the logistical side of things, I think the program can be taken to new heights if it had the consult of the Study Abroad Office. While iSeed is technically study abroad, it is its own program, so iSeed is a lot newer whereas the Rice Study Abroad programs spent years perfecting their craft. This may help students be more equipped and prepared for what’s to come about the syllabus, culture, language barriers, expectations on independence and finance, safety tips, and more.
But for it’s second time being launched, this program did a good job at combining ENGI 350 and ENGI 200 into a seamless learning experience. The medical innovation bootcamp and Ulacit was great in letting us interact with Costa Rican students. The balance between work and fun was good too, as we worked diligently on our projects to bring an idea into reality and had the weekend to explore the richness of Costa Rica.
Sad that it’s over, but there’s beauty in endings too. The experience inspired me to brush up on my Spanish, so the rest of my summer will probably be me working on some skills like Spanish, writing, and cooking. I hope to drill in the Pura Vida mindset when I return to the hustle culture of the United States and Rice campus.
Well, Costa Rica, perhaps we’ll meet again. In fact, I think we will. I’ll return to the note I wrote on the wooden platform in Manuel Antonio and write a new one.
Con amor,
Carly