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Alessandra Guhr
Studying and living in Costa Rica
Preparation
You should allow plenty of time for preparation, as the visa process - both in Germany and in Costa Rica - requires a great deal of time and effort. Once you have been accepted by LUH for the exchange, you still have to apply to the Universidad de Costa Rica (UCR). Once this has been completed - at the latest after receiving the letter of acceptance from the Universidad de Costa Rica - you should contact the Costa Rican embassy in Berlin or the honorary consulate in Hanover to apply for the visa. In addition to making an appointment to pick up the visa, some documents must first be submitted. In addition to the passport with copies, passport photos and the Letter of Acceptance, these include proof of sufficient financial means, an international birth certificate and a police clearance certificate. An apostille is also required for the last two documents, which is best requested at the time of application.
In addition to the visa, you will also need to organise your arrival, departure and accommodation. The Universidad de Costa Rica offers accommodation with a host family for which you can apply. If you prefer to live alone or with other students, you will find plenty of hostels and rooms and flats for rent in San José. However, the latter are easier to find locally. When preparing for your stay, you should also consider whether some vaccinations might be useful.
Before you start, you should think about how you want to use your stay in Costa Rica. In addition to the possibility of considering the semester at UCR as a supplement to your studies in Hanover and having courses recognised for your studies, there is also the possibility of carrying out a research project in Costa Rica and having the research stay recognised as a practical module. A preliminary learning agreement is then drawn up in Hanover in consultation with the supervisors and coordinators of the exchange programme. The final course selection takes place in Costa Rica.
And then it's suddenly time to pack your bags ... sunscreen, insect repellent, umbrella, dictionary ... and off you go!
Studying in San José
Student life in Costa Rica is exciting, but not comparable to Germany. At the beginning of the semester, there is an orientation day that all exchange students must attend. Here, the daily routine at UCR is introduced and some organisational things are discussed. In the next few days, all documents brought from Germany must be translated and finally submitted to the International Office in order to apply for the final student visa. Experience has shown that very few actually receive a visa at the end of the semester. However, in order to be regularly enrolled at UCR, you must have all the necessary documents, which is why you should definitely take all the necessary documents with you to Costa Rica.
The seminars you want to attend are chosen on site. All courses are offered in Spanish, so good language skills are a prerequisite. It should also be noted that the courses are very time-consuming - 100 pages of reading per course and week are not uncommon. In addition, most lecturers require two to three exams and a presentation per semester in addition to a term paper. Experience has shown that students planning a research stay should not take more than two courses. As different as the seminars were in terms of subject matter, structure and type of teaching, they all had in common that the lecturers were very committed and always helped you with questions or problems.
Even though studying is very time-consuming, studying at the University Campus "Rodrigo Facio" in San José is great fun. Here, you often meet up with friends and fellow students, with whom you can have a cheap lunch in the surrounding sodas - the small Costa Rican restaurants. And the university's resident sloth also occasionally graces the students with his presence. To spend your free time, you can take advantage of the many free activities on and around campus - concerts and lectures, various film screenings and, of course, sports courses where you can also learn Latin American dances.
¡Pura Vida! in Costa Rica
Besides the not entirely unstrenuous student life, Costa Rica naturally has a lot more to offer. San José has a wealth of cultural offerings, ranging from "Enamórate de tu ciudad" (weekly cultural festival), "Feria agrícola" (farmers' markets) to the "Mercado Central" in the city centre (market hall), which has existed since 1880. Although Costa Rica is only about the size of Lower Saxony, one semester is hardly enough to get to know the country in all its facets. If you want to relax and soak up the sun, you can get to the Caribbean or Pacific coast in just a short time. Thanks to the small size of the country, you can get to the sea relatively quickly from San José, which is why weekend trips during the semester, for example, are no problem. The small Central American country also has tropical rainforests and volcanoes to offer.
Travelling by bus in Costa Rica is cheap, easy and safe. Unlike other cities, San José has many different bus stations with different routes, which is why you should find out in advance from where you need to take which bus. For one thing, almost every route has its own bus station. And for another, many of them are located in remote places. In addition, there are no street names in Costa Rica, as we are used to here, but a street order according to direction ("50 metres east and 25 metres north of the Roosevelt School") and only in San José a street order according to even and odd numbers. It is also advisable to buy your bus ticket a day in advance, as the Ticos, as the Costa Ricans call themselves, also often travel by bus.
The neighbouring countries of Panamá and Nicaragua, which are sometimes very different culturally from Costa Rica, are also definitely worth a visit. Although they are not far away, you should plan a little more time for them, which is why it is a good idea to visit these countries after the end of the semester.
Whether it's Chifrijo, Chiliguaro or Osos Perezosos - there are various things you won't want to miss after your stay in Costa Rica. The semester abroad in Costa Rica is therefore not only an excellent opportunity to expand your language and technical knowledge, but above all a fantastic opportunity to get to know people and cultures and to discover new, beautiful places. The happiest people in the world live in Costa Rica - if you want to find out why, you should definitely not miss the ¡Pura Vida! adventure.
Azar Hagshenas, Christina Kochannek