Mostly Packed and Anticipating

On the patio in my parents' backyard, my dog (and soon later, my mother) just happened upon garter snake hiding under the grill cover. My hates snakes - and unfortunately I have inherited this fear from her as well, but garter snakes will be the least of my worries a week from now. But by then I will have invested in a good, sturdy pair of knee-high rubber snake boots.

My days in Minnesota are coming to an end - I will be embarking on my semester abroad first thing on Monday morning. I fly into San Jose where I will be greeted by program staff, meeting my classmates and spending the night in San Jose for orientation. We will travel to the OTS field station at Palo Verde National Park (found on the map below in the northwest quadrant of the country just north of the Nicoya Peninsula) on Wednesday, August 19 to begin classes.


OTS has three field stations in Costa Rica and we will be staying a couple weeks in each location. The La Selva station is in the northeast quadrant of the country closest to Sarapiqui on the map above (right at the edge of civilization, it seems), and Las Cruces is near San Vito down by Panama in the South Pacific region of the country. We will also spend two weeks near San Jose enrolling in two weeks of intensive language school. During the two weeks of language school, we will stay with Costa Rican families. I will be with the Fernández-de la Mata family. Maria, my Costa Rican mother is a homemaker, and her husband José is a chemist. They have a 28 year old daughter at home, Marcela who works as a pharmacist, and a 32 year old son, Mauricio who visits the family on Saturdays with his wife. I look forward to getting to know this family soon.

My gear and belongings are finding places in my luggage - including my 7.8 lb Manson's Tropical Disease textbook, and I'm excited to get on an airplane for the first time in a long time. I love flying, and haven't done so since I went Ireland with the high school band my junior year at Jefferson.

I will be able to receive mail while I am in Costa Rica, but the program strongly advises against sending packages. Steep charges are assessed just to receive packages in Costa Rica (we're talking $20 - $50 for small packages), but it appears that letters can be sent to me via the following address:

Organización para Estudios Tropicales
Undergraduate Program
Apartado 676-2050
San Pedro 2050
Costa Rica

My coursework this semester will consist of four four-credit classes:

1) Public Health & Tropical Medicine - we will learn about Costa Rica's socialized medical system with field- and classroom-based instruction. We will be visiting clinics and medical facilities to get a first-hand look at how Costa Rica handles health care for their population. We will also learn about the medical practices of indigenous people as well.

2) Research Practicum - we will design, implement our own research projects, individually and in groups, in order to get a better idea of all that is involved in the process of conducting scientific research.

3) Field Ethnobiology - we will study how plants and animals are used medicinally including the spiritual and symbolic roles they play in Costa Rican and indigenous cultures.

4) Culture and Language of Costa Rica - Our homestay in San Jose is part of this course; we will also be learning colloquial terms that are used in medical settings.

All this, I believe, has served to adequately introduce what global health with OTS in Costa Rica is going to be like. I am excited to share this experience with you - and will do my best to keep you up-to-date on what we're doing and learning in our program.

Vayanse con Dios!