Bienvenidos al campus de la EARTH!!*

*note: I will often include Spanish lessons in my blog posts, as I believe in "teachable moments" and I think that everyone should at least know something in another language. Thus, bienvenidos = welcome. Campus = campus. Translation: 

Welcome to EARTH's campus!

Entrance view of the campus - library on right, EARTH shrubbery on left

So first let me say that I CANNOT BELIEVE that classes (@ PSU) ended 4 weeks ago already... I've been in Costa Rica now for almost a whole month! Wow. Now while I am still not perfect with my Spanish, I know that it is getting better - and I'm getting to that point where my English may start to deteriorate (as I find myself pausing to think about constructing sentences for this blog post). So bear with me. I will keep words simple. 

What is going on right now, you ask? Well, as I may have alluded to in my first post - I am studying abroad at EARTH University for the summer (May 13 - August 23) here in the Limon province (AKA hot n humid region) of Costa Rica. The University here operates on the calendar year, whereas students have 3 semesters - starting in January with graduation in December. As I mentioned in my last post, there are about 400 students here (100 per year) from around 30 countries (mostly Latin America and Africa - note, I will have an "student spotlight" blog post coming soon to share some of their stories!). 

These students work REAL hard. They are either in class/lab or have mandatory work experience from 30-40 hours a week. Wednesday and Saturday mornings (6:30 - 11:30) are devoted to work experience, and this can range from: community development work (what I am doing), milking the university's dairy cows, working in mechanical shops, at the banana plantation, etc. The academic mission of this university would best be summed up by that age old agricultural/vocational education phrase, "Learning by Doing." I actually really love this concept. While the theory and classroom instruction is important, the majority of time in these courses is spent "in the field." 

2nd year students must complete a business project. This is a group's project:  to raise 3000 Rambutan trees (fruit similar to a lychee). Talk about work experience!

While I really appreciate the concept of all of this practical experience, especially at higher/more technical levels, I am finding that most students haven't really had much exposure to agricultural education previous to coming - thus I am learning to appreciate the 4 years of ag classes I had in high school, as well as the awesome opportunity to be part of an organization like the FFA, where leadership skills accompanied practical career experience. However, nothing quite compares to a college education where you must know how to manage a plot of corn (including: clearing, hoeing, raking, seeding, maintenance) to pass a course*.

*stay tuned for a personal application 

So what classes am I taking among all of these awesome options? Well I had quite the list to choose from but I ended up selecting the following (given some remaining requirements for my major and minors at PSU):

Tropical Animal Production (3 credits)

Food Security and the Global Economy (2 credits)

Oral Communication workshop (1 credit)

Work Experience: Community Development (2 credits)

Mechanical Skills (1 credit)

Ecological Foundations for Natural Resource Management (3 credits)

Total: 12 credits... which adds up to 29 hours of scheduled "class" time!! CRAZY! 

After my first two weeks, I think I am most excited about the community experience (where we will be collaborating with smallholder farmers to improve their ag systems!) and the food security course. However, I know there will be a bit of work to do. I am grateful, however, that it hasn't been too crazy yet, and I've gotten to explore campus (see below) and make some friends. I also will probably be a regular at "Popular Dance" club - they don't really have clubs here, just designated meeting times for sports, arts, etc. But I still got to work on my Salsa step ;)

So what else is going on right now? Well, everyone is getting antsy for the Feria EARTH Multicultural (EARTH Multicultural Fair) - its next weekend! This is a really cool event and I am super pumped that I can be here for it/participate in it. 31 countries will be represented by the students, faculty, and staff as they will be doing the following: manning "country" stands with native foods (that students will make themselves), performing and dancing, wearing native garb, holding a bike race and run, and more! I absolutely LOVE seeing the different cultures of our world and its people, so I am soooo excited to see what this event will offer! I am helping with the U.S.A./Canada booth (which will be selling... pies and brownies! But really, we do make some darn good desserts) and also helping with the recycling program for the weekend (to make sure people properly sort their waste around campus - ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION). I (spontaneously) went with some students to hang poster ads in Turrialba and Siquirres this past Saturday - people are getting excited! I will definitely have a post about this event once it has passed. 

Okay so I notice this post is getting long, so I will wrap it up. I'm off to work in the fields with 2 other students in my group for tropical animal production. Our major assignment for the semester is to manage a 6 x 6 meter plot (1 per student) of animal forage. Everyone is growing corn and a specific grass, two plots of corn/grass mix and one plot of just grass. This is our grass. We didn't get our 100+ square meters cleared during Monday's lab, considering it took the class 2 hours to measure out their plots. Plus, the previous land use of our plot was a horse pasture... and it looks like they only took one or two passes with a mull-board plow before giving it to us. So, its time to put some back into it and perfect my use of el azadon (hoe)! 

Bueno, amigos, espero que disfruten las siguientes fotos! (I hope you enjoy the following photos - of campus). May you have a wonderful day!!! 

General "hallways" at EARTH - covered due to common rains!

Academic unit 2. There are 3 total, with about 4 classrooms each, on campus. Academic units also hold all professor offices.

View of the area under the library (2nd and 3rd floors) - school store on the left, then down past that is the "Aromas" coffee shop!

One of my favorite areas - covered tables overlooking the central plaza (grassy open area) - behind library.

My dorm! 6 rooms, 12 girls, and sitting right by the forest!

Aqui en Costa Rica (Here in Costa Rica)

It's been over two weeks already?!?

Crazy.

I can tell this summer won't pass by slowly.

Welcome friends (and maybe strangers) to my blog. This season's focus: EARTH University, Costa Rica. But before we get there, let's review my first two weeks in county.

Arrival: Saturday, April 27. I spent a week with a lovely little host family right outside the campus of EARTH, near Guacimo, Limon, Costa Rica. In addition to getting acquainted with the cozy campus (and the intense tropical weather), I was taking some refresher Spanish classes to be ready for a 12-credit semester (taught in Spanish of course). Already within this first week (of not intentionally interacting with EARTH students), God started answering prayers by bringing forth some exciting friendships! I am so excited to see what He has in store for this summer, regardless of what trials may arise.

So after a good first week in Costa Rica (no sicknesses, thank the Lord!) I traveled via bus/taxi/bus (a new feat for me in a Spanish-speaking country) back to the airport to pick up mis padres as they arrived for a week of vacation along the Pacific!

We thankfully avoided the most touristy areas and hit up some pretty lovely areas. I didn't have to work too hard to get dad to go zip-lining with me in a rain forest canopy the first morning they were in the country. And we had some great views of agricultural diversity in our travels (palm plantations, pineapple, coffee, sugar cane, etc). Let's not forget the 60-some birds my mother recorded during her time her (yep, she's a birder).

Of all the travel, I would have to say my favorite place so far in Costa Rica is the third place we stopped at: la Península de Osa, in a hotel called Drake Bay Wilderness Resort (if you can't tell, I like maps). Our cabin sat 30 meters from the Pacific ocean and the view was so gorgeous that it looked good even on my camera phone! Dad and I took out the hotel's kayaks on our first afternoon and kayaked up the river (that opens into Drake Bay) then out to the ocean. We had two day-long tours: the first included snorkeling in the Pacific, canoeing up a river, and swimming in waterfall pools. The second was a tour of Corcovado National Park, one of the many gorgeous parks in the country. We saw these (large rodent things), these (wild pig things), and these (probably related to Zoboomafoo) along with three of the four monkeys found in Costa Rica (Spider, Howler, White-faced Capuchin). This place was just fantastic, definitely a recommendation for a getaway (like a real getaway - we had to leave our car somewhere and take a 1 hour boat).

So coming back to the central part of the country, we spent a few days in my Costa Rican hometown of Turrialba - I spent 6 weeks with a family there last summer: 4 weeks with a PSU Ag Science immersion program and 2 weeks through a grant to do research in local high schools for my undergrad thesis. I got to meet up with some friends, have dinner with my host family, walk around downtown Turri, and take my parents to the incredible historic Guayabo National Monument. It was a lovely close to our vacation, topped off by a lunch with the NEW Penn State crew in Turrialba. See their running blog here!

Yesterday we made our way to EARTH, a trip complete with one more Panadería (bakery) stop and a mountain-top view of the Caribbean. So what is EARTH you may wonder?

EARTH stands for Escuela de Agricultura en la Región Tropical Húmeda (School of Agriculture in the Region of the Humid Tropics). It is a private, international institution funded by USAID, the Costa Rican government, and W. K. Kellogg foundation. The university has a strategic focus on sustainability, development, and practical agricultural instruction - leaving its students with a prestigious (4 year) degree in "Agronomic Engineering" almost equivalent to a combined undergraduate and master's degree in the states. There are 400 students here from 29 countries (Latin America, the Caribbean, and Africa). They live alongside the diverse and prestigious faculty on the closed 8,300 acre campus that is also home to a banana plantation, dairy farm, integrated hog farm, periurban garden, forest reserve, organic crop garden, and more. In my explorations here I will not get around to everything... but I certainly will try!

So what am I doing during these four months in Costa Rica? I am studying here for the entire trimester (students have three 15-week trimesters per year) - my flight leaves on August 24 (2 days before fall PSU classes start!)

Classes started today - I had my tropical animal production class all day and am excited for more new information and Spanish challenges. But don't worry about that now, I am sure you will be learning a lot about what is going on in the coming weeks!!

Thanks for following along on this semi-long introductory blog post. But lucky for you that endured, you get to see some photos from our vacation!

View from Pacific Edge hotel, near Dominical 

Sunset over the Pacific

Capuchin monkey eating a mango on our cabin (from the mango tree over our cabin)

The Costa Rican equivalent of a Turkey, Corcovado National Park

That time I went swimming in waterfall pools

Saying goodbye to the Pacific was rough, but I knew I had lots to look forward to!! 

Until next time amigos - de Costa Rica,

Allison

Que Dios le guarde.