immersion experience

MEGA: Make Exchanges Great Again

| vivitronv

A cultural exchange. A simple exchange between cultures. Some are formal and some are informal, but one thing that is certain is that they have been happening for a long time. Costa Rica Frika has been organizing them for nearly 10 years, however there are exchange programs that go back well over 50 years. When the first exchange was organized, we thought we were doing something unique. We were, to a certain extent, focusing on Costa Rica and high schools, but we’d joined an ecosystem that had to exist.

“Why tractors without violins?” This was a phrase coined by a famous Costa Rican president (the one who abolished the military). What he is saying is, what’s the point of working so hard to make advancements if we don’t take the time to enjoy life. There needs to be a balance between work and play and can’t just be all industry. That president did not coin the Costa Rica catchphrase “pura vida” (pure life), but it’s how it’s commonly described. Yes, we want to be advanced, but we’ll take our time getting there so we can enjoy life along the way.

An exchange in its simplest form is making room for the violins. Taking the time to chat with a friend, greet a neighbor etc. That’s part of the fabric of life and is why formal exchanges have prevailed for so long. Some of the longest annual exchanges have only ever been cancelled due to wars or pandemics. Ironically, instances where exchanges would be most needed to repair friendships, and get us off Netflix.

For our first exchange one of our selling points to travelers and hosts was the in person experience. You couldn’t just trust what you saw on the news or social media and make generalizations based on that. You needed it first hand. 10 years ago that was just one in a list of many benefits of participating in an exchange. Today though, I’d say that is the number one reason to participate in an exchange.

What we’re seeing is that not only is social media silo-ing us, it’s turned us off to the whole notion of needing/wanting to know more. Technology is so great that it’s really easy to isolate ourselves. I’ll be the first one to admit it. I remember a few years ago watching a video of an expedition to the North pole on my new 4k TV from my couch thinking how amazing it was that I could have this experience without having to lift a finger? They spent a month pushing a sled in extreme cold just to mark some point on the ice and I could enjoy that without any hardship.  

Obviously, this is an extreme example as there is no way I would ever do this and would much rather enjoy essentially a one hour highlight reel that cuts out all the boring stuff. Tech is so good though, I’m sure this enters my life even more than I realize. Instead of going out on the weekend, I might decline to stay home and go online. While I won’t go to the North pole, what if I decline a trip because I can just watch a video about it from the comfort of my home?

This trend is seen via the exchanges. Recruiting host families has always been the biggest task of organizing a group exchange as it requires multiple families to participate. It has always been a very popular exchange, however a non-pandemic related drop in participants was experienced last year, resulting in fewer students per school. What was surprising was that it still took just as long to recruit families. That was something unexpected and worrisome. Not so much in how it might affect future exchanges, but rather the future of humanity.  How much can a person truly isolate themselves and do they even realize it’s happening?

10 years ago this wasn’t even on our radar, but now it is and who knows what it will be like 10 years from now? Will we sleep 16 hours a day and only wake up to put on our VR headset to work, study and play?

Looking at the recent political activity and rhetoric in the United States only further motivates the push for travel and hosting exchanges.  Conflicts, tensions, and disasters flood the internet to grab everyone’s attention and push people apart while a face-to-face exchange has none of those motives. They’re not looking for “likes”. It’s a safe place that allows people to truly be people without the noise.

We took a latino friend to the US to visit a relative in January. We went ice fishing and had a great time and it didn’t matter one bit the Trump flag flying from their flagpole. He even took a picture with it. Not only was a friendship established, but that photo and story he’ll tell his friends and family back in Costa Rica will cause them to take a step back from their newsfeed.

There’s hope for the exchanges though. The day-to-day exchanges should last as long as humans do, however participating in a formal exchange should be a necessity as oftentimes it’s the only way to break out of our “silos” and invite the violins in.

Looking Back on How a Travel Experience Became a Permanent Lifestyle Change

| vivitronv

There’s an exclusive club I belong to in Costa Rica. It’s the club for ones that have come to Costa Rica, had an amazing experience and followed through on their promise to return. So many people exchange, volunteer and immerse themselves in a foreign country as a GAP year or a once in a lifetime experience, but few ever make it back to visit and even fewer make the experience a permanent part of their life like I have.

At the end of my first experience in Costa Rica, I was enthralled. I had lived with a wonderful family and made many friends in town. As my stay was coming to an end I started telling everyone how I would definitely be back to visit. Most were supportive of my statement, but they also let me know that that is what all the previous volunteers had said too, but had never returned.

I did end up being an exception to that statement, but looking back on those conversations from 15 years ago and having seen countless students and volunteers come and go to never return, it hits me how hard you live the experience in the moment. An immersion experience ties you so much to the local culture that you never imagine yourself giving it up completely, especially with communication being so easy nowadays.

The other day I was visiting a host family from my first experience in Costa Rica. They always remind me of my inaugural experience. How I fumbled my words, who I had a crush on, and how I couldn’t hold Costa Rican moonshine. They reminded me that on Fridays I would get a bus out into the country, get off, and then walk an hour just to get to their home and be able to hang out with them for the weekend. I was behaving and acting like any other 20-something year old Costa Rican that went to the city to work/study and then returned home each weekend to visit.

volunteer with family
One of my first families I met in CR

I was living the experience and keeping my word. At some point though, I stopped doing those things as work, life, and other responsibilities began to take up my time, however I do remember it dawning on me when my normal changed. It went from always spending a night or two with them, to day visits and now I have to make it a special event to get out to visit them. It was a bit sad, but others have moved on too. My family’s children, who I met when they were teens, now send me wedding and baby shower invites. People I met with dark hair, now have gray hair and the moonshine now tastes like sh*t (or maybe it always did?)

Now, my family looks at me differently too. I still get the “you’re so skinny” and the blue eyes remarks, but my cultural innocence is gone and more often than not I’m asked about things that previously I’d be unqualified to speak to. Now we swap information on places to visit, apps to download, cars to buy and even the occasional investment opportunity. I can even debate the best way to drink coffee, which I only started drinking a few years ago and completely amazes them as they remember me as the guy they’d always have to make juice for when everyone else would drink coffee.

If there is one thing they have instilled in me though, is the sense of paying it forward. They’ve been so kind to me over the years and it is always a battle to return their favors, but I recognize that I’m now in their position when I receive travelers. I think I do a good job as it’s not uncommon for me to have to dry tears at the airport and say everything is going to be OK while they are wailing and swearing they’ll be back as soon as possible. It breaks their heart, but brings satisfaction to me knowing they had a great experience.

While I did prove all the naysayers wrong, it is truly a difficult experience to end which is why I feel blessed that I can still enjoy it to this day. It is natural for relationships to change as other commitments and opportunities come into our lives, but those that are young and dedicated have as much of an opportunity to join the club as I did. And last I checked, anyone is allowed to join. Just don’t encroach on my turf 😉

Cultural Exchange Brings Tingling Feelings to Life

| vivitronv

AAAHHHH!!  Was the shriek I heard coming from the other side of the bushes.  This was no ordinary scream, as we were in an area surrounded by jaguars, pumas, and bobcats.  And by no ordinary scream, I mean it didn’t sound quite like an animal attack, but something else.  I rounded the corner to find my cousin, amongst other students, taken aback by the “massive” spider they had just spotted right outside the jaguar enclosure.    

For a group of Wisconsin teens on their first visit to Costa Rica, any creature would appear “massive” in fake spider on armcomparison to what they are used to seeing and this spider sure qualified.  Thankfully, they didn’t scream every time they saw a new insect/animal or they would have been hoarse by day two, but there was a lot of “new” for this group to take in.

Our spider encounter at the Costa Rican zoo we visited that day was just one of the many cultural experiences these students had over the course of their cultural exchange trip to Costa Rica.  When you add that to the cockroaches, gecko lizards, mutant mosquitoes and the occasional rat/mouse there’s already a lot to experience not even counting human interaction.  This was a very special group of exchange students as they had received Costa Rican exchange students in their homes January and would now live with the same students in Costa Rica.  

Over the course of two weeks, the students visited the host student’s high school, attended classes, participated in educational and recreational activities, and most importantly, were immersed into the Costa Rican culture.

When I talk about cultural exchanges, I always refer to “tingling” moments or sensations where cultural interaction is taking place, but there is no good way to describe the feeling as it is not something you can detect physically (unless you’re screaming).  What’s fascinating is everyone experiences these moments differently for a variety of reasons and there is no telling what their main take aways will be.

Observing these students over the course of the exchange I noticed a lot of these tingling moments. There were card games the US students shared and there was salsa dancing the Costa Ricans shared.  There was our trip to the capital city San José, punctuated be getting stranded (but not soaked) under a torrential downpour and a visit to the main central market of San José.  There was also the unique experience of living through a power outage in all of Central America.  Besides that, there were many great memories created on the other excursions such as the beach island trip, where Wisconsinites and Costa Ricans could be seen kayaking, playing volleyball, and having a good time chilling out in the jacuzzi.      

dave with host familyThe little things were also noted.  My cousin, for one, was relieved despite his limited Spanish, that there were still Costa Ricans that spoke naturally slow enough for him to understand.  There were also students very keen to pick up vocabulary and some carried around a notebook to be ready at a moment’s notice.  Even the teacher/chaperone had a list of different foods to try that was made for her by students at the high school.  (I was curious to hear from her what toad’s soup tasted like.)  

These were only the things that I could observed.  The other aspect of this trip was all the opportunities the students had on the weekends and evenings with their host families.  Even though we insisted the students only spoke Spanish when together, we could rest assured that they were being forced to try out the language while at home.  For the higher level students, this was their time to speak the language freely without feeling as if they were being graded.  For the lower level students this was their chance to see just how far they could get while having their host sibling as a backup should they get stuck trying to communicate something to their host parents.

For me (and them) it was a big accomplishment completing both stages of the exchange.  The only thing I’ve ever regretted about international travel was not starting sooner (and I started when I was 20).  These students now not only have the international cultural travel experience at a young age, but they also have international life long friends that will no doubt continue to be resources for them.  There was lots of sadness at the going away party, however I don’t foresee this being the last time they are together.     

I still keep in touch with my original host family from 11 years ago and rarely do I miss a celebration.  Even being fully integrated into my wife’s Costa Rican family doesn’t take away from that first experience and bond I’ll always have.  I visited a lot of countries after first coming to Costa Rica, but no matter how much I enjoyed the other places, it was never enough to overcome the experience I had from my first time in Costa Rica.  

The future is bright for these students as it’s anyone’s guess where this experience will take them.  I ended up in Costa Rica, however maybe they will never return to Costa Rica.  This exchange though will no doubt give them the confidence to take other risks putting them out of their comfort zone.  Let’s just hope those risks don’t involve jumping into a jaguar enclosure.  That would provoke one extraordinary scream.  

group photo at park

All Abroad: My Immersion Experience (Guest Speaker)

| vivitronv

I couldn’t believe I was actually doing this.  The plane had just touched down in San José, Costa Rica and here I was, all by myself with my life packed into two little roller bags about to exit customs and head out into the unknown.  I was met with the blur of what seemed like a thousand paparazzi shouting at me, hands in the air, waving signs and trying to get my attention.  I was dumbfoundedly looking around for my name, when all of a sudden a man came up to me, said something very fast and proceeded to grab my bags and walk away…

As they say “the rest was history”, or was it?  To hear inspiring personal travel abroad stories, cultural immersion experiences, and exchange anecdotes, join or invite Dustin to speak to your group/schoolperson with 2 dogs.

Speaking dates are available year round (virtual) and in person dates are subject to availability.

Upcoming in person speaking opportunities in Wisconsin:

Oct. 24th – Nov. 3rd, 2016

Jan. 23rd – Feb. 1st, 2017 (exchange groups)

For more information contact us

Refreshed image!

| vivitronv

To all our followers, fans, and friends:

You may have noticed a new and improved logo appearing on our web and social media sites.  In addition to a new webpage design we thought it was time after almost 3 years in business to change things up a bit.  Now you’ll see a clean fresh image to go along with our same mission:  Providing travelers with immersion experiences in Costa Rica.  Thanks to all who participated in our previous poll, ¡Pura vida!

Costa Rica Frika – Eyes Wild Open