Universidad National (UNA)

In my case, my host family was not very neat, at times dirty. Once, I moved in and had been therea week or so, the quality improved. I enjoyed living wth the family, but if I were to go back I would want a new experience--living on my own or with others in a program.

Food was paid for with my host family, only extras did I have to pay for. Phone is extremely expensive in CR. One pays each time a local call is placed. The nightlife was cheaper than at home, but not worth what they charged. But since in Puntarenas there is not much to do in the evenings--I had to pay. Travel was quite cheap-especially transportation. The room accomadations were inexpensive, but still more than I expected.

I wish that I had known how much money, realistically, I would have needed. had some kind of introduction to my family before being dumped into their hands--some/any info would have been great.

If you are in early Spanish courses and you want to learn a lot and study hard-pick Heredia. If you want to learn, but aren't overly concered pick the Punt. Even though Puntarenas is by the ocean it's not paradise--it is nice, but not paradise.

The lower level Spanish courses were not very challenging and should have been, for our benefit as students and visitors to a foreign country. The tropical ecology course was great though--we covered a lot of topics and I came away much more informed about the CR, its environment and people. Many of the toics in this course impacted me--I am much more sensitive and fired up about deforestation and pollution. Take dance. It is such an integral part of Costa Rican socialization.

Make the Spanish 1 & 2 courses more challenging. It is so important to have a good working knowledge of a country's language.