All posts by Amanda Stringham

Cultural Differences In Costa Rica

Study Abroad

20150510_093456 (1)I thought that my experience in Costa Rica would be a lot easier than it really was. It was weird when I got off the plane and into the bus because I thought that I was in one of those infomercials about ‘supporting the people of ____ country because they live in slums and don’t have clean water’.

The sad thing is before I saw that stuff, I didn’t really pay attention to it because it didn’t apply to my life (very selfish, I know), but it does affect many people in Costa Rica. It’s not only a beautiful country, but a poor country. People actually do live in one room huts that they made out of scraps and wood. People actually do have to live off the land. People actually do have to physically work extremely hard to have the basics – clean water, food, clothing, shelter, etc. Basic human rights that people, like myself, take for granted in America.

This trip made me realize how lucky I am to live in America and to be appreciative of the things I have rather than always wishing for the things I don’t. I don’t have to worry about bugs in the bathroom, whether the power will go out or not (most of the time), whether the water is safe to drink or not, and if I’m going to eat tonight or not (granted, I did not have this problem, but I’m sure many people in Costa Rica have this issue). All in all, I am glad and blessed to be home in America.

Costa Rica – Sea Turtle Day One

Costa Rica (Vet Tech) 2025, Study Abroad

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First day of sea turtles!! Sadly, we only had one sea turtle come in that day.

This is how the day went:
We had to load all the equipment onto the boats, Teffy (Veterinarian) and Callie (research assistant) put out the net and six of us jumped into the water and made sure to knot it and untangle it. It was hard because the water was really deep and the net was two hundred meters long. It took about ten to fifteen minutes to untangle everything. The turtle (tortuga) was a male, Hawksbill. He was a turtle they had caught last year back in November. He had a tracker cemented on him back then, but it fell off – the tracker not the cement. Teffy had David (pronounced Dah-veed), the boat driver, use a little machete and take off the other part of the tracker in cement. It took about an hour. When the turtle first came in the nets, I was the only person on the beach with Teffy and Callie. The two girls got into the boat and went to go pick up the turtle. While the second boat was coming in to pick us up, I went to get some of the group that had left to go exploring. Part of the group came back, and we hopped into the boats and sailed to go get the sea turtle. We went over and watched Teffy and Callie take out the sea turtle. It was fun to watch; although the turtle did try and snap at Callie a couple of times.  When we got him on the beach, Teffy took blood samples, food samples, skin samples, got his weight and measurements of his carapace and plastron. When we released him, he swam away quickly – I was honestly shocked at how fast! Overall, it was a really cool experience.

Costa Rica: Mangroves

Study Abroad

20150510_093726When the first meeting came and the teacher talked about counting Mangrove leaves and planting, I was less than thrilled about the task.

I thought it would be tedious and pointless to spend a day doing it, but I also imagined it differently. When we actually did it, it wasn’t that hard, and it was actually kind of fun.

I also understood why it was necessary to do the planting and counting. I also got to cut up the bamboo with a machete and a stick. That was scary and exhilarating.

I’m very klutzy and really shouldn’t be handling tools, but I did it for the experience, and I’m really glad that I did it.

20150510_093535Overall, it was cool to see how each of our steps and little jobs all came together and made a difference: digging the holes, counting the leaves, cutting the bamboo to hold the mangroves together, planting the mangroves in low tide, taking out the dead mangroves, knowing the number in each plot, keeping track of what mangrove is which, etc.