First Name:
Jordan
Last Name:
Scruggs
Major Department:
English
Thesis Director:
Susan Weinberg
Date of Thesis:
May 2012
This project was completed during the spring semester I spent as an exchange student in San Jose, Costa Rica. I attended a language immersion program at La Universidad de Veritas, a private architecture and design institute with a program geared toward Spanish language-learners. For three months I had Spanish class from 8am until 12pm five days a week and an "Alternative Approaches to Health Medicine" course - taught in English - every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon. While staying in San Jose I was fortunate to live with Miriam Zeledon, an elderly woman who has an extended family as warm as it is vast. In the evenings my roommate and I, Violette, were able to practice our Spanish with Miriam and her six children, eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. During the weekends when we weren't traveling with a university program, we were often invited to accompany them on afternoon trips. I became very close to all of them. The result of my trip was an abundance of strong, close-knit relationships, both with my friends from the university and members of my host family. These relationships made what would have been wonderful cultural experience into an unforgettable, life changing four months. It is about this time in my life that these essays have been written.