When I was 19, my mom found out about an intercultural exchange program in Costa Rica. The scouting she did seemed pretty cool ! Without further question, I quickly jumped on her initial idea ! I flew out to Costa Rica on a semi-organized solo trip ! This was actually my 1st time traveling on my own. I loved it so much that my 1 month stay quickly turned into a 2 month stay. I stayed with a local family who spoke very little English. I quickly realized that I had to pick up Spanish pretty fast ! I lived on the Pacific side and I studied Spanish in the mornings at Intercultura school. I had 4 hours of Spanish in the morning and all my afternoons were free, which meant playing and exploring Costa Rica with new friends ! Our Spanish classes were sometimes held outside ; we had a view of the Pacific Ocean where we could sometimes see monkeys in the trees or see surfers catching a wave !
I loved meeting and hanging out with people from around the globe ! There is something special about meeting people when you travel. I built meaningful relationships along the way. Sometimes I would spend time with my family Tica, seeing crocodiles in the wild, watching a soccer match or attending a local celebration.
As much as I tried to learn Spanish back home, I wasn’t great at it. But this Costa Rican immersion really worked out well for me. When I returned back home, I was able to get a job with a Mexican Airline based in Montreal working as a service agent in Spanish, French and English. I felt so empowered to connect with people in multiple languages.
