Kyra in Costa Rica

My story

My trip began with incredibly bad nerves back in Holland. At the airport I was almost ready not to get on the plane.. On my first day in Costa Rica I thought: ‘what am I doing here?’ But after I made my first contacts with my housemates, that thought soon disappeared.

In the five months that followed I laughed an incredible amount and learnt so much.
During the week I was responsible for the sports sessions. I taught these to children aged four to 16 at a state school. It was challenging and hilarious trying to teach the children new tasks while my Spanish wasn’t very good. But it led to some really fun lessons!

At weekends we sometimes went off to explore the country with everyone from the house, and sometimes in small groups. Unfortunately I also had to finish my final project, so some weekends I was really stuck at the house.

The wonderful thing about spending five months in one place is that you become completely immersed in the culture. Every Tuesday evening I had a Zumba class, and on Thursdays a dance class where we learnt salsa, bachata and other dance styles. The people in Costa Rica are incredibly friendly, which made me feel welcome and safe from the very first moment.

This experience turned my life completely upside down (in a good way). One thing’s for sure: there’s more ‘pura vida’ in me now 🙂

What advice would you like to give future interns and volunteers?

If you get the chance to do something like this, grab it with both hands! It’s an incredibly nerve-racking experience, but one that leaves you with so many positive things afterwards.

Oh yes, it’s not a must, but it’s handy if you can speak a bit of Spanish.