DU Abroad

I am currently sitting in my dorm feeling a bit under the weather so I thought that I would take a moment to explain the program that I decided to go with when choosing where I wanted to go and why I chose this program. There is a lot when it comes to studying abroad and I won’t lie when I say that it can get a bit overwhelming at points. You first have to decide that you do want to study abroad and from there you have meetings to attend to, people to meet in order to be able to first choose where you want to go, then you get to the process of deciding where you want to go. However, when it comes to deciding that, you have to decide a layer of things, such as if the program/location offers major/minor fulfillments, the level of support that you would like, language requirements, GPA and more. I remember when I had gotten the first things done and I was deciding where I wanted to go I either wanted to go to Japan but when I learned that it was more competitive and lower levels of support I decided that maybe it wouldn’t be the best option for me. I knew I had always wanted to explore Europe (I had gone to England when I was in 8th grade) so I narrowed down my options in general location. I had taken Spanish for a long time so an easier location if language would have been a requirement was Spain but I decided that I wanted something different and I wanted to go somewhere that wasn’t really a top choice for a lot of other students. England was an option but location-wise within England it wasn’t ideal but on my application I put England as my second choice. Then what really got me thinking was the level of support I would like in a program. If you are going to be studying abroad, you will get this explained to you in your meetings but generally there will be a scale of whether a program is no support, low support, medium support and high support or something close to that. Basically it’s how much you would like your program to be involved. I prefered something medium to high because I am very nervous when it comes to being out of my comfort zone.

That’s when I stumbled upon AIFS (American Institute for Foreign Studies) in Austria. I will admit that not once had I considered Austria at first. However, when reading through the program and reading all of the positive comments made about the location and program itself I decided, why not? Though Austria speaks mainly German and I had no experience with speaking German, there was no language requirement for the program so I thought that I would be okay. Then I looked at pictures of Austria and Salzburg mainly as that is where the program resides. I have lived in Denver Colorado for my whole life so when I looked at the pictures of Salzburg online I was surprised to see that Salzburg looked similar to Denver with the mountains being so close by. I’ve grown up with mountains and that is what makes a place home for me so to see that there were mountains nearby put me at ease.

Going back to the support area of the program, AIFS is at a high level of support which has been great for me. They had planned out things for us to do and day excursions and weekend trips for us to go on. We went to Munich in Germany, Vienna, Prague in Czechia, and then Innsbruck. In between those trips we had outings that we could go on. Some of those outings included: Austrian pastry tasting, a tour of some of the lakes and mountains, visiting a local sausage stand, an Austrian cooking course, going to the Christmas Market and many more fun things. These outings really pushed you to get to meet your peers and to get out and do something which is something that I struggled with in the past. Because of those outings, I have made some excellent friends and connections with some of the students from the other schools. The program in general is pretty small at around 29 students total which is nice because you can meet everyone pretty easily. The staff working in the study center are all very nice and are always willing to help out if needed. The perk of being in a high support program is that they do give you the locations of the doctors that speak english and tips about a variety of things such as travel, safety, food etc.

While the program is not set on a school campus and is very different than what I was used to back in the States with needing to walk to different buildings for classes, the study center is just in a random building with two main study rooms that are used for teaching. When you are in between classes whether you have another class right after your first class or if there is another class in between your first class and your second class, there is an area with chairs and tables that many students sit at in between classes so that is another opportunity to get to know your fellow classmates and make some new friends.

From the beginning AIFS has always encouraged students getting together and even push you to interact with others with the day trips or with field trips during the classes. I made my first few friends literally on the first day of arrival since they had set up a city tour for the students who made it on time (there were some students who didn’t make it until later). That is something that I appreciate a lot because as someone who doesn’t really enjoy putting myself out there all that much, the program pushed me to do so and now I have many friends from DU and from the other schools who I will definitely stay in contact with when we all return in two weeks time.

Overall, my take of AIFS is very positive and I would definitely recommend just checking Salzburg, Austria out. I did not think of it at first but I am glad that I did now. The program staff are all wonderful, the teachers are also amazing and you meet some amazing people. I have no regrets in where I ended up and I am also very sad to be leaving soon.

Last weekend I took a three-day field trip with my Ecotourism class. Field trips are heavily integrated into the curriculum here at Veritas University. They are used to help us apply what we learn in the classroom to the outside environment of Costa Rica.

Our trip was to Cerro de la Muerte, a mountain area about two hours outside of the city of San José. We were going to stay at an ecolodge called Cerro las Vueltas. I knew nothing going into this experience. All I knew is that we were probably going to be in the middle of the forest and were probably going to go on a hike. Awesome. I borrowed rubber boots from school and packed warm layers. I charged my Airpods. And we left.

Upon arriving on one of the bumpiest roads I’ve ever driven through, we were greeted by a smiling blonde family standing on the porch of a beautiful wood lodge. Four dogs of various sizes milled around them, equally excited to see us. The head of the lodge was Wendy, and her family included her two sisters and their daughters. The view from the lodge was breathtaking – rolling hills and foggy valleys, clouds that seemed to be at eye level on the horizon. They had one horse grazing in a pasture below, and the outside of the porch was generously decorated with various hanging plants.

For whatever reason, I immediately felt at home there. I was curious to hear about the family’s story and what made the farm a sustainable ecolodge. It turns out that the family legacy in Costa Rica began decades ago, in the 1950s. Wendy’s mother and father grew up in Michigan and hated the political environment of the United States. They were pacifists and did not want their children to have to enlist, and they were environmentalists and saw the country being destroyed around them. They decided to hop on a bus and travel somewhere they’d only heard of – Costa Rica. The main drawing factor was the fact that Costa Rica does not have an army. It was abolished in 1948, on December 5^th. I actually am sitting down to write this on the anniversary of Abolition Day. Costa Rica also plays against Germany in the World Cup, so there is expected to be a giant celebration downtown throughout the day.

Anyway, Wendy’s parents made it to Costa Rica not knowing a lick of Spanish and decided it would be the perfect place to make home for their growing family. They set up camp at Cerro de la Muerte, high in the mountains in a region colder than most of the country. Since then, they’ve saved an entire forest from logging, had their home taken away from them, rebuilt using only found fallen trees, and created a fully functional, sustainable organic farm and home.

The weekend was a balance of downtime for reflection and relaxation, and adventure lead by Wendy while she shared her knowledge of nature and farming. The farm has several animals and collects their waste in a biodigester. This was one of my favorite parts of the lodge. The contraption collects the waste in a large plastic bag and allows methane gas to be released. The bag slowly fills, and the gas is transported through a tube up to the main house to be used as fuel for cooking!! They obviously drink the milk produced by their cows, and use it to make cheese and baked goods. Pigs are eventually slaughtered and eaten as well. Talk about a closed system!

I could probably write for days about Cerro las Vueltas because the experience caught me by surprise. The family was so warm and welcoming, and worked tirelessly to maintain the farm with smiles on their faces. Their children were all homeschooled and the house had no TV. They were some of the most driven, hard-working people I’ve met, 1000 times better-versed in plants, natural remedies, animal care, and cooking than I am.

I’ll end by sharing some photos of the gorgeous view from the lodge so you can hopefully feel some of the peace I felt while visiting.