Your Costa Rica Study Abroad Survival Guide

Bienvenidos amigos! I’ve already written a blog about things you must pack for Costa Rica, but I thought I should go more in-depth with things I wish I had known before coming here, as well as things that will make your time here much easier!

Money

Costa Rica’s currency is the Colon. Before I go further, let me tell you: do NOT exchange your cash at the airport!!!! It is very expensive there, the colon-to-dollar exchange rate is lower, and you’re gonna have a ton of fees. Wait to exchange until you’re at a bank (Hospital Clinica Biblica also has a place you can exchange), and remember to bring your passport! The general conversion that I use is 500 colones for one US dollar. I thought this would mean things here would be much cheaper, but I’ve found most common goods to be a little more expensive than in the US, so be prepared and keep this in mind as you decide how much to bring. When trying to figure out how much things cost, I usually double the number I see and cut off the zeros. For example, if something is 5000 colones, in my head I’d consider it 10 bucks. A casado, or typical meal, will be the best bang for your buck. It consists of gallo pinto (rice and beans), salad, meat, and platanos maduros. Honestly a whole lotta stuff for usually between 6-10 dollars! Services are also a little cheaper here, my friends all got the prettiest gelX nail sets for about $35; in the US, they definitely would have paid between 60-80 dollars! Additionally, tipping is uncommon as your meal usually includes the tip. If you find good stores in central San Jose, you can get things for cheaper prices. There’s a place on the walk to Clinica Biblica (where you’ll take your classes as a healthcare student) called Spot Outlet that has clothes for under $2 on Thursdays! It sells out very quickly, so you have to be fast!

Figuring Your Phone Out

This was definitely something I needed a lot of help figuring out, so I hope this helps you! I have AT&T, which offers a very expensive international plan that I did not purchase. So what I would recommend you do instead is get a plan here in Costa Rica. For your data to work here, you need to have an unlocked phone, this is very important!!! Unlocked phones are paid off, so make sure to check with your carrier to see if yours is unlocked. There are a few different carriers here, but the two main ones are Liberty and Claro. I think Claro is cheaper, but I’m not positive. I have Claro, and I got my plan by going to the Claro desk at the SJO airport. Here, the longest plan they offered was 15 days, which I bought. After the 15 days ran out, I had to go to another Claro store to get another plan, and currently, I have a 30-day 15 GB plan. My 30 days ran out yesterday and I thought the 5GB leftover data balance would roll over, but they unfortunately did not. You can make calls and text with this plan. I would suggest you download WhatsApp because that will be your main form of communication. I’m honestly still a little unsure of how many texts and minutes of calls I get, so I turned off iMessage and avoided calling. Instead, I do it on WhatsApp. Nearly everyone in the country uses WhatsApp, so everyone is still very accessible. 

Trips

The biggest blessing of the program I’m in is that there are no classes for anyone on Fridays. This is to encourage students to travel and visit the rest of the country, which we’ve all definitely been taking advantage of! My best piece of advice regarding trips is to plan everything out beforehand. I am not much of a planner at all, but things are cheaper and easier to facilitate if you have a plan. My friends made a plan for every trip we wanted to go on for every weekend we had here, which was the best thing we could have done. The places we’ve gone are usually between 4-7 hours away by bus and go down long and winding roads, so I recommend Dramamine if you get car sick. We use Terminal 7-10, Transportes Cobanos, Mepe, and TIG to find buses for our trips, and I recommend buying tickets online. You can buy them in person, but there’s a possibility you won’t get a seat and will have to stand (yes, I’ve seen people standing for 6-hour bus rides). 

We also usually stay in hostels as they are the cheapest option. I REALLY recommend hostels, I cannot say enough good things about them. I’ve met so many people from all over the world, and I’ve loved hearing their stories and learning about their experiences. People in hostels are usually solo travelers or in small groups, and everyone is unbelievably friendly and nice. We’ve made so many friends from our hostels and have tagged along with their plans. I especially recommend the Pura Vida Mini Hostel in Tamarindo! Hostels are also equipped with kitchens and lounge areas, making it very easy to cook and meet people.

I would also plan out the meals you eat on your trips. We like to eat out, but plan which meals we want to eat out for because we’re balling on a budget and can’t eat out for every meal. When bringing food, I’ve usually packed bread, spreads, ramen, cereal, and rice. It’s not the most fancy meal, but we’re so busy with trying to get the most out of every trip that food isn’t the biggest priority. 

Again, planning is key! Research where you want to go, what things there are to do there, how to get to those things, are there admission fees, where you want to eat, etc. A lot of places don’t have Ubers, so you have to pay for taxis which are much more expensive. Be prepared!!

School

I love my classes in Costa Rica because I feel like I learn exactly what I’m interested in. The classes are a lot less stressful and are not exam-focused the way they are at Drexel. The professors have said themselves that the exams are nothing to worry about, they’d rather we immerse ourselves in class and ask questions to learn the most we can. The classes are also much more discussion-based, so make sure to participate to get the most out of your experience! Regarding what to bring, I only ever need one notebook and a pencil for all my classes. Many people also take notes on their laptops. My laptop unfortunately stopped working three weeks into the program which really sucked, but I now loan one from ULatina, our university. I’ve honestly rarely needed a laptop anyway besides for writing these blogs! Taking the bus to classes at the hospital usually takes about 45 minutes to an hour, including the 15-20 minute walk from the stop to the hospital. The bus to ULatina is about 20 minutes, but I prefer walking as it’s also a 20-minute walk for me. The bus schedules are not as “exact” as Septa, so be sure to get there a few minutes earlier. I wake up at 5:30 AM and get on the 6:15 AM bus for my 7 AM class, and usually get there right on time.

How To Dress

The people in Costa Rica dress pretty similarly to the States, but I definitely see less sweatpants here. The weather is consistently sunny here as well, which is amazing. I think it’s rained two days total since I got here over a month and a half ago. At night, it gets a little chilly in San Jose, but I definitely can’t complain after seeing my friends send pictures of the snow back home. Other parts of Costa Rica can be extremely hot and humid, so don’t forget sunscreen! If you feel like you have enough, I promise you you don’t. Keep more than less, it’s far more expensive here! I would also bring sandals or hiking shoes because you’ll hike a LOT. I do not own shoes like that. I have been wearing my Adidas sneakers which are on their last leg now. I wish I didn’t pack as many crewnecks and long-sleeved clothes because I feel like I rarely wear them here! Basically, pack perfect weather clothes (if staying from January through March) because that’s how the weather always is here!

Food

The food in Costa Rica is pretty different than back home. The fruits are so much sweeter, for one; there was a period where all I ate for breakfast was pineapple, and I was so content with this given how good pineapple is here. You’re going to eat a LOT of gallo pinto, which is rice and beans. I used to never EVER eat any type of beans at home, I’d avoid them like the plague. I can’t do that here as most of my breakfasts consist of gallo pinto and eggs. However, it’s pretty good! I definitely think I’ve had my fair share of beans for the rest of my life once this trip is over, but gallo pinto isn’t bad at all. I’m not really a picky eater but there are things I don’t enjoy eating. However, I kept the mentality that I’ll try everything, especially because I’m in a new country and have to get out of my box! Everything I’ve tried has been delicious, so I’m glad I’m getting out of my comfort zone. I LOVE the platanos maduros, which is fried plantain. It’s so sweet and a delicious dessert. 

Costa Rica also includes lots of vegetarian and even vegan options as well. The gluten-free options are much harder to come by, but you can find options if you know where to look. As a Muslim, I’ve never had problems with food options because I can eat the seafood option. Additionally, I bought meat from a halal butchery, which I was very grateful for. Unfortunately, I have never come across any halal restaurants, but there are two halal butcheries not too far from where I live in San Jose.

For buying food, the cheapest grocery store is called Pali, which is a lot like Aldi. They don’t have everything, but they are very inexpensive. Other than that, your best best is MasxMenos. I also recommend the sodas, which are local shops with extremely cheap food consisting of HUGE portions. I also love the panaderias, which are bakeries with freshly made bread so it’s a bread lover’s dream. I will say one thing, but this could just be the Pakistani in me: the food is not spicy at all. Like, at all. I ask for hot sauce with every meal and bought a large container of red pepper flakes which I use like salt. Everyone has different tastes and ways of cooking, but my host mom has approximately three spices in her cabinet: salt, pepper, and paprika. This is very different than my house back home where we have two huge cabinets with rows and rows of spices. The food has its intrinsic flavor, but I definitely had to get used to the lack of spices.

Safety

In my experience, Costa Rica has been generally pretty safe. Everyone has told me it’s very unsafe, but I’ve been hesitant about this since I am from Philly after all. I would still obviously use common sense and good safety practices. I try not to walk alone and carry my pepper spray with me everywhere. The catcalling honestly happens much more here, but I’ve rarely felt unsafe. Just remember to always have a buddy or stay in groups when you go out and do things, and make sure someone has a charged phone or data. My experience here has been pretty safe, but always remember to still be aware of your surroundings and to keep your bag close to you as I’ve heard there are lots of pickpockets.

So that wraps up all the things I can currently think of that I would suggest you know before your abroad experience! I hope this was helpful to you and I’ll see you next blog!

Below are some pictures of my week!

This bell was at the botanical medicinal garden we went to, and the plaque behind it said that hitting it brings good luck.

We found this huge indoor market called Mercado Central in San Jose, think Reading Terminal Market but with a ton more shops much closer to each other.

I finally caved and got some bread from a panaderia on our walk from classes at Clinica Biblica. 10 out of 10 highly recommend, ask to get it heated up!