Anna Maldonado

Guest column: Study abroad can be an opportunity for more than language, culture

This past spring semester, I had the opportunity to study abroad in Costa Rica at Universidad Veritas in San Jose. I was excited to find that there was a program like this offering courses in environmental studies that I could use for my major. I heard about these course options at the UNM Study Abroad Fair, where I discovered through a study abroad program called International Studies Abroad. Not only did I get to practice my Spanish and live in a Latin culture, but I was able to do this while taking classes in English. I took classes in ecology and environmental studies, Latin American studies and tropical architecture and design. Exploring nature was one of my favorite things to do during my study abroad. Class field trips and most excursions were included in the cost of the program. We got to visit ecological sites where we did species monitoring and observed exotic plants and animals. Costa Rica is home to a variety of frogs like the colorful red-eyed tree frog and some of the smallest frogs that can be found there are even smaller than a fingernail.