On July 10th, a group of students of the National Spanish Exam (NSE) arrived in Costa Rica for a week-long Quest, in which they’d improve their Spanish, explore the local culture and region, and volunteer at the Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve.
The students were introduced to each other and the staff on their first day. They got to participate in various activities to get to know each other better before they embarked on the rest of their Quest.
Throughout their time in Costa Rica, the group was introduced to volunteer work at a beautiful natural forest reserve in the Guanacaste province, called Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve. Here, the group assisted in maintaining the trails, as the organization is often short-staffed. They also helped paint the building that the organization uses for events and meetings, giving the building a new and fresh look.
Aside from their volunteer work, the students were also able to enjoy other activities, like participating in cultural activities with their host families, including salsa dancing and cooking traditional meals. And the beautiful region was also thoroughly explored, which included city tours and a visit to the Arenal Volcano. They were actually called the lucky group, as the volcano was usually not visible due to the often cloudy conditions, but when they visited they were able to see the beautiful volcano.
All the students responded very positively to the experience. “My experience in Costa Rica was honestly one of the best I’ve ever had in my life. I learned so much about the culture and the people in the country, and I got to work with some incredible volunteers during my week here. I met people from all around the world like Belgium, and I met people from all around the United States. It really was a pleasure getting to know everybody really, really well. And I found out that I really connect with people on a global level and on a global scale. So even though we may live in different parts of the world or in different parts of the United States, we still share a lot of the same things together in a very similar amount of ways. We were able to bond over that and form lifelong connections. And I really hope to return to Costa Rica one day very, very soon, because the connections you make here and just the experiences you have are second to none in the world,” said NSE group member Parth Joshi.
United Planet is honored to be able to provide these life-changing experiences to people all over the world. We want to thank National Spanish Exam for our valuable partnership, with which we can truly make a global impact.
ABOUT UNITED PLANET
United Planet is a non-profit organization with a mission to create a global community, one relationship at a time. Established in 2001, United Planet offers volunteer abroad, virtual internships, internships abroad, gap year volunteering, and global virtual exchange in more than 40 countries.
