Nicaraguan Host Families

One of the things that really sets a semester at LASP apart is our focus around placing students in host families throughout the semester. Very few days are spent living in an environment with just members of the group, and we do so a proposito. Our goal is that students will connect in meaningful ways with their hosts, and become true members of a family, not just a guest in a home. Many students cite their host family experiences as that which impacted them the most during their semester at LASP. Check out our latest semester update to see what I mean (and maybe read a quote YOU wrote alumni!). Pura Vida.

 

Spring 2015: We've only just begun...

Our first student blog post of Spring 2015 comes to us from Jon Thornton. Jon is a Junior at Wheaton College in Illinois, studying Communications and Anthropology.

The beautiful opportunity to experience a new culture, to learn from a new perspective; just two weeks in San José and we LASPers are settling in poco a poco.

    The city of San José is located in the Central Valley of Costa Rica, a highly elevated area of the country surrounded by mountains and volcanoes. In other words, the views are striking. Taking the bus home, one might look over a downward slope of red, green, and grey-roofed homes to see a distant mountain shrouded in clouds. However, one may also struggle trying to explain this same view in Spanish. Language, basic communication even, has been a consistent challenge. If Spanish is the language of love (as so many ticos insist), then we LASPers have just re-entered the awkward, sometimes-daunting phase of pre-teen romance.

Our group is eleven strong with the women leading the men by one (6 women; 5 men). We come from schools and universities all across North America, from the Southeast of the United States to the Northwest of Canada. With majors ranging from Spanish to Biology to Religious Studies to International Politics, our small group is about as interdisciplinary as a group of eleven can be. Each person brings her own context into conversations to make the learning process very interesting. Also, we like each other, which helps a lot.

     However, it is not simple to describe in a blog post the new relationships, new information, new understandings, etc. that come with this type of “abroad” experience. Gallo pinto, its taste and its importance, can’t fully be described in a sentence or two. The lessons we are learning through dialogue with our Costa Rican friends and family and professors is difficult to relay in text without omitting a great amount of valuable detail (please ask us about these lessons). What can be said is this: the study of Latin America and of Spanish challenges us, as North Americans, to think outside our own context. It forces us to pursue the intricacies of our own life actions and their impact of the world at large.

     This is the beginning of a semester we all know will pass too quickly. As relationships with our families deepen and opportunities for cross-cultural dialogue increase, we pray that we would be receptive to the truths God reveals. Please think of and pray for us as often as you can, so that this semester would be a reflection of God’s glory. More to come…. LASPers Spring 2015

Welcome to Spring 2015!

Hola and a special welcome to our Spring 2015 students and their "followers"! If you've already been following our blog updates, you know that we work to create a LASP Update every 2-3 weeks to share with interested applicants for coming semesters, and to keep those who love LASP up-to-date on current happenings. If you have any advice, ideas, or updates of your own to share, don't hesitate to send them our way: lasp@cccu.org We look forward to hearing from you soon!

Nicaragua: A Brief Recap

We have returned safe and sound from our 10-day study trip to Nicaragua. Students are enjoying a few extra days off to reflect and process on all the experience meant for them, and what it will signify for their future as well. Here is a short recap of our trip, look for more to come!

Last update of Core Seminar

Here is our third and last update from Core Seminar Fall 2014! On Monday we'll head to Managua, the capital city of Nicaragua. We'll be on a study trip for 10 days, living with host families for part of our time and spending many hours engaging local leaders who will give us a better sense of the history and current situation present in Nicaragua. Look for an update upon our return, and have a blessed couple of weeks.  

Dios te bendiga.

Semester Update Number Two!!

Opa, looks like we've fallen a bit behind in our posts! To catch you up, here's our second semester update we mailed out on October 3rd. 

If you didn't get this update and you'd like to, please email us at lasp@cccu.org and we'll add you to our mailing list!

Settling In

This week's post is an excerpt from Fall 2014 student Caroline Wells' blog "Always Blooming." Caroline is a junior at William Jewell College, studying Nonprofit Leadership.

Caroline takes a break in Monteverde

   As I continue to live in my new home with the Garita family, and learn from them, make silly mistakes and laugh at myself, I have come to think more and more about the importance of each and every human being that exists on this earth. (I know this sounds like some amateur attempt at a grandiose and inspiring analysis of humanity, but it’s not. Hear me out.)
   Every day we pass hundreds of people and see hundreds of faces on the street, in stores, at coffee shops, etc. If I were walking down the streets of San Jose, simply observing or on a mission to locate a certain tienda, I might pass faces that look similar to those of my host family. I wouldn’t think twice about it. But when you think about it, that person has an entire story, an entire life with passions and dreams and things that they are working hard to achieve.
   My host brother studies so much and is such a hard worker, and he has lots of funny quirks, he loves a lot of pop culture, and he is also so kind and desires to make me feel at home. I wouldn’t know this just by passing him by on the street.
   My host sister is incredibly patient and easy to talk to (in Spanish, which is a stretch for me sometimes), and she is a very talented interior designer, though you wouldn’t know because she doesn’t ever brag about it. She loves for everything around her to be neat and orderly, but wants me to be sure that it doesn’t bother her when my clothes aren’t stacked as neatly as hers. 
    I don’t know exactly where I am going with this, I just know that as I’m settling in, I see the value of living with a family and being invited into their lives. Although at times difficult and challenging, it is a very beautiful experience to be able to jump into the culture and experience true Costa Rican hospitality in this way.