The Clackamas print., January 23, 2019, Page 5, Image 5

■®IS & C U L T U R E
Not all of the students volunteered at the
daycare. Both Sarah Rodriguez and Morgan
chose to go and volunteer at a care center
where they spent their two weeks helping
nurses with elderly patients. “ We basically
assisted the caregivers and other staff
with many of their daily tasks. Sometimes
direct care of the residents with their ADL’s
(activities o f daily living) like shaving,
toileting and feeding. It was a lot of fun to
be able to get to know each resident, make
special connections and see their smiles as
we returned each day,” said Rodriguez.
Apart from volunteering, these CCC
students also had the chance to experience
the Costà Rican culture. They got to meet
a lot of people. They went out dancing,
tried local food and attended the festival
of lights Christmas parade where they got
to experience traditional dance and music.
The festival ended with a huge firework
display that lit up the city. One of their
favorite cultural activities was the chocolate
making. They got to learn how the cacao seed
is grown and finally got to make chocolate
for themselves. Another experience they got
to try out was getting to go out to a coffee
plantation. There, they learned just how
long it takes to grow coffee and getting to see
the process of how a. seed turns to a coffee
bean and then to a cup of hot coffee. It takes
roughly about 3 to 4 years to get from a seed
to a clap of coffee.
“ The part of the Diria Coffee Tour that I
enjoyed the most was learning hands on
about how much enefgy goes into growing,
5
harvesting, and producing a single coffee
bean, ” said student Jessica Palmer.
The weekend marked the halfway point for
them. The group went to Rincon de La Vieja
National Park. There they tubed down a river,
zip lined and rode horses through a forest. |
“ It was so much fun to be.with everyone and
to see people experience so many first-time
things in their lives,” said Curry.
The students met many local people that.
made their stay in Costa Rica more fun.
Locals gave them Spanish lessons, city tours
and their personal recommendations, which
was abighelp trying to find their way around
a new country. “ Getting to know the people
there while getting to participate in a huge
part of the culture. I thought it was really fun On the fourth day o f their trip, the students participated in a pottery w orkshop
to experience life down there in an active and run by A n d y y Cam pos, a fourth generation Guaitil resident, a m em ber o f the
exciting way,” said Brooklyn Olsen, a first-
year CCC student who partook in this trip.
Being in a different country for the first
time can be scary, especially if you don’t
know the language. “ I think the hardest part
for me was not speaking the language and
whenever a difficult situation arose, I wasn’t
able to handle it myself because I couldn’t
understand,” said Olsen.
Students also took their time there to learn
more about themselves. “ It really pushed
me out of my comfort zone and made me
realize I could handle things I didn’t think I
could before,” added Ramsey.
If you are interested in traveling abroad,
set up an appointment with your counselor
to see what classes are available for study
abroad.
Students sit outside the Cross Cultural Solutions home base in Santa Cruz. Throughout the
country, nature is allowed to grow without much resistance, even in cities such as Santa
Cruz. Civilization is built around nature, adapting to it, rather than cutting throught i t
On the eleventh day o f the trip, the students w ere tau ght the local G u a n a p s ta n .
folk dance. A fte r w atching tw o exam ples o f the dance, the instructor w alked the
students through the steps for tw o m ore songs.
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