ISU Diary, 06 July 2010: Orientation Day
July 6th, 2010 | Published in ISU Costa Rica | No comments
And so it begins. Sixteen participants have flown thousands of miles across the globe, braved US airport security checks, and are now cosying up to spiders for the next month, all in the name of the INEX
Summer University course 2010; will it be worth it?
Yes, if our induction day is any indication. The generosity of the host families, tireless enthusiasm of the INEX team and meeting the other participants quickly convinced any doubters that this course would be well worth enduring much more.
After a brief introduction to the INEX Vision Tree and a warm welcome to the ULACIT university, Lorena San Roman, Vice Dean of the University of International Cooperation, gave an insightful keynote speech into sustainable development in Central America. We also heard from our sustainable tourism tour operator, Horizontes, and from our teachers for the course, though this session ended a little abruptly because of certain important Football match…
Perhaps the most useful part of the day was the cultural adaptations class by Eric Liljenstope from GlobalSolutions Group. A long-time Costa Rican resident, Eric explained everything from why Tican men thinking hissing at women is a compliment (my personal views are to the contrary) to why the average number of times Puerto Rican couples
touch each other across a coffee table is every twenty seconds whereas in this situation in Britain couples refrain from any physical contact at all! Surely the British experiment was performed in an old person’s tea rooms.
The journey home at the end of the day was less fun, with a ten-minute bus journey taking two hours due to the incessant rain and crowded buses, but it’s all part of hustle and bustle of life in San Jose Rain, car horns, and disappearing pavements will soon become a normal part of our day.
Overall, a brilliant start to what is surely going to be a fantastic program, and I can’t wait to get started properly!
Pura vida!
by Harriet Jackson
