LASP SP '16 Update #1

LASP Semester Update #3

LASP Semester Update #2

Starting Fall 2015!

The Latin American Studies Program Fall 2015 semester is off to a rip-roaring start with an already packed schedule the last couple of weeks! We can’t believe how fast time is flying by; we can barely keep up! This semester we have 20 students from 13 different schools within the Council. After finishing orientation week and our first two weeks of Core Seminar, we are taking off this Friday for our trip to the Caribbean coast in the province of Limón! So far in Core Seminar we have discussed important issues of neo-colonialism in the region, poverty, and the economic system and its impact on local realities. Students are sharpening their Spanish skills in their classes at ICADS every afternoon. Additionally, students have begun perhaps their most important learning component of living with their host families and they are doing an excellent job of connecting and building deep, life-changing relationships. New this year, we have even enjoyed the fellowship of a university, student-led Bible study at the University of Costa Rica each week (CEM). We will soon take our learning outside of the classroom and get some first-hand experience on the move as we take off on our Limón trip. We look forward to wrestling together with some important themes related to export economies as well as indigenous realities in Latin America, and discrimination in Costa Rica, specifically. We of course also anticipate a fun time at the beach and exploring downtown Limón together! Our semester has already provided us with some important learning opportunities and we look forward to growing and learning even more together in the coming months! 

Becoming Cultural Learners activity in orientation 

LASP orientation on the first day of the program!

Fellowship night with CEM, learning to dance

Fellowship night with CEM, playing board games 

A Critical Thinking Community

We have finished our Spring 2015 semester and students are now in the process of transitioning back home. Here is a reflection from David Crowe (FA ’14, Covenant College) on how the learning ignited in a semester abroad is a lifelong process that continues even after returning home. Praise God that we are able to “cultivate a Christ-centered community of critical thinking learner-scholars” that makes LASP a truly rich study abroad experience!

One of the guys who lived on my hall last year attended the Latin American Studies Program this semester and just recently came back to the U.S. For the past couple months we've been saying how we can't wait to talk to each other about our experiences because… “We know.” He said he can't wait to talk to me and another friend who did the program in spring 2014 because we know what it's like to go through it. It's so true. Most of the people that we know haven't gone through an experience as intense and challenging as the Latin American Studies Program. That's why we're so excited and anxious to talk with each other about our experiences because we "get it." We understand the struggles, the challenges, the questions, and everything else that one goes through when one does LASP.

This makes me think of all the friends I made while in Costa Rica because they “get it” and they “get” me. Even though I know a lot of great people and even though I've had good conversations with people, there doesn't seem to be anything that can compare with the conversations I've had with those people up there in that picture. ^^^

I remember a conversation I had with Molly on the bus back to our host families about poverty and living standards, and if the Bible has different implications for different people groups. I remember having a conversation with Conor, John, Haley and Kelsey in Granada, Nicaragua about consumerism and this idea that if we have the resources to have everything we want materially, like indoor plumbing, bigger houses, more TV channels, etc. then why not have it? I remember conversations with Jenica and Rachel after lectures about feeling hopeless and useless when faced with the problems of the world. I also remember Jenica, Rachel, Kelly, and Mandi and how we struggled so much with our project on the Marginalized of Latin America. We kept feeling so defeated and kept going back and forth between ideas. We could not figure out what to think, feel or do and eventually we had to take a break and go get some bread and empanadas from the store down the road. I remember talking with Jenniah on the bus on the way to Volcán Poás because she asked for advice and tips on how to improve her Spanish. I remember talking with Bre, Veronica and Michael on the way back to the LASP office from our Community Immersion Experiences and sharing our general thoughts about what we had learned throughout the semester. I remember talking with Jason on Facebook just a few weeks ago about singleness and the frustrations that can come with that. And of course I always remember my conversations with Rose and Kelsey. On our walks to and from our San José houses we always had the best conversations about spirituality, theology and all the topics that we were learning about in Core Seminar.

I have grown so much from those conversations and I need those people in my life. I want to keep having conversations with them, to keep learning from them and to keep growing together.

 

 

 

"The Beautiful Here": Spring 2015 Student Post

Treasured Moments

This week's student blog post comes from Emily Price, student from Messiah College in Pennsylvania. Emily reflects on the moments that most touched her heart throughout the semester, those beautiful experiences which are most important to all of us in the end.

How do I describe my LASP Experience?

            I could tell you about the gorgeous beaches or the grand volcanoes that I visited here in Costa Rica. Or about all the new Spanish words I have learned. Or about all the shocking and horrific things in the corrupt systems that exist in our world, systems that perpetuate injustice and hurt the majority of the people in the world. But more than anything, I want to tell you about how strangers opened their homes to me and became my family. I want to tell you about the joy I found in walking to class every day. I want to tell you how I have come to love and treasure the simple moments of my time here in Latin America.

Moments like….

1.      Sitting in the kitchen spilling flour everywhere while helping my mother make bean and cheese empanadas

2.      Missing the bus for the beach in Nicaragua and instead catching a ride in the back of the watermelon truck

3.      Joking around with my host-brother for the hundredth time when he pretends to be sleeping

4.      Walking through the streets of Costa Rica, and passing the same guard everyday who greets me with PURA VIDA!

5.      Sitting in bed with my host-sister and mother having deep conversations about our life and faith and how everything is in “las manos de Dios”

6.      Trying to find the words to explain the definition of “gringo” to my father

7.      Playing school with little sister in Nicaragua by teaching her colors and numbers in Spanish

8.      Walking outside my house every night to look up at the stars and the beautiful luna

9.      Standing in front of the Hermanos en Cristo congregation in Nicaragua wanting to share my thanks, by saying we will never forget this experience. But instead stumbling over my Spanish and saying… “Nosotros olvidaremos esta experiencia” or “We will forget this experience” in front of the entire congregation. (I hope they understood, but at least now I have a good story to tell)

10.  Not knowing why my family and I were skipping church and then finding out after two hours in the car that we were going to a strawberry festival

11.   Arriving at my new home and meeting at least 30 members of my new family and friends because they are so excited to have me there.

12.  Enjoying cafecito twice a day, just for the opportunity to drink delicious coffee and enjoy conversation with my family.

13.  Falling asleep on the couch in the living room, as my family watches yet another Saprissa soccer game

14.  Waking up in the morning to hearing my neighbor’s rooster crow, or my aunts chattering outside my window.

15.   Sitting outside my house, talking with my aunts and family while trying to get a smile out of my little cousin

I do not know when it happened. But somehow, little by little, Latin America has stolen my heart. This place has become my home, my family, and my joy. I am truly overwhelmed by the love and generosity that has been showed to me. How am I ever going to leave???