Costa Rica
Purpose
After my trips to Guatemala, the travel bug bit me hard. I was determined to experience a new country and culture, but I still desired to serve. Through a program offered at my business school, I flew to Costa Rica over my Freshman Year spring break to aid the nonprofit organization, The Rich Coast Project. The RCP works to protect and support culture and land rights through storytelling, education, and digital archiving. I served as a technology consultant, and my role was to find feasible databases for their massive amounts of data and better ways to distribute their information. We concluded with a new website, improved database, and community presentation and photo gallery.
Takeaways
The Costa Ricans taught me a lot about how to better appreciate life and people, but unexpectedly, I learned even more from the amazing, passionate students on the trip.
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Pura Vida (or pure life) - This is a lifestyle for Costa Ricans. In its simplest form, it means to cherish the little things and live peacefully. It means that, even on the bad days, there is good to be found.
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Resume Building - While attending business school, it seems people only do things to build their resumes. Students do what they assume recruiters want or what looks most prestigious. This detracts from passion, creativity, and more important things in life. In Costa Rica, people were engaged because they enjoyed it or it was necessary. This provided a higher quality of life.
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Selflessness - One night the trip leaders asked us why we volunteer and why we are here. I was grateful for people's honesty as it forced me to be brutally honest with myself. Why did I apply for this trip? To help others or to benefit myself? Selfishly, I realized a major reason was because I wanted to see a new country. I walked away determined to do more selfless volunteering.
​I still don't know what I'm going to do with my life, but I know it will be something positive and impactful.
